( EHCC ) program . EHCC is the only national program working for over 14 years to deliver technical assistance , training , and resources to child care professionals on reducing environmental hazards within child care settings . EHCC ’ s goal is to identify common toxicants found within and around child care facilities and reduce or prevent adverse health effects from exposures .
Key Components of the Program :
1 . Endorsement :
○ EHCC runs an endorsement program for child care facilities . They endorsecenter and family child care facilities comply with the free or low-cost environmentally healthy best practices found on their checklist . These changes immediately benefit the well-being of young children and staff and create toxic-free early learning settings .
2 . Education , Resources , and Training :
○ Resources : EHCC develops science-based resources to educate childcare providers about the dangers of radon and the importance of regular testing . The resources are available as factsheets in both English and Spanish .
○ Professional Development : EHCC has developed the Protecting Children ’ s Environmental Health E-Course , which covers simple , low-cost tips for reducing environmental hazards in and around child care facilities , including radon . The e-course costs $ 30 to complete , is offered in English and Spanish , and is approved for adult learning clock hours in all states , including Washington D . C ., Guam , and the U . S . Virgin Islands .
○ Technical Assistance : All EHCC- endorsed child care providers are eligible for Virtual Technical Assistance sessions . These are free conversations with an EHCC staffer , intended to help providers in their journey to become more conscientious about identifying and reducing exposures to environmental hazards like radon .
3 . Driving Systemic Change :
○ Accreditation : In 2016 , EHCC collaborated with the National Association for the Education of Young Children ( NAEYC ), a national accreditation body for center-based child care professionals that has over 80,000 members , to update their Early Childhood Program Standards and Accreditation Criteria to include more comprehensive best practices in environmental health . In 2020 , the Association for Early Learning Leaders ( AELL ), a similar accreditation body , also focused on center-based child care facilities , adopted many of EHCC ’ s best practices .
○ Quality Rating Improvement Systems : Child care systems always seek strategies to incentivize best practices and improve quality . One strategy is the development of Quality Rating Improvement Systems ( QRIS ). A QRIS is offered in each state . They provide a non-regulatory framework for building high-quality early care and education programs . EHCC has successfully aligned eco-healthy best practices found on the checklist with a growing number of state QRIS programs .