By Maggie Downs
Enquirer staff writer

WALNUT HILLS - The childhood care resource and referral agency 4C is kicking off a $2 million fund-raiser today and breaking ground on a new building.

The agency is launching "Bright Beginnings, Brighter Futures: A Campaign for All Children," at its future home, 1924 Dana Ave., Evanston.

The 32-year-old agency provides support to two main audiences:

• Parents looking for early childhood care help.

• People who work in the early childhood education field.

The new campaign will raise money for the 4C Institute for Early Childhood Education, a system of coursework and support for child care providers. The goal is to improve the knowledge and skills that educators bring to the classroom.

"The courses will take a tiered approach to learning so people new to the field will have a core knowledge of children's learning," said executive director Sallie Westheimer. "Better-educated caregivers will result in better-educated children."

Through tools such as on-site training, distance learning, coaching, career counseling and research, the institute will reach about 2,000 Greater Cincinnati caregivers who oversee about 16,000 children.

The courses will carry college credit.

The plan was developed three years ago as a way to bring better training to the child care profession. Teachers and aides in child care can work now without credentials and training.

The institute will instruct and mentor these providers.

4C, which originally stood for Comprehensive Community Child Care, covers five counties in Ohio and eight in Northern Kentucky. It was founded in 1972 by a coalition of agencies dedicated to child care.

E-mail mdowns@enquirer.com