The Next Evolution of CCR&Rs: Technology That Works WITH You, Not Around You 

How TOOTRiS & WorkLife Systems (WLS) can elevate CCR&Rs to automate the busy work, empower staff, and do more of what impacts system change.

The Child Care landscape is evolving — and at the heart of that evolution are the dedicated Child Care Resource & Referral (CCR&R) agencies across the country who serve children, families, and providers every day. You’ve built trust, forged partnerships, nurtured relationships, and developed systems that power your mission.  

So, when change arrives — especially in the form of an acquisition — it’s natural to feel uncertainty and fear, and to have a lot of questions. 

Let us be clear: TOOTRiS didn’t acquire WorkLife Systems (WLS) to replace CCR&Rs. We acquired WLS to amplify your work, enhance your tools, and expand your reach. You are the heart of the early childhood care ecosystem. Our role is to be the wind beneath your wings. 

This partnership is about empowerment — giving CCR&Rs access to state-of-the-art technology, deeper customer support, and bold new opportunities, while keeping the personal, mission-driven touch you and your communities have established and rely on. 

The Vision Behind TOOTRiS – Meet Alessandra Lezama 

“When I started TOOTRiS, my goal was to transform Child Care by making high-quality care accessible and affordable for all families. Achieving this vision takes more than innovative technology or investment — it requires the deep expertise of early childhood leaders, like those in CCR&R agencies, who truly understand the needs of their communities.” 

– Alessandra Lezama, TOOTRiS Founder & CEO

At the center of TOOTRiS is a leader whose journey mirrors the challenges many families face — and the bold possibilities they can unlock. 

Alessandra Lezama, TOOTRiS Founder and CEO, is a former Montessori guide, a single mother, and an immigrant who came to the U.S. 24 years ago with a four-month-old baby and a fierce determination to create a better future. 

With grit, vision, and heart, she climbed the executive ranks, leading four technology companies to global scale, breaking barriers in male-dominated industries, and winning numerous innovation and leadership awards along the way. But her purpose has always remained crystal clear —building a world where all parents, especially women, have access to the resources they need. 

Today, Alessandra is a national force in reimagining Child Care, transforming it from a personal challenge into a strategic workplace benefit and community solution. Her vision is bold, but deeply personal — unifying the Child Care ecosystem (parents, providers, employers, and government agencies) so everyone can achieve their absolute potential.

Alessandra’s story is a reminder that every working parent deserves opportunity, flexibility, and support. And that every CCR&R is a critical part of making that vision real. 

Supporting What’s Working — And Scaling What’s Possible 

From the beginning, Alessandra’s goal has been clear — preserve the integrity of what works and expand the possibilities of what’s next. TOOTRiS entered this partnership not to disrupt, but to strengthen and scale the vital work that WLS and CCR&Rs have led for decades. 

We deeply honor the legacy WLS has built, the trust it holds, the relationships it has cultivated, and the tireless service it has provided to children, families, and providers across the country. That’s why our first priority was continuity. We took a business-as-usual approach to ensure a seamless experience for all. Your existing relationships with WLS remain in place. The people you know and trust — Theresa, Cassy, and Ching  — are still your direct points of contact.  

What’s changed is that now, they are backed by the full force of TOOTRiS — a national technology company dedicated to transforming the Child Care landscape with innovation and equity at the core. This means your WLS team is now surrounded by a powerful infrastructure of support: 

• Senior Customer Success Leaders who understand the nuances of community relationships and program operations 
• Seasoned Software Engineers focused on user-centered design and long-term platform resilience 
• Strategic CCR&R Advisors, including Mindy Bennett, a trusted national leader with over 30 years of experience advocating for Child Care systems and CCR&Rs 

Together, this integrated team brings 10x the technical depth, expanded bandwidth to develop new features, and robust customer service resources to respond to your needs with speed, empathy, and precision. 

To ensure a thoughtful, collaborative transition, we launched a national engagement plan focused on listening, learning, and co-creating: 

• Virtual demos and technical Q&As that provide real-time insight and transparency 
• One-on-one meetings to hear your unique challenges and goals 
• Webinars that bring peers together to share best practices and collective wisdom 
• Our upcoming Wind Beneath Your Wings Summit in September, which will serve as a shared visioning space for CCR&Rs to shape the future of Child Care delivery — side by side 

Our approach is simple but powerful: listen first, build trust, and move forward together. This isn’t about replacing systems — it’s about amplifying impact. With TOOTRiS, CCR&Rs don’t lose their identity or influence; they gain new tools, deeper support, and a seat at additional tables to help shape smarter, scalable solutions. 

We believe CCR&Rs are not just critical stakeholders — they are changemakers, and our role is to support, not supplant. That’s why we’re investing in your success and co-designing this next chapter with you — because when your voice leads, the entire system gets stronger. 

Strengthened Data Security, Respect for Your Autonomy

With great technology comes great responsibility. At TOOTRiS, safeguarding your data is a top priority. We undergo annual SOC 2 Type II compliance audits through third-party assessor Coalfire, maintaining the highest industry standards for security, availability, and confidentiality (Our SOC 2 Type II reports are available to customers upon request).

 In addition, we follow robust internal protocols, including regular security audits and data protection policies, to ensure ongoing vigilance. This level of compliance now extends to WLS systems as part of our unified commitment to data protection. However, any integration between your current WLS database and TOOTRiS systems will occur only at your request, with your clear direction and full coordination. We do not move without you.

When—and only when—you’re ready, we’ll be there with secure, scalable tools and a seamless process to unlock new capabilities. This approach respects your current systems while offering powerful access to enhanced technology and resources that expand your impact.

Technology Integration: Enhancing Efficiency, Insights, & Impact 

TOOTRiS brings a robust foundation of technological innovation and engineering that could meaningfully elevate the infrastructure and operational capacity of WLS. As a technology-first company, TOOTRiS has built the nation’s largest, real-time Child Care platform — leveraging cloud computing, AI-driven search algorithms, API integrations, and data analytics — to optimize Child Care access for families which can enable CCR&Rs to maximize their social and economic reach. 

Through our partnership, TOOTRiS is uniquely positioned to expand on WLS’s existing digital tools and develop new, scalable solutions that streamline workflows, reduce administrative burden, and dramatically enhance reporting and data insight. This frees up critical staff time and resources, allowing more energy and effort to be directed toward direct community service. 

Potential areas of technological advancement could include: 

• Customizable Data Dashboards: TOOTRiS can help WLS transition from static reporting to dynamic, real-time dashboards that display key performance indicators, demographic insights, service utilization, and Child Care trends. These dashboards can be tailored for different stakeholder audiences—from executive leadership to policymakers—enhancing transparency, accountability, and strategic planning. 
• Integrated Provider Management Tools: Our platform can integrate with or enhance WLS’s provider-facing systems to improve provider onboarding, licensing support, professional development tracking, and communication. Automation and centralized access reduce duplication and empower providers with self-service tools while allowing WLS staff to focus on high-touch support and quality improvement. 
• Smart Referral Engines & Parent Matching: TOOTRiS uses intelligent search and geolocation features to match parents with care providers in real time based on availability, care preferences, schedules, and subsidy eligibility. We can extend these capabilities to WLS’s services, improving outcomes for families by increasing speed, accuracy, and satisfaction with referrals—particularly for underserved or high-need populations. 
• Automated Eligibility Screening & Enrollment: TOOTRiS can build digital workflows for subsidy programs, enabling families to complete eligibility screenings, document uploads, and enrollment processes online—reducing paperwork, accelerating approvals, and minimizing errors. 
• API Connectivity for Seamless Integration: Our tech stack supports API development to ensure that new tools can connect with WLS’s current software, such as case management systems, CRM tools, or government reporting databases. This reduces the current need to duplicate data entry into multiple systems. It also promotes continuity, reduces silos, and ensures that any new system complements existing infrastructure rather than replacing it. 

“Child Care Answers recognized the need to embrace technology as a way to connect with employers.”

Ultimately, our goal is to make technology invisible — but indispensable. When integrated thoughtfully, technology becomes a silent enabler, empowering staff, increasing transparency, and expanding WLS’s reach and efficacy across the Bay Area and beyond. 

Building on Your Mission: Catalyzing Generational Change Together 

At our core, TOOTRiS shares WLS’s unwavering commitment to advancing Child Care access as a foundation for family economic mobility, educational equity, and generational opportunity. We recognize that WLS’s work is deeply rooted in community, equity, and advocacy — principles that guide our own approach to system-wide transformation. 

By joining forces, we can multiply the impact of your mission — together building a more just and inclusive Child Care ecosystem. TOOTRiS is not merely a service provider, we are a strategic partner aligned with your purpose and passionate about your goals. 

Here’s how our values and capabilities intersect with your mission to create powerful forward momentum: 

• Expanding Access with Precision: WLS has spent decades ensuring that families—especially those who are low-income, immigrant, monolingual, or living in Child Care deserts—can access the resources they need. TOOTRiS complements this mission by offering digital pathways that remove logistical barriers and expand visibility into available care options, including nontraditional hours, language preferences, and special needs accommodations. Together, we ensure every family sees themselves in the system and can navigate it with dignity and agency. 
• Elevating Provider Sustainability: WLS has long championed Child Care providers as essential economic engines and educators. TOOTRiS strengthens this by helping providers fill empty slots in real-time, improve financial forecasting, digitize their business practices, and gain access to professional development. Our tools not only increase their stability but allow them to invest more in quality improvement — amplifying WLS’s work around provider coaching and quality standards. 
• Real-Time Access to Data: Through TOOTRiS, CCR&Rs will be able to pull down accurate information around real time openings for any providers on TOOTRiS, as well as the rates they are charging. This saves CCR&Rs staff significant time, eliminating the need to contact providers on a monthly basis to get the information.
• Driving Systems Change Through Data: WLS is already a trusted convener and policy advocate in the region. Through deeper technology integration, TOOTRiS can support WLS in gathering granular, anonymized data that highlights disparities, identifies trends, and informs advocacy efforts. Whether it’s making the case for increased public investment or tailoring outreach to underserved ZIP codes, better data strengthens your policy voice. 
• Building Capacity at Scale: With increasing demands on your team and growing complexity in Child Care delivery systems, WLS needs solutions that scale without sacrificing care. TOOTRiS brings this scalability—allowing WLS to grow its footprint and deepen its community impact without overextending staff or resources. 
• Co-Designing with Equity at the Center: Our development process is collaborative and inclusive. We don’t build solutions in isolation; we engage users—families, providers, and staff—at every stage. This ensures tools are culturally relevant, accessible, and intuitive, and that they serve WLS’s communities with empathy and authenticity. 

Together, we can build on WLS’s remarkable legacy of leadership and impact by infusing it with 21st-century tools, greater reach, and operational efficiency. With TOOTRiS as your innovation engine, WLS can further its vision of a future where all children have the foundation they need to thrive, and every parent has the ability to work, grow, and succeed. 

Empowering CCR&Rs with Branded Technology to Amplify Local Impact

TOOTRiS understands that CCR&Rs are trusted pillars in their communities — organizations that families, providers, and employers already turn to for support and guidance. That’s why TOOTRiS offers CCR&Rs the ability to brand the platform with their own organization’s name, seamlessly integrating robust, cutting-edge technology under their trusted banner.

This branding solution enables CCR&Rs to:

• Enhance community trust by providing a locally branded platform that reflects their mission and values.
• Strengthen visibility with a digital presence that makes it easier for parents to find care, providers to enroll children, and employers to offer benefits — all within a familiar, community-driven environment.
• Increase engagement by offering families and providers access to tools such as real-time availability, enrollment support, and financial assistance navigation — all under the CCR&R’s brand.
• Position themselves as innovators in the early childhood space, while still maintaining a personalized, local touch.

By combining TOOTRiS’ advanced technology with the CCR&R’s on-the-ground relationships and expertise, communities can experience the best of both worlds — trusted local leadership and transformative digital access to Child Care resources.

Communication That Builds Trust 

At TOOTRiS, transparency is a valued principle the builds trust. We believe that trust is built through open, consistent communication and a shared commitment to meaningful outcomes. 

That’s why we’ve established a robust communication cadence tailored to your needs. This includes recurring live webinars, dedicated 1:1 check-ins, and structured feedback loops that ensure your insights directly inform our priorities. Whether it’s improving existing features or co-designing new tools, your input shapes how we evolve. 

We’re also expanding our customer service capacity to meet the high-touch demands of CCR&Rs. Our support model includes dedicated team leads for faster issue resolution, multilingual service capabilities, and proactive outreach for onboarding, training, and ongoing optimization. This means questions are answered faster, fixes are delivered more reliably, and your day-to-day experience is smoother and more supported. 

Our integration of WLS systems into TOOTRiS’ enterprise-level support and issue tracking ensures that no enhancement or fix goes unseen. Every request is logged, prioritized, and addressed with transparency, so you always know where things stand. 

This isn’t about replacing what you’ve built — it’s about fortifying it. By making your systems more responsive, resilient, and intuitive, we aim to empower your team to focus on what matters most: serving families and strengthening your provider networks. 

Because when you succeed—securing new funding, expanding partnerships, and achieving your mission—everyone in the Child Care ecosystem benefits. 

Measuring Success by Your Impact 

This is more than a technical integration — it’s a shared mission. Success will be measured by how well we help you meet your goals. Whether it’s: 

• Winning new public contracts 
• Deepening employer relationships 
• Improving referral performance 
• Reducing administrative burdens 

…TOOTRiS is committed to aligning with your outcomes, not our product roadmap. That’s why we’re already co-developing tools with agencies, refining integrations based on your feedback, and establishing communication cadences built on transparency and mutual respect. 

Complementary Services, Shared Goals 

We understand that some CCR&Rs are asking: “Will TOOTRiS compete with the services we provide?” 
The answer is simple: no — we see this as a partnership, not a replacement. 

Yes, TOOTRiS offers 24/7 digital referrals through our employer network. But we know that CCR&Rs bring unmatched local expertise, cultural context, and deep-rooted community relationships — none of which can be replicated by software alone. 

That’s why we’re exploring collaborative service models, like: 

• After-hours referral coverage, where TOOTRiS supports families during evenings and weekends, and CCR&Rs follow up with in-depth guidance during business hours 
• Dual-channel engagement, where employer-driven inquiries through TOOTRiS are referred into CCR&R systems for deeper, personalized connection 

This is not a zero-sum equation. Our goal is to extend your reach — not limit it. 

Moreover, TOOTRiS is funded through private employer contracts, not from families or providers. Our tools, including our no-cost Child Care Management System (CCMS), are freely available to providers — regardless of their employer affiliation. This ensures CCR&Rs can confidently maintain their role in offering free, impartial referrals, while TOOTRiS complements that work through privately funded innovation. 

TOOTRiS is also designed to work in harmony with existing CCMS platforms. This interoperability enables providers to choose the systems that work best for them, while still benefiting from TOOTRiS’ expansive network and automation tools. The result: reduced administrative burden, increased visibility to families, and more time for providers to focus on what matters most.

By partnering with TOOTRiS, CCR&Rs can help empower their provider communities with access to streamlined, fully integrated digital tools at no cost, strengthening their local Child Care infrastructure without disrupting existing systems.

What Will Change — and What Won’t 

We want to be very clear: WLS software is here to stay. TOOTRiS has no intention of sunsetting the tools you rely on. Instead, we’re investing in them — expanding engineering capacity, accelerating feature development, and strengthening support systems. 

The future roadmap will be co-authored with you. Together, we’ll align on real-world needs, prioritize functionality, and move forward through open dialogue. 

Compliance, Customization, and Co-Creation 

We recognize that every state has its own regulatory requirements, data standards, and workflows. TOOTRiS is not a one-size-fits-all platform. That’s why we’re working hand-in-hand with CCR&Rs across the country — including those with complex compliance mandates—to ensure our tools align with your systems, policies, and procedures. 

In Kansas and beyond, we’re building custom integrations and ensuring policy alignment—because the only sustainable solution is one that works within your operational and regulatory realities. 

And when it comes to employer partnerships, we’re not looking to edge CCR&Rs out — we’re inviting you in. We’re open to conversations around shared contracts, referral handoffs, and co-branded services that elevate the visibility and value of CCR&Rs within the broader workforce ecosystem. 

This Is Just the Beginning 

We know there’s more work ahead. But we’re here — to listen, co-create, and strengthen the systems that uplift children, families, and providers across this country. 

WLS has been a trusted partner to CCR&Rs for decades. TOOTRiS is honored to continue that journey alongside you — scaling what’s possible, preserving what works, and expanding what’s needed. 

Because in this ecosystem, no one should have to go it alone.