Contact us

Please call the Front Desk at 510-437-2743

Hours of Operation

Base Alameda USCG CDC is open Monday through Friday from 0600 to 1700.
Closures include all Federal Holidays:

• New Year's Day
• Martin Luther King Jr. Day
• Presidents' Day
• Memorial Day
• Juneteenth
• Independence Day
• Labor Day
• Columbus Day
• Veterans' Day
• Thanksgiving Day
• Christmas Day

The CDC closes at noon or 4pm on certain days of the year…contact the front desk for more information.

Program Objective – Learning Through Play

We strongly believe in the value of learning through play.  For young children, meaningful and long-lasting learning requires active thinking and experimenting to find out how things work.  This is best accomplished through purposeful play.  All of our programs follow the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) guidelines for Developmentally Appropriate Practices and use The Creative Curriculum® by Teaching Strategies, Inc. to ensure appropriate content and assessments for Infant, Toddler, Jr. Preschool and Preschool children. 

Programs

The CDC offers five full-time programs for children aged six weeks through 5 years of age. They are as follows:

1. Infant Program: The Infant Program accommodates a maximum of 8 infants ranging in age from six weeks to approximately 15 months. 
2. Pre-Toddler Program: The Pre-Toddler Program accommodates a maximum of 10 children ranging in age from roughly 12 months to 24 months. 
3. Toddler Program: The Toddler Program accommodates a maximum of 14 children ranging in age from roughly 24 months to 3 years.
4. Preschool Program:  The Jr. Preschool Program accommodates a maximum of 20 children ranging in age from roughly 3 years to 4 years.
5. Pre-K Program: The Preschool Program accommodates a maximum of 10 children ranging in age from roughly 4 years through 5 years.

Philosophy

The Base Alameda USCG Child Development Center provides high quality educational and recreational programs for children. Teams of caring, knowledgeable teachers plan developmentally-appropriate curriculum that responds to the unique needs, abilities, and interests of children. Our early childhood educators are trained to foster a sense of independence, trust, inclusion, community and responsibility within each child through understanding and respectful interactions. Our center supports the ideas, cultures, and values of our families. We advocate for children, families, and other child professionals within our programs and surrounding communities.

Goals

Children learn about their world through interpersonal relationships, exposure to diverse experiences and exploration in creative play. The CDC strives to promote optimum social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development as well as their creativity, independence and self-esteem in a safe, loving positive and nurturing environment with the following goals in mind:

• Promote social competence and positive relationships with others
• Build physical development and skills
• Foster emotional well-being and a sense of trust and respect for self and others
• Encourage children to think, reason, question and experiment
• Develop initiative, problem-solving, and decision-making skills
• Advance creative expression, representation, and appreciation for the arts
• Promote language and literacy development
• Develop self-discipline and the ability to seek out and complete self-selected tasks

Curriculum

Here at Base Alameda USCG Child Development Center, we model our curricula based on the Creative Curriculum approach, drawing from a Play-Based and Emergent philosophy while utilizing Teaching Strategies Gold®. Our professionally trained teaching staff generate weekly lesson plans that are developmentally appropriate to meet the needs and interest of your children.

Play-Based

What is play-based learning?

Children are naturally motivated to play. A play-based program builds on this motivation, using play as a context for learning. In this context, children can explore, experiment, discover and solve problems in imaginative and playful ways.

A play-based approach involves both child-initiated and teacher-supported learning. The teacher encourages children's learning and inquiry through interactions that aim to stretch their thinking to higher levels.

For example, while children are playing with blocks, a teacher can pose questions that encourage problem solving, prediction and hypothesizing. The teacher can also bring the child's awareness towards mathematics, science and literacy concepts, allowing them to engage with such concepts through hands-on learning. (Kimberton Waldorf School, 2018)

Emergent Curriculum

Rooted in the work of noted early childhood theorists like Dewey, Piaget, and Vygotsky, emergent curriculum is defined as a process where teachers plan activities and projects based on the specific group of children they are working with, taking into account their skills, needs, and interests. In an emergent curriculum program, what happens in side by side classrooms will look different because of the varying skills, interests, and needs of the children within those classrooms. A teacher takes into account all that he/she knows about individuals and the particular group of children he/she teaches and plans accordingly.

A successful emergent curriculum approach means that teachers thoughtfully plan the environment, offering many visible choices, based on the children's skills and needs. Teachers conduct observations and plan based on their observations of children. (Bright Horizons Family Solutions, 2019)

Staff to Child Ratios

Staff to child ratios are established by COMDTINST M1754.15 4-4 and are as follows:

• Infants                1:4
• Pre-Toddlers      1:5
• Toddlers             1:7
• Preschool      1:10
• Pre-K            1:10

Part-Time and Drop-In Care

Part-time and Daily drop-in care is provided on a case-by-case basis, when ratio allows and is only available for ages 3-5. All registration forms must be completed and current immunizations must be on file to qualify.  Reservations must be made in advance and are granted on a first come, first served basis, in accordance with eligibility priorities.  Fee schedules are available at the CDC.

Children with special needs are eligible for CDC enrollment.  Initially, a Child Health Form (CG-5484A) must completed by the child's physician and submitted to the CDC.  A Special Needs Resource Team (SNRT) then determines if CDC enrollment is appropriate for the child and how to best meet the child's needs.  If the SNRT determines a different environment would better suit the child, the CDC and Family Resource Specialist will make a referral.

Eligibility

The CDC accepts children without regard to sex, race, culture, religion, or national origin.  Children shall be accepted according to the following priorities, as determined by the status of the parent(s):

Family Eligibility

To participate in military child care, your family must meet the basic eligibility requirements defined by the DoD. To qualify as an eligible sponsor, you must be one of the listed sponsor types.

• Child Development Program Staff
• Active Duty Combat-Related Wounded Warrior
  • To qualify, the sponsor must be in active duty status and require hospitalization, extensive rehabilitation, or significant care from a spouse or care provider and require full-time child care. Visit the FAQ page for more information.
• Active Duty Military
• Guard/Reserve Members on Active Duty
• DoD Civilian
• Coast Guard Civilian
• Gold Star Spouse (Combat-Related)
• DoD Contractor
• Other Federal Employee
• Deactivated Guard/Reserve Personnel or Inactive Guard/Reserve in a Training Status
• Military Retiree
• Other Sponsor Type

Family Type

MCC uses a combination of your eligible sponsor type and spouse status to assign a military family type to your household. MCC looks at all the information you enter to determine the family type that gives your family the highest priority for care.

In addition, to your sponsor information, MCC considers if you are single, or, if you are married, your spouse's status. If you are married, you will provide information about your spouse that helps determine your military family type.

We will consider if your spouse is:

• Active duty military, a Coast Guard member, or a Guard/Reserve member serving on active duty
• Working. And if so, if they are working full-time or part-time. DoD uses the following definitions to determine if your spouse is employed full-time or part-time:
  • Full-Time: working at least 30 hours per week or 100 hours per month. If working fewer hours, to qualify, you must also be enrolled in post-secondary education.
  • Part-Time: working less than 30 hours per week or 100 hours per month.
• Enrolled in a post-secondary program either full- or part-time
  • You will be asked to provide documentation that shows your spouse is enrolled full-time. If they are enrolled part-time and not working, then you will select non-working.
• Currently looking for employment
  • If your spouse is seeking employment and your child is enrolled in care, you must get a job within 90 days, or your child could be removed from care.
• Not currently working

Priority for Care

Military programs must serve the highest priority families first to ensure the most mission-critical families receive access to military child care. To ensure programs meet this requirement, DoD prioritizes your family based on your family type.

The information below lists the military family types in priority order.

Priority 1A: Child Development Program Staff

All families where the sponsor is a Child Development Program Staff member will have the same priority regardless of spouse status.

Priority 1B: Single/Dual Military and Military with a Full-Time Working Spouse

1. Active Duty Combat-Related Wounded Warrior
2. Single/Dual Active Duty Military/Coast Guard
3. Single/Dual Guard/Reserve on Active Duty
4. Active Duty Military/Coast Guard with Full-Time Working Spouse
5. Guard/Reserve on Active Duty with Full-Time Working Spouse

Priority 1C: Military with a Part-Time Working Spouse or Spouse Seeking Employment

1. Active Duty Military/Coast Guard with Part-Time Working Spouse or Spouse Seeking Employment
2. Guard/Reserve on Active Duty with Part-Time Working Spouse or Spouse Seeking Employment

Priority 1D: Military with a Spouse Enrolled Full-Time Student Spouse

1. Active Duty Military/Coast Guard with Full-Time Student Spouse
2. Guard/Reserve on Active Duty with Full-Time Student Spouse

Priority 2: Single/Dual DoD Civilians or DoD Civilian with a Full-Time Working Spouse

1. Single/Dual DoD or Coast Guard Civilian
2. DoD or Coast Guard Civilian with Full-Time Working Spouse

Priority 3: Space Available

1. Active Duty Military/Coast Guard or Guard/Reserve on Active Duty with Non-Working Spouse
2. DoD or Coast Guard Civilian with Spouse Seeking Employment
3. DoD or Coast Guard Civilian with Full-Time Student Spouse
4. Gold Star Spouse
5. Single/Dual DoD Contractor or DoD Contractor with a spouse who is Full-Time Working, Seeking Employment, or a Full-Time Student
6. In no order of precedence:
   • DoD or Coast Guard Civilian with Part-Time or Non-Working Spouse
   • DoD Contractor with Part-Time or Non-Working Spouse
   • Deactivated Guard/Reserve Personnel or Inactive Guard/Reserve in a Training Status
   • Other Federal Employees
   • Military Retirees

Note: In order to improve military members' access to child care, DoD policy allows lower priority families enrolled at a facility-based program to be disenrolled to accommodate higher priority families. Visit the FAQ page for more information.

Wait List

Interested in enrolling your child in our program? Visit MilitaryChildCare.com

How to Get Started? It’s Easy!

1. Create an Account

If you don’t already have an account, select "Create an Account" at the top of this page. Once you create an account, set up a Household Profile so you can search for care at any time from any location.

2. Search for and Request Care

Your MCC account gives you access to the full range of military child care programs. Request care as soon as you know your duty station and tentative arrival date to get on the waitlist. You can search multiple locations and submit requests for all the military child care options that meet your needs, including MCCYN, in your search area. Review the list of MCCYN providers to find participating providers in your area.

3. Wait for an Offer

You will receive an offer for care if space becomes available but no more than 30 days before the date you need care. Keep your email address up-to-date in your Household Profile so you do not miss these important messages.

4. Complete Registration and Upload Required Documents

If you receive an offer for care, you will receive a notification from MilitaryChildCare.com with instructions on how to accept the offer and next steps to enroll with your selected child care program or, if the offer is for MCCYN, complete your registration.

Tuition and Fees

Tuition is based on a sliding fee scale according to Total Family Income (TFI). TFI includes all gross earned income, including wages, salaries, tips, long-term disability benefits, voluntary salary deferral, housing allowances, subsistence allowance, in-kind quarters and subsistence received, and anything else of value, even if not taxable, that was received for providing services. Housing allowance and subsistence allowance means the Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) and the Basic Allowance for Subsistence (BAS) received by military personnel (with respect to grade and status) and the value of meals and lodging furnished in-kind to military personnel residing on military bases.

Parents must provide their last two LES' and or/pay stubs at the time of registration to verify TFI. Once annual income is determined, the CDC sliding scale is used to determine tuition costs. If parents do not wish to provide income information, they will be charged the highest tuition category. Call the front desk for a copy of the sliding fee scale.

Subject to tuition payment are base closures and training days. Tuition credits are not granted for any absences, including sick days, vacation, emergency closing or staff training.
Parents must provide the CDC with a written, two-week notice prior to withdrawing their child from the program. Failure to give notice will result in a balance due of two weeks tuition. The MWR collection process will be used to collect delinquent fees owed the CDC.

Coast Guard MCCYN

MCCYN is a fee assistance program that keeps affordable child care in reach of eligible families. Coast Guard MCCYN pays a monthly subsidy to help offset the cost of community based child care. The goal is to make it easier for you to afford quality child care from local community providers when you cannot access military-operated care.

Required Documentation

If you receive an offer for MCCYN, you will receive instructions on how to complete MCCYN registration and submit documentation to verify your eligibility. What's required is based on your sponsor type and spouse's status if you are married.

Email Contacts

• For MCCYN provider assistance, email providersupport.fct@navy.mil
• For help with MCCYN fee assistance claims, email claimsupport.fct@navy.mil
• For family assistance with MCCYN, email familysupport.fct@navy.mil
• For family assistance with MCC accounts or requests for Coast Guard or DoD operated child care, email FamilySupport@MilitaryChildCare.com 

Food Program

All children enrolled at the CDC will participate without charge in the USDA Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP).  The CDC receives partial reimbursement for all meals served so it is imperative that parents complete all appropriate CACFP forms upon registration and renew them annually.

All children present during food service times will be served.  No child will go longer than three hours without a meal or snack being offered.  Children arriving after mealtimes will not be served. 

• Breakfast          0800 to 0830
• Lunch               1100 to 1130
• Snack               1400 to 1430

Menus are carefully planned to exceed USDA standards and provide tasty, nutritious meals and snacks.  They are posted weekly at the CDC and emailed to the parents.

References:

Kimberton Waldorf School. (2018). The benefits of play-based education. Retrieved from: https://kimberton.org/play-based-education/

Bright Horizons Family Solutions. (2019). What is emergent curriculum & how it works. Retrieved from https://www.brighthorizons.com/family-resources/emergent-curriculum-early-education-approach

Teaching Strategies®. (2019). Our approach mission. Retrieved from: https://teachingstrategies.com/our-approach/mission/

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