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and improve opportunities for caregivers, teachers, and directors to advance on their progression of training, professional development, and postsecondary education. This section addresses Lead Agency efforts to support the child care workforce, the components and implementation of the professional development framework, and early learning and developmental guidelines. 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. [x] 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. [x] Other. Describe: Recognizing that business owners in the child care industry would need skills to help them become financially self-sustaining as federal coronavirus relief funds reached an end, the Lead Agency partnered with a national management consulting firm and a statewide small business development center in 2023 to create the Thriving Child Care Business Academy. The Academy provides an online platform of free training and resources to give owners and administrators of child care centers and family homes the knowledge and tools to enhance their financial management, leadership, marketing, and human resources management skills to make their facilities thriving businesses. The training in human resources management includes webinars, small study groups, individual coaching, and bilingual self-study guides and videos covering staff recruitment and retention. Providers who take advantage of these resources can receive state-approved training hours and stipends in some cases. 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 DECAL Scholars Incentives is Georgia’s program that