Dr. Cheryl McElhany founded EDCC in 1986 when school-age childcare was limited or missing from most elementary schools at that time. Motivated by a need for a quality program for her own first-grade daughter, she was successful in opening the first EDCC center at Walnut Grove Elementary School in Pleasanton. An elementary principal at the time in a neighboring district, Dr. McElhany designed a superior school-age before and after school program, hired excellent staff to run the center, and continued to open new centers at other locations, now running for 33 years in the Pleasanton and Dublin school districts.

Today Dr. McElhany serves as the President of EDCC. She has been a classroom teacher, school principal at the K-8 level, Assistant Superintendent and Superintendent in the Lafayette/Moraga school district. She continues to work with teachers and instruct at the college level. The EDCC design of service and standards developed by Dr. McElhany are strongly aligned with the National Afterschool Association (NAA) Standards.