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? [x] 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: The contract for Migrant Child Care services reserves child care slots at Head Start programs where possible; in areas of the state where an eligible family is seeking services but Head Start is not an accessible option, the contracted slot goes to a community-based child care program that meets Head Start standards. This ensures that children served by these contracted slots receive care that meets high standards of quality while remaining flexible to ensure care meets the family’s needs in terms of location, hours, and availability. [ ] 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: [ ] No. If no, describe any Lead Agency plans to provide direct child care services through grants and contracts for child care slots: 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. [x] Children with disabilities. Number of slots allocated through grants or contracts: 65 (on average per fiscal year) [x] Infants and toddlers. Number of slots allocated through grants or contracts: 335 (on average per fiscal year) [x] Children in underserved geographic areas. Number of slots allocated through grants or contracts: 295 (on average per fiscal year) [ ] Children needing non-traditional hour care. Number of slots allocated through grants or contracts: [x] School-age children. Number of slots allocated through grants or contracts: 3 (on average per fiscal year) [ ] Children experiencing homelessness. Number of slots allocated through grants or contracts: [x] Children in urban areas. Percent of CCDF children served in an average month: 0.6% [x] Children in rural areas. Percent of CCDF children served in an average month: 2.5% [ ] Other populations. If checked, describe: ii. If yes, how are rates for slots funded by grants and contracts determined by the Lead Agency? Slots funded by contract are paid at the Head Start rate. 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: All providers registered for the Child Care Assistance Program must be 18 years of age. iii. [x] Restricted based on the hours of care (i.e., certain number of hours, non- traditional work hours). Describe: The parent’s activity is during times when out- of-home care is not available or when the family lives in an area where out-of- home care is not available. The family must demonstrate that they worked with the Parent Aware agency to search for options for care. 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. [x] Restricted to care for children with special needs or a medical condition. Describe: If the child has a verified disability or illness that would place the child or other children at risk or create a hardship for the child and family to take the child out of the home to a child care center or home. vi. [ ] Restricted to in-home providers that meet additional health and safety requirements beyond those required by CCDF. Describe: vii. [x] Other. Describe: Providers must pass background studies and take First Aid and CPR before being authorized to care for children. Additionally, if caring for children under the age of 5, they must take training in Preventing Abusive Head Trauma and if caring for children under the age of 1, they must take training in Preventing Sudden Unexpected Infant Death Syndrome. If the provider is not related to at least one child, they must take an orientation training within 90 days of caring for the unrelated child that covers all health and safety requirements required by CCDF. 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 department engages regularly with data from Child Care Licensing in their Office of Inspector General, which includes information about the number of licensed family child care and child care center programs and their licensed capacity, including licensed capacity of infant and toddler slots. This data is collected and analyzed for biannual Goal Review Sessions with the Governor’s Office, at which the department participates along with other state agencies whose work relates to child care and early education. In recent years, these discussions have highlighted and delved into a longstanding trend of decreasing child care capacity in family child care programs in particular, especially in Greater Minnesota (the areas of the state outside of the seven- county Twin Cities Metro Area). An awareness of the crucial role that family child care programs play in providing affordable, available infant and toddler care has been a central part of these discussions. Along with licensing data, these discussions have incorporated insights from community-level supply analysis, such as the A Quiet Crisis report from the Center for Rural Policy and Development, as well as insights from direct engagement with parents and child care providers. A serious shortage of capacity for infants and toddlers is a consistent theme across these data sources and discussions. Analyses such as the Market Price Analysis bear this out as well, showing consistently higher prices for infant and toddler care across the state, suggesting that it is scarcer and in higher demand than other types of care. An additional source of data around demand for care and families’ preferences is the National Survey of Early Care and Education (NSECE). Minnesota has invested in conducting a Minnesota Supplement to this national data collection effort, which allows creation of reports specific to Minnesota’s context. The Participation in Child Care and Early Education Chartbook (https://mn.gov/dhs/assets/NSECE MN Participation in Child Care Counts Characteristics 2019_tcm1053-567921.pdf) , one of these reports, details children’s participation in child care and early education settings in Minnesota, providing insight into the types of care arrangements families of different circumstances are choosing for their children. This data shows, for example, that the number of infants and toddlers participating in at least one non-parental child care arrangement increased by nearly 20% from 2012 to 2019, suggesting a possible increase in demand for infant and toddler care. ii. Method of tracking progress: The Goal Review Sessions mentioned above, at which the department touches base about supply data with partners across the state enterprise, are an important strategy for tracking progress around capacity- building goals, particularly for infant and toddler care. The regular updating of the Market Price Analysis is another important progress check, providing a snapshot of supply and demand for care of various kinds, including for infants and toddlers. Minnesota plans to continue investing in Minnesota supplements to the NSECE, which will provide a source of longitudinal, Minnesota-specific data about a variety of topics, including families’ preferences for infant and toddler care. Finally, the department has several key performance indicators in a strategic plan related to the strategies described below that are focused on supply and quality of care for infants and toddlers, and regularly tracks these measures to understand the impact of our strategies toward these bigger-picture goals. iii. What is the plan to address the child care shortages using family child care homes The department has a network of strategies focused on supporting adequate supply and high quality of care for infants and toddlers in family child care homes as well as in child care centers. The department provides funding support for several services that child care programs can access, including coaching around infant/toddler care through the Center for Inclusive Child Care and Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation, which help programs better serve infants and toddlers. Minnesota’s professional development system for early childhood educators includes a range of trainings and relationship-based professional development opportunities to help educators gain the skills to support infants and toddlers in their development. Minnesota’s Child Care Assistance Program pays higher subsidy rates for infant and toddler care than for care for other age groups, recognizing the higher cost for this scarce type of care. There is an additional subsidy differential for programs with a 3- or 4-star rating in Parent Aware, ensuring that low-income families, including families with infants and toddlers, are able to access high-quality care. An additional strategy Minnesota is pursuing to increase access to infant and toddler care is to invest in supports for Family, Friend, and Neighbor (FFN) (https://mn.gov/dhs/ffn- minnesota/) care providers. Data and community engagement tell us that many families choose this type of care, especially for their infants and toddlers, and supporting FFN providers with resources, training, connection to peers, access to activities, and financial supports can help make this type of care a more sustainable option for families. Finally, Child Care Wayfinder, Minnesota’s ￿one stop shop￿ supports establishing, sustaining, or expanding child care businesses and increases child care capacity across the state including for infants and toddlers. Through this program, participants receive relationship-based support at every stage of their business journey to support successful child care businesses iv. What is the plan to address the child care shortages using child care centers? The supports described above in subsection iii are available to child care centers as well as to family child care programs, to assist them in starting, sustaining, and expanding their programs and in effectively serving infants and toddlers in particular. Many of these supports, such as coaching and consultation and the Child Care Wayfinder program, tailor their services to program type in recognition that family child care and center-based programs have different business models and thus different needs for support. In addition to supporting individual providers to strengthen their programs and improve quality of care, the department supports communities to identify gaps in available care and to develop plans to address these gaps through programs such as First Children’s Finance’s Rural Child Care Innovation Program (https://www.firstchildrensfinance.org/for-communities/rural-child-care- innovation-program/). This type of support helps communities identify whether family child care, child care centers, or a mix of both will best meet their community’s specific child care needs. b. In different regions of the State or Territory: i. Data sources used to identify shortages: The department has a partnership with researchers at the University of Minnesota who have developed the Family Access Measure, a method of measuring families’ access to child care which tracks the number of child care slots available within a 20-minute driving radius of families’ locations. This approach to measuring access has several benefits over a geography-based measure (i.e. difference between number of slots and number of children by county): it accounts for the fact that families with young children are more concentrated in certain areas, and for the fact that families may cross administrative boundaries, like county lines, in order to access care. This data source allows the department to conduct in-depth analysis of child care access and child care shortages in different regions of the state, including by program type and by Parent Aware rating. For more information about this measure, see www.childcareaccess.org. ii. Method of tracking progress: The department has included a measure based on the Family Access Measure to our strategic plan as a population-level outcome measure and has aligned program-level measures across our capacity-building initiatives to this measure. The measure, ￿Number of families with adequate access to child care,￿ is aligned with the Governor￿s One Minnesota Goal for Child Care and Early Education, so our tracking of progress across our capacity-building efforts rolls up into this enterprise-wide goal as well. Our University partners are working on an open-source version of the code for the Family Access Measure, so that the department will be able to regularly update the measure to use it for tracking progress of our capacity-building efforts. The department also takes part in quarterly Goal Review Sessions at which the department discusses supply shortages and progress with partners across the state enterprise. These meetings are an important strategy for tracking progress around capacity-building. iii. What is the plan to address the child care shortages using family child care homes? In the past several years, Minnesota has made historic investments in new and expanded capacity-building initiatives designed to address child care supply shortages across the state. These include developing the Child Care Wayfinder network to support child care program startup, expansion, and retention; Great Start Compensation Support Payments and Empower to Educate to address workforce shortages that constrain child care capacity; expansion of investment in financial supports such as REETAIN (Retaining Early Educators Through Incentives Now) and TEACH (Teacher Education and Compensation Helps) scholarships; piloting development of family child care shared service alliances; and more. For more information about these efforts, see section 4.5.4 below. Minnesota is now at a stage of working to sustain these investments and to solidify continuous quality improvement processes using program administrative data and other evaluative approaches to identify areas for program improvements. The department’s intention is that by using available data to identify areas of greatest need, focusing a coordinated set of investments in those areas, and then assessing the impacts of those investments and adjusting course as needed, our investments will meaningfully address the shortages identified across the state. These strategies are also coordinated with efforts of other agencies, including the Minnesota Department of Education, Minnesota Department of Health, and Department of Employment and Economic Development. The department meets regularly with these partners through the Child Care and Early Education Action Team, convened by the Minnesota Children’s Cabinet, to share updates across programs, engage with data, and strategize together about how best to coordinate our efforts to address supply shortages. iv. What is the plan to address the child care shortages using child care centers? The department has a network of strategies focused on supporting adequate supply and high quality of care in every region of the state. The department provides funding support for several services that child care programs can access, including coaching around infant/toddler care, inclusive care, and health and safety through the Center for Inclusive Child Care and Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation, which help programs better serve all children in their care. Minnesota’s professional development system for early childhood educators includes a range of trainings and relationship-based professional development opportunities to help educators gain the skills to support all children in their care. Empower to Educate Workforce Advisors recruit individuals looking to start a career in early education by providing these individuals with child care job skills training, career counseling and job placement assistance to support staffing needs within child care centers. Workforce Advisors are positioned in every district of the state to form one-on-one relationships with potential early childhood educators. Minnesota’s Child Care Assistance Program pays an additional subsidy differential for programs with a 3- or 4-star rating in Parent Aware, ensuring that low-income families, including families with infants and toddlers, are able to access high-quality care. Finally, Child Care Wayfinder, Minnesota’s ￿one stop shop￿ supports establishing, sustaining, or expanding child care businesses and increases child care capacity across the state by strategically locating Startup and Retention Navigators in all regions of the state. Through this program, participants receive relationship-based support at every stage of their business journey to support successful child care businesses. c. In care for special populations: i. Data sources used to identify shortages: Minnesota draws on a variety of sources to understand which populations have specific needs related to child care access and where shortages exist. One source is administrative data from programs that identify specific populations for eligibility. The Child Care Assistance Program, for example, provides a higher subsidy rate, upon request and approval, to a provider caring for a child who has special needs due to a disability requiring specialized training, services or environmental adaptations. In addition, the department allows County and Tribal social service agencies to choose to pay higher rates for certain populations defined as at-risk, which could include families affected by a disaster, families with limited English proficiency, families with a history or at risk of abuse, neglect, or family violence, families experiencing homelessness, based on maternal age or level of education, or families dealing with mental illness or chemical dependency. These elements of program design provide the department with administrative data about the scope of need for care across these special populations, as well as which populations different counties and Tribal Nations have identified as experiencing the largest gaps in their local communities. Through cross-agency partnership, the department can also access data from other early care and education programs that address special populations, including Early Childhood Special Education and Early Learning Scholarships (which identify priority populations as children of teen parents, children currently in foster care, children in need of child protective services, and children who have experienced homelessness in the last 24 months). The Early Childhood Longitudinal Data System (https://eclds.mn.gov/#scholarships/orgId-- 999999000__groupType--state__ECO_DEV_REGION--FOC_NONE__FISCAL_YEAR-- 2022__p--5) is one source that brings together data across these programs and provides insight into the intersections of financial supports for families in many of these priority populations. The NSECE is another data source that provides insight into the needs and gaps for special populations, particularly in terms of caregiver work schedules and needs for nontraditional-hour care. Minnesota’s investment in a Minnesota supplement to the NSECE included development of a report specific to parent work schedules in Minnesota households (https://mn.gov/dhs/assets/NSECE MN Supplement_Parent Work Schedules in Households with Young Children_2019_acc_final_tcm1053-567922.pdf). Finally, the department’s ongoing community engagement efforts provide a consistent source of qualitative data about shortages in care for special populations. ii. Method of tracking progress: Using the data sources cited above, the department brings an intentional focus to the needs of special populations across our data- tracking, reporting, and action-planning activities. This includes the regular Goal Review Sessions with the Governor’s Office, as described above, and our strategic planning and continuous improvement activities. In addition, the department consistently seeks out and participates in research opportunities through the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation and other sources. This creates venues to delve deeper into the available data to identify gaps and unmet needs, as well as what strategies are working well for families. iii. What is the plan to address the child care shortages using family child care homes? As described above, Minnesota directs additional resources to families experiencing a range of challenging circumstances and/or to the programs that serve them, to enable families from these special populations to more easily access care. In addition, Minnesota invests in supports for child care and early education programs to enable them to better serve families from special populations. These supports include coaching for providers around inclusion of children with special needs through Center for Inclusive Child Care; Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation for child care programs; and professional development opportunities around serving children with special needs. iv. What is the plan to address the child care shortages using child care centers? The department has a network of strategies focused on supporting adequate supply and high quality of care in every region of the state. The department provides funding support for several services that child care programs can access, including coaching around infant/toddler care, inclusive care, and health and safety through the Center for Inclusive Child Care and Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation, which help programs better serve all children in their care. Minnesota’s professional development system for early childhood educators includes a range of trainings and relationship-based professional development opportunities to help educators gain the skills to support all children in their care. Empower to Educate Workforce Advisors recruit individuals looking to start a career in early education by providing these individuals with child care job skills training, career counseling and job placement assistance to support staffing needs within child care centers. Workforce Advisors are positioned in every district of the state to form one-on-one relationships with potential early childhood educators. Minnesota’s Child Care Assistance Program pays an additional subsidy differential for programs with a 3- or 4-star rating in Parent Aware, ensuring that low-income families, including families with infants and toddlers, are able to access high-quality care. Finally, Child Care Wayfinder, Minnesota’s ￿one stop shop￿ supports establishing, sustaining, or expanding child care businesses and increases child care capacity across the state by strategically locating Startup and Retention Navigators in all regions of the state. Through this program, participants receive relationship-based support at every stage of their business journey to support successful child care businesses. 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: Using the data sources described in Section 4.5.3, the department has identified gaps in the supply of child care in underserved geographic areas throughout the state. The department has created Access Equity Areas, a geographically based index that combines data on family access to child care, poverty rates, median household incomes, homeownership rates, and unemployment rates. The 20% of census tracts scoring the highest on this index (indicating they face the greatest barriers related to these five indicators) are considered Access Equity Areas and are focused on for increased investment through programs such as the Great Start Compensation Support Payment Program and Access to Technology Grants (mentioned below). The Access Equity Areas are also used by the department in other planning contexts as a tool for understanding what regions of the state are particularly in need of additional supports including those listed below. The programs and services detailed below are also the result of engagement conducted across the state, designed to gather insights, and ensure that the needs of children and families living in Minnesota are comprehensively understood and effectively addressed. Some opportunities to provide input include engagement sessions with child care communities across the state both through state and local partners, legislative proposal feedback, and CCDF surveys and listening sessions. Through these opportunities common themes related to resources for underserved populations, the need for more infant/toddler care, children with disabilities, and for non-traditional hour care continues to arise. To support the gaps identified in underserved geographic areas, child care programs may be eligible for child care services grants which are split into three categories: start up, regional, and emergency. Individuals that intend to become licensed or that have been licensed for less than six months are eligible to apply for start-up funds which may be used to assist the program with the costs associated with becoming licensed. Regional grants are offered annually and can be used for ongoing program costs such as health and safety needs, equipment, and training while emergency grants are available year-round based on funding availability to support costs associated with emergency situations. A new grant program has been established which aims to support child care programs with costs associated specifically with technology needs to enhance their business practices. This grant program prioritizes providers located in child care access equity areas which include higher rates of vulnerable populations. Child care providers in these areas are more likely to be serving children and families that need more supports to thrive. Minnesota is also providing supports for Family, Friend, and Neighbor (FFN) care providers. Data and community engagement says that many families choose this type of care, especially for their infants and toddlers, hours needed, or cost of care. Supporting FFN providers with resources, training, connection to peers, access to activities, and financial supports can help make this type of care a more sustainable option for families. Additionally, Minnesota has created the Great Start Compensation Support Payment Program, a permanent program designed to support the child care industry and child care workers through monthly financial support payments based on the number of staff regularly caring for children in the program. This program provides increased payments to programs located in access equity areas or that serve children receiving child care assistance or early learning scholarships. Child Care Wayfinder, Minnesota’s ￿one stop shop￿ supports establishing, sustaining, or expanding child care businesses through personalized, relationship-based support at every stage an individual’s business journey. Start up and Retention Navigators across the state recruit individuals looking to start their own child care business by providing local and statewide resources and referrals supporting successful child care businesses. Wayfinder focuses on equity, ensuring services are designed in a way that meets the needs of all Minnesotans. The workgroup established that Black, indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) families are more likely to encounter barriers to child care, thus specialized outreach is necessary to ensure adequate access to culturally relevant and responsive child care. Child Care Wayfinder uses the following tools to determine where child care gaps exist as well as how to approach current gaps. The department has a partnership with researchers at the University of Minnesota who have developed the Family Access Measure www.childcareaccess.org, a method of measuring families’ access to child care which tracks the number of child care slots available within a 20-minute driving radius of families’ locations. Additionally, First Children’s Finance provides an annual update related to a Child Care Needs Summary (https://www.ruralchildcare.org/data) which shows an at- a-glance view by economic development area across the state or an in-depth view by zip code of child care slot shortages. A comprehensive range of business supports for licensed family child care, child care centers, individuals looking to become licensed, or communities looking to increase child care supply are available. The Rural Child Care Innovation Program (RCCIP) (https://www.ruralchildcare.org/programoverview) is an innovative community engagement process designed to increase the supply of high quality affordable child care in rural communities by supporting them in identifying the scope and size of their child care challenges and empowering them to develop solutions specific to their community’s needs. Programs and communities located in urban, rural or areas where a child care gap has been identified according to the Child Care Needs Summary at https://www.ruralchildcare.org/data are prioritized for ongoing business support services. These services encompass providers gaining essential business skills through any combination of Develop approved training, Minnesota’s Quality Improvement and Registry Tool, consultation, coaching, technical assistance, or one-on-one sessions, tailored to individual needs. These services cover a wide range of areas vital for effective business management including fiscal management, budgeting, recordkeeping practices, hiring and retaining staff, writing policies and procedures, community relationships and involvement, marketing and public relations, business plans and assessments, and start up or expansion supports. Coaching and consultation services are available to programs including mental health consultation which is offered to child care providers and programs which include reduced staff stress and turnover, decrease mental health symptoms in young children, reduced educational disparities experienced by children of color, reduced expulsion of children and increased early learning staff competence in addressing trauma, adversity and early childhood and family mental health conditions. Programs also have access to specialized coaching focusing on infant/toddlers, health and safety, and inclusion. Local Child Care Aware agencies employ a Recruiter to increase participation in Minnesota’s Quality Rating and Improvement System, Parent Aware. Recruiters identify areas of low participation and prioritize marketing Parent Aware to programs that are registered to serve children receiving child care subsidies. Programs that join Parent Aware receive coaching related to increasing their program quality. This and the above strategies focus on improving quality and starting and sustaining child care programs to limit gaps in access to child care when possible. Finally, Minnesota also holds a contract with Tri-Valley Opportunity Council, Inc. to build capacity for some of the state’s most vulnerable children and families through the Migrant Child Care program. Through this program, Tri-Valley subcontracts with Head Start and licensed child care programs to provide services for children whose families are engaged in migrant work. Services include direct child care services as well as transportation, health screening, bilingual translations, and referrals to other available services for migrant families in Minnesota. While this contract is statewide in scope, many of the Head Start centers run directly by Tri-Valley are located in or near Child Care Access Equity Areas (described above), suggesting significant overlap between the organization’s primary service areas and underserved geographic areas. This contract is building critical capacity for migrant families in underserved geographic areas. b. Infants and toddlers. Describe: Using the data sources described in Section 4.5.3, the department has identified gaps in the supply of child care for infants and toddlers throughout the state. Our data indicates an increasing demand for infant and toddler care￿according to the NSECE, between 2012 and 2019 the number of children under age 3 participating in some regular child care arrangement (whether paid or unpaid) increased by 17,000￿while the supply of licensed child care has been holding steady or decreasing slightly (from 2012 to 2019 the total number of licensed child care slots in Minnesota, for all age groups, decreased by 4,253). The gap between supply and demand for infant care is clearly reflected in the higher prices for infant care found in the department’s market rate and cost model studies. We know from our Family, Friend and Neighbor (FFN) landscape scan that many families, especially families with infants and toddlers, choose FFN care; they do so for a variety of reasons, including that it is their preferred care arrangement, but also for reasons of affordability and lack of availability of other options. The programs and services detailed below are also the result of engagement conducted across the state, designed to gather insights, and ensure that the needs of children and families living in Minnesota are comprehensively understood and effectively addressed. Some opportunities to provide input include engagement sessions with child care communities across the state both through state and local partners, legislative proposal feedback, and CCDF surveys and listening sessions. Through these opportunities common themes related to resources for underserved populations, the need for more infant/toddler care, children with disabilities, and for non-traditional hour care continues to arise. To support the gaps identified in child care programs serving infants and toddlers, these programs may be eligible for child care services grants which are split into three distinct categories: start up, regional, and emergency. Individuals that intend to become licensed or that have been licensed for less than six months are eligible to apply for startup funds which may be used to assist the program with the costs associated with becoming licensed. Regional grants occur annually and can be used for ongoing program costs such as health and safety needs, equipment, and training while emergency grants are available year-round based on funding availability to support costs associated with emergency situations. The Minnesota Infant and Toddler Child Development Associate is a full 120 hours, which will meet the training requirements for the national Child Development Associate (CDA) credential as well as various training requirements for Minnesota's Quality Rating and Improvement System, Parent Aware. This strategy is focused more on improving quality. Coaching and consultation services are available to programs including mental health consultation which is offered to child care providers serving infants and toddlers. Coaching/consultation services are also available through the Center for Inclusive Child Care including the Infant Toddler Coaching Project to support programs serving infants and toddlers and Health and Safety Coaching project which supports programs in implementing policies and daily health and safety practices. These services are available statewide and individualized to the needs of the programs. In addition, an online "Ask an Expert" service is available to providers, offering researched based information and resources to address their questions. This strategy is focused more on improving quality. Child Care Wayfinder, Minnesota’s ￿one stop shop￿ supports establishing, sustaining, or expanding child care businesses through personalized, relationship-based support at every stage an individual’s business journey. Start up and Retention Navigators are strategically located across the state to recruit individuals looking to start their own child care business by providing local and statewide resources and referrals supporting successful child care businesses including those serving underserved areas, infants and toddlers, children with disabilities, and those with non-traditional hours. Minnesota is also providing supports for Family, Friend, and Neighbor (FFN) care providers. Data and community engagement says that many families choose this type of care, especially for their infants and toddlers, hours needed, or cost of care. Supporting FFN providers with resources, training, connection to peers, access to activities, and financial supports can help make this type of care a more sustainable option for families. Business supports such as business consultation and training are available for family child care and child care center programs who serve infants and toddlers. These services may include a wide range of areas such as fiscal management, budgeting, recordkeeping practices, and more. For rural communities the Rural Child Care Innovation Program (RCCIP) is an innovative community engagement process designed to increase the supply of high quality affordable child care in rural communities by supporting them in identifying the scope and size of their child care challenges which often include lack of infant and toddler availability. This program then empowers the community to develop solutions specific to their community’s needs. Local Child Care Aware agencies employ a Recruiter to increase participation in Minnesota’s Quality Rating and Improvement System, Parent Aware. Recruiters identify areas of low participation and prioritize marketing Parent Aware to programs that are registered to serve children receiving child care subsidies including those serving infants and toddlers. Programs that join Parent Aware receive coaching related to increasing their program quality. Finally, Minnesota also holds a contract with Tri-Valley Opportunity Council, Inc. to build capacity for some of the state’s most vulnerable children and families through the Migrant Child Care program. Through this program, Tri-Valley subcontracts with Head Start and licensed child care programs to provide services for children whose families are engaged in migrant work. Services include direct child care services as well as transportation, health screening, bilingual translations, and referrals to other available services for migrant families in Minnesota. Tri-Valley serves infants and toddlers through this contract; for the most recent reporting period for which data are available, infants and toddlers made up 43% of children served through the program. This contract is building critical capacity for infants and toddlers from migrant families. c. Children with disabilities. Describe: Using the data sources described in Section 4.5.3, the department has identified gaps in the supply of child care for children with disabilities throughout the state. American Community Survey data show that about 1,618 children under age 5 in Minnesota had an identified disability in 2022. The department’s most recent Early Care and Education Workforce Study suggests that supporting children with disabilities is an area of concern or growth for child care professionals in Minnesota; when asked about what types of support, training, or education they could most use, early educators’ top selection by far was ￿behavior management/proper discipline practices,￿ with 48% of respondents selecting that option. 29% of respondents also selected ￿working with children who have special health care needs￿ as a top need. The department has seen evidence of this gap in providers feeling equipped to adequately support children with disabilities in outcomes such as suspension and expulsion from early childhood programs and is working to address these gaps through the services described below. The programs and services detailed below are also the result of engagement conducted across the state, designed to gather insights, and ensure that the needs of children and families living in Minnesota are comprehensively understood and effectively addressed. Some opportunities to provide input include engagement sessions with child care communities across the state both through state and local partners, legislative proposal feedback, and CCDF surveys and listening sessions. Through these opportunities common themes related to resources for underserved populations, the need for more infant/toddler care, children with disabilities, and for non-traditional hour care continues to arise. To support the gaps identified in programs serving children with disabilities, these programs may be eligible for child care services grants which are split into three distinct categories: start up, regional, and emergency. Individuals that intend to become licensed or that have been licensed for less than six months are eligible to apply for startup funds which may be used to assist the program with the costs associated with becoming licensed. Regional grants occur annually and can be used for ongoing program costs such as health and safety needs, equipment, and training while emergency grants are available year-round based on funding availability to support costs associated with emergency situations. Coaching/consultation services focused on strategies to support inclusion of children with disabilities are available through the Center for Inclusive Child Care (CICC). These services assist providers in developing strategies to meet the child's needs while in care, partner with families in making referrals to appropriate screening services and designing environments which meet the needs of all children enrolled in the child care program. In addition, CICC has developed professional development courses related to children with developmental disabilities, challenging behaviors and other special needs. They offer an online "Ask an Expert" service for child care providers, parents and the public which provides research-based information and referrals to local programs and service providers, as needed. Child Care Wayfinder, Minnesota’s ￿one stop shop￿ supports establishing, sustaining, or expanding child care businesses through personalized, relationship-based support at every stage an individual’s business journey. Start up and Retention Navigators are strategically located across the state to recruit individuals looking to start their own child care business by providing local and statewide resources and referrals supporting successful child care businesses including those serving underserved areas, infants and toddlers, children with disabilities, and those with non-traditional hours. Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) special needs rates are established on an as-needed basis for individual children, separately from the standard hour base rates. Special Needs Rates are approved by the department and are based on the child's needs, the provider's description of services and the provider's related costs. A rating scale is used to determine the maximum Special Needs Rate that may be paid, based on one of three levels of need in relationship to the standard county maximum rate for that provider type and age of the child. Level one is 1.75 times the standard county maximum rate. Level two is 2.5 times the standard county maximum rate. Level three is 3.0 times the standard county maximum rate. In addition, CCAP policies allow counties to establish higher at-risk rates to certain providers caring for children defined as special needs due to inclusion in at-risk populations. Counties identify the rates that are paid in their biennial Child Care Fund Plan. This strategy is focused more on increasing supply. Business supports such as business consultation and training are available for family child care and child care center programs who serve children with disabilities. These services may include a wide range of areas such as fiscal management, budgeting, recordkeeping practices, and more. Mental health consultation is offered to child care providers which include reduced staff stress and turnover, decrease mental health symptoms in young children, reduced educational disparities experienced by children of color, reduced expulsion of children and increased early learning staff competence in addressing trauma, adversity and early childhood and family mental health conditions. This and the above strategies focus on improving quality and sustaining child care programs to support limiting gaps when possible. Finally, Minnesota also holds a contract with Tri-Valley Opportunity Council, Inc. to build capacity for some of the state’s most vulnerable children and families through the Migrant Child Care program. Through this program, Tri-Valley subcontracts with Head Start and licensed child care programs to provide services for children whose families are engaged in migrant work. Services include direct child care services as well as transportation, health screening, bilingual translations, and referrals to other available services for migrant families in Minnesota. Tri-Valley prioritizes services for children with disabilities, per the contract for this work. This contract is building critical capacity for children from migrant families who are living with disabilities. d. Children who receive care during non-traditional hours. Describe: Using the data sources described in Section 4.5.3, the department has identified gaps in the supply of child care for families needing care during non-traditional hours. The NSECE found that children in households with at least one parent working needed an average of 3.2 hours of non- standard hour care per week, and the average was higher (8.3) for children in single- parent households where parents are unable to stagger their schedules to cover care needs. However, of the 9,876 early care and education programs listed in the state’s Parent Aware database, only 190 indicate that they provide care during weekend hours and about 2,800 that indicate that they provide some care outside of standard hours (open before 7am or close after 6pm) on weekdays. Data indicates that the gap in availability of non-standard hour care is often being filled by Family, Friend and Neighbor (FFN) caregivers. In a landscape scan, 68% of surveyed families said that schedule flexibility was a major reason for choosing FFN care; 40% of FFN caregivers reported providing care on weekends, about 30% provided care before 9am and/or after 5pm, and 16% provided care overnight. The programs and services detailed below are also the result of engagement conducted across the state, designed to gather insights, and ensure that the needs of children and families living in Minnesota are comprehensively understood and effectively addressed. Some opportunities to provide input include engagement sessions with child care communities across the state both through state and local partners, legislative proposal feedback, and CCDF surveys and listening sessions. Through these opportunities common themes related to resources for underserved populations, the need for more infant/toddler care, children with disabilities, and for non-traditional hour care continues to arise. To support the gaps identified in programs offering non-traditional hours, these programs may be eligible for child care services grants which are split into three distinct categories: start up, regional, and emergency. Individuals that intend to become licensed or that have been licensed for less than six months are eligible to apply for start-up funds which may be used to assist the program with the costs associated with becoming licensed. Regional grants occur annually and can be used for ongoing program costs such as health and safety needs, equipment, and training while emergency grants are available year-round based on funding availability to support costs associated with emergency situations. Coaching and consultation services are available to programs including mental health consultation which is offered to child care providers with non-traditional hours. Coaching/consultation services are also available to programs caring for children during non-traditional hours. Based on the needs of the program, services can be offered through the Center for Inclusive Child Care or Child Care Wayfinder. Child Care Wayfinder works with providers to ensure current or potential providers understand the community need related to non-traditional hours. Additional supports are available to programs who choose to participate in Parent Aware, Minnesota's Quality Rating and Improvement System. Child Care Wayfinder, Minnesota’s ￿one stop shop￿ supports establishing, sustaining, or expanding child care businesses through personalized, relationship-based support at every stage an individual’s business journey. Start up and Retention Navigators are strategically located across the state to recruit individuals looking to start their own child care business by providing local and statewide resources and referrals supporting successful child care businesses including those serving underserved areas, infants and toddlers, children with disabilities, and those with non-traditional hours. Minnesota is also providing supports for Family, Friend, and Neighbor (FFN) care providers. Data and community engagement says that many families choose this type of care, especially for their infants and toddlers, hours needed, or cost of care. Supporting FFN providers with resources, training, connection to peers, access to activities, and financial supports can help make this type of care a more sustainable option for families. Business supports such as business consultation and training are available for family child care and child care center programs who serve infants and toddlers. These services may include a wide range of areas such as fiscal management, budgeting, recordkeeping practices, and more. For rural communities the Rural Child Care Innovation Program (RCCIP) (https://www.ruralchildcare.org/programoverview) is an innovative community engagement process designed to increase the supply of high quality affordable child care in rural communities by supporting them in identifying the scope and size of their child care challenges which often include lack of infant and toddler availability. This program then empowers the community to develop solutions specific to their community’s needs. Local Child Care Aware agencies employ a Recruiter to increase participation in Minnesota’s Quality Rating and Improvement System, Parent Aware. Recruiters identify areas of low participation and prioritize marketing Parent Aware to programs that are registered to serve children receiving child care subsidies including those serving infants and toddlers. Programs that join Parent Aware receive coaching related to increasing their program quality. e. Other. Specify what population is being focused on to increase supply or improve quality. Describe: The department has introduced Shared Services Alliances (SSA), which support the department or Tribally licensed family child care programs, or individuals looking to become licensed. Minnesota currently has three alliances funded by the department. The SSA model facilitates cost and time savings by enabling the sharing of services among participants. Among these three grantees, services provided to participants include specialized assistance in accounting and budget management, utilization of child care management software, support in registering with the Secretary of State and obtaining an Employer Identification Number, staffing and management of substitute pool, mentors, facilitated peer engagement sessions, and staffed family child care networks. These strategies focus on improving quality and supporting child care programs to limit gaps in access to child care when possible. 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. Minnesota's Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) is funded to ensure that all families receiving TANF, families who recently left TANF due to employment, and parents under the age of 21 who have not completed high school or obtained a GED are prioritized and served without being subject to a waiting list. Early Learning Scholarships also address this priority. The department coordinates efforts and alignment of policy and priorities with Early Learning Scholarship staff at the Minnesota Department of Education. Access to high-quality programs is supported for all families who receive CCAP, whether they are TANF or non-TANF, through investments in high-quality providers. High-quality providers who serve CCAP families have higher maximum reimbursement rates through tiered reimbursement. Parent Aware Three- and Four-Star Rated programs, and providers who hold certain accreditations or credentials can be reimbursed at rates that are up to 20 percent higher. CCAP policy also allows counties to pay higher rates to at-risk populations. At-risk factors include, but are not limited to, a federal or state disaster, limited English proficiency in a family, a history of abuse or neglect, a determination that the children are at risk of abuse or neglect, family violence, homelessness, age of the mother, level of maternal education, mental illness, developmental disability, or parental chemical dependency or history of other substance abuse, including environmental or familial factors that create barriers to a child's optimal achievement. The department coordinates with the Minnesota Department of Education in its administration of Early Learning Scholarships designed to increase access to high-quality early childhood programs for children birth to 4-years old holding a Parent Aware Rating. Priority for scholarships will be given based on family income, child poverty, one of the special populations, and geographic region. Special populations include children who meet the following criteria: Child of a teen parent; Currently in foster care; In need of child protective services; or Experienced homelessness in the last 24 months. As of July 1, 2024, priority has been expanded to include children with an incarcerated parent, children with a parent in mental health treatment, children with a parent in substance abuse treatment, and children who have experienced domestic violence. Families must meet eligibility requirements as outlined in Minnesota Statutes, section 124D.165. The department is in the process of implementing a new policy for Parent Aware, Minnesota’s Quality Rating & Improvement System. Starting July 1, 2026, all licensed child care providers that are in good standing with the state or their Tribe will automatically receive a One-Star Parent Aware Rating (Minnesota Statutes, section 124D.142, subdivision 2), unless they are already Rated or choose to opt out. Prior to July 1, 2026, child care programs can notify the department of their intent to commit to receiving a Rating and receive more resources and serve children receiving an Early Learning Scholarship. The state’s goal is to make sure families have access to quality, affordable child care, and that children receive the best care possible. 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.