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. [x] 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: Continuation of the Child Care Assistance Program for Child Care Educators to allow families with an FPL under 300% and a parent working in early childhood to quality for free child care. 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 Governor’s Workforce Board convened an Early Childhood Workforce Advisory Committee in October 2022 in response to the FY23 Budget that described the following: In furtherance of the goals set forth in this chapter, no later than January 1, 2023, the governor’s workforce board shall convene a working group comprised of representatives from the department of elementary and secondary education, department of human services, office of the postsecondary commissioner, the RI early learning council, organized labor and early childhood education industry employers, whose purpose shall be to identify barriers to entry into the early childhood education workforce, and to design accessible and accelerated pathways into the workforce, including, but not limited to, registered apprenticeships and postsecondary credit for prior work experience. (2) No later than April 1, 2023, the working group shall provide the general assembly with recommendations for addressing the barriers to workforce entry and implementing the solutions identified by the working group; the recommendations shall outline any administrative and legislative action that would be required by participating agencies to implement the recommendations. These recommendations were created and circulated as a potential pathway for supporting the workforce. In addition, beginning In 2021, the Rhode Island Department of Human Services (DHS) was awarded $18.7 million dollars in funds through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) State Fiscal Recovery Fund (SFRF), as appropriated by the Governor and the General Assembly, and Early Educator Pandemic Retention Bonuses were issued to eligible employees beginning in the Spring and Summer of 2022. This program was intended to invest in early educators by offering bonuses to direct care staff employed at DHS-licensed child care providers. In Spring 2022, additional funds were reauthorized to be dedicated from the ARPA SFRF to fund this grant program for Fiscal Year (FY)23 and FY24. Educators will be eligible to receive a maximum of 4 quarterly bonuses, depending on eligibility in each application window. These retention bonuses will supplement educators’ compensation to support retention and recruitment in the early learning sector, as well as recognize the vital work that early educators do in supporting the State’s littlest learners. The last window is slated to occur in July, 2024, as the pandemic funding has been liquidated. 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. N/A d. Describe any Lead Agency ongoing efforts and future plans to support the mental health and well-being of the child care workforce. In addition to offering access to related professional development through the Center for Early Learning Professionals, the lead agency will continue to partner with the Emma Pendleton Bradley Hospital to operate and manage the SUCCESS program, (Supporting Children’s Competencies in Emotional and Social Skills). This infant and early childhood mental health consultation (IECMHC) program is offered statewide. IECMHC promotes nurturing relationships and enhances the capacity of staff, families, programs, and systems to prevent, identify, and intervene with young children's social, emotional, and behavioral health needs (0-5 years). SUCCESS is staffed by early childhood clinicians at Bradley Hospital, who are contracted to provide, Child-focused IECMHC supports the needs of individual children whose development or behavior is of concern to families or early care and education staff. In this model, a SUCCESS consultant helps children’s caregivers, and teachers, to understand, contextualize, and address the child’s social and emotional needs by developing and implementing an individualized plan. Bradley offers Coordination of Care programming, providing IECHMC In this model, a SUCCESS consultant facilitates reflective discussion and problem-solving regarding the social, emotional, and behavioral needs within whole classrooms and programs. Early childcare Supervisors and managers can enroll in Reflective Supervision foundational training and a monthly workshop focused on enhancing supervisors’ reflective supervision skills and competencies. In collaboration with the LA and community partners, Bradley IECMHC clinicians are engaging with the Family Home Care providers to offer Early Childhood Mental Health Workshop Series that includes didactic content, reflective discussion, and collaborative problem-solving focused on early childhood mental health topics. The long-term goal is to develop a Child Focused IECMHC services to meet the specific and unique needs of home care programs. e. Describe any other strategies the Lead Agency is developing and/or implementing to support providers’ recruitment and retention of the child care workforce. Strategies to support recruitment and retention include continuation and expansion of the RI Teacher Education and Compensation Helps (TEACH) scholarship program. RI T.E.A.C.H provides several scholarships for educators employed in programs serving children aged B-5 in RI DHS-licensed and CCAP-approved early learning programs. In 2023, TEACH added several new scholarship models including a 3-6 credit pathway for educators in need a few credits to complete or begin a program of study, Master level pathways for administrators, accelerated BA pathways. Additionally, the lead agency, in partnership with RIAEYC, manages the Career Pathways Project; in this project, TEACH counselors partner with local high schools that offer career and technical programming in early childhood education to increase awareness of employment and scholarship opportunities, including linking students to internships, scheduling guest speakers and sponsoring field trips to the state institutions of higher education. The Lead Agency has implemented a one-year pilot providing child care benefits to early educators and staff working in a licensed Rhode Island child care program who meet certain income and other eligibility standards. The pilot is intended to support providers in recruiting and retaining a qualified workforce and to assist educators with child care costs so they can remain in the early childhood workforce. Using Preschool Development Grant funding, Rhode Island has also instituted a Step Up to WAGE$ pilot program that provides education-based salary supplements to center-based educators, directors and family child care providers working with children in an early childhood setting, which is designed to increase retention, education and compensation. 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 Center for Early Learning Professionals (CELP), provides access to professional development and technical assistance (PDTA) to support programs and prospective programs. PDTA is available in English and Spanish. New provider Orientation is completed by all prospective programs to ensure best business practices, fiscal management and marketing strategies. The Education Support Fund (ESF) offers specific business skills, management training and technical support. 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. [ ] 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: All Provider communications including are provided in both English and Spanish. All Provider meetings and calls are presented in both English and Spanish. The Lead Agency requests preferred language option from Providers and uses that preference when communicating individually with the Provider. The Lead Agency has bi-lingual staff on the Provider Management and Licensing Teams and a phone-based translation service to use at any time. Professional Development and Technical Assistance including Provider Orientations from both the Center for Early Learning Professionals as well as the Education and Support Fund are offered in both English and Spanish. b. Providers and staff who have disabilities: The Lead Agency would work to accommodate Providers and staff with disabilities and to facilitate participation as a CCAP Approved Provider by providing assistance with the application and orientation process as needed. The Lead Agency Provider Management staff is available to help providers with the application process, with enrollments and attendance submissions through a call-in number, over email or in person during regular business hours.