About Terri Lynne Lokoff Child Care Foundation

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The Terri Lynne Lokoff Child Care Foundation (TLLCCF) is a nonprofit 501 (c)(3) organization dedicated to making America better by improving early care and education. Our focus is to improve the quality of programs that care for and educate children from birth through age five, and enlist and enlighten others to do the same.

The Foundation recognizes that quality early care and education depends on the expertise of teachers and providers. To that end, we honor and reward early education teachers dedicated to excellence, support nonprofit and nonsectarian child care centers, provide art and cultural programs to child care centers serving low income areas, and advocate for early care and education every day. TLLCCF’s funds have benefited thousands of children, child care centers, child care teachers and educational scholarships at many outstanding child care agencies and academic institutions throughout the nation. We are committed to ensuring the availability of affordable, high-quality child care for all children in order to reap the educational, societal and economic benefits that will follow for all Americans.

The societal benefits generated as a result of children attending high-quality early care and education programs are documented in The High Scope Perry Preschool Study through Age 40 summary, which concludes that every dollar invested in early care and education has a return of $17. The long-term benefits translate into savings on remedial and special education, reduces the number reliant on welfare, and entering the prison system. Children who have had the benefit of high-quality early care and education contribute to society as taxpayers with higher earning potential. The children are also at a lower risk for becoming teenage parents and drug users.

In August 1987, Fred and Kay Lokoff founded the TLLCCF to honor the memory of their daughter Terri, who died tragically in an auto accident.. Terri earned a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education and worked as a child care teacher. She had an extraordinary sense of devotion and love for her work and felt strongly about the need to improve the quality of child care. We work every day to fulfill Terri’s efforts.

The TLLCCF Mission strives to:

• Improve the quality of child care for all children
• Support and elevate the status of child care teachers and providers
• Raise awareness of the need for affordable, quality child care
• Partner with businesses and government in making child care a priority

We accomplish this in part through the National Child Care Teacher Awards™, Child Care Center Enhancement Grants, Museums to Go, conferences, and scholarships.