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. [x] Other. Describe: Through DCDEE contracts with CCR&R Council, staff across the state can receive coaching and mentoring services. DCDEE anticipates that the NC Legislature will consider additional funding to support child care providers during the 2024 legislative session. 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 North Carolina Early Childhood Compensation Collaborative (Collaborative) was created out of a national project to improve compensation for the early childhood workforce. The Collaborative believes that a statewide, locally implemented salary scale for early childhood education teachers is an important tool to guide early childhood programs in determining fair salaries that are commensurate with education or certification and will ultimately help professionalize the early childhood teaching workforce. The Collaborative recognizes that early childhood teachers are the key to delivering high-quality programs and ensuring positive outcomes for young children and families. Early education teachers must have professional education, skills, and competencies to successfully fulfill their responsibilities and should be compensated for their work. However, too often teachers are woefully underpaid and not recognized as professionals for the important work they do. Consequently, North Carolina is facing a crisis in attracting and retaining qualified early childhood teachers. The Collaborative developed the Model Salary Scale for Early Education Teachers to help guide the early childhood field in establishing better compensation for the early childhood workforce that is tied to educational attainment. The goal was to develop a standard salary scale that was based on paying parity with entry level teachers in public schools. The scale is intended to be used as a guide and is completely voluntary. For the Model Salary Scale, see this link: North Carolina Early Childhood Compensation Collaborative Model Salary Scale for Early Education Teachers https://ncchildcare.ncdhhs.gov/Portals/0/documents/pdf/N/North_Carolina_Early_Childh ood_Compensation_Collaborative_Model_Salary_Scale_for_Early_Education_Teachers.pd f The Model Salary Scale was developed by the Collaborative with input from early childhood experts, child care providers and parents. It was then pilot tested by researchers at UNC Charlotte who conducted surveys with child care programs representing different star-licenses and permit types and geographic areas of the state. In addition, the researchers followed up with interviews and focus groups with child care center directors/owners, early childhood teachers and early childhood education organizations. Many agencies across the state collaborated on the development of the scale, including the following: • Child Care Resource and Referral Council • Child Care Services Association • Division of Child Development and Early Education • MomsRising • North Carolina Early Education Coalition • North Carolina Institute for Child Development Professionals • North Carolina Partnership for Children The Model Salary Scale was designed to set minimum standards for education and compensation to help attract and retain qualified early childhood education teachers. It is based on paying teachers a living wage, and wages that are on parity with the salaries of entry level public school teachers. Based on input from directors and teachers, the resulting salary scale serves as a model for child care programs wanting to adapt or change their own salary structure. Use of the Model Salary Scale is completely voluntary. Currently, there are no state-level requirements to use the salary scale, however, we know that providing a wage scale that identifies increases related to education is a factor in attracting and retaining qualified staff. Early Childhood Compensation Workgroup A significant focus for this workgroup held by the NC Institute of Child Development Professionals is to expand upon the work of the NC Model Salary Scale created by the NC Compensation Collaborative and expand on the related 2023 developed Institute Salary Scale Toolkit; a tool for employers to use for recruitment related to the salary scale and pathways to career advancement. The Institute Salary Scale Toolkit has been made available to be included in workforce supports provided to programs through the CCR&R & Smart Start Partnership technical assistance systems. It has also been made available in the community college system for those who are teaching early childhood courses such as Admin 1 and 2 (EDU 261 and 262) as well as other courses. The workgroup has collaborated with the Division to incorporate the toolkit into the pre-licensing workshops so that new operators can become aware of mechanisms to incorporate a salary scale and other supportive business resources into their business. The workgroup will continue to identify mechanisms to disseminate and train on the toolkit, as well as to identify additional resources to support providers in addressing compensation challenges. NC Legislature The NC Legislature is considering a bill in the 2024 short session which would provide short-term compensation grants to regulated child care programs in response to the upcoming ￿cliff￿ which will occur when federal funding for stabilization ends in June 2024. 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. DCDEE is ensuring through the Raising NC Newsletter that child care providers are aware of expansion to Medicaid in hopes they will share this information with staff in their programs. DCDEE is currently advocating with the NC legislature to continue Stabilization grant funding which would support early childhood staff salaries and access to benefits. d. Describe any Lead Agency ongoing efforts and future plans to support the mental health and well-being of the child care workforce. DCDEE highlights mental health benefits as part of the Medicaid program when promoting Medicaid in the Raising NC Newsletter which goes out to the majority of child care workforce. An ongoing effort which supports the mental health and well-being of the child care workforce is the availability of Healthy Social Behavior Specialists. Though the intention of the NC Child Care Resource and Referral Council project is to promote the social, emotional and behavioral health of children enrolled in regulated child care programs, it has the collateral benefit of also supporting teachers. For example, it offers teachers a Challenging Behavior Helpline to recommend positive interventions to address challenging behaviors. Giving teachers these supports eases frustrations; therefore contributes to teacher well-being and mental health. Lastly, Leveraging the PDG B-5 2022 Planning Grant and CCDF ARPA funds, DCDEE is partnering with the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute | (unc.edu) to conduct a landscape analysis/survey of mental health programs, services and interventions operating in North Carolina’s early care and education system. Frank Porter Graham will specifically identify and review programs, services, and interventions with demonstrated evidence of improving social/emotional and mental health outcomes for educators, children and families and hold promise for scalability. As part of this process, Frank Porter Graham will produce a series of webinars launching in April 2024 for providers highlighting their findings to connect providers to resources in real-time while receiving their feedback and recommendations. The resulting product of this activity will be a final report summarizing these social-emotional and mental health initiatives and recommendations for embedding promising efforts into North Carolina’s early childhood policy and practice to improve social-emotional and mental health outcomes not only for our children and families, but our early childhood workforce. Ultimately this report will provide DCDEE with valuable data including the number and types of wellness and mental health resources available to the workforce and potential partnerships that can be established or strengthened to increase providers access to these resources. Looking ahead to the future, DCDEE will seek to coordinate with early childhood, mental health, public health, and workforce/human services partners to establish a network of wellness and mental health resources for early childhood providers as well as plan of strategies to increase the provider’s access to these resources. For example, DCDEE and DCFW will participate together in an Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health (IECMH) Summit hosted through the Preschool Development Grant in July 2024. The Summit is designed for state teams to strengthen and advance IECMH efforts to support the mental health of young children, families, and the early care and education workforce. Key guidance from ACF that supports this work includes ￿Using the Child Care and Development Fund to Promote the Mental Health and Well-being of Children, Families, and the Child Care Workforce￿ at https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ecd/CCDF%20Mental%20Health% 20IM.pdf and ￿Using PDG B-5 to Promote the Mental Health and Well-being of Children, Families, and the Early Care and Education Workforce￿ at https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ecd/PDG%20B- 5%20Mental%20Health%20IM.pdf e. Describe any other strategies the Lead Agency is developing and/or implementing to support providers’ recruitment and retention of the child care workforce. DCDEE plans to offer Coaching Towards Mastery (CTM) ￿ This is a skills-based coaching program designed to advance the knowledge and skills of early child care educators. Teachers will increase competency in the areas of Child Development and Learning; Family Teacher Partnerships and Community Connections; Child Observation, Documentation, and Assessment; Developmentally, Culturally, and Linguistically Appropriate Teaching Practices; Knowledge, Application, and Integration of Academic Content in the Early Childhood Curriculum; and Professionalism as an Early Childhood Educator. 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 NC CCR&R Statewide Family Child Care (FCC) Project conducted a pilot phase of grants to support licensed FCC programs (FCCH and Center in a Residence). These grants are for FCC Startup (up to $10,000) and FCC Business Toolkit (up to $5,000). Criteria is used in the scoring process to select grantees, such as the Distressed Communities Index, which provides additional information about the well-being of communities in North Carolina based on location. The Statewide FCC Project works with the grantees to provide technical assistance to support their business sustainability. -The NC CCR&R Statewide Family Child Care (FCC) Project provided a train-the-trainer opportunity for project members to support FCC businesses titled "Strengthening Business Practices." There are four, three-hour workshops, that can be combined or offered separately. The modules include topics on financial reporting and controls, marketing, recruiting & retaining staff, and practice. This training is provided by the project with intentions of approved DCDEE CHCs. -The NC CCR&R Statewide Family Child Care (FCC) Project will have a first ever CCR&R website dedicated to family child care programs (FCCH and Center in a Residence). This website will provide information on starting a new FCC, professional development, technical assistance, and business support. There is also a page for resources with a search option and a contact page to connect for more information from the project. -The NC CCR&R Family Child Care (FCC) Project will have a FCC Peer Mentor program. This program will provide an opportunity for established FCC operators that understand business sustainability to become a peer mentor and be connected with a mentee. The project will serve as a liaison to provide support and assist with identifying resources that the peer mentor groups need in order to help build a relationship and understanding of business sustainability. 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. [ ] 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: CCR&R provides trainings to support business practices in child care programs statewide. Higher education early childhood management/administration coursework also covers many areas of business practice. 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: DCDEE facilitates the participation of persons with limited English proficiency in a number of ways. Using Google Translate, the Division's website can be translated into 17 languages. Consumer education materials and provider forms are translated into Spanish. The Facility Search Site on the Division's website is available in Spanish. Bilingual caseworkers or translators are available, and DCDEE child care licensing consultants have a translator application on their cell phones which they can use on program visits. Some community colleges offer EDU 119, Introduction to Early Childhood and other early childhood courses in Spanish. CCR&R's will also often offer training in Spanish or languages that are predominant in their community. DCDEE plans to translate key documents and materials into Spanish, and information about how providers can participate in the Subsidized Child Care Program. Though the DCDEE has multiple means to provide interpretation and translation of materials, not all individuals with limited English proficiency may be aware of the interpretation and translation services we can provide. This barrier is being addressed by promoting translation services in Focus Group announcements and training marketing materials. The DCDEE consumer education website has Google translate prominently displayed on the DCDEE home page. DCDEE will consider an article in an upcoming Raising NC Newsletter to raise awareness of translation and interpretation services. b. Providers and staff who have disabilities: Persons with disabilities can participate in any of the trainings/meetings available in the state. For required trainings, including any trainings to meet the ongoing training requirements, individuals can ask for accommodations, such as an interpreter for the deaf or auxiliary aids for the hard of hearing, and NC DHHS will work with them to provide the accommodation. Information on accessibility tools and assistive technology resources is also available on the Division's website. https://ncchildcare.ncdhhs.gov/Home/Accessibility Again, a leading barrier for individuals with disabilities may be their awareness of the services that are available to accommodate their needs. DCDEE works to address this barrier by providing information on its website about accommodations. In the future, we will consider an article in the Raising NC Newsletter raising awareness of supports for providers and staff who have disabilities. We also will consider ways to gather feedback from providers/staff with disabilities to determine barriers and how we as an agency can best mitigate the barriers.