Central Coast Child Care Facilities Action Network
Applications Open
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Applications Open *
The Action Network
The Central Coast Child Care Facilities Action Network (CCFAN) is a broad regional effort developed through the Uplift Child Care Coalition to increase child care access through land use policy change.
The network is made up of advocates, coordinators, and community leaders from San Benito, Santa Cruz, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties who will participate in 9 months of peer learning, fieldwork, land-use surveys, coaching, and sessions with planning departments.
Using the Child Care Systems Lab framework, participants work and learn alongside peers from across the region who are navigating the same policy landscape from different vantage points. Those cross-county relationships and a shared regional advocacy plan will shape the foundation for lasting policy change.
This community of practice is grounded by the Santa Barbara County Child Care Facilities Master Plan and Toolkit, as well as a land-use survey developed specifically for the Central Coast.
Thanks to the generous support of regional contributors, there is no cost to participants for the Child Care Facilities Specialist Training and Community of Practice (Specialist series).
Nine months.
Eighteen Specialists.
One Regional Community
Child Care Facilities Specialist Series Overview
2–3 hours of fieldwork between every session.
Full attendance expected; sessions are not recorded because the live discussion is the core of the experience.
Miss a session? You’ll receive the meeting materials and you can connect with a peer to debrief. The Hive, our community platform, carries the work between sessions — post findings, complete portfolio artifacts, log commitments, and stay accountable to your cohort.
What To Expect
6 training sessions, 90 minutes each via Zoom.
Each session delivers 30 minutes of structured content grounded in the Santa Barbara County Child Care Facilities Master Plan and Toolkit, as well as data from the six-county regional land use survey developed specifically for the Central Coast.
45 minutes of community of practice discussion where you connect the material to active policy work in your jurisdiction, and a 15-minute closing commitment round.
3 coaching sessions, 90 minutes each via Zoom. These are participant-driven and facilitator-guided. You submit your jurisdiction challenges and questions one week in advance. The agenda is built from what you bring, not from a set curriculum. Come prepared to work through live problems with peer input.
Registration: June 22nd through July 31, 2026
Sessions: September 2026 to March 2027
Coaching Sessions: March 2027 to May 2027
Topics
Why Facilities Matter and How Land Use Works
The Six-County Landscape - Survey Data and the Dashboard
What Good Policy Looks Like
Helping Navigate the Permit Process
Child Care and Developments
Putting It Into Practice