Kansas Association Of Child Care Resource And Referral Agencies

Causes: Child Day Care, Children & Youth, Environment

Mission: High-quality early education is available to all kansas families and children

Programs: Child care consumer education resources and referrals is funded by the kansas department for children and families. The statewide network of child care resource and referral agencies work together to connect families across kansas to child care in their area. The child care aware of kansas resource center provided a total of 13,156 child care referrals to families. In addition, 102,071 consumer education materials were provided to families, and 26,395 consumer education materials were provided to child care providers.

the child care aware of kansas' child care quality initiative focuses on reducing child abuse and neglect risk factors for kansas children by increasing the number of child care providers who are implementing the five protective factors: parent resilience, social connections, knowledge of parenting and child development, concrete support in times of need and social emotional competence. The child care quality initiative served 585 children in 39 child care facilities providing the child care facilities with 408 technical assistance interactions.

the early childhood wellness project focuses on improving the health and wellness environment, practices and policies in early childhood programs to address childhood obesity. To accomplish this mission, program participants meet in their learning collaboratives to gain knowledge of best practices and access resources in the areas of physical activity, nutrition, screen time and breastfeeding. Early childhood wellness served 994 children in 88 child care programs providing the child care facilities with 670 technical assistance interactions.

boston children's hospital: this project was to create resources and training materials for national call center staff charged with providing consumer education including a warm handoff to appropriate state or local entities responsible for taking reports of child care health, safety, or abuse violations in ccdbg funded child care. Kansas department of health and environment: the kansas department of health and environment provided support for physical activity trainings and technical assistance interactions in child care settings, helped to collect and analyze data captured from participating early childhood wellness programs, and provided staffing support for community outreach and promotion. Family voices, quality choices: the family voices, quality choices project was a digital outreach and engagement initiative. Efforts were focused on effective social media messaging, community outreach and partnerships. Improving technical capacity: the improving technical capacity grant addressed our need to build public knowledge and engage communities and families' about the necessity of quality child care for young children. We focused on our marketing and communication tactics and fund development strategies. Workforce study: the workforce study examines the status of the child care workforce and is a follow-up to the 2015 study. The study includes demographic information about the child care workforce such as age, education level, child development associate credentials, ethnicity, earnings, hours worked, benefits, and workforce longevity. The study also includes state demographics such as total population, number of children under 5 years of age, number of families and children receiving child care subsidies, and cost and availability of child care in kansas. Kansas quality rating and improvement system (kqris): a five-star rating program that provides child care programs with an annual assessment and technical assistance from a ccr&r, plus a variety of incentives including: stipends, quality awards, educational scholarships, and salary supplements. In 2017, 1 child care program participated in kqris, impacting 52 children. Emergency preparedness: the child care aware of kansas' emergency preparedness project: child care resource and referral agencies as resilience hubs is designed to strengthen emergency preparedness efforts for children, parents, and child care providers while also enhancing coordination with first responder and disaster response organizations through training, technical assistance, consumer education as well as engaging in disaster preparedness efforts in communities. The emergency preparedness initiative has provided training to 768 child care providers, 263 technical assistance interactions and has completed over 500 contacts with partners. Region one: child care resource and referral agency serving 63 counties in the western and north central regions of the state of kansas. T. E. A. C. H. (teacher education and compensation helps) early childhood kansas project: t. E. A. C. H. Scholarships make higher education affordable for the early childhood workforce and provide compensation incentives to encourage further study and retention. T. E. A. C. H. Scholarships were awarded to cover 101 early childhood college credit hours in 2017. Professional development and educational services: this project provides ongoing approval of ccr&r professional development and ceu units, as well as providing guidance and support through the application process. 88 professional development events have been approved. Face-to-face learning: instructor-led training events, offered in various locations across the state, typically during evenings and weekend hours to meet the unique scheduling needs of child care providers. During 2017 we completed 663 professional development events consisting of 1,676 hours. 7,912 child care providers attended these events. Online learning: an online training system designed for child care providers seeking an asynchronous learning format 200 courses are available 24 hours a day, 7 days per week. Child care providers are able to engage at their own pace. During 2017, 1,773 courses totaling 2,243 hours were taken by 48 child care providers. Live, online events: an online real-time virtual classroom that combines face-to-face training with online training. Child care aware of kansas completed 118 live, online trainings in 2017 for a total of 2,320 hours to 1,160 child care providers. Pediatric first aid and cpr certifications: helping child care providers learn lifesaving skills and meet child care licensing requirements. Child care aware of kansas staff have completed 28 first aid and cpr classes in 2017 certifying 281 child care professionals. Kansas child: a quarterly magazine that provides a forum for the discussion of child care and early education topics and ideas. We provoke thoughtful discussions within the field and help those outside the field gain a better understanding of priorities and concerns in early childhood. Various other programs that help enhance the quality of child care in kansas.