Parents lack awareness of existing funds for child care. Educating parents is important both for increasing utilization rates of existing programs, and for working toward increased community funding for child care. To build parent awareness, outreach campaign should involve providers, schools, human services organizations, employers, and the media. These two documents describe outreach strategies and provide background on existing child care funding resources.

• Parent Outreach Strategy. Describes research on child care outreach to parents and methods used by other community groups and statewide programs. This document also describes the outreach campaign to be used by the Early Education Partnership in Tompkins County, New York.
• The Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit: Too Little, Too Late. Discusses the history of the most wide-reaching federal child care program, the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit, as an example of program inadequacy and policy neglect.
• Read further about outreach campaigns in Tompkins County, New York, and browse our outreach materials.