Are you a child care provider in need of Professional Development hours? Are you a child care provider curious about the trainings the YWCA has to offer? Are you a child care provider wanting to expand your knowledge and stay up to date on current training topics? Then, look no further. YWCA of Northwestern Illinois has you covered!

Why Do You Need Professional Development?

Children need education, interaction, encouragement and guidance. They need to feel loved, safe, secure and know that their provider is fully capable of supporting their needs. Often, providers are all the children have when it comes to reliable adults and consistency in their lives. Parents also rely on you for advice on raising their precious little ones.

Before I began working for the YWCA, I was a child care provider for 10 years. Through working with children, I became increasingly aware of just how important it is to be properly trained on how to care for them. I realized, the more resources I had to offer families, the more successful my program became. What I didn’t realize, was just how much the YWCA could help me out, especially when it came to expanding my own knowledge about child care, through ongoing Professional Development trainings.

 Training Topics and Expert Trainers

 We have several knowledgeable in-house trainers, as well as state certified trainers who present on a variety of training topics. We have trainers from out of state who graciously give up some of their time, to educate child care providers in our area. We also collaborate with two Early Childhood Mental Health Consultants who present on relevant topics.

Topics include, but are not limited to:

• Health and safety requirements
• CPR/First Aid- pediatric and adult
• State requirements
• Hot topics in child care
• Center daycare-based trainings
• Family home daycare-based trainings
• Self-care and wellness trainings, and more!

Finding YWCA Professional Development Trainings

The YWCA training calendar lists all our Professional Development trainings. Trainings are both online and in-person. Online trainings conveniently have links located in each training calendar. Most of our in-person trainings are hosted right here, in the YWCA conference rooms, however, trainers are able to present anywhere in Winnebago, Boone, Stephenson or JoDaviess Counties.

We release a training calendar for each season/quarter: Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring. The Summer 2024 training calendar is available now! These calendars can be found on our website at https://www.ywcanwil.org/childcare-home/professional-development/.

CPR/First Aid Trainings Information

One commonly asked question about Professional Development, focuses on CPR and First Aid offerings. The YWCA offers free pediatric and adult CPR and First Aid training to current childcare providers and those going through the process to become a licensed child care provider. Our training calendar is where you can find all of our CPR/First Aid training opportunities. Dates are listed along with all other Professional Development trainings. The classes we offer are in person and take place on a Saturday (9am- 2pm), right here, at the YWCA.

Register for a Training

To register for any current YWCA trainings, contact the Training Coordinator, Annemarie at: 815-484-9442 Ext 211 or AnnemarieT@ywcanwil.org. You can also visit our website at: https://www.ywcanwil.org/. Click on any of the Zoom links and enter your name and e-mail to register for a training of your choice. We look forward to your participation!

Annemarie, Training & Technical Assistance Coordinator