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: Virginia has recently launched the Early Educator Fast Track Initiative, supported by PDG-P and ARPA funding. Virginia’s Early Educator Fast Track Initiative (Fast Track), facilitated by the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation (VECF), was developed as an innovative, accelerated workforce development program. Fast Track is a pilot addressing the ongoing staffing challenges at child care centers in Virginia by building the supply of early childhood care and education (ECCE) educators. Launched in September 2022, Fast Track was initially supported using ARPA funds through September 30, 2023, and will continue through December 2024 thank6s to PDG B-5 Planning funding. Future cohorts and funding is to be determined. The Fast Track Initiative addresses new assistant teacher recruitment, competitive compensation, introductory training, retention, and ongoing professional development. Fast Track supports the successful onboarding and accelerated training of new early educators and aims to increase retention via bonuses and college scholarships toward ECCE certifications and degrees and a rewarding career. Virginia’s Ready Regions serve as the conduit for engaging ECCE employers for Fast Track, specifically those participating in the Child Care Subsidy and/or Mixed Delivery programs (serving higher proportions of children from low-income households), who may have assistant teacher vacancies and are willing to commit to paying new recruits at the competitive regional wage rate. Ready Regions offer employer information sessions and vet interested employers to ensure strong organizational capacity and the ability to welcome, provide a satisfying employment experience for, and retain one or more new early educators. The key components of Fast Track: ￿ A recruitment campaign designed to attract new talent and connect them with participating local ECCE programs with open assistant teacher positions for full-time employment (part-time options are also available). ￿ An intensive, four-week, paid training program for new educators that includes accelerated online Introduction to Early Childhood training, facilitated by a local ECCE college professor, and on-the-job training including work in the classroom and mentorship by an experienced colleague. ￿ Competitive compensation at a regional rate determined by national experts to be equivalent to 75% of what K-3rd grade teachers earn. ￿ Retention bonuses in the first year of employment for all Fast Track completers, totaling $1,500 ($500 at 6 months of employment and $1,000 at one year of employment). ￿ College scholarships for ECCE coursework in Virginia’s Community College stackable certificate and degree programs; Fast Track’s Introduction to Early Childhood course provides three credits for prior learning at participating community colleges. 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. Virginia has invested in child care compensation through an initiative called RecognizeB5. Starting with $2.9M from an initial PDG grant in 2019, Virginia invested in the RecognizeB5, which provided over 2,000 teachers in publicly funded schools, centers, and FDH up to $1,500 if they stayed in their sites over an eight- month period. During this pilot, UVA conducted a randomized controlled trial to measure the effect of financial incentives on turnover, the first experiment of this kind in ECCE. Across all roles, RecognizeB5 reduced turnover from 25% to 14%, increased provider perception that their work was valued (98%), made them more excited about their work (95%), helped professionals meet their financial obligations (97%) and reduced stress (95%). The impact of RecognizeB5 was much higher in non-school settings: it cut turnover in half at centers (30% vs. 15%) (see study here: https://files.elfsightcdn.com/022b8cb9- 839c-4bc2-992e-cefccb8e877e/6de6fd54-e921-4c88-a452-ad7cabccc362.pdf). Virginia has continued and expanded the RecognizeB5 program since this initial PDG investment, using PDG Renewal funding, State General Funding, and ARPA funding to partially support the initiative. In 2022-2023, the RecognizeB5 supported 9,558 teachers in center-based child care and family day homes (8,726 in center and 833 in family day homes), Teachers were eligible for up to $2,500 to recognize their work in the sector and support movement towards wage equity. The program was supported by PDG funds, State General Funds, and ARPA relief funding in FY23. In total, $22,522,500 in incentive payments were distributed. In 2023-2024, it is anticipated that $41 million will be distributed to over 15,000 educators in child care and family day homes using both ARPA and State General Funds. As of 2023-2024, the RecognizeB5 program is funded by State General Funds and ARPA funding. In future years, the RecognizeB5 program may be supported State General Funds and CCDF. 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. Virginia does not have any active efforts to distribute information about access to benefits, including health insurance, paid sick, personal, and parental leave, and retirement benefits. Virginia will consider methods to share information about the importance of including benefits as part of competitive compensation as part of the ongoing work related to studying approaches for compensation. d. Describe any Lead Agency ongoing efforts and future plans to support the mental health and well-being of the child care workforce. The infant and toddler behavior consultants of the VA ITSN base their trainings on the VA ITSN's Social Emotional Competencies for Infant Toddler Child Care Providers which includes wellness and retention (staff wellness, staff retention, self-care, team building, leadership, casting a social emotional vision for services, contingency plans). A course on positive stress management titled Smile and Mean It and a course on practicing self-care titled The Art of Self Care are offered. Numerous relevant webinars are archived on the VA ITSN website (https://va- itsnetwork.org/webinars/) for viewing (e.g., supporting staff, mindfulness, self-care). VA ITSN coaching and TA for providers of infants and toddlers (0-36 months) can also address the well-being of staff at that program. e. Describe any other strategies the Lead Agency is developing and/or implementing to support providers’ recruitment and retention of the child care workforce. 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. Virginia provides technical assistance to providers titled Strengthening Business Practices, a module-based training series developed by the National Center on Early Childhood Quality Assurance available to both centers and family day homes through the Child Care Aware of Virginia agreement. The training includes modules related to creating budgets and making projections for planning purposes; financial reports and internal controls; and marketing child care programs. The final module is targeted to center-based programs focused on staff recruitment and retention. Modules may be offered as a series or taken individually. 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. [x] Compliance with employment and labor laws. xi. [x] Other. Describe any other efforts to strengthen providers’ administrative business: CCAoVA and the Virginia Small Business Financing Authority (VSBFA)- All VSBFA loan applicants are required complete Strengthening Business Practices Modules I and II as part of their application process. 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: VDOE is piloting a new role, Early Childhood Navigators, with the goal of increasing the supply of publicly-funded early childhood programs by working alongside state partners to support prospective and existing child care centers and family day homes. Navigators focus on engaging with providers in three main ways: 1) Supporting new providers to open and participate in public programs, 2) Recruiting existing providers to accept public funds, and 3) Retaining current publicly-funded providers. VDOE prioritized staffing a bilingual Navigator in Ready Region Capital Area. This region of the state has large Spanish-speaking populations and many Spanish-speaking providers. Having a staff member with excellent verbal and written communications skills in both English and Spanish is essential to supporting providers in that region and throughout the state. In addition, VDOE has prioritized translating key materials needed for to support successful application for and participation in the CCSP, including: CCSP application materials and vendor agreements; preservice training materials; microcredential courses; VQB5 documentation; and Child Care Workforce Alliance. b. Providers and staff who have disabilities: All materials developed for subsidy vendors are written in plain language to the extent practicable and appropriate based on the document type. VDOE is also in the process of developing a vendor-facing handbook￿written entirely in plain language￿to ensure that providers participating in the CCSP have all necessary information consolidated in one place and written with providers as the intended audience. When conducting trainings, Virginia typically offers an online version in which closed captions and/or translations can be provided. Virginia is able to accommodate sign language and visual aid requests from providers as requested, including in specific work with directors as well as in public meetings.