We are child care providers united around a mission to improve the way child care works in California.

We are child care providers united around a mission to change the way child care works in California.

Together, we can overcome the challenges we facehelp our children thrivesolve the child care crisis

Together, we can overcome our challenges.help our children thrive.solve the child care crisis.

Child Care Providers United (CCPU) was founded in 2003 by child care providers across California under the guiding principle that affordable, quality early learning and care is a right and necessary for communities to thrive.

The need for child care providers to have a collective voice in the industry was in response to decades of inequities faced by providers and working families in a broken system of out-of-date and out-of-touch policies and practices that providers and impacted families had no say in.

Although providers have made strides, they alone can’t solve the crisis. Quality and affordable child care for all can only become a reality through a partnership with parents, community advocates and our elected representatives in Sacramento.

Who are California’s Child Care Providers?

We’re Mostly Women

With 92% of California’s providers being female, our profession has been and will continue to be shaped by the strength, perspectives and experiences of women.

We’re Diverse

We reflect the rich diversity of our state. As home-based workers, we are often cut from the same cloth as the communities we serve. Did you know 22% of providers in the U.S. are immigrants?

We’re Early Educators

We’re caretakers, but don’t call us babysitters. The care in child care means nurturing the mind and the body, especially in the crucial early years of a child.

We’re Strong

We’re 40,000 child care providers strong with the power to negotiate directly with the state on improvements to the child care system. But we can’t do it alone. Join us.

We’re Change-Makers

In our 17 years of organizing, we’ve changed the conversation on early education and child care, and inspired policymakers to vote with their hearts and minds.

We’re Essential

Without child care providers on the front lines, the impact of the pandemic would be far worse. We have been vital throughout this crisis and will be to our state’s economic recovery. Learn about all the ways we matter.

Child Care Providers United is a union of over 40,000 child care providers throughout California working in partnership with parents, early childhood education advocates and our state legislators to fix the state’s child care crisis, improve our profession and the quality of care through policy advocacy, grassroots community organizing, and our collective voice. We are guided by the belief that all children and families should have access to quality early education and care.