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. [ ] 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. [ ] Other. Describe: 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. Michigan, through a $30M work project appropriation (school aid general fund) and Preschool Development Grant (PDG) dollars will have the opportunity to implement a pilot wage scale project, in addition we will continue offering TEACH. Early Childhood® Michigan scholarships, which include bonuses/stipends. Michigan invests in TEACH Early Childhood Michigan to support providers with their professional development goals related to credential attainment and pursuit of higher education. TEACH Early Childhood Michigan addresses two major challenges in the early education and care field - low wages and high turnover. The scholarship helps increase compensation and the retention of skilled teachers through stipends, bonuses and wage increases. In addition, Michigan will continue implementation of apprenticeship opportunities throughout the state, which include wage increases. We collect data in MiRegistry and are using the registry data to inform current and ongoing wage picture; also planning communication to the field on the importance of providing their compensation information in the registry. Data from a recent (2024) wage scale pilot funded through PDG that can provide information on competitive wage scales and their impact on the field as a compensation strategy. 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. N/A d. Describe any Lead Agency ongoing efforts and future plans to support the mental health and well-being of the child care workforce. Michigan Lifelong Education Advancement and Potential (MiLEAP) works with strong partners to support the mental health and well­ being of the child care workforce. They include the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) and the Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health (MI­ AIMH). To support the mental health and well- being of the child care workforce, the MDHHS infant and early childhood mental health consultation / Social Emotional team has developed strategies to reach as many providers as possible statewide. To support child care leadership such as directors, a consultant provides virtual support sessions focusing on reflective leadership skills as well as a peer to peer office hours to discuss strategies to overcome barriers. This provides connection between child care directors and administrators along with skill building that allows them to be effective leaders for their teams. In addition, consultants have offered 4 cohorts of reflective communities of practice for leaders and child care workers to have space to reflect on the work they are doing and how it is impacting them, and to connect with other professionals managing similar stressors. In the communities where consultants are providing direct Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (IECMHC) services, they often provide wellness, self-care, and regulation workshops to support child care staff in taking care of themselves. These workshops are often open to any providers within their communities. The consultants also provide self-care strategies and individualized support and referral to those providers they are directly working with. The MDHHS Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (IECMHC) website has several downloadable resources for providers that give information on adult caregiver stress reduction and well-being. Mi- LEAP also works with the MI-AIMH, a statewide nonprofit organization that prioritizes mental health, wellness, relationships and equity for Michigan’s infants and young children and the early childhood professional workforce. Some of their work includes: mental health supports, Trauma Informed Care, Culturally Humble training/technical assistance to centers/home providers, infant and early childhood mental health resources, listening sessions to amplify workforce voices, Reflective Supervision/Reflective Practice for early childhood educators, and the relaunch of the MI-AIMH public mental health website to offer training and technical assistance tools and resources at no cost to professionals and families. Both partners are committed to supporting the well-being and mental health of the child care workforce and are continually looking at innovative ways to provide supports. As for future work, MDHHS is planning on continuing their work on the below initiatives for fiscal year 25: Reflective Leadership Skills. Communities of Practice for leaders and teachers. Office Hours. Wellness/stress reduction workshops. Linking and referring to mental health supports in the provider's community (support groups, therapy, etc.). Interpersonal/communication training and support for center teams MI-AIMH expects to continue all of their work mentioned above to support the mental health and well-being of the workforce. e. Describe any other strategies the Lead Agency is developing and/or implementing to support providers’ recruitment and retention of the child care workforce. Recruitment and retention are key reasons Michigan has also embraced apprenticeship as a workforce strategy. Employers engaging in apprenticeship find it is a strong recruitment and retention tool. The apprentice has access to structured on the job learning, training and/or college coursework to support earning an industry recognized credential or degree without cost, and wage increases along their path to completion. The employer has the benefit of an engaged and supported apprentice working in their program while implementing the content they are learning through their related coursework. Apprentices remain with their employer throughout the apprenticeship and ideally long after their completion. Apprenticeship conveys an investment in the apprentice/employee that increases the likelihood that the apprentice will remain employed with their apprenticeship employer. 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. Michigan offers a 30-hour child care center administration series that is currently delivered across the state through our ten Resource Centers. This series provides content on program quality and evaluation, budgeting and financial management, hiring and retaining staff, curriculum, marketing, leadership, time management and child care center licensing rules and regulations. This series meets the licensing requirement for child care administration content for those interested in becoming center program directors. Based on feedback from the field and child care licensing, the State is currently working with a contractor to move this series to an online platform. Self-paced and always accessible courses are important to supporting those that are trying to meet the child care administration requirement and move into the program director role. The online version is expected to be launched in September 2024. In fiscal year 2022, with the support of the Quality Assurance Technical Assistance Center to develop content, Michigan launched a business series targeted at home-based providers. The series includes five courses with content covering budgeting and financial management, setting and collecting fees, marketing, time management, and work life balance. This series is currently delivered by the ten Resource Centers. This series is also being developed into an online series and will launch in early 2025. In addition, Michigan has 22 Family Child Care Networks. Networks are working through 11 quality benchmarks around business sustainability with support and resources for participating family child care providers. 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: Training and support are offered to provider populations for whom English is not their primary language through individual Great Start to Quality Resource Centers. Two of the Resource Centers have bilingual staff and all support providers with translation services. One Resource Center is facilitating a learning community in Spanish. MiLEAP has partnered to develop a new online series supporting children with disabilities that is offered in English, Spanish and Arabic. In addition, MiLEAP is currently working with a contractor to provide our state developed center and home-based business series in English, Spanish and Arabic. Both series will be available online. In addition, we continue to add training sponsors to MiRegistry that offer training in a variety of languages to support providers with accessing professional development in their home language. In 2023, the Great Start to Quality and MiRegistry websites were updated to allow for translation of webpage content into Spanish and Arabic. In fiscal year24, we were able to launch Family Child Care Networks (FCCNs). Twenty-two networks were launched including one network supporting Spanish speaking providers and one network supporting Arabic speaking providers. Funding is proposed to continue for the FCCNs in the FY25 budget. b. Providers and staff who have disabilities: Each provider is a unique case, and their individual ability is accommodated according to their needs. For example, a hearing- impaired provider may be positioned close to the instructor during a training to accommodate a provider who is able to read lips. If an interpreter is available, this is also an option. A vision-impaired provider may be accommodated with materials specific to the training with access to the trainer on an individual basis to read the printed materials. Considerations are made for locations where trainings or meetings are held and are different abilities accessible (handicapped). When a provider shares that they struggle with reading and comprehension, there is additional individualized assistance to make sure the provider is comfortable and understands the content being presented. In addition, one-on-one consultation is provided to meet the needs as best as possible.