The pandemic created an unprecedented burden on children and families already struggling to make ends meet, so CCRC leveraged funding and development new funding sources to answer that call for help. Our 2021 spending on services, supplies, food, clothing, and emergency child care was substantial, leading CCRC to be ranked second on a recent San Fernando Valley Business Journal list of top spending nonprofits.
“If you’re too small, you can’t do very much,” said CCRC President & CEO Dr. Michael Olenick. “We’re six or seven times larger than what we were when I started 20 years ago, and our size really gives us the ability to ramp up and do a lot of things other agencies can’t do because they’re just trying to survive. Lean isn’t the right word, other agencies really are starved in terms of funding and what they can do.”
The SFVBJ regularly publishes lists that rank businesses on various areas of focus. In its list of nonprofit organizations with the highest expenditures, CCRC was ranked second for spending $398 million of our $402 million revenue in 2021. The previous year, we spent $330 million of our $335 million revenue. We’re proud to share that those funds helped provide emergency child care services to essential workers, provided food and other necessities to families, and supplied child care providers with personal protective equipment and cleaning supplies, among other items.
“Over the last few years, we really got into the business of distributing essential items, partially because of the pandemic but also it was something we’d been doing for a long time,” said Olenick. “We also recently received a grant for refrigeration so we can give away perishable food items to families. So, we’re really growing that out and I’m proud of the diverse ways in which we can truly support families.”
The items distributed in 2021 include:
- Over 1,000 school supplies
- More than 17,000 age-appropriate books
- 1.63 million masks
- Over 11,000 bags of food
- More than 372,000 toiletry items
- 554,000 diapers and wipes
“We just wanted to say how grateful we are that CCRC is able to provide supplies for us and we in turn can help our families. During this crisis, most of us are struggling just to get the things we need on a regular basis. We couldn’t ask for a better program to be a part of,” shared one child care provider.
CCRC also supplied providers with laptops and internet technology so children in their care could continue with virtual schooling.
“Because of their big help, we can survive it, we can keep our high quality childcare,” another provider told us. “The parents are so happy. We do everything for families and they feel secure knowing they’re bringing their children to a safe environment.”
Each dollar we receive through our diverse funding streams of local, state and federal funds, as well as generous donations, is poured back into the community. CCRC believes in uplifting families and we’re grateful to be a trusted administrator of critical resources and funding.
