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 rewards early childhood educators with an annual payment who have recently earned a credential or degree in early childhood education. Incentives program offers an annual bonus for remaining with the same employer. An educator can participate in Incentives for up to five years if they continue to meet eligibility requirements. Incentives data shows the program supports retention in child care. The Lead Agency plans to use CCDF funding to continue both programs. 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 is exploring methods for supporting access to telehealth services for Early Childhood Education professionals. Currently, the Agency is collecting data from providers on access to and demand for additional benefits. In Georgia’s Pre-K Program, the state’s universal pre-kindergarten program for 4 year-olds, provides funding for benefits, at a rate of 24% to private child care program, for lead and assistant teachers in each Georgia’s Pre-K classroom. Though the funding is provided for benefits, recipients are not required to provide benefits with the funds. The Lead Agency’s data shows that even with this funding, these providers are only slightly more likely to provide some measure of benefits than those that do not receive pre-k funds. Overall, the data indicates that the median child care center does not provide benefits, while only 25% of providers report a benefit rate of 2% of higher and only 10% of providers report a benefit rate of 5% or higher. Future plans to offer or expand access are not known at this time as it is unclear to what degree the Lead Agency has the resources to create or enhance access across the early child care and education system in Georgia. d. Describe any Lead Agency ongoing efforts and future plans to support the mental health and well-being of the child care workforce. Through the Infant Early Childhood Mental Health (IECMH) Consultation Pilot, a master’s level mental health professional is available to all child care center staff participating in the pilot. This contracted mental health provider can link the workforce to effective mental health resources in their communities and/or provide resources to the workforce as needed to support mental health and emotional wellbeing. The IECMH Consultant also provides mental health training to child care staff and families. The pilot currently serves 12 child care centers across three geographic areas (Savannah, Macon, and Atlanta - DeKalb County). The Lead Agency plans to continue this pilot. Expansion of the program will be informed by the pilot evaluation. 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 currently oversees the DECAL Scholars program, a workforce program that supports professionals in pursuing early childhood education degrees and credentials. DECAL Scholars includes scholarships that pay tuition costs for students pursuing a degree at a technical college or university and training costs for students pursuing a Child Development Associate (CDA) credential. The Providing Our Workforce Essential Recognition for Educational Development (POWER-ED) program provides wage supplements to scholarships recipients as long as they remain enrolled in an early childhood education degree or credential program. Upon graduation, recipients are eligible to apply for the Incentives program, which offers an annual bonus payment (up to five years) if the individual maintains employment with the same employer. Using Child Care Development Fund (CCDF) and American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding, the DECAL Scholars program was revamped in 2023 to increase access to benefits for more professionals. Program changes included adjusting eligibility requirements to make more professionals eligible for the program and increasing financial supports for earning a CDA. Early data shows the program changes are resulting in more people accessing DECAL Scholars. CCDF funding will be used to maintain program changes. 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. 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 includes webinars, small study groups, individual coaching, and self-study guides and videos covering dozens of business topics for which providers can receive state-approved training hours and stipends in some cases. The Lead Agency plans to use CCDF funds to continue the Thriving Child Care Business Academy training program and expand its offerings during the next state plan period, including adding 3 ￿ 5 new trainings and associated resources. Additionally, the Lead Agency incorporates training around business practices into its grants offered to child care administrators and will continue to provide offerings during the next state plan period. Directors of child care programs participating in Project LITTLE (Lifting Infants and Toddlers through Language Rich Environments) participate in a Director’s Forum that covers topics on leadership, supporting grant implementation, and administrative practices that contribute to running successful child care programs. 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. [x] Compliance with employment and labor laws. xi. [x] Other. Describe any other efforts to strengthen providers’ administrative business: The free Thriving Child Care Business Academy’s online business training and resources available to center and family learning home owners and administrators also cover topics like tax planning, credits, deductions, and returns preparation; best practices leading to revenue growth and sustainability; business formation and incorporation; access to capital; staff benefits and compensation; emergency planning and continuity; retirement and succession planning; insurance; time management; enrollment management; setting rates; incorporation; enrolling in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP); depreciation; reducing stress; creating a tuition assistance policy. 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: Child Care and Parent Services (CAPS) created training videos which are accessible on the CAPS Provider Relations web page which include American with Disabilities Act (ADA) approved captioning in English and Spanish. The provider handbook and user guides are available in Spanish. The Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL) contracts with an interpreting service to accommodate non-English speaking individuals or persons with limited English proficiency. CAPS emails providers prior to training sessions to determine if a provider needs the session in a language other than English. b. Providers and staff who have disabilities: Childcare and Parent Services (CAPS) created tutorial videos for providers containing American with Disabilities Act (ADA) approved captioning in Spanish and English for individuals with hearing impairments. All training and resource materials are created with ADA approved font. Prior to any training session, providers are contacted to determine if they need any accommodations. In-person technical assistance is also offered to providers.