The Child Care Planning Council is listing these resources for informational purposes and does NOT endorse any of them!

Overview of Recent Green Child Care Laws

• Recent Green Child Care Laws
  The Child Care Planning Council provides a brief summary of federal and state laws related to renovations, toys, and integrated pest management.
  More... *

Certification / Easy Steps to “Green” Your Program

The Oregon Environmental Council has a checklist for green child care programs: http://www.oeconline.org/our-work/kidshealth/ehcc

In California, Phil Boise is developing a certification list and has background information at http://www.greenchildcare.org/Home_Page.php

The United States Green Building Council leads a national coalition of leaders from across the building industry working to promote buildings that are environmentally responsible, profitable and healthy places to live and work. USGBC has developed the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System, as a voluntary, consensus-based national standard for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings. USGBC offers trainings and certifications based on the LEED program and hosts the annual green building conference Green Build.
More...

The Coalition for High Performance Schools offers building certification programs and other school related resources that are adaptable for child care facilities http://www.chps.net/.

Local child care resource and referral agencies may have staff who have additional resources or assistance.

Toxic Free Buildings, Practices and Furnishings

Background Information
The California Child Care Health program offers numerous online written resources and some training on a range of topics including:

• least toxic cleaning
• indoor air quality
• integrated pest management at: http://www.ucsfchildcarehealth.org/html/pandr/pandrmain.htm

Some materials are available in Spanish as well as English.

Integrated Pest Management
See Child Care Health Program website: http://www.ucsfchildcarehealth.org/html/pandr/pandrmain.htm

Cleaning/Building Maintenance
4Cs of Alameda County offers (for programs in Southern Alameda County) an asthma training and on-site assistance program for food program participants to help providers reduce allergens in their homes which includes information on green cleaning.  More...

Toy Testing
The Center for Environmental Health has resources to test toys for toxic substances. More...

Lead Abatement Assistance and Resources
Alameda County offers a lead poisoning prevention program that offers online information, classes, and services to help support healthy living and working environments, including asthma reduction and cleaning resources. More...

Buildings
Project FROG manufactures green modulars which can house child care programs.  More...

Green Buying Guides

This buying guide developed for “green schools” lists resources for purchasing non toxic or recycled products such as art supplies, office supplies and pest control. More...

Sustainable Use of Resources

Energy Systems
The California Preschool Energy Efficiency Program provides grants to non-profit and for profit child care programs to exchange light bulbs which can result in significant annual cost savings for programs. More...

Stopwaste.org has resources, including grants, to support with recycling as well as a green business certification program.

* Portable Document Format (PDF) file requires the free Adobe Reader.