CCW/AFTEF History

The worker-based movement to improve child care compensation has roots as far back as union campaigns during the 1940s and 1950s, and the rise of teacher advocacy groups in a handful of communities in the 1960s and 1970s. From these beginnings, the Child Care Employee Project (CCEP) was founded in 1978 in Berkeley, CA. As a grassroots organization of child care teachers in the San Francisco Bay Area, CCEP took on the role of networking other small grassroots groups around the country, and the work of developing resources for others to use in their research, policy and organizing work began in earnest.

In the late 1980s CCEP conducted its first landmark research project, - the National Child Care Staffing Study. This study was the first of its kind to document the status of child care workers nationwide and, established a clear link between the quality of care that children receive and the compensation and stability of their child care teachers. As child care workforce issues received more national attention, CCEP moved its headquarters to Washington, DC in 1994, becoming a central figure in the public policy debate surrounding child care issues. From 1994 to 1997 CCEP became known as the National Center for the Early Childhood Workforce, and eventually changed its name to the Center for the Child Care Workforce (CCW).

CCW advocated for public policy to restructure the early care and education delivery system to better address the issues of workforce recruitment and compensation, researched and documented the status and influenced organizing strategies that emphasized a unified voice for early care and education teachers and providers. Click here to learn more about CCW’s accomplishments.

In 2002 CCW merged with the American Federation of Teachers Educational Foundation (AFTEF), a 501(c)(3) organization that is the nonprofit arm of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). The merger was the culmination of work that began as a result of a decision to discontinue as an independent, free-standing organization. As an AFTEF project, CCW/AFTEF hopes to use this unprecedented opportunity to broaden the scope of CCW’s work and expand the capacity to create a unified voice for the early care and education workforce.

CCW/AFTEF is extremely proud to build on CCW’s history started more than twenty years ago. CCW/AFTEF and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) are now together to jointly champion high-quality early care and education for young children that ensure good jobs for Early care and education.