What is the Accreditation Facilitation Project (AFP)?

Connecticut's Accreditation Facilitation Project (AFP) encourages early care and education programs to participate in the process of National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) Accreditation. The accreditation process is a professional, national, voluntary, self-study and assessment system for early childhood programs. The goal of the Accreditation Facilitation Project is to:

• Improve the quality of early care and education by encouraging programs to participate in the NAEYC Accreditation process.
• Provide an ongoing support system for early care and education programs as they work through the NAEYC Accreditation process.

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The AFP, established in 1991, was designed to provide intensive support and financial assistance to early care and education providers seeking NAEYC accreditation. The project, originally a collaborative effort between the Hartford Association for the Education of Young Children (HAEYC) and the Hartford Area Child Care Collaborative partnered these two organizations to implement a support initiative in the Greater Hartford area. Under funding from the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, during the project's first seven years 100 sites participated in individualized assistance and achieved NAEYC Accreditation.

In 1997, the Connecticut Legislature passed a landmark school readiness bill (PA97-258) that named the AFP as the model for a statewide effort of accreditation support to licensed child care centers and linked the AFP with Connecticut Charts-A-Course. By early 1998, the AFP operated throughout the state. To date the AFP has supported 450 programs in Connecticut.

The Accreditation Facilitation Project is funded by the Department of Social Services. Additionally, the Connecticut Department of Education supports the cost of NAEYC fees for programs serving 3, 4, and 5 year olds with identified disabilities and training delivered in conjunction with SERC.