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. The Ohio Department of Children and Youth (DCY) implemented rate increases during the last two fiscal years and will complete an increase in July 2024 to move rates to the 50th percentile of the 2022 market rate survey. Additionally, DCY will continue to support grant activities that provide programs with funding to support the hiring and the expansion of services. Typically with these efforts, such as the Infant and Toddler Infrastructure grants or the Child Care Access grants, providers use some of the resources for salaries or bonus or incentive payments for their teams. DCY will continue to support Teacher Education and Compensation Helps (T.E.A.C.H. ) Early Childhood Ohio and Powering Optimal Wages and Encouraging Retention (POWER ) Ohio to assist with the education and on-going wages of child care providers. T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® OHIO is a compensation and retention program for Child Care professionals. T.E.A.C.H. is designed to address education, compensation and turnover issues that affect the early childhood field. Assistance is available for the cost of tuition, books, and related education expenses. POWER Ohio provides additional funds to professionals and increases these trained professionals’ retention in their programs. 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. NA d. Describe any Lead Agency ongoing efforts and future plans to support the mental health and well-being of the child care workforce. The Ohio Department of Children and Youth (DCY) has expanded investments in Early Childhood Mental Health (ECMH) Consultation The mental well-being of childcare professionals is associated with children’s academic and emotional learning outcomes. Additionally, we know that childcare staff who are closer to burnout or feel an incredible amount of stress without mental health supports are more likely to be punitive in their interactions with young children, including suspension and expulsion. Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health (IECMH) Consultants are currently available in Ohio’s 16 service delivery areas, paired with each Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) Agency, to address the following: 1)Increase focus on and support for social and emotional wellness of children & adults -By increasing the number of infant and early childhood mental health consultants to include one dedicated, full-time consultant per CCR&R Service Delivery area, licensed providers, including Type A & B Family Childcare will have increased support, guidance, and tools to screen children in their care and receive strategies; not only for children and families, but for themselves. 2)Provide cross-service foundational supports that strengthen positive caregiver -Cross- service foundational supports provide an opportunity for the expertise of the IECMH consultant to be leveraged with other youth and family serving programming, the system, and the workforce. 3)Develop strategies for staff self-care, positively impacting staff turnover rates and confidence, and collecting data to support the impact on overall childcare staff wellness and retention. 4)Provide professional development opportunities to childcare staff that include topics of self-care, reflective supervision, social emotional wellness, adult resilience, and trauma informed care. 5)Provide monthly opportunities for childcare staff to participate in book clubs (associated with staff wellness, such as ￿Building Your Bounce￿), additional wellness activities, and opportunities to build resilience and connect with other professionals. Future efforts will include those previously mentioned in addition to those listed below: 1)Collaborating across services and systems to destigmatize mental health, provide resources to support mental health in the workplace, and promote staff wellness. 2)Create additional access to staff wellness hubs to ensure IECMH consultants can both assess and gather information about workforce mental health challenges, meet the identified needs, and provide additional resources to foster mental health, wellness, and adult resilience. The Center for Disease Control’s Supporting Mental Health in the Workplace includes several resources on workforce well-being. (Examples include offering reflective supervision, mindfulness training, communities of practice, and peer mentoring programs). 3)Create and support Family Childcare networks and communities of practice, to provide connection and support for a group of childcare providers that are often less connected to other professionals, but the nature of the services provided. Many of the potential activities, such as communities of practice and the promotion of reflective practice, can be facilitated by infant and early childhood mental health consultants. DCY continues investment in the Preschool Expulsion Prevention Program and has expanded investments in Early Childhood Mental Health (ECMH) Consultation. The Preschool Expulsion Prevention Program is a partnership between Nationwide Children’s Hospital and the Ohio Department of Children Youth, which provides a toll free number for Early Childhood Professionals to call when they need advice or guidance on a child’s behavior (1-844-678-ABCs). Through the toll free number professionals are connected with ECMH consultants who provide guidance and support for children in their classrooms on the phone and on-site. e. Describe any other strategies the Lead Agency is developing and/or implementing to support providers’ recruitment and retention of the child care workforce. Ohio participates in the Teacher Education and Compensation Helps (T.E.A.C.H.) program which assists early childhood professionals with the financial expenses to further their education. Ohio offers Powering Optimal Wages and Encouraging Retention (POWER)Ohio, a wage and retention program to support professionals in the achievement of an associated degree or CDA. Ohio’s Career Pathways Model includes points for students working in the early childhood field in a career-technical education program. 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. As of March 26, 2024, the Ohio Department of Children and Youth (DCY) has partnered with Brightwheel, a child care management software (CCMS) company, to provide free Brightwheel CCMS premium subscriptions (full payment) to all Ohio licensed/approved/certified child care programs who wish to take advantage of this opportunity. There are currently more than 800 Ohio early childhood care and education programs already using Brightwheel CCMS. Some of the options the free Brightwheel CCMS premium subscription can provide to your program include: • Recording children’s attendance (overall and between classrooms) • Electronic access to current DCY required and sample forms (updated by DCY as needed) • Family communication options • Automated fee payment options • Managing admissions & paperwork • Photo & video sharing capabilities • Tracking lesson plans & observation information 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. [ ] Budgeting. iii. [x] Recordkeeping. iv. [ ] Hiring, developing, and retaining qualified staff. v. [ ] Risk management. vi. [x] Community relationships. vii. [ ] 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: The child care resource and referral agencies' contracts include provider recruitment. Translation services are available at the state and county levels. Printed brochures were provided to various agencies such as Goodwill and Early Head Start to inform families of the services available within the community. Parent engagement groups, in which English and non-English-speaking families are involved, are held to help bridge cultural awareness and language barriers within the early childhood community. Interpreters are available at each meeting. Programs such as Baby Talk and the Dolly Parton Imagination Library Leadership Team allow for options for families and providers to participate in literacy support where English is not the first language. b. Providers and staff who have disabilities: The child care resource and referral (CCR&R) agencies contracts include provider recruitment to provide customized care for all families. All mandated state created trainings meet ADA requirements. The CCR&Rs also work with agencies such as Help Me Grow, Early Intervention, Project Open House, as well as facilitate provider meetings to ensure families are aware of resources and supports. The Ohio Child Care Resource and Referral Association (OCCRRA) develops trainings on DCY’s behalf providing captions in addition to verbal narration. The CCR&Rs working with providers directly have resources for those with limited English speaking as well as other languages. All information contained on the DCY website include an option to translate content into one of four other languages.