Thanks to a partnership between Kansas Child Care Training Opportunities and the Division of Information Technology at Kansas State University, early childhood professionals in Kansas will have access to a new statewide directory and professional empowerment portal.

According to K-State, the Division of Information Technology provided Kansas Child Care Training Opportunities, or KCCTO — a K-State-sponsored project that provides professional development and technical assistance to early childhood professionals across Kansas — with essential expertise and support in developing internal data systems to build the framework of a statewide early childhood workforce and training management system.

This collaboration has led to the development and launch of Career Advancement and Professional Empowerment, or Cape, which will equip early childhood professionals with a powerful tool for tracking and managing their professional development throughout their careers.

Key features of Cape include personalized profiles, statewide tools and resources, and the ability to view and manage professional growth over time, all on a single, centralized platform.

Built on the Salesforce platform, Cape is uniquely adaptable to meet the specific needs of early childhood professionals in Kansas. Its scalable and customizable design ensures that the system can address current workforce demands while evolving to meet future needs.

Cape had its soft launch with KCCTO in January and is set for its official debut in May 2025. With ongoing support from K-State’s Division of Information Technology, Cape is positioned to remain a dynamic and innovative resource for years to come. In just 11 short weeks since its soft launch, Cape has already made a significant impact across Kansas, including more than 7,000 training enrollments and more than 4,000 Cape accounts created by users from 99 out of Kansas’ 105 counties.

The project benefited from the expertise, collaboration and unwavering commitment of many additional statewide partners and agencies through the All In For Kansas Kids collaboration, including Child Care Aware of Kansas and early childhood state agencies such as the Kansas Children’s Cabinet and Trust Fund, the Kansas Department for Children and Families, the Kansas State Department of Education, and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, which served as the state lead.