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Cherokee Nation Child Care Resource Center staff members Arlene Greenawalt, Bridget Tobey and Marilyn Ballard recently accepted an award for quality assurance on behalf of the Cherokee Nation Child Care Resource Center.

TAHLEQUAH, OKLAHOMA - The Cherokee Nation recently earned a national certification for best practices in providing child care resources and referrals. The Cherokee Nation Childcare Resource Center (CCRC) works with parents, child care providers, businesses, and community organizations to promote the availability of quality child care services in the area. CCRC provides parents with child care referrals and information on evaluating quality child care and provides child care providers with access to training and support services.

“It shows that the resource and referral program that the Cherokee Nation offers is going above and beyond funding requirements to ensure our Cherokee families have the best possible child care resource and referral program,” said Bridget Tobey, manager of the Cherokee Nation Child Care Resource Center.

The National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies presented the Cherokee Nation with a certificate for successfully completing a voluntary quality assurance program for community child care resource and referral programs. The quality assurance program is designed to ensure that families across the country have access to consistent, high quality consumer education and referral services. Child care resource and referral programs who attain a quality assurance certificate must qualify by obtaining measurable, relevant outcomes in consumer education and referral service delivery.

“This was an application process that we participated in for the past year,” Tobey said. “It was very hands-on and we had to meet several requirements beyond our basic contract.”

Some of the additional requirements included staying open extra hours each month and excelling in customer service requirements measured by consumers.

“We know when a parent calls or comes in, we are providing the best service we can,” Tobey said.

The Cherokee Nation Child Care Resource Center (CCRC) provides information on local child care availability, licensing laws, quality indicators, subsidies, and parenting resources. The Cherokee Nation CCRC is located 3.5 miles south of Tahlequah on Highway 62, beside Sequoyah High School. For more information about the Cherokee Nation CCRC, call 918-458-7613 or send e-mail.

Related Cherokee Nation contact information:

Mike Miller, Cherokee Nation Director of Communications Phone: 918-456-0671 (ext.2210) Fax: 918-458-5580 E-mail: Communications@cherokee.org Larry Daugherty, Advertising Manager Cherokee Nation - Public Affairs Phone 918-456-0671 (Ex.2324) E-mail: ldaugherty@cherokee.org

Steven Swogger, Agriculture Liaison Natural Resources Department Phone: 918-456-0671 (ext.2546) FAX: 918-458-7673 E-mail: sswogger@cherokee.org Bradley D. Peak, Cherokee Nation Natural Resources Specialist Phone: 918-456-0671 (ex.2843) E-mail: bpeak@cherokee.org