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Page 21 The 2024 home-based provider survey instrument was based on the 2024 center-based survey instrument with minor changes made to reflect the differences in center- and home- based care. Due to a low cooperation rate among home-based child care providers in the 2021 Market Rate Survey, enhanced efforts were undertaken in 2024 to increase home-based provider participation. The SCL partnered with the Nurturing Homes Initiative (NHI), which provides coaching supports and other resources to approximately 85 unlicensed home-based providers who provide full-time care for young children (birth to age five) throughout the state. NHI employs six child care coaches who routinely meet in person with home-based providers, with whom they were able to conduct in-person and telephone interviews. Additionally, there were 70 licensed and registered home-based providers in the provider list from the Mississippi State Department of Health that were not among the providers working with NHI. These providers were called by staff at the SCL to complete Market Rate Survey interviews. All home-based providers were informed that they would receive a $25 incentive in the form of a gift card from Amazon or Walmart upon completion of the survey and that they would be entered into a drawing for $500 in gift cards. NHI coaches were trained by SCL staff on survey administration, including a practice session. NHI coaches provided feedback on the appropriateness of the survey wording for home-based providers, and SCL staff modified the survey instrument accordingly. To aid data collection, NHI coaches were issued tablets and unique Qualtrics survey links for each home-based provider they interviewed. NHI coaches administered the surveys in-person or via telephone. A shared calendar was created for interview appointments, so SCL and NHI could track the progress of the data collection. METHODOLOGY: HOME-BASED PROVIDER SURVEY Home-based Survey Instrument Home-based Data Collection