Early Head Start National Resource Center - Early Head Start is a new program for low-income families with infants and toddlers and pregnant women. This new initiative was created with the reauthorization of the Head Start Act in 1994. Early Head Start programs seek to enhance very young children’s development and promote healthy family functioning and self-sufficiency. This federal commitment includes training, program standards, research and evaluation, and service coordination at the regional and national level.

Handsnet- HandsNet is a national, nonprofit organization that promotes information sharing, cross-sector collaboration and advocacy among individuals and organizations working on a broad range of public interest issues. HandsNet on the web offers daily news from HandsNet on CONNECT, information about our services, our forums and members, the latest Action Alerts and our Weekly Digest, a sample from the hundreds of policy, program and resources articles posted each week by HandsNet members. HandsNet on CONNECT, a full-featured network environment with interactive forums for human service organizations to exchange information and resources, and collaborate on a broad range of program and policy issues.

IdeaList Directory of Non-Profit Web Sites - (ACTIONWITHOUTBORDER) - Idealist is an online resource for nonprofit and community organizations and the people they serve. Idealist allows organizations - whether they have a Website or not - to enter and update information about their services, volunteer opportunities, job openings, internships, upcoming events, and any material or publication they have produced. 11,000 organizations in 125 countries are already using Idealist.

NaniNet - NaniNet features a searchable database of nanny placement agencies and nanny referral services, directories of firms offering nanny tax services, nanny health and workman's compensation insurance, nanny background verification, and a reading room with articles of interest to nannies and nanny employers. Many nanny placement agencies and nanny referral services provide the visitor with additional information about their nanny services.

National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies - They are a national non-profit dedicated to providing the most up-to-date and useful information to parents seeking child care, child care professionals, NACCRRA members, and child care advocates.

National Association for the Education of the Young Child - The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) is the nation's largest organization of early childhood professionals and others dedicated to improving the quality of early childhood education programs for children birth through age eight. It includes a national network of greater than 400 local, state, and regional early childhood organizations affiliated with NAEYC. Their primary goals are improving professional practice and working conditions in early childhood education and building public understanding and support for high quality early childhood programs.

National Child Care Information Center - The NCCIC has been established to complement, enhance and promote child care linkages and to serve as a mechanism for supporting quality, comprehensive services for children and families.

National Children's Coalition - A central resource and referral center for information on issues and activities centered around American children and teens. Established to advocate for a much more substantial and urgent effort to stem the growing crisis of our kids: the epidemic child abuse, the alarming suicide rate among our teens, violence directed at and even by children, AIDS, runaways, domestic violence and latchkey children and a lack of adequate activities and opportunities for youth, particularly in cities. It helps other groups with fundraising, creation of local radio public service announcements, media advocacy, affordable Web pages--and effective communication with each other.

National Parent Information Network (NPIN) - NPIN is an extensive collection of materials for parents and those who work with them. The full texts of brochures, pamphlets, and longer publications for pars and family support personnel are here. There are links to other parenting sites. The site contains information about the "Families, Technology and Education Initiative".

National Research Institutes - Section (f): NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT AND EDUCATION which is part of SEC. 931. ESTABLISHMENT WITHIN THE OFFICE OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH AND IMPROVEMENT. of the EDUCATE AMERICA ACT, One Hundred Third Congress of the United States of America. At the Second Session in 1994.

Office of Educational Research & Improvement - The Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) provides national leadership for educational research and statistics. OERI strives to promote excellence and equity in American education by conducting research and demonstration projects funded through grants to help improve education; collecting statistics on the status and progress of schools and education throughout the nation; and distributing information and providing technical assistance to those working to improve education. OERI offers a variety of services to customers through its library, institutes and program-specific offices.

Packard Foundation "The Future of Children" - The primary purpose of "The Future of Children" is to disseminate timely information on major issues related to children's well-being, with special emphasis on providing objective analysis and evaluation, translating existing knowledge into effective programs and polices, and promoting constructive institutional change. In attempting to achieve these objectives, they are targeting a multidisciplinary audience of national leaders, including policymakers, practitioners, legislators, executives, and professionals in the public and private sectors. This publication is intended to complement, not duplicate, the kind of technical analysis found in academic journals and the general coverage of children's issues by the popular press and special interest groups.

Parents Place - ParentsPlace.com is a place where parents of all types connect, communicate and celebrate the adventures of childrearing. Through their bulletin boards and chats, members share insights and lend a supportive ear. You can talk about women's health, child development, your daily pet peeves, schoolwork, discipline issues, current family-related politics, or even a fiction bookclub. In addition to community, members can access the wisdom of professional experts (all of whom are parents themselves) and take advantage of daily features.

Research Triangle Institute - Project BEGIN - Research Triangle Institute has received funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for an ambitious, eight-year project designed to test the effectiveness of a family and early childhood program in varied community settings. Project BEGIN (Bringing Early Growth and Development Into Neighborhoods) targets families with children from birth through age three whose mothers did not finish high school. Studies have shown that these children are at greater risk for developmental delay and poor school performance. These delays are partly preventable through high quality early intervention programs. More than 5,000 children at 10 different sites across the country are expected to participate in the study.

The Urban Institute - A document presented by the The Urban Institute entitled "Services for Low-Income Children". This special section looks at some recently expanded federal entitlement programs that include benefits to children. It provides an overview of findings from selected Urban Institute research on the effects of these expansions on the accessibility, cost, quality, and use of these programs by low-income parents and their children.

Working Mother Lifenet - Child Care: How Does Your State Rate? This careful and thorough investigation of how each state meets its responsibility in caring for kids is simply not available anywhere else: It is a report that readers, advocates and state officials can use to compare their states with others, and work to further improve programs and services for the nation's children. Their commitment is to look at whether state officials make child care a high priority. They are especially interested in the actions of the governor and state lawmakers, who have the power to both make policy and set aside money to improve and expand child care. Currently, you may search through the database by state.

Research Forum on Children, Families, and the New Federalism - The Research Forum on Children, Families and the New Federalism was created in January, 1997 to facilitate the development of high quality, policy relevant research about the effects of the new federalism on poor and vulnerable populations. The Forum is directed by Barbara B. Blum and hosted by the National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) at the C

International

UNESCO's Early Childhood and Children's Rights Activities - UNESCO's Early Childhood and Family Education (ECF) Unit co-ordinates research, activities and initiatives undertaken by UNESCO in early childhood care and education, parent and family education, and in favour of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. With the help of its specialized services, its roster of consultants, its partnership with United Nations agencies. UNESCO undertakes actions in the area of : Early Childhood Education; Training of Early Childhood Personnel; Early Childhood Information and Documentation; Educating for the Convention on the Rights of the Child.