Where child care
system-builders
grow.
Training, community, coaching, and certification for the people who build and sustain child care systems — taught by experts, grounded in collaborative communities of practice, and designed to grow with you.
Child Care Systems Lab
ABOUT THE LAB
A hub for the people
building child care
systems
Building and sustaining a robust child care system takes knowledge across a wide range of areas — facilities development, land use, co-location, workforce, funding, policy, and community planning. The people who do this work are coordinators, consultants, planners, advocates, operators, and developers. They are skilled, committed, and increasingly in demand.
The Child Care Systems Lab is where that expertise is built, deepened, and shared. It brings together training, peer community, resources, coaching, and certification in one place — organized around the real scope of the work, taught by people with deep experience in it, and designed so that members grow over time into the experts who teach others.
The goal is a ripple effect: every practitioner who grows through the Lab carries that knowledge into their community — and eventually into the next generation of system-builders.
The Lab is designed to elevate the sector — the people, the work, and the profession. Members gain confidence through knowledge and experience. They find peers who understand what they are doing and why it matters. They build expertise in areas where few training resources have existed. And they become part of a growing network of professionals who are moving child care forward across the country.
"A trusted source of information, support and training used by individuals who are in a position to build the child care system and significantly increase access to quality child care across the nation."
Built for the people who Shape
the child care system.
The Child Care Systems Lab brings together individuals who are in a position to build the child care system and significantly increase access to quality child care — across the country and across roles.
As long as you work to expand, sustain, or strengthen child care access in your community, this is for you. The Child Care Systems Lab brings together practitioners across roles and experience levels to build expertise through shared knowledge, peer learning, and real practice. You do not need to have it all figured out before you arrive. You grow here, alongside people doing the same work across the country.
The learning happens through peer exchange: same-role and cross-function, sharing knowledge, resources, and the real work of your communities. You grow your expertise alongside practitioners from every part of the sector.
What the Program Equips You With
Are you Ready for It?
Professional Learning Community
Members who complete track requirements can earn certification in specific areas of expertise. Certified members can go on to teach and coach others — growing the field from within the Lab's community.
Resources and tools
Models, examples, templates, research, and data — curated from the best available sources and organized so members do not have to search for what they need. Good tools save time and improve outcomes.
Training And Live Coaching
Live, facilitated sessions structured as a community of practice — bringing together coordinators, consultants, planners, operators, and developers for real learning alongside peers. Tiered by audience and depth, and taught by people with deep experience in the work.
Certification tracks
Regular gatherings for same- and cross-role members — peer learning, resource sharing, and the kind of honest professional conversation that is hard to find anywhere else in this field.
Where we are working now
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Central Coast Child Care Facilities Action Network
NOW ENROLLING
A 9-month community of practice for advocates, coordinators, and community leaders across six California Central Coast counties — focused on child care land use policy and regional action.August 2026 · No session December · Through spring 2027
Ventura · Santa Barbara · San Luis Obispo · Monterey · Santa Cruz · San Benito
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Interested in a cohort for your region?
EXPRESS INTEREST
We are developing programs for other regions. If you are interested in bringing the Child Care Systems Lab to your community, county, or organization, we would love to hear from you.
This work is
a Collective effort.
The Lab's regional work in California is supported by funders and partners committed to expanding child care access. We are grateful for their investment in the people building the system.
