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. [x] Providing bonuses or stipends paid directly to staff, like sign-on or retention bonuses. iii. [x] 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. [x] Other. Describe: The Lead Agency is piloting a private public partnership model to support child care workforce recruitment and retention. The Lead Agency is partnering with local communities throughout the state to support Community Solutions Funds. A local entity such as a Chamber of Commerce or economic development board houses the fund, they obtain donations from local employers or businesses and the lead agency matches those funds. Once dollars are deposited in the fund local child care programs are able to apply for funds to give either retention bonuses or increased wages to their staff 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 intends to track progress in the Community Solutions Funds mentioned above. If the results of those efforts show increased recruitment and retention the Lead Agency will evaluate our ability to continue funding for these funds. 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 has partnered with both the Iowa Insurance Division and Iowa Navigator to support child care programs in expanding access to benefits. The Lead Agency helped the Iowa Insurance Division facilitate in-person events for child care providers around that state which provided free education and resource around financial literacy, health insurance and a number of other business topics. Providers were able to learn about the process to engage a health insurance agent free of charge to determine options for providing benefits that best fit their business’s needs and budget. Additionally the Lead Agency has partnered with Iowa Navigator annually to do webinars for individuals regarding eligibility and how to sign up for free or low-cost health insurance through Medicaid or the Marketplace. d. Describe any Lead Agency ongoing efforts and future plans to support the mental health and well-being of the child care workforce. N/A e. Describe any other strategies the Lead Agency is developing and/or implementing to support providers’ recruitment and retention of the child care workforce. N/A 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. The Lead Agency supports multiple strategies to strengthen child care providers’ business practices. The lead agency funds a training series from First Children’s Finance called Business and Financial Fundamentals, there is a version of the training for both centers and family child care. Providers who complete either of these training series are eligible for one year of free coaching on business and financial topics. The Lead agency also funds Financial Management Coaches that support providers using state-supported Child Care Management Systems (CCMS) to effectively use technology to increase efficiency of management/administrative tasks and make data-driven business decisions. 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. [ ] 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: The Lead Agency contracts with CCR&R to support child care providers. CCR&R has translated several of their materials and trainings into Spanish. Additionally, they have contracts with translation services to assist providers in person and some regions have bilingual staff. The Iowa Early Learning Standards are translated into Spanish. Partnerships between local agencies throughout the state and CCR&R also provide technical assistance and educational opportunities to refugees who provide home child care. The Lead Agency partnered with CCR&R to develop a child development home regulation checklist tool with visual cues to support understanding for those with limited English proficiency. b. Providers and staff who have disabilities: The Lead Agency contracts with CCR&R to support child care staff's individual needs, including staff with disabilities. The contract requires CCR&R staff to provide services tailored to what that child care provider needs. For example, if a child care provider has a disability that that makes it difficult to fill out paperwork, CCR&R staff can visit on site to the child care provider and support the provider in completing the registration or licensing process. They can also assist in developing supports or action plans for accommodations that a child care staff member with disabilities may need to complete their daily work with children.