Welcome to the Santa Barbara County Constructing Connections Resource Page,
provided by the First 5 Santa Barbara County Office of Early Care and
Education. Have you been thinking about expanding your child care center or
starting a new child care center?
Our staff is available to walk you through each step of your facility
development. We offer support in determining demand in your area, licensing
requirements, zoning regulations, financial information, including grant
sources, site design and business development.
Contact us for assistance.
This resource list is intended to be used as a compliment to the guidance and
direction you will receive from the Constructing Connections staff. We
recommend going first to the Building
Child Care website since they have developed such a good overview of
the process of child care facility development, and offer great tools and
resources. After you review the Building Child Care links below, continue on to
the additional local resources. They are broken down into three categories,
Business Support and Resources, Child Care Links and Facility Design and
Development.
Please contact Constructing
Connections for assistance in starting, developing or expanding your
child care center.
Building Child Care provides a centralized clearinghouse of information and
services for child care facility development including expansion, renovation,
building and purchasing a child care center.
We strongly suggest that anyone interested in starting up or expanding a child
care facility take advantage of the information, guidance and resources within
this site.
Below are links to pages that offer specific helpful information for developing
child care in Santa Barbara County.
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Additional Local Resources
Business Support & Resources
| Allan Hancock College
Business Dept.
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The Business Department is responsible for specific instructional areas
including: Accounting, Business Management, Computer Business Information
Systems, and Computer Business Office Technology. |
| Cal Coastal |
Provides funds for inventory, leasehold improvements, equipment, furniture,
remodeling, and working capital. |
| California Association for the
Education of Young Children (CAEYC) |
Offers membership, professional growth opportunities, training, public policy
information and conferences. |
| Chambers of Commerce for Santa Barbara County |
Local business networking, referral and support resource. Offers Small Business
Counseling - free, confidential, one-on-one counseling service with a
professional business expert. |
| Coastal Business Finance |
Certified by US Small business administration to make sba 504 loans which
allows 90% financing for owner occupied businesses. We are a public purpose,
non profit corporation. |
| Cuesta
College |
The College offers a large amount of business courses, including courses in
marketing, human relations, accounting, small business management, and a
variety of computer courses. The Department of Human Development also has an
entire area studies known as "Early Childhood Education," offering over 40
classes in this field. |
| Extended
Studies Cal Poly San Luis Obispo |
A medium-size number of business courses and certificate programs are offered,
including, Practical Budgeting for Managers, Project Management Fundamentals,
Strategic Management, and Business Finance Foundations. They also have a grant
writing program with classes such as "Identifying Funding Sources," available. |
| First
5 Children and Families Commission of Santa Barbara County |
Facilitate partnerships, offers resources and funding. The Office of Early Care
and Education offers hands on, step by step support through the process of
developing and expanding a child care facility. |
| Low
Income Investment Fund |
Offers ABCD fund planning grants, pre-development and development loans. |
| Marilyn
Jorgensen |
Parenting and teaching consultant for parents, teachers and therapists in the
field of emotional intelligence and social awareness. Also offer counseling
services. |
| National
Economic Development & Law Center |
Financial and budget resources for child care providers. Provides economic
impact reports of the ECE industry in more than eight states and 20 regions and
counties. More information can be found
here. |
| Non-profit Support
Center of Santa Barbara County |
Regional training, consulting and resource center for board members, staff, and
volunteers who are interested in developing a nonprofit organizations. |
| Santa Barbara City
College Institute for Business Assistance |
Offers an Entrepreneurial Training Center, a Family Business Center, Small
Business Development |
| School Grants |
Resources, Information and Training on obtaining grants for school and child
care use. |
| Score |
The voluntary arm of the U.S Small Business administration. The service corp.
of retired executives and we render free counseling to start up and in business
enterprises.
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| Small Busines
Administration-US |
Offers support and services in business start up, management, expansion and
development. |
| Small Business
Entrepreneurship Center and Score |
Nonprofit resource organization facilitating new business enterprises through
expert counseling, partnership and facilitation of business incubators in the
region. |
| Strategic Change
Associates |
Customized workshops and training. Survey research, evaluation and assessment.
Management coaching for individual directors/owners/new-hires - to focus on
strategic goals, and ensure success in position, planning, navigating everyday
management dilemmas and coaching. Evaluation and planning for child care
programs. Media training. |
| The National
Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) |
Offers accreditation systems. Focus is on improving professional practice and
working conditions in early childhood. Builds a high-performing, inclusive
organization of groups and individuals who are committed to promoting
excellence in early childhood education for all young children. |
| University
of California Santa Barbara Extension |
Offers an array of courses including: Human Resource Management,
Nonprofit Financial Management, Teacher Professional Development, and
Cross-cultural, Language, and Academic Development (CLAD). They also have
certificate programs in Business, Management, and Law. Also offer a B.A.
program. |
| Valley Economic Development Center,
Inc. |
Provides a variety of loans and technical assistance programs, some sponsored
by the Small Business Administration. |
| Women's Economic
Ventures - Santa Barbara and Santa Maria Offices |
Offer a variety of courses including: a 14-week self-employment training
course, a roundtable for business owners (for people who have completed the
self-employment training course), a mentor program, individual business
consulting, and a basic career development course. |
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Child Care Links
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Facility Design & Development
| Blackbird Architects |
Licensed architects experienced in design of childcare facilities: licensed and
unlicensed for non-profit and public groups. Can offer architectural services
and pre-design consultation. |
| Download Child Care Center Conditional Use Permit
Process Flow Chart |
This flow chart guides an operator through the stages of applying and obtaining
a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) |
| California Association
for the Education of Young Children (CAEYC) |
Offers membership, professional growth opportunities, training, public policy
information and conferences. |
| Download Child Care Center Design Guide |
Guide book for developing future centers or renovating already existing
centers. Offers specific design criteria and guidelines. Is a source of basic
architectural information to be used by anyone interested in child care
practices, operations and federal building standards. |
| Download Child Care Facility Development Flow
Chart |
This helpful flow chart displays the process of facility development in an easy
to read chart guiding the operator through each step. |
| Community
Care Licensing Division |
Description of CA licensing criteria and information. Orientation schedules can
be found here. |
| Download
Community Investment Collaborative For Kids Resource Guide 1- Developing Early
Childhood Facilities |
This guide identifies all the steps in the process, and will help you turn your
idea for new or improved space into a successfully completed project. Offers
details on project feasibility, building a team, securing a site, raising money
and construction. |
| Download Community
Investment Collaborative For Kids Resource Guide 2- Designing Early Childhood
Facilities |
This guidebook describes the best practices in the early care and education
field and offers details on designing quality space and programming. |
| Download
Community Investment Collaborative For Kids Resource Guide 3 - Equipping and
Furnishing Early Childhood Facilities |
Guidebook focused on how to furnish a child-safe and child-friendly space so
that it is usable, comfortable and compliant with the National Association for
the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) guidelines. |
| Download Community
Investment Collaborative For Kids Resource Guide 4 - Creating Playgrounds for
Early Childhood Facilities |
Guidebook for planning a child care center's outdoor play space. It details
types of activities that children can enjoy outdoors, and will suggest
equipment and materials that support that play. |
| Download Design
Child Care |
Provides childcare planning and design services, conducted research and
advocacy, and created a professional education Institute |
| First
5 Children and Families Commission of Santa Barbara County |
Facilitate partnerships, offers resources and funding. The Office of Early Care
and Education offers hands on, step by step support through the process of
developing and expanding a child care facility. |
| Hasbro |
Donates toys, offers grants, playground development projects and participates
in international child care projects |
| Kaboom |
Rallies communities to achieve better public policy, funding and public
awareness for increased play; provides resources, including trainings,
challenge grants, and publications for communities that wish to plan a new play
space on their own; and bring together children, business and community
interests for a select number of community play space builds each year. |
| Local
Investment In Child Care (LINCC) |
Supports child care facilities development, renovation, and expansion in
California and stimulate public and private investment policies to meet the
child care needs of all children and families in California. |
| Download Low Income Investment Fund - Finding
a Child Care Center Site Guide Book |
This guide provides guidance on how to work with real estate professionals
experts are familiar within the specific space requirements for child care
facilities This document includes a list of useful local resources and websites
that can assist in your search.
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| Marilyn
Jorgensen |
Parenting and teaching consultant for parents, teachers and therapists in the
field of emotional intelligence and social awareness. Also offer counseling
services. |
| Preschool Environments Resources- Community Play Things |
Website with resources on room planning, design guides, codes and more. |
| Sample Site Plans |
An example floor plan of a child care center. |
| Santa Barbara
County Child Care Planning Council |
The Santa Barbara County Child Care Planning Council offers hands on, step by
step support through the process of developing and expanding a child care
facility. Produces a Needs Assessment, Strategic Plan and sets local priorities
for child care. Membership available. Network with expert support and
information. |
| Santa Barbara Family
Care Center, Children's Resource and Referral Program |
Maintains a county wide referral database, has consumer and provider education
and resource and toy lending libraries in both Santa Barbara and Santa Maria.
Offers hands on, step by step support through the process of developing and
expanding a child care facility. |
| Santa Maria Enterprise
Center |
Santa Maria Enterprise Center is a nonprofit, mixed use business incubator that
mentors start up and offers low cost office space and professional equipment in
Santa Maria town center mall. |
| The
Child Care Center Business Plan Workbook |
Two-page business plan overview, followed by workbook pages highlighting each
section of the business plan. The intent of this booklet is to help you collect
all the information you will need to create a final business plan. |
| Thompson Naylor
Architects |
Licensed architects, have worked in designing child care facilities, both
non-profit and privately run. Can provide building analysis, code research,
feasibility studies, space planning, design, engineering, permitting, and
construction observation services. |
| White
Hutchinson Leisure & Learning Group |
Offers facility design services, including planning, predevelopment and
development. Also offers assistance in writing business plans, securing loans,
establishing budgets and policies and procedures. |
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