SMART START OF PENDER COUNTY

Programs: Child care resource and referral: child care resource and referral (ccr&r) may employ a program manager, up to 2 resource specialists or parent educators, one program support assistant, and a professional development coordinator. Ccr&r will collaborate with the region 4 lead agency to offer consumer education to provide information to help parents and caregivers make informed choices about child care. Ccr&r will serve as a resource center for caregivers of children 0-5, early childhood educators and community members, and maintains a resource library where members have access to educational materials. The program manager may provide programmatic oversight of quality and professional development activities, facilitate communication among those who provide ta to child care facilities, coordinate and/or provide trainings for early childhood educators, and assist with coordinating trainings for parents. Classroom management tools and refreshments may be provided at workshops and events. Ccr&r may host an annual "child care provider" recognition event and an annual child care professional conference. Ccr&r and resource library services are typically available monday-thursday, 8:00 am. To 5:00 pm. , fridays, 8:00 am to 1:00 pm, the first saturday of each month from 9:00 a. M. To 12:00 p. M. , and other times, based on community needs.

quality matters: quality matters will employ up to 2 fte quality staff to provide technical assistance (ta) to licensed child care facilities to create learning environment plans (lep) to provide a framework for increasing or maintaining program quality for grant and incentive approved awardees. The quality improvement grant focused lep, for legally operating facilities up to 3 stars, will include plans for program improvements; including materials, teacher-child interactions, classroom arrangement, and training needs. The quality improvement grant will provide up to $1,750 per child care home and $3,500 per child care center. The incentive focused lep, for 4 and 5 star facilities, will include plans to help increase low scores on the environment ratings scales and maintain high scores. This lep will focus on short-term goals in five categories: teacher training/professional development, classroom environments, curriculum implementation, sanitation/health/safety and pre-emergent literacy. Child care facilities will be eligible for incentives of $500 for four star homes and $1,000 for five star homes and $1,000 for four star centers and $2,000 for five star centers. Facilities are eligible for either the grant or incentive per fiscal year. The quality staff may develop and provide ta for non-grantees upon request. Refreshments may be served at information and trainings sessions.

early childhood professional development: up to one full time professional development coordinator will administer professional development to early childhood professionals. Technical assistance will be offered to encourage child care professionals to pursue a higher level of education in the field of early childhood education. The activity may issue incentives and awards to eligible child care professionals who have declared a major in early childhood education and have successfully completed semester credit hours toward their degree. Technical assistance will be provided by the coordinator, to incentive participants and other interested child care professionals to create or modify professional development plans, access existing financial support and compensation programs, complete the registration process for coursework, and access other resources as appropriate. The coordinator will work closely with community college and university registrars and admission departments to obtain course information and remain knowledgeable of all institutional requirements.