Child Care Associates

What Child Care Associates does

Child Care Associates (CCA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered at 3000 E. Belknap, Fort Worth, Texas, founded in 1968 (originally as the Day Care Association of Fort Worth and Tarrant County). It is one of the largest child development nonprofits in Texas, directly operating 20+ early education campuses across Tarrant County (Fort Worth, Arlington, Mansfield, and Hurst) and serving more than 18,000 children and families annually, with a cumulative reach of 620,000+ children over 53+ years. Programs span Head Start and Early Head Start under federal grant 06CH011569 from the Office of Head Start / HHS, direct-operated CCA Studios for children ages 0-5, and the CCMS (Child Care Management Services) scholarship program which alone serves more than 12,000 children per year. Curantis extends scholarship administration into North Central Texas, and the Center for the Early Educator and TX Child Care Tools constitute workforce development and provider-resource sub-brands.

The business model is grant- and donation-funded rather than commercial: federal Head Start funds, state child care scholarship pass-throughs (administered in partnership with Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County), and charitable contributions (individual and corporate) are the primary revenue streams. Services to families are free for eligible Head Start participants and income-based or subsidized through the CCMS and Curantis scholarship networks spanning 1,600+ child care partners. The portfolio also includes the FIND! real-time child care search platform (developed with The Best Place for Kids!, CampFire, and Educational First Steps during COVID-19), home visiting, and emergency essential-worker financial assistance.

CCA's go-to-market is community-rooted rather than sales-driven: outreach to low-income and working families through community partnerships, school district and charter school collaborations, county workforce agency coordination, and a multi-channel presence including a website, social channels, and earned media. Reported outcomes include 83% kindergarten readiness among 3-4 year olds served, the 2025 Great Place To Work Certification, and CEO Kara Waddell's role as founding chair of the Early Learning Alliance (nearly 50 North Texas organizations) and membership on the Texas Frontline Child Care Task Force.

Name

Child Care Associates

Legal name

Child Care Associates

Website

https://childcareassociates.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1968

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

Child Care Associates is a Fort Worth-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 1968 that operates 20+ early education campuses and administers Head Start, CCMS scholarships, and the Center for the Early Educator to serve more than 18,000 low-income and working families annually across Tarrant County and North Texas.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Early Childhood Education Services

NAICS

Child Care Services (6244)

SIC

Services-Child Day Care Services (8351)

akta.pro primary industry

Early Head Start & Publicly Funded Infant/Toddler Programs (EDACAGAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Early Childhood Education & Childcare Nonprofits (BPAGADAA), Preschool Programs within Childcare Centers (EDACABAL)

Keywords

• Early childhood education
• Head Start programs
• Child care services
• Early educator workforce
• Child care scholarships

Headquarters

HQ city

Fort Worth

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices16 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Head Start/Early Head Start Grants: Federally-funded programs through the Office of Head Start (Grant Number 06CH011569) providing early childhood education services to eligible families.
2. State Child Care Scholarships: State-funded scholarship programs administered through CCMS for Tarrant County families and Curantis for North Central Texas families to help working parents pay for child care.
3. Donations and Charitable Contributions: Individual and corporate donations to support programs and keep studios open to all families.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Child Care Associates provides subsidized early childhood education and care to families in North Texas through direct operation of its CCA Studios and through scholarship administration. Its core programs are Head Start/Early Head Start, Pre-K, and the CCMS scholarship program that helps working parents pay for child care, complemented by Home Visiting, workforce development via the Center for the Early Educator, and the FIND! online child care search tool. The organization serves low-income and working families with children ages 0-5 free of charge or via state-funded scholarships.

Product overview

Child Care Associates operates a portfolio of early childhood education and care programs primarily in North Texas. The organization offers direct child care services through its CCA Studios (15+ campuses), administers the CCMS scholarship program serving over 12,000 children annually, partners with the national Head Start/Early Head Start programs, and provides workforce development through the Center for the Early Educator. Supporting programs include TX Child Care Tools for provider resources, Curantis for North Central Texas scholarships, Home Visiting services, and the FIND! child care search platform. All programs follow a whole-child, whole-family approach integrating education, health, nutrition, and family support.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Center for the Early Educator: A workforce development and research innovation dedicated to addressing the critical need in Texas for early educators, specifically for ensuring that the North Texas region has a well-educated and supported early educator workforce.
• Texas Child Care Tools
• CCMS (Child Care Management Services)
• Curantis

Products and services

• Head Start / Early Head Start Federal early childhood education programs serving children from birth to age 5 from low-income families, providing comprehensive early learning, health, nutrition, and family support services across 15 CCA-operated Head Start campuses.
• CCA Studios (Child Care Studios) Direct child care and early learning services operated at 15+ CCA campuses across Tarrant County, providing quality care for children ages 0-5 with focus on education, health, nutrition, and family support.
• CCMS (Child Care Management Services) Largest program of CCA, annually providing services to more than 12,000 children by assisting working parents with the cost of child care through a network of 1,600+ partner child care providers across North Texas.
• Texas Child Care Tools Online resource platform for child care providers offering negotiated discounts, handbooks, templates, advice, and proven strategies to help providers build better, more sustainable programs; a partnership between Child Care Associates and The Miles Foundation.
• Center for the Early Educator Workforce development and research initiative focused on addressing the critical need for early educators in Texas through credential development, career development, professional development, community-centered research, and collective capacity-building.
• Curantis Scholarship Program Scholarship program for families in North Central Texas to access child care subsidies, complementing CCMS services for Tarrant County families through a network of child care partners.
• Home Visiting Family support program for parents who are a child's first and most important teachers, helping boost parental confidence and skills when children are not ready for outside-home learning.
• FIND! Child Care Search Tool Online platform allowing families to search in real-time for nearby quality, available child care seats for children age 0-12 in Tarrant County, developed jointly with The Best Place for Kids!, CampFire, and Educational First Steps.
• Essential Worker Child Care Financial Assistance Emergency assistance program launched during COVID-19 to cover 100% of child care costs for essential service workers through CCMS, in partnership with Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County.

Quantifiable outcome

• 83 out of 100 children aged 3 and 4 from CCA program are on track for kindergarten readiness
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

14 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• The Best Place for Kids!coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020Partnership with The Best Place for Kids! to launch FIND!, an online platform allowing families to search in real-time for available quality child care slots. Also collaborated on business tools for workplaces to assess as 'Best Place for Working Parents.'
• CampFireminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020Partnered with CampFire alongside CCA and Educational First Steps to help stand up the FIND! childcare search platform for essential workers during COVID-19.
• Educational First StepsminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020Partnered with Educational First Steps alongside CCA and CampFire to help stand up the FIND! childcare search platform for essential workers during COVID-19.
• Office of Head Start / Administration for Children and FamiliescoreOthers · 1 January 2020CCA operates Head Start and Early Head Start programs under Grant Number 06CH011569 from the Office of Head Start within the Administration for Children and Families, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
• The Miles FoundationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTX Child Care Tools was created as a partnership between Child Care Associates and The Miles Foundation. This platform offers child care providers statewide easy-to-access tools, proven strategies, negotiated discounts, handbooks, templates, and advice to help them build better, more sustainable programs.
• Workforce Solutions for Tarrant CountycoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCCA-CCMS works with Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County to pay for the cost of childcare for more than 7,300 lower-income working families across the county. This partnership enables essential worker emergency assistance programs.
• CurantiscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorNorth Central Texas families may qualify for child care scholarships through Curantis partnership, extending CCA's reach beyond Tarrant County into North Central Texas.
• CCMS (Tarrant County)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorTarrant County families may find scholarships through Child Care Management Services (CCMS), CCA's largest program that annually provides services to more than 12,000 children by assisting working parents with the cost of child care.
• Ounce of PreventionminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborating on building educational leadership skills of early education campus directors using the Early Ed Essentials framework, alongside local funders and university evaluators.
• National League of CitiesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnering with National League of Cities on early education policy initiatives and advocacy.
• National Head Start AssociationminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnering with National Head Start Association on policy and advocacy to strengthen early education systems.
• Texas Care for ChildrenminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnering with Texas Care for Children on advocacy and policy initiatives to improve child care systems in Texas.
• Early Learning AlliancecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCCA President and CEO Kara Waddell served as founding chair and permanent leading member of Early Learning Alliance (ELA), an alliance of nearly 50 organizations and agencies in North Texas providing a united front to improve outcomes for children at scale.
• Tarrant Area Food BankminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnered with Tarrant Area Food Bank during COVID-19 to ensure families with young children have access to formula, diapers, and food supplies.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Learning Care Group: Multi-brand for-profit child care operator (Childtime, Tutor Time, La Petite Academy) serving ages 6 weeks to 12 years. Comparable in center-based infant-to-pre-K care and workforce scale, but for-profit and tuition-funded.
• Primrose Schools: Accredited private preschool franchise operating ~500 centers serving infants through pre-kindergarten with a kindergarten readiness focus; tuition-based franchise model with comparable age range and outcome orientation.
• YMCA of the USA: Nationwide nonprofit offering licensed infant care, preschool, before/after school, and youth programming through local Ys. Comparable in nonprofit center-based care serving working families, but with a much broader programming portfolio.
• KinderCare Learning Centers: Major for-profit national child care chain with hundreds of centers serving ages 6 weeks to 12 years. Overlap in licensed center-based early education for ages 0-5 and focus on school readiness, but tuition-funded and national rather than regionally-concentrated nonprofit.
• Save the Children: Global humanitarian NGO with significant U.S. early childhood and emergency child care programs. CEO Kara Waddell co-leads a subgroup of its National Emergency Child Care Task Force. Overlaps CCA in federally-funded early childhood services and policy advocacy.
• Bright Horizons Family Solutions: Largest U.S. for-profit operator of center-based child care and early education, serving infants through school-age, including employer-sponsored care. Comparable in center-based delivery for ages 0-5 but operates a tuition-based rather than grant-funded model.
• Boys & Girls Clubs of America: National nonprofit youth development organization with afterschool, summer, and family supports. Comparable in nonprofit structure and Texas presence, but CCA focuses specifically on ages 0-5 while BGCA concentrates on school-age children and teens.

Others

• National Head Start Association: Industry membership body representing Head Start grantees and advocating for Head Start funding; CCA partners with NHSA on policy. Serves the same federally-funded early childhood population but functions as an association rather than a direct provider.

Direct peers

• The Ounce of Prevention Fund: National early childhood education nonprofit advocating for and delivering quality ECE for low-income families, with strong policy and research capabilities; CCA's stated partner on building educational leadership of campus directors. Same whole-child, whole-family approach and publicly-funded model.
• Educational First Steps: Dallas-based early childhood education nonprofit focused on improving quality in child care centers serving low-income families; direct partner of CCA on the FIND! platform. Closely comparable in mission, target population, Texas footprint, and nonprofit operating model.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/ChildCareAssoc
• Facebookfacebook.com/childcareassociates
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/child-care-associates
• Instagraminstagram.com/childcareassoc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles25 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Child Care Associates