4.5 Supply Building

Building a supply of high-quality child care that meets the needs and preferences of parents participating in CCDF is necessary to meet CCDF’s core purposes. Lead Agencies must support parent choice by providing some portion of direct services via grants or contracts, including at a minimum for children in underserved geographic areas, infants and toddlers, and children with disabilities. 4.5.1 Child care services available through grants or contracts Does the Lead Agency provide direct child care services through grants or contracts for child care slots? [ ] Yes, statewide. Describe how the Lead Agency ensures that parents who enroll with a provider who has a grant or contract have choices when selecting a provider: [ ] Yes, in some jurisdictions, but not statewide. Describe how many jurisdictions use grants or contracts for child care slots and how the Lead Agency ensures that parents who enroll with a provider who has a grant or contract have choices when selecting a provider: [x] No. If no, describe any Lead Agency plans to provide direct child care services through grants and contracts for child care slots: The Lead Agency has submitted a waiver in order to develop a service deliver model for this activity. If no, skip to question 4.5.2. i. If yes, identify the populations of children served through grants or contracts for child care slots (check all that apply). For each population selected, identify the number of slots allocated through grants or contracts for direct service of children receiving CCDF. [ ] Children with disabilities. Number of slots allocated through grants or contracts: [ ] Infants and toddlers. Number of slots allocated through grants or contracts: [ ] Children in underserved geographic areas. Number of slots allocated through grants or contracts: [ ] Children needing non-traditional hour care. Number of slots allocated through grants or contracts: [ ] School-age children. Number of slots allocated through grants or contracts: [ ] Children experiencing homelessness. Number of slots allocated through grants or contracts: [ ] Children in urban areas. Percent of CCDF children served in an average month: [ ] Children in rural areas. Percent of CCDF children served in an average month: [ ] Other populations. If checked, describe: ii. If yes, how are rates for slots funded by grants and contracts determined by the Lead Agency? 4.5.2 Care in the child’s home (in-home care) The Lead Agency must allow for in-home care (i.e., care provided in the child’s own home) but may limit its use. Will the Lead Agency limit the use of in-home care in any way? [x] Yes. [ ] No. If yes, what limits will the Lead Agency set on the use of in-home care? Check all that apply. i. [ ] Restricted based on the minimum number of children in the care of the in- home provider to meet the Fair Labor Standards Act (minimum wage) requirements. Describe: ii. [x] Restricted based on the in-home provider meeting a minimum age requirement. Describe: The provider must be at least 21 years old. iii. [ ] Restricted based on the hours of care (i.e., certain number of hours, non- traditional work hours). Describe: iv. [ ] Restricted to care by relatives. (A relative provider must be at least 18 years of age based on the definition of eligible child care provider.) Describe: v. [ ] Restricted to care for children with special needs or a medical condition. Describe: vi. [ ] Restricted to in-home providers that meet additional health and safety requirements beyond those required by CCDF. Describe: vii. [x] Other. Describe: Per Lead Agency policy, In-home care is considered an Informal Caregiver. An Informal Caregiver is a family, friend, or neighbor who provides care for no more than two unrelated (or no more than six related) children for pay. Informal Caregivers are not required to be licensed but must register with the CAPS program. Informal care can only be authorized in limited situations as detailed in CAPS Participating Providers Policy (CAPS/00-11) when one of following criteria exists: 1) No other licensed care is available within a reasonable geographic area; 2) Care is during non-traditional hours when licensed care is not available; 3) The child in care meets the definition of children with disabilities; 4) The child’s primary language is other than English, and no licensed provider equipped for dual language families is available within a reasonable geographic area. 4.5.3 Shortages in the supply of child care Lead Agencies must identify shortages in the supply of child care providers that meet parents’ needs and preferences. What child care shortages has the Lead Agency identified in the State or Territory, and what is the plan to address the child care shortages? a. In infant and toddler programs: i. Data sources used to identify shortages: The Lead Agency houses an internal Research and Policy Analysis Team that conducts ongoing analyses using existing administrative data and publicly available data to evaluate supply and demand. Enhanced access to data has been enabled with the development of a child care supply and demand data tool. The tool brings in demand-side data by using publicly available data sources and applying methodologies to create modeled population characteristics in great detail to include: total child population for age 0 through 13 in the state; child population by each age group, house hold income, and house hold employment; for each of those elements the geographic distribution of the child population by Lead Agency administrative region, county, state house district, state senate district, school district, and zip code tabulation area (ZCTA) that aligns with the census; for each of those elements the measure of child population over time; and potential child eligibility for the Child Care and Parent Services (CAPS) subsidy program, Georgia’s Pre-K program, Early Head Start, and Head Start. The tool brings in supply-side data by using Lead Agency administrative data to include: all child care providers by state and county; provider facility type, quality rating and improvement system (QRIS) rating, and public program participation; and estimates total child enrollment with total capacity. Not only does the tool allow for specific investigation into demand use cases and supply use cases, but it also brings supply and demand together to investigate and identify where potential service gaps may or may not exist. Additionally, the tool has been developed to offer alternative data views to provide the perspectives of service gaps by family language and the degree to which a geographic area may be underserved. These analyses are used to help define a shortage of supply and identify where a shortage in supply may exist for infant and toddler programs in the state. This work includes identifying different areas where there are general gaps in access to infant and toddler child care as well as gaps in access to the state’s ECE (early care and education) programs that support infant and toddler child care. The analysis can then be used to make informed decisions about how to direct additional resources. In addition to the internal teams, the Lead Agency works with research partners from the Urban Institute, Child Trends, University of Georgia, Georgia State University, and others to conduct formal research studies. The Office of Child Care has not established criteria for measuring a shortage of supply for infant and toddlers, or any other population, and if there are specific thresholds that identify when a shortage exists. So, there is not a generally accepted definition or criteria for a state to use. Therefore, in order to know if a shortage of infant and toddler programs exists, a state must gather evidence to support the establishment of criteria to measure supply and demand throughout the state in order to determine if a shortage of infant and toddler programs exists in Georgia. Currently, the Lead Agency is evaluating available data in order to define the criteria needed apply appropriate thresholds to supply and demand data for identifying a defined gap. This work will enable the Lead Agency to determine if supply shortages for infant and toddler programs exist in Georgia. The Lead Agency believes that a data-driven approach to evaluating supply and demand is necessary for developing the most impactful strategies and policies for addressing shortages of supply where they exist. In the absence of an established quantitative method, the Lead Agency is able to make generalized observations related to supply and demand using the data sources and efforts described. From a state-level perspective, there does not appear to be a significant shortage of child care supply for infants and toddlers. For licensed child care learning centers in the state, 75% are licensed for infant care and 81% are licensed for toddler care. For licensed family child care learning homes in the state, 88% are licensed for infant care and 98% are licensed for toddler care. In terms of estimated service levels, the Lead Agency estimates that approximately 20 percent of children 0 up to 5 (not school-age), are in licensed child care. As a group, the percent of infants and toddlers in care is approximately 17.4 percent, with infants estimated at 14.7 percent and toddlers at 18.7 percent. Preschooler children in care is estimated to be 22.6 percent statewide. So, the infant and toddler populations are somewhat less represented than the total 0 up to 5 and preschool population. This could indicate a potential gap, or shortage of supply, for infants and toddlers. Another potential gap may exist in the Lead Agency's northeast administrative region. When looking at the Lead Agency's supply and demand dashboard, only 14.8 percent of infant and toddlers are estimated to be served compared to 17.4 percent statewide. The northeast administrative region has the greatest number of licensed child care programs and most total child care capacity of any administrative region. Upon closer inspection and considering the number of programs actually licensed to care for infants and toddlers, the data shows that for infant care, the northeast region lags behind four of the six regions in the state. For toddler care, the northeast region lags behind all five other regions. This information seems to indicate that a supply-side gap exists but the more needs to be done to understand if there are demand factors contributing to the potential lack of supply. The Lead Agency is currently working to better understand and interpret the supply data and collect more demand data to establish criteria by which to measure supply and demand at the statewide level and various local levels where greater variation may exist and define a quantitative method for identifying potential gaps throughout the state. Doing so, would assist the lead agency to develop the appropriate strategies based on the needs of communities where gaps may exist. Until a quantitative method is defined, more general strategies are in place and those include higher subsidy rates for infant and toddler care, technical assistance specifically for implementing best practices in infant and toddler classrooms, offers business support through the Thriving Child Care Business Academy online platform of free training and resources to give owners and administrators the knowledge and tools to enhance their financial management skills with the goal of making their centers and family homes thriving child care businesses, and continuous improvement of the child care licensing process to ease the potential burdens related to becoming a licensed child care program serving infants and toddlers. ii. Method of tracking progress: The Lead Agency’s Research and Policy Analysis Team and Enterprise PM Director report trends for relevant data at the monthly, quarterly, and annual level. iii. What is the plan to address the child care shortages using family child care homes For licensed family child care learning homes in the state, 88 percent are licensed for infant care and 98 percent are licensed for toddler care. In the northeast administrative region, where a potential gap exists, the number of family child care providers in that region lags behind 4 of the 6 regions. For those family providers, 90 percent are licensed to serve infants, and 98 percent are licensed to serve toddlers. So, while the family child care providers in that region are largely available to provide care to infant and toddlers, there may not be enough family childcare relative to other regions. To address the potential gap in question, the Lead Agency has increased subsidy rates for infant and toddler care, provides technical assistance specifically for implementing best practices in infants and toddlers, offers business support through the Thriving Child Care Business Academy online platform of free training and resources to give owners and administrators the knowledge and tools to enhance their financial management skills with the goal of making their centers and family homes thriving child care businesses, and continuous improvement of the child care licensing process to ease the potential burdens related to becoming a licensed child care program serving infants and toddlers. iv. What is the plan to address the child care shortages using child care centers? For licensed child care learning centers in the state, 75 percent are licensed for infant care and 81 percent are licensed for toddler care. In the northeast administrative region, where a potential gap exists, the number of child care center providers in that region lags behind 3 of the 6 regions. For those center providers, 71 percent are licensed to serve infants, and 76 percent are licensed to serve toddlers. So, child care center providers in that region are less likely to be available to provide care to infant and toddlers than the statewide average and lag most other regions. To address the potential gap in question, the Lead Agency has increased subsidy rates for infant and toddler care, provides technical assistance specifically for implementing best practices in infant and toddler classrooms, offers business support through the Thriving Child Care Business Academy online platform of free training and resources to give owners and administrators the knowledge and tools to enhance their financial management skills with the goal of making their centers and family homes thriving child care businesses, and continuous improvement of the child care licensing process to ease the potential burdens related to becoming a licensed child care program serving infants and toddlers. b. In different regions of the State or Territory: i. Data sources used to identify shortages: The Lead Agency houses an internal Research and Policy Analysis Team that conducts ongoing analyses using existing administrative data and publicly available data to evaluate supply and demand. Enhanced access to data has been enabled with the development of a child care supply and demand data tool. The tool brings in demand-side data by using publicly available data sources and applying methodologies to create modeled population characteristics in great detail to include: total child population for age 0 through 13 in the state; child population by each age group, house hold income, and house hold employment; for each of those elements the geographic distribution of the child population by Lead Agency administrative region, county, state house district, state senate district, school district, and zip code tabulation area (ZCTA) that aligns with the census; for each of those elements the measure of child population over time; and potential child eligibility for the Child Care and Parent Services (CAPS) subsidy program, Georgia’s Pre-K program, Early Head Start, and Head Start. The tool brings in supply-side data by using Lead Agency administrative data to include: all child care providers by state and county; provider facility type, quality rating and improvement system (QRIS) rating, and public program participation; and estimates total child enrollment with total capacity. Not only does the tool allow for specific investigation into demand use cases and supply use cases, but it also brings supply and demand together to investigate and identify where potential service gaps may or may not exist. Additionally, the tool has been developed to offer alternative data views to provide the perspectives of service gaps by family language and the degree to which a geographic area may be underserved. These analyses are used to define a shortage of supply and identify where a shortage in supply may exist for infant and toddler programs in the state. This work includes identifying different areas where there are general gaps in access to infant and toddler child care as well as gaps in access to the state’s ECE (early care and education) programs that support infant and toddler child care. The analysis can then be used to make informed decisions about how to direct additional resources. In addition to the internal teams, the Lead Agency works with research partners from the Urban Institute, Child Trends, University of Georgia, Georgia State University, and others to conduct formal research studies. The Office of Child Care has not established criteria for measuring a shortage of supply in different regions, or any other geographic unit, and if there are specific thresholds that identify when a shortage exists. So, there is not a generally accepted definition or criteria for a state to use. Therefore, in order to know if a shortage of programs exists regionally, a state must gather evidence to support the establishment of criteria to measure supply and demand throughout the state in order to determine if a regional shortage in Georgia. Currently, the Lead Agency is evaluating available data in order to define the criteria needed to measure supply and demand and apply appropriate thresholds for identifying a defined gap. This work will enable the Lead Agency to determine if regional supply shortages exist in Georgia. The Lead Agency believes that a data-driven approach to evaluating supply and demand is necessary for developing the most impactful strategies and policies for addressing shortages of supply where they exist. In the absence of an established quantitative method, the Lead Agency is able to make generalized observations related to supply and demand using the data sources and efforts described. From a state-level perspective, there are potential supply shortages in the northeast and southwest administrative regions. The statewide service level for all ages is 16.5%. In contrast, the service level for all ages is 14.5% in the northeast region and 15.4% in the southwest region. The Lead Agency is currently working to better understand and interpret the supply data and collect more demand data to establish criteria by which to measure supply and demand at the statewide level and various local levels where greater variation may exist and define a quantitative method for identifying potential gaps throughout the state. Doing so, would assist the lead agency to develop the appropriate strategies based on the needs of communities where gaps may exist. Until a quantitative method is defined, more general strategies are in place and those include higher subsidy rates for care, technical assistance for implementing best practices in infant, toddler, and preschool classrooms, offers business support through the Thriving Child Care Business Academy online platform of free training and resources to give owners and administrators the knowledge and tools to enhance their financial management skills with the goal of making their centers and family homes thriving child care businesses, and continuous improvement of the child care licensing process to ease the potential burdens related to becoming a licensed child care program. ii. Method of tracking progress: The Lead Agency’s Research and Policy Analysis Team and Enterprise PM Director report trends for relevant data at the monthly, quarterly, and annual level. iii. What is the plan to address the child care shortages using family child care homes? Until a quantitative method is defined, more general strategies are in place and those include higher subsidy rates for care, technical assistance for implementing best practices in infant, toddler, and preschool classrooms, offers business support through the Thriving Child Care Business Academy online platform of free training and resources to give owners and administrators the knowledge and tools to enhance their financial management skills with the goal of making their centers and family homes thriving child care businesses, and continuous improvement of the child care licensing process to ease the potential burdens related to becoming a licensed child care program. iv. What is the plan to address the child care shortages using child care centers? Until a quantitative method is defined, more general strategies are in place and those include higher subsidy rates for care, technical assistance for implementing best practices in infant, toddler, and preschool classrooms, offers business support through the Thriving Child Care Business Academy online platform of free training and resources to give owners and administrators the knowledge and tools to enhance their financial management skills with the goal of making their centers and family homes thriving child care businesses, and continuous improvement of the child care licensing process to ease the potential burdens related to becoming a licensed child care program. c. In care for special populations: i. Data sources used to identify shortages: In 2021, the Lead Agency commissioned the Urban Institute to conduct stakeholder engagement activities that identified overall early education needs across the state. One of the needs identified was for child care during nontraditional work hours. Based on these initial findings, the Urban Institute conducted further research to determine where nontraditional hour care was most needed. This supplemental research study was completed in early 2023. Based on these findings, the Lead Agency created a pilot program: Expanding Parents’ Access to Nontraditional Delivery (EXPAND) grants, offering child care providers and community collaboratives funds to extend hours and/or create local community solutions. Also, existing data tools are enabling staff to understand relative access to early care and education (ECE) services for multi- language learners throughout the state. The Lead Agency has a Rising Pre-K Summer Transition Program, funded in part by CCDF, that targets children who are age eligible for Pre-K the next school year and whose home language is Spanish. The program includes bilingual teachers and a strong family engagement component. Services and resources are provided to families in English and Spanish. Lastly, the Lead Agency is currently working with the Urban Institute to examine strategies to define and measure access by demographic factors. ii. Method of tracking progress: The Lead Agency, with researchers from the University of Georgia, are conducting an ongoing evaluation of the Expanding Parents’ Access to Nontraditional Delivery (EXPAND) grants to determine effectiveness. iii. What is the plan to address the child care shortages using family child care homes? For nontraditional hour care, two licensed family child care learning homes have received Expanding Parents’ Access to Nontraditional Delivery (EXPAND) grants. For nontraditional hour care, licensed family child care homes offer the advantage of having a smaller scale and therefore can increase their hours of operation for a lower cost. The EXPAND grants are a pilot program and the Lead Agency is testing how effectively licensed family child care can be leveraged to meet the demand of nontraditional hour care for families. As to shortages related to other special populations, the Lead Agency is currently working to better understand supply and demand to establish criteria by which to measure supply at the statewide level and various local levels where greater variation may exist in order to identify shortages and develop strategies for supply building. iv. What is the plan to address the child care shortages using child care centers? For nontraditional hour care, five child care learning centers have received Expanding Parents’ Access to Nontraditional Delivery (EXPAND) grants. For nontraditional hour care, licensed child care centers may incur higher cost of operations to expand their hours of operation. The EXPAND grants are a pilot program and the Lead Agency is testing how effectively licensed child care learning centers can be leveraged to meet the demand of nontraditional hour care for families. As to shortages related to other special populations, the Lead Agency is currently working to better understand supply and demand to establish criteria by which to measure supply at the statewide level and various local levels where greater variation may exist in order to identify shortages and develop strategies for supply building. 4.5.4 Strategies to increase the supply of and improve quality of child care Lead Agencies must develop and implement strategies to increase the supply of and improve the quality of child care services. These strategies must address child care in underserved geographic areas; infants and toddlers; children with disabilities, as defined by the Lead Agency; and children who receive care during non-traditional hours. How does the Lead Agency identify any gaps in the supply and quality of child care services and what strategies are used to address those gaps for: a. Underserved geographic areas. Describe: The Lead Agency has an internal research team that works closely with Lead Agency programs to consistently evaluate administrative data and public data to identify service gaps related to underserved geographic areas. The Lead Agency is using multiple programmatic strategies to improve the quality of licensed child care in underserved geographic areas. The Lead Agency has a quality rating and improvement system, Quality Rated, that is intended to improve the quality of child care and includes technical assistance from regional child care resource and referral agencies. 62 percent of all licensed child care providers are rated in Quality Rated. Also, Child Care and Parent Services providers must be rated to participate in the child care subsidy program. Currently, over 70 percent of children receiving subsidy are in care at a high quality (Quality Rated 2- or 3-star) program. Additionally, technical assistance for improving quality is available through the Lead Agency programs. The Infant and Toddler Program works with child care providers to emphasize that quality infant care is centered on relationships. Young children learn and grow in the context of secure, trusting relationships with caring adults. All supports and recommendations offered by our Infant Toddler Care Specialists help providers understand and practice a model of relationship- based care that is respectful and responsive to each child’s individual needs. The SEEDS (Supporting Early Education and Development for Success) program. SEEDS specialists provide support through training, technical assistance, and coaching to classroom teachers, program administrators, and family childcare providers. The focus is on strategies to improve classroom management and climate, address challenging behaviors, and scaffold learning. In addition, with the assistance of the child care supply and demand data tool and new technology not available in years past, the Lead Agency is currently working on a strategy to more accurately target underserved geographic areas. This strategy involves using data to define the term underserved as it relates to Georgia's early childhood and education system. Once the term underserved is defined, it can be measured and quantified to enable the Lead Agency to more accurately define an underserved geographic area and the degree by which an area is underserved. The work on this strategy is ongoing and once it is completed, the Lead Agency will use the data regarding potential geographic gaps to group those areas into community-based zones. Through creating community-based zones, the Lead Agency can implement policy in a more targeted and impactful way to increase the supply and quality of child care in these underserved geographic areas. b. Infants and toddlers. Describe: The Lead Agency has an internal research team that works closely with Lead Agency programs to consistently evaluate administrative data and public data to identify service gaps related to Infants and toddlers. The Lead Agency is using multiple programmatic strategies to improve the quality of licensed child care for infants and toddlers. The Lead Agency has a quality rating and improvement system, Quality Rated, that is intended to improve the quality of child care and includes technical assistance from regional child care resource and referral agencies. 62 percent of all licensed child care providers are rated in Quality Rated. Also, Child Care and Parent Services providers must be rated to participate in the child care subsidy program. Currently, 72 percent of infants and toddlers receiving subsidy are in care at a high quality (Quality Rated 2- or 3-star) program. Additionally, technical assistance for improving quality is available through the Lead Agency's Infant and Toddler and SEEDS programs. The Infant and Toddler Program works with child care providers to emphasize that quality infant care is centered on relationships. Young children learn and grow in the context of secure, trusting relationships with caring adults. All supports and recommendations offered by our Infant Toddler Care Specialists help providers understand and practice a model of relationship-based care that is respectful and responsive to each child’s individual needs. SEEDS Specialists provide a variety of resources, strategies and supports to programs, classrooms, and the community. The SEEDS specialists provide support through training, technical assistance and coaching to classroom teachers, program administrators, and family child care providers. The focus in on strategies to improve classroom management and climate, address challenging behavior and scaffold learning. In addition, with the assistance of the child care supply and demand data tool and new technology not available in years past, the Lead Agency is currently working on a strategy to more accurately target underserved geographic areas for infants and toddlers to create policies that will increase supply where needed. This strategy involves using data to define the term underserved as it relates to Georgia's early childhood and education system. Once the term underserved is defined, it can be measured and quantified to enable the Lead Agency to more accurately define an underserved geographic area and the degree by which an area is underserved for infants and toddlers. This strategy will assist the Lead Agency with any necessary supply building necessary for infants and toddlers. c. Children with disabilities. Describe: The Lead Agency has an internal research team that works closely with Lead Agency programs to consistently evaluate administrative data and public data to identify service gaps related to children with disabilities. The Lead Agency is using multiple programmatic strategies to improve the quality of licensed child care for children with disabilities. The Lead Agency has a quality rating and improvement system, Quality Rated, that is intended to improve the quality of child care and includes technical assistance from regional child care resource and referral agencies. 62 percent of all licensed child care providers are rated in Quality Rated. Also, Child Care and Parent Services (CAPS) providers must be rated to participate in the child care subsidy program. Currently, 7percent of children served by CAPS are children with disabilities and 71 percent of those children are in care at a high quality (Quality Rated 2- or 3-star) program. The CAPS program also pays the full published rate for children with disabilities and the program has a review process in place to allow providers serving children with extremely high needs to ask for a rate above their published rate. Additionally, technical assistance for improving quality is available through the Lead Agency's Infant and Toddler and SEEDS programs. The Infant and Toddler Program works with child care providers to emphasize that quality infant care is centered on relationships. Young children learn and grow in the context of secure, trusting relationships with caring adults. All supports and recommendations offered by our Infant Toddler Care Specialists help providers understand and practice a model of relationship-based care that is respectful and responsive to each child’s individual needs. SEEDS specialists support programs to adapt and modify learning environments and instruction to accommodate children with disabilities. To request training or coaching, early learning professionals or families can contact the SEEDS helpline. The SEEDS helpline provides resources and schedules training and coaching sessions. The specialists also work to promote and increase quality child care options for children with disabilities and their families in their communities. More specifically, the SEEDS Program, with 20 regionally based specialists, works with birth to five and school-age programs to provide training and coaching on the benefits of serving children with disabilities and on modifying and adapting the classroom environment and activities to accommodate all children. The team provides a training series for early learning professionals focusing on understanding the laws that support children with disabilities, and strategies to implement universal design practices that support all learners in early learning environments. Educators receive a stipend and classroom materials for training completion. The Lead Agency provides the training series to three cohorts of early learning professionals. The Lead Agency also provides an Adaptive Learning Mini-Grant to early learning professionals who would benefit from technical assistance to support children with disabilities in their care. Professionals receive coaching from a SEEDS specialist; to support the child’s development, The Lead Agency plans to fund at least 75 mini-grants over the next three years. The Lead Agency is currently piloting an Infant Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (IECMHC) Program, which pairs a master's level mental health professional with a SEEDS specialist to provide enhanced support to teachers, child care center staff, children, and their families. This program helps with the early identification of children with persistent challenging behaviors or who have experienced early childhood trauma (such as the foster care population, children with high Adverse Childhood Experiences [ACES], exposure to domestic violence and abuse, etc.). IECMHC also supports caregivers, including teachers and parents, to access mental health treatment and resources effectively in their communities. Currently, seven mental health consultants are serving 12 child care programs. The Lead Agency is conducting an evaluation of the pilot project which will inform expansion of the program over the next three years. An additional strategy that is focused on increasing the supply of child care for children with disabilities is through a research partnership with the Urban Institute to better understand the unique demands for services by families with children with a disability and data sources that can be collected regularly that can inform the demand for this population throughout the state. In addition, the ongoing research is reviewing the characteristics of the child care supply for these families to understand gaps in supply and services critical to serving children with disabilities. This research will help the Lead Agency to establish criteria and a data framework by which to measure supply at the statewide level and various local levels where greater variation may exist for children with disabilities and support policy and program initiatives to build supply for this population more appropriately. d. Children who receive care during non-traditional hours. Describe: DECAL contracted with the Urban Institute to better understand the need for non-traditional hour child care in Georgia through surveys of providers, focus groups with families who need non-traditional hour care, and analyses of DECAL administrative data and statewide census data. While DECAL collects and tracks the operating hours that licensed programs are authorized to open, programs may open later or close earlier than their authorized hours. Defining nontraditional hour child care as between 6:00 PM and 7:00 AM on weekdays and any time on weekends, the Urban Institute found that DECAL may be overestimating the supply of nontraditional hour care by as much as 50 percent by comparing provider survey-reported operating hours to licensed operating hours. To address the gap in available non-traditional hour child care, DECAL launched the Expanding Parents Access to Nontraditional Delivery (EXPAND) grants program in fall 2023. There are two types of EXPAND grants: one for licensed child care providers to expand their operating hours and a second for government entities and nonprofit organizations to form collaboratives to address the child care access challenges in their communities. Funded by the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act, five licensed child care learning centers, two licensed family child care learning homes, and six nonprofit and government entities received EXPAND grants in October 2023. Providers received awards up to $500,000 and nonprofit and government entities up to $750,000. Project periods run through December 31, 2024, with provider grantees using funds to implement the supports they need to extend their hours and nonprofit and government entities using funds to support providers in their areas and offer child care tuition assistance to their local communities. DECAL is working with University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government to evaluate the implementation and impact of these grants. e. Other. Specify what population is being focused on to increase supply or improve quality. Describe: Not applicable 4.5.5 Prioritization of investments in areas of concentrated poverty and unemployment Lead Agencies must prioritize investments for increasing access to high-quality child care and development services for children of families in areas that have significant concentrations of poverty and unemployment and do not currently have sufficient numbers of such programs. Describe how the Lead Agency prioritizes increasing access to high-quality child care and development services for children of families in areas that have significant concentrations of poverty and unemployment and that do not have access to high-quality programs. The Lead Agency’s vision statement is that ￿Every child in Georgia will have equal access to high quality early care and education.￿ Goal Four in the Lead Agency’s strategic plan is to ￿Expand Two Generational (2Gen) approaches to better support children and families.￿ To accomplish this, the Lead Agency has developed strategies for achieving this goal. The first strategy is to expand supports and resources for families seeking additional education and/or work experience. The second strategy is to increase community-based 2Gen initiatives. The third strategy is to strengthen family resiliency by engaging families in their children’s care and education. As part of its child care access, consumer education, and family outreach activities, the Lead Agency funds participation in community events to distribute information about accessing early education supports and to provide referrals to high-quality child care. In addition, the Lead Agency developed a family-centered coaching model that trains all Child Care and Parent Services (CAPS) staff to provide family-centered coaching to all CAPS families at initial determination and each annual redetermination on available services and supports. In 2023, the family resource and referral portal, Find Help Georgia, https://findhelpga.org/, went live to connect families to financial assistance, food pantries, medical care, child care, job training, and other free or reduced-cost services in their communities. DECAL is maintaining the site and actively working with Community Based Organizations to ensure the information is up-to-date and accurate to expand access to available resources. Families can search for resources such as financial assistance, food pantries, medical care, child care, job training, and other free or reduced-cost services in their communities through the website. A mobile app for Find Help Georgia has also rolled out and has proven to be highly utilized. In addition to these 2Gen strategies and activities, the Lead Agency requires that all licensed child care programs participating in the state’s child care subsidy program, CAPS, must be rated in the state’s quality rating and improvement system, Quality Rated (QR). License-exempt and informal CAPS providers cannot be QR and represent a very small proportion of CAPS providers and the number of children care for in CAPS. The full implementation of this requirement has led to prioritization of CAPS investment as well as QR activities and investment in areas of concentrated poverty and unemployment. The Lead Agency’s data shows that 12% of all licensed providers operate in zip codes identified as associated with extreme poverty (>40% in poverty) or high poverty (20-<40% in poverty), and 72% of those licensed child care providers are rated in the state’s QRIS. Additionally, the data shows that 57% of all licensed child care providers operate in zip codes identified as associated with medium poverty (10-<20% in poverty), and 67% those licensed child care providers are rated in the state’s QRIS. Lastly, the data shows that 31% of all licensed child care providers operate in zip codes identified as associated with low poverty (<10% in poverty), and 55% of licensed child care providers are rated in the state’s QRIS. The statistics show that CAPS families that live in areas of concentrated poverty have greater access to a Quality Rated CAPS provider and that CCDF-related activities and investments are being prioritized to those communities. 5 Health and Safety of Child Care Settings Child care health and safety standards and enforcement practices are essential to protect the health and safety of children while out of their parents’ care. CCDF provides a minimum threshold for child care health and safety policies and practices but leaves authority to Lead Agencies to design standards that appropriately protect children’s safety and promote nurturing environments that support their healthy growth and development. Lead Agencies should set standards for ratios, group size limits, and provider qualifications that help ensure that the child care environment is conducive to safety and learning and enable caregivers to promote all domains of children’s development. CCDF health and safety standards help set clear expectations for CCDF providers, form the foundation for health and safety training for child care workers, and establish the baseline for monitoring to ensure compliance with health and safety requirements. These health and safety requirements apply to all providers serving children receiving CCDF services – whether the providers are licensed or license-exempt, must be appropriate to the provider setting and age of the children served, must include specific topics and training on those topics, and are subject to monitoring and enforcement procedures by the Lead Agency. CCDF-required annual monitoring and enforcement actions help ensure that CCDF providers are adopting and implementing health and safety requirements. Through child care licensing, Lead Agencies set minimum requirements, including health and safety requirements, that child care providers must meet to legally operate in that State or Territory. In some cases, CCDF health and safety requirements may be integrated within the licensing system for licensed providers and may be separate for CCDF providers who are license- exempt. This section addresses CCDF health and safety requirements, Lead Agency licensing requirements and exemptions, and comprehensive background checks. When responding to questions in this section, OCC recognizes that each Lead Agency identifies and defines its own categories of care. OCC does not expect Lead Agencies to change their definitions to fit the CCDF-defined categories of care. For these questions, provide responses that best match the CCDF categories of care.