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that increase access to early childhood services and resources. These grants support creating early education partnerships among community agencies and other stakeholders that will design and implement innovative projects that address critical local needs. The Lead Agency will continue to increase the number of Community Impact Grants over the next three years and add a new type of grant, 2Gen Literacy Grants, that will promote literacy development within the context of family supporting the growth and learning of parents and children concurrently. The Lead Agency’s Community Partnership Coordinators work in each of DECAL’s six administrative regions to coordinate the delivery of state and local services to communities that want to improve the outcomes of young children and their families. Strategies for supporting communities include engaging with local stakeholders to align early childhood systems for children ages birth to eight, fostering public awareness of early education services, and serving as a resource for and referral to all DECAL programs and services. The Lead Agency partners with a variety of community organizations such as Georgia Family Connection Partnership, United Way organizations, and other child- and family-serving nonprofits to support community capacity in improving outcomes for young children. Deliverables of these partnerships have included increased business community awareness of the importance of early care and learning and better developed community networks for sharing information and resources across the early childhood system. The Lead Agency also partners with organizations focused on raising quality and increasing access to school-age care. This includes working with the Georgia Statewide Afterschool Network (GSAN) to provide training and technical assistance to school age providers and to build awareness on the importance and need of high-quality school age care. 8.5 Disaster Preparedness and Response Plan Lead Agencies must establish a Statewide Child Care Disaster Plan and demonstrate how they will address the needs of children—including the need for safe child care before, during, and after a state of emergency declared by the Governor or a major disaster or emergency (as defined by Section 102 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, 42 U.S.C. 5122)—through a Statewide Disaster Plan. 8.5.1 Statewide Disaster Plan updates a. When was the Lead Agency’s Child Care Disaster Plan most recently updated and for what reason? The following sections of the Georgia Statewide Child Care Emergency Plan were updated in October 2023. The introduction was updated to include direct links to the Plan for ease and accessibility in locating information. Section 1.4.5 for Georgia’s Pre-K Program was updated to include steps for notifying the Lead Agency and clarification regarding processing payments and communication in the event of emergency closures of the program. Section 2 was updated to add language to include emergencies and expand the definition of emergencies and disasters as sudden and serious events or unforeseen changes in circumstances that require immediate action to alleviate harm or avert imminent danger to life, health, or property and to include examples of weather-related events and public health emergencies. Section 3.1.1 was updated to provide links to sample templates of emergency preparedness plans for licensed child care learning centers (CCLC) and family child care learning homes (FCCLH). Section 3.2.3 was updated to include Lead Agency staff appropriately trained through Child Care Aware of America as DECAL-approved training vendors who may offer Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Recovery training to child care providers. Section 4.1.1 was updated to add an additional path of action in modifying services as a response to plan execution. Section 4.1.2 was