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Marin funds programs to boost child care

Marin Independent Journal - 4/26/2022

Apr. 27—The county and the Marin Community Foundation will spend a combined $1.5 million over the next two years to bolster child care in the county.

The Board of Supervisors authorized the use of $525,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds in fiscal year 2022-23 on Tuesday for four child care programs. The county intends to provide another $475,000 next spring to be spent during fiscal 2023-24.

In addition, the Marin Community Foundation has committed to spending up to $500,000 over the next two years on long-range planning to "ensure that every kid and family in Marin who wants access to early care has it," as well as some short-term needs, said Johnathan Logan, vice president of community engagement at the foundation.

Logan said one of the first things the foundation plans to do is to assemble the major stakeholders in Marin, such as First 5 Marin, Marin Child Care Council, and Marin County Office of Education, to determine a strategic direction.

Logan said one of the major questions is: "How do we pay our providers a competitive wage so they stay in the system?"

The bulk of the county's initial $525,000 allotment, $375,000, will fund a pilot program that will seek to retain child care teacher's aides and encourage them to become child care teachers by paying them a monthly stipend and providing them with other types of support.

There are laws that specify the ratio of child care teachers to children at child care centers. Teacher' aides can't care for children without the presence of a teacher. Twelve units in early childhood education are required to become a child care teacher.

"This is really meant to stabilize a cohort of teachers through some guaranteed income monthly as well as case management that will support getting them whatever it is they need," said Pegah Faed, director of First 5 Marin.

First 5 Marin, one of 58 county commissions that guide spending of Proposition 10 tobacco tax funds on child care, will serve as the fiscal agent accepting the county's money. It will be the Marin Child Care Council that will run the child care teacher retention pilot program.

"The goal of the program will be to address the shortage of teachers in our early childhood education workforce," said Aideen Gaidmore, director of Marin Child Care Council. "There is definitely a staffing crisis. We just surveyed the providers a month ago, and staffing was one of the biggest issues affecting their programs."

Gaidmore said most of the funding being provided for the retention pilot would go to provide a monthly stipend to a small number of teachers "similar to a guaranteed minimum income." She said many of the teacher's aides who would be eligible are low-income women of color.

"We would also provide them with resources across the board," Gaidmore said, "whether they need help with financial planning, accessing College of Marin or food insecurity."

Gaidmore said Marin child care centers are recovering slowly from setbacks suffered during the pandemic.

"A lot of programs are still not operating on their full schedules that they were before COVID," Gaidmore said. "People definitely left the field during COVID."

Until COVID-19 regulations were relaxed in March, child care providers were required to keep groups of 10 or more children in separate rooms or spaces. That meant that child care providers had to hire more staff members to care for the same number of children. They also had to shoulder increased costs for increased cleaning and personal protective equipment.

Gaidmore said the fact that children under the age of 5 still can't be vaccinated for COVID-19 poses some challenges.

"Many of our programs have had to close for a period of time because they've had a few children who have had COVID," Gaidmore said.

The remaining $150,000 authorized by supervisors Tuesday will be split equally between three other programs. The Marin Child Care Council also runs one of these, the Childcare Initiative Project.

This program, which was launched several years ago, provides technical assistance to any individual interested in starting a child care business, helping them to secure all of the required certifications.

Another ongoing program that will receive $50,000 seeks to improve early childhood mental health. The program, which is operated by Jewish Family and Children's Services, dispatches mental health providers to child care centers to work with children who have behavioral issues.

The fourth program receiving funding from the county is an effort to ensure that children are getting their developmental screenings in a timely manner and that their needs are being addressed. First 5 Marin launched the "Help Me Grow" program in February and operates it with the help of pediatricians and clinics across the county.

Faed said most children who have severe developmental delays are automatically referred to the Golden Gate Regional Center, but there is a large portion of children whose issues aren't severe enough to qualify for the center's support.

Faed said, "Help Me Grow provides a safety net for children who would otherwise fall through the cracks."

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(c)2022 The Marin Independent Journal (Novato, Calif.)

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