Organizational History

Child Care Aware^® of Missouri has been the state’s leading source for child care information, referrals, and child care industry workforce development for nearly 25 years.

Child Care Aware® of Missouri (CCAMO) is dedicated to improving early childhood experiences and environments during a child’s first 2,000 days of life.

• CCAMO has been a Child Care Aware® of America member since 2000. This membership allows our nonprofit entity to leverage a national platform to educate policymakers on child care policies that benefit children and families. CCAMO collaborates with local and statewide advocacy organizations to influence action and change to provide Missouri a more robust, high-quality early care and education system.

• CCAMO raises the quality of early care and education experiences through training, coaching, business support, and policy work to create lasting change. In 2023, the nonprofit’s initiatives and services positively impacted more than 11,000 ECE educators, over 5,300 families, and more than 126,000 children statewide.

• In 2000, CCAMO became the exclusive license holder for the T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® Missouri Scholarship Program. Increasing early care and education professionals’ education, compensation and retention, the program has awarded more than 2,700 scholarships statewide. T.E.A.C.H. MISSOURI offers early childhood professionals the opportunity to earn national credentials, college credit hours, AA and BA degrees or a master’s certificate in early childhood education.

• Since 2014, the nonprofit has held the exclusive license for Show Me Child Care Resources, a web-based portal providing more than 2,000 resources for child care educators and business owners to help achieve successful program management. This includes providing access to discounted telehealth/mental health services to support the overall well-being of the child care workforce.

• In 2023, CCAMO launched Child Care Keeps Missouri Working℠ (CCKMW), a statewide campaign addressing Missouri’s child care crisis. As Missouri’s premier child care navigation service, CCKMW helps businesses experience improved workforce stability by retaining employees who might otherwise struggle with attendance. Additional benefits for businesses include increased productivity, unique benefits that attract candidates, and savings in recruitment and turnover costs. CCKMW also assists Missouri employers in industries with non-traditional hours, a significant parental workforce, and those experiencing retention challenges due to the lack of child care support.

• CCAMO is in the top 1% of nonprofit agencies out of more than 30,000 nonprofit organizations in the St. Louis region designated as a Better Business Bureau Accredited Charity.