I have been a child care provider for over 26 years now and moved here 11 yrs. ago from Alameda County. I have been a member of SJCFCCA for 11 yrs. and I have been on this board for almost 11 yrs. as Secretary, Vice President and President. (Which I just recently was re-elected to once again, this is my 4th term as President.)

        It has been so exciting to see the positive changes in this association from bringing BIG named speakers to our county, building a website, re-writing our bylaws,FUN fundraisers, networking/mentoring other providers around the county, helping with outreaches, email blasts to members, collaborating with our other associations and agencies, professional growth certificates for our trainings and watching my peers continue their education to pursue further avenues for their in-home child care businesses!

     I am now Vice President for the California Association for Family Child Care (CAFCC) and have been for the past year. I learn so much from them and can bring all of the information back to our county! We can get first hand information!!! 

     I love meeting child care providers from all over the State of California! They have such different stories to tell about their agencies and counties. WE are so blessed to have FRRC, trust me!

     I am also very excited to be able to attend my very first NAFCC conference in Las Vegas in July! We will be able to network with providers from all over the United States!

     During my term as President, I want to hear from you to see what your needs are and how we can help, we may be able to bring in speakers and workshops along with FRRC to assist you in the help that you may need.

     I am also accessible anytime that you may need to talk. Just give me a personal call and I would be happy to hear from you!

     We need to stick together, these times are hard. My advice is to surround yourself with positive people! (You become whoever you hang out with.) Something to think about. Let's help each other out in a time of need and you know the old saying, "You reap what you soe." IF you soe something good, good will come back to you and if you soe bad stuff... you will get that back as well.

                                      I hope you can all make it to our monthly meeting!

                                                       Warmest Regards, Paula Baca

I've been a licensed childcare provider for 15 years in Tracy. My husband Jess and I are active members for the SJCFCCA and TCCPN, we work the childcare business together, also attend many workshops, conferences and other child care events such as the Open Houses and Pixie Woods.   Through the years, I have seen so much growth and development within the Association, witnessing the positive directions many quality child care providers are headed too, and being forever grateful to the many agencies that have provided us opportunities in bettering our childcare businesses.  As of March 2009, I have been elected to a Board of Directors position and I look forward to working with the board, staying connected and becoming more involved with our Association.

Just wanted to take this opportunity to let you know why I chose child care being a male.  I know it is not typical to have male child care providers, but if anyone hears my story why this is my profession they would understand.  I would like to begin to say I was always the sole provider of income in my home and was a truck driver for 6 years prior to getting involved in the child care business.  In raising our daughter, we had a bad experience with a child care provider.  After, we both decided that no one would care for our children better than us.  My wife started in the child care business 5 years ago out of a small 2 bedroom duplex in Stockton.  I always encouraged my future wife at the time to become independent and to never give up.  After two years of operating a small day care,  we found out we were pregnant with our first son.  At that point, I realized being a good father figure was the most important thing in my life.  I was given a great opportunity unlike most fathers and decided to become a part of my child’s life from the day he was born and watch him grow.  My wife had accomplished a lot after 2 years and we made a decision to work together as a team to expand the business into a large child care.  My wife and I complement each other because she handles the business part of it and I am the teacher, program coordinator, and network for our child care.  In the beginning I realize it was going to be a challenge, but I gave it my 110%.  I felt stereotyped many times during interviews and intimidated, but later realized parents appreciated having a positive male role model as well as father figure in their children’s life on a daily basis.  I was fully determined to prepare and educate myself for that we could improve our overall quality of care.  I attended Delta College in order to obtain a degree in Early Childhood Development, completed numerous hours of training and workshops pertaining to children, received various stipends, written and funded a First 5 Mini-Grant, obtain an Assistant Teacher’s Permit and collaborated with various agencies such as Head Start, Creative Child Care, Family Resource and Referral, and First 5 of San Joaquin County to enhance our overall program.  Also, in being proactive I became a part of our local association by serving as a Board of Director for San Joaquin County Child Care Association for the past two years.  In addition, I recently became a member of our state and national associations and in the process of accreditation.  This has helped me to become a better parent and has also been beneficial for all the children in our care.  For being involved as a male child care provider for the past 3 years, I have accomplished so much in such a short period of time.  I know behind every good man there is a good woman and if it wasn’t for my wife none of this would have been possible.  I thank my wife for my success and for blessing me with 3 beautiful children.  My plans are to continue to promote and set a positive example for future male child care providers.

My name is Laura Desousa, I’m been a member of SJCFCCA for about 4 years now, and I just became a Board member for 3 weeks now. I love to communicate with others and be part of activities and meetings, I’ve been involved in the past with the Open House, it was a very nice experience.

I love to be part of this Association, because we get a lots of information and great workshops, nice communication with other providers and a lots of friends.

I been a Childcare Provider for 13 years now, it started to be at home with my children and been able to make some money to help at home, but with the time the love for children grew on me, and now its my life, a very rewarding one; I been learning a lot with the great workshops, and also I returned to school taking Early Child Development and my plans for the future are still taking care of children and keep teaching the love to learn and help them to discover the great journey of life.