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. [x] 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. NH will engage in a needs assessment and work with a newly formed state leadership team and the Child Care Advisory Council to strategize how we will work to improve compensation of the child care workforce. NH will implement and incentive structure for the professional development system in FY 25 via CCAoNH. NH's public hearing comment period ending on June 28th, 2024, resulted in the community both in favor and not in favor of providing incentives to the child care workforce for engagement in professional development. 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. NH will engage in a needs assessment and work with a newly formed state leadership team and the Child Care Advisory Council to strategize how we will expand 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. NH contracted with Public Consulting Group who subcontracted with Be Well Care Well in late November 2023. Be Well Care Well promotes and supports the well-being of child care providers so they are better equipped for the challenges of their daily work, https://bewellcarewell.com/. There is one coach covering 12 NH programs, who facilitates weekly activities, check ins, and develops a wellness committee in each program. The 12-month program will consist of pre and post assessments, quarterly findings and a final report. The goal of this program is to increase the overall feelings of wellness for child care providers, hence leading to greater educator retention. e. Describe any other strategies the Lead Agency is developing and/or implementing to support providers’ recruitment and retention of the child care workforce. NH is administering a Child Care Workforce and Recruitment grant. Recipients will complete reports that will inform continued efforts to support recruitment and retention efforts for the childcare workforce. We will monitor the effectiveness and sustainability of this grant program. https://www.nh-connections.org/new-hampshire-provider-grant-funds/ 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. Child Care Aware and Across NH provide training and technical assistance to child care programs to support with business management and administrative practices. 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. [ ] 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: Child Care Aware of NH and ACROSS NH have translation services available. As needed, translation services can be accessed by Child Care Aware of NH and ACROSS NH staff to translate referrals to families whose first language is not English. Additionally, translation services can provide translation of Child Care Aware of NH materials that include information about the services provided by Child Care Aware of NH, such as helping individuals to become child care providers. It was noted during the public hearing comment period ending June 28th 2024, NH New Americans may not have equitable access to becoming a child care provider. NH will work with the State Leadership Team to identify barriers and make plans to remove them. b. Providers and staff who have disabilities: NH will provide individualized support to person's with disabilities in collaboration with our Office of Health Equity and technical assistance contracted vendors. The Office of Health Equity (OHE) assures equitable access to effective, quality DHHS programs and services across all populations, with specialized focus on racial, ethnic, language, gender and sexual minorities, and individuals with disabilities.