6.1 Supporting the Child Care Workforce

Lead Agencies have broad flexibility to implement policies and practices to support the child care workforce. 6.1.1 Strategies to improve recruitment, retention, compensation, and well-being a. Identify any Lead Agency activities related to strengthening workforce recruitment and retention of child care providers. Check all that apply: i. [ ] Providing program-level grants to support investments in staff compensation. ii. [ ] Providing bonuses or stipends paid directly to staff, like sign-on or retention bonuses. iii. [ ] Connecting family child care providers and center-based child care staff to health insurance or supporting premiums in the Marketplace. iv. [ ] Subsidizing family child care provider and center-based child care staff retirement benefits. v. [ ] Providing paid sick, personal, and parental leave for family child care providers and center-based child care staff. vi. [ ] Providing student loan debt relief or loan repayment for family child care providers and center-based child care staff. vii. [x] Providing scholarships or tuition support for center-based child care staff and family child care providers. viii. [ ] Other. Describe: b. Describe any Lead Agency ongoing efforts and future plans to assess and improve the compensation of the child care workforce in the State or Territory, including increasing wages, bonuses, and stipends. The Lead Agency contracts with Quality Enhancement Agencies to provide financial support to qualified early child care professionals working in child care centers/programs and family and group homes to obtain a Child Development Associate (CDA) credential, a widely recognized credential in early childhood education administered by the Council for Professional Development. The CDA Credential guides early child care professionals as they work toward becoming qualified teachers of young children. The Lead Agency also contracts with Quality Enhancement Agencies to provide scholarship assistance through the T.E.A.C.H. Program (Teacher Education and Compensation Helps). This scholarship program helps early learning professionals increase their level of education and effectiveness in the classroom by making the educational process more attainable and affordable, and by increasing their potential to earn higher wages and reduce staff turnover. c. Describe any Lead Agency ongoing efforts and future plans to expand access to benefits, including health insurance, paid sick, personal, and parental leave, and retirement benefits. The Lead Agency currently does not provide access to benefits, including health insurance, paid sick, personal, and parental leave and retirement benefits. Future plans include the Lead Agency investigating feasibility of child care providers accessing benefits in collaboration with other nonprofit agencies and encouraging providers to offer insurance. d. Describe any Lead Agency ongoing efforts and future plans to support the mental health and well-being of the child care workforce. CCDF funding is currently provided to Quality Enhancement Agencies (QEAs) to support ongoing efforts to support the mental health and well-being of the child care workforce in the following ways: QEAs currently design and offer mental health support via trainings including but not limited to adult self-care, adult self-regulation, and adult resilience. In addition, mental health consultants, mentors, and coaches offer indirect services to child care staff and provide training conferences. Teachers’ mental health is also addressed through the Challenging Behavior project in the usage of the Devereux model and Conscious Discipline model. The Devereux model addresses adult resilience. Coaches work with teachers using the Deveraux Adult Resilience Scale (DARS) to address teacher morale, burnout, and retention. Coaches also work directly with the director, using the Devereux Adult Resilience Leadership Scale (DARLS) to support administration in creating a psychologically safe workplace, so that teachers may use the strategies that are being taught in the classroom. Through the use of the tools created explicitly to support adult resilience, administration has a better understanding of stress that teachers experience in the classroom. All coaches carry the Infant Early Childhood Mental Health credential (IECMH) which prepares coaches to prioritize teacher and student mental health. Future plans to support the mental health and well-being of the child care workforce include to continue the aforementioned efforts. The Lead agency will reassess and look at additional ways to support staff’s mental health and well-being of the child care workforce. e. Describe any other strategies the Lead Agency is developing and/or implementing to support providers’ recruitment and retention of the child care workforce. The lead agency is implementing a workforce recruitment program with the Alabama Community College System Adult Education Program to create the Accelerated Child Care Educator Credential (ACEC). The credential is a workforce initiative that prepares individuals interested in the field of child care. Participants complete comprehensive training and an apprenticeship with a licensed facility. Successful completion of the ACEC will prepare a candidate for immediate hire in a licensed child care facility. The lead agency also contracts with community-based regional Quality Enhancement Agencies to provide recruitment services statewide through job fairs, consumer education materials, quarterly training calendars, monthly newsletters, and vendor exhibits at local conferences. Retention efforts include the T.E.A.C.H (Teacher, Education and Compensation Helps) Early Childhood Alabama Scholarship Program. This program was developed to increase the level of education and effectiveness of early learning professionals by making the educational process more affordable, increasing wages, and reducing staff turnover rates as a means of retention. Under this scholarship, participants agree to continue their work in a child care facility upon the completion of the degree or credential achieved. 6.1.2 Strategies to support provider business practices a. Describe other strategies that the Lead Agency is developing and/or implementing to strengthen child care providers’ business management and administrative practices. All providers, including providers that receive CCDF, have access and opportunities for professional development, technical assistance, and support through regional and Quality Enhancement Agencies (QEAs). All Lead Agency funded training is free to childcare providers. QEAs offer a variety of training options including onsite training, day, and evening sessions. QEAs offer training and supports to encourage providers to operate their programs consistent with effective management skills and business practices. Strategies offered through training and technical assistance (TA) to strengthen providers' business practices include: Director's forums that include training specific to the managerial duties of child care directors and owners, training on using computers and social media, budgeting, program marketing and preparing a marketing plan that includes a clear sense of identity for the program, outreach to parents in provider communities, understand and learn who will be the target families for services; and for new/potential providers considerations for opening a new child care program. Providers also receive training on the Strengthening Business Practices curriculum, a series course that addresses basic concepts in fiscal and operational management of family and center- based child care businesses. b. Check the topics addressed in the Lead Agency’s strategies for strengthening child care providers’ administrative business practices. Check all that apply: i. [x] Fiscal management. ii. [x] Budgeting. iii. [x] Recordkeeping. iv. [x] Hiring, developing, and retaining qualified staff. v. [x] Risk management. vi. [x] Community relationships. vii. [x] Marketing and public relations. viii. [x] Parent-provider communications. ix. [x] Use of technology in business administration. x. [ ] Compliance with employment and labor laws. xi. [ ] Other. Describe any other efforts to strengthen providers’ administrative business: 6.1.3 Strategies to support provider participation Lead Agencies must facilitate participation of child care providers and staff with limited English proficiency and disabilities in the child care subsidy system. Describe how the Lead Agency will facilitate this participation, including engagement with providers to identify barriers and specific strategies used to support their participation: a. Providers and staff with limited English proficiency: Providers and staff with barriers in English proficiency are identified during the registration process to participate in the child care subsidy program. Accommodations such as the lead agency's interpreter services are provided to assist with registration. Information and resources are made available to childcare providers and staff with limited English proficiency in other languages as needs are identified through google translation software. b. Providers and staff who have disabilities: Providers and staff who have disabilities are identified in the registration process prior to participation in the childcare subsidy program. Accommodations can be provided to those identified with a disability by contact with the Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services or the Governor's Office on Disability.