Families are central to the lives of children and youth. It is essential that all school-age and youth programs be “family friendly” and inviting so that families feel welcomed and valued. Using the National Afterschool Association (NAA) Standards, this session will explore ways to partner with families to enhance the experience of children and youth. 

Contact Hours: 2 hours       Gateways Content Areas: CPD (1hour); FCR (1  hour)     CDA Content Areas: 4 (1 hour), 5 (1 hour)

This module will focus on how the personal and professional development of school-age and youth providers profoundly impacts the children, youth, families and colleges they work with. National Afterschool Association (NAA) Standards in human relationships and administration will be discussed. 

Contact Hours: 2 hours       Gateways Content Areas: PPD (2 hours)    CDA Content Areas: 6 (2 hours)

This online training will discuss Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), the behaviors that increase the risk of SIDS, safe sleeping habits, licensing standards, and resources to help you reduce the risk of SIDS for infants in your care.  

Esta capacitación está disponible en español aquí.

This training will help child care providers understand how to create chest/breastfeeding-friendly policies and environments that align with state and federal laws, Illinois licensing standards, and best practice.  This one-hour self-paced training will cover the basics on why it’s important for childcare providers to support chest/breastfeeding, how to develop policies and spaces on site that support families, and how to equitably communicate with families about these practices. The training will include links to many tools and resources that support you in these efforts!

Developed by the Illinois Public Health Institute with support from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention and Illinois Department of Public Health, Office of Women's Health.

Esta capacitación está disponible en español aquí.

In this training, Family Child Care Credential: Technology in the Family Child Care Environment: Ensuring Appropriate Use, Security, and Safety, participants will be able to identify strategies that ensure safe, secure, and appropriate use of technology.  You will learn to explore strategies to document as well as communicate through technology in your program.

Topics include:

• Appropriate Use
• Security
  
• Safety
• Using Technology to Document and Plan
• Developing a Technology Policy

Contact Hours: 2 hours          Gateways Content Area: CPD (2 hours)          CDA Content Area: Program Management (2 hours)   

This training is for providers who were randomly selected to participate in a study called Understanding Vaccination Practices in Child Care.  We have created this free training on the importance of childhood vaccinations to thank these providers for taking time to participate in our study.  In this training, we cover how vaccines work, why they are important, the vaccine schedule and what each vaccination actually is for children under six, where to go for further resources, and how to protect yourself as a child care provider.  After the study is completed, we will be creating more resources like this training that will be available to all providers.

One of the distinguishing characteristics of high-quality early childhood programs is their ability to adapt to change. Directors play a central role in leading the change process. In this course, participants will explore the concept of Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) as an essential component of exemplary organizations, the key features of this leadership philosophy, steps in the CQI process, and how to create a Continuous Quality Improvement Plan (CQIP) to guide change efforts.

This Registry-approved training is brought to you by Gateways to Opportunity®. This training is ExceleRate-approved and counts towards ExceleRate™ Illinois for licensed child care centers and DCFS licensed program training hours.

Esta capacitación está disponible en español aquí.

La Universidad de la Lactancia Materna se creó pensando en los proveedores de cuidado infantil. Cada uno de los módulos proporciona información actualizada y basada en evidencias de un equipo interdisciplinario de médicos, enfermeras, consultores de lactancia, profesionales de la salud pública, profesionales de ECE y líderes de La Leche League. Los módulos interactivos ayudarán a establecer un conocimiento sobre cómo apoyar a las familias para que alcancen sus objetivos de lactancia materna. Esta capacitación fue desarrollada por el Instituto Global de Lactancia Materna de Carolina, que es parte de la Universidad de Carolina del Norte en Chapel Hill, y se proporciona en Illinois a través de un acuerdo con INCCRRA y el Instituto de Salud Pública de Illinois.

Horas de contacto: 2 horas   Áreas de contenido de Gateways: HSW (1 hora) y FCR (1 hora) Horas CDA: 1 (1 hora) y 4 (1 hora)

This course provides information on caring for children with special needs in typical child care settings. The training helps increase the knowledge and comfort level of participants to enhance their ability to care for young children with disabilities in early childhood environments. It will discuss adaptations and modifications that will assist all children to participate in activities. The course will provide 3 contact hours. This 3-hour training will meet the inclusion training requirement for all classroom staff within a Gold Circle of Quality program. NOTE: This 3-hour training does NOT meet the 6-hour special needs training requirement stated in DCFS licensing regulations. Please see the Welcoming Each and Every Child (7 hour) course under DCFS Licensing Required Courses. 

Esta capacitación está disponible en español aquí.

This course provides information on caring for children with special needs in typical child care settings. The training helps increase the knowledge and comfort level of participants to enhance their ability to care for young children with disabilities in early childhood environments. It will discuss adaptations and modifications that will assist all children to participate in activities. This meets the DCFS requirement for early childhood providers in special care inclusion training. The course will provide 7 contact hours and/or 1/2 Gateways credential point.

Esta capacitación está disponible en español aquí.