Early Childhood Institute for Professional Development

The Early Childhood Institute for Professional Development (ECIPD), Child Care Connection’s training department, offers comprehensive educational programs for child care professionals throughout New Jersey. The Institute is operated and staffed by Child Care Connection. Training is available for any early childhood educator working with children birth through eight years old. All training is designed to improve the quality of care offered to children in any early childhood setting.

Research in the early childhood field indicates that training and education for early childhood professionals positively affect the quality of care offered to children. Benefits of training include enhanced program quality, positive outcomes for children, new/practical ideas, improved parent communication, and increased professionalism.

The NJ Department of Children and Families/Office of Licensing offers an online workshop, Understanding Licensing Regulations, for centers and school-age programs. Registration for this workshop is found on NJCCIS under the Event ID#: 130234. 

As your time is valuable, several instructional opportunities are available to meet your unique professional development needs.

Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Child Care Connection’s training opportunities are currently being offered as live, online sessions. CPR is only being offered in very small groups. Please call our Training Dept. at 609-989-7940 for more information.

Regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, Child Care Aware of NJ has set up a great page with business-related resources for child care center directors and operators. To be directed to this child care center business support page, click here!

TIPS Initiative

Child Care Connection is pleased to announce a grant from the Mercer County Department of Human Services to provide the TIPS initiative: Targeted Improvement Plan Support.  TIPS offers no-cost short-term quality improvement technical assistance and support, based on program needs.  For more information and to see if your child care center or family child care home is eligible for this no-cost service, check out the TIPS flyer under the Forms section, this page.

Family Child Care Providers

Child Care Connection offers training programs developed with the unique needs of Family Child Care (FCC) and Family, Friend, & Neighbor (FFN) providers in mind. These classes help ensure that all providers have access to the resources they need to provide high-quality early learning experiences to the children in their care. Classes are free unless otherwise noted. CPR and First Aid classes are available to FCC/FFN providers for a fee. For all the details, see the CPR/First Aid page or call 609-989-7770, ext. 131, for more information.

CCDBG Classes

Child Care Connection is not holding in-person CCDBG classes; all classes are offered virtually and cover the mandatory topics of Health & Safety (Parts I & II), Child Development, and Child Abuse & Neglect: Mandated Reporting. Please call our Training Dept. at 609-989-7940 for more information.