REGIONAL DIRECTORS
Iowa Child Care Resource & Referral (CCR&R) is dedicated to improving the quality of child care for Iowa families and communities. We are tasked by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to support programs, assist families searching for care and connect with communities struggling to provide services for children.
Throughout our fiscal year, July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023, CCR&R continued to support the child care industry that was significantly changed due to COVID. Our services continued to be flexible to meet providers needs.
Respectfully,
CCR&R Regional Directors
Funding
Funding provided by the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services through the Child Care Development Fund
Additional Funding
Early Childhood Iowa, United Way, Community Programs
Our Mission and Vision
Iowa Child Care Resource & Referral provides resources, education and advocacy to support quality child care. CCR&R is committed to ensure that Iowa's vision is met.
All children, beginning at birth, will be healthy and successful.
Our History
Iowa Child Care Resource and Referral’s roots go back to 1989, when across the nation, 60 percent of working women were mothers to infants or toddlers. Iowa saw a need to establish an agency dedicated to addressing the needs of children in care. View our timeline that shows how CCR&R has grown and responded to the growing needs of the child care industry.
CONSULTATION
Child Care Consultants are a cornerstone of Iowa CCR&R’s work. The child care profession continues to be impacted by staffing shortages, enrollment issues and the lingering challenges of the pandemic. At the same time, new funding and program opportunities are being released and made available. CCR&R Child Care Consultants quickly adjust and respond to support the needs of child care providers across the state, while at the same time working strategically to anticipate and navigate future challenges and changes that Iowa's child care providers may encounter.
Provider-driven site visits are still offered as either in-person or virtual. In 12 months, 5,369 in-person and 1,181 virtual visits were held, with an additional 31,352 technical assistance services offered. This combination of site visits and technical assistance has allowed our regional offices to build strong relationships with our providers and give necessary support that meets the individual program's needs.
By creating these meaningful connections and support with providers, CCR&R’s consultation services are working towards building a sustainable child care workforce. Child Care Consultants have submitted 194 applications to the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for new Child Development Homes (CDH) and Child Care Homes accepting Child Care Assistance (CCHA). HHS contracts CCR&R to support the completion of applications and preparation of environments, which can take weeks to months, depending on the needs and barriers of the provider. Each step along the way, Consultant services are there.
CCR&R's work to maintain and build the workforce does not solely reside with homes; Child Care Consultants are vital for our child care centers and preschools. CCR&R provides professional development and consultation services that support the child care program's ability to achieve and maintain regulatory status in good standing and work to achieve and maintain performance at higher quality levels.
Additionally, CCR&R has committed to offering high-quality, foundational professional development opportunities to child care providers – some of which have consultation pieces built into them. With the release of ChildNet 3.0 (a 25-hour training series centered on continual quality improvement professional development classes and certification process), Child Care Consultants supported 307 home providers to complete and accomplish their goal of being ChildNet 3.0 certified. This is a high-quality achievement for the program and the children and families they serve.
ChildNet 3.0
307
technical assistance offered
31,352
12 months of visits
6,550
Consultation Topics
13,625
Quality RaTing & Improvement inquiries
The Iowa Quality for Kids (IQ4K®) program is Iowa’s new Quality Rating and Improvement System. Since its launch in April 2022, Child Care Consultants have helped programs finalize 249 IQ4K applications. Child Care Consultants are partnering with programs to help in working through the steps to achieve their first building blocks.
To do this, Child Care Consultants are ensuring providers are enrolled properly in the Iowa’s Professional Workforce Registry (i-PoWeR), assisting with the assessment of nutrition/physical activity plans, family/community partnerships, environment layout, completing the new online application and much more!
CCR&R’s consultation services may be free for our providers, but the value of the support given is unmeasurable. Evolution of consultants and their services go in stride with our Iowa child care provider’s needs and barriers so that CCR&R remains their child care partner and number one resource for everything child care related.
Services from blended funding sources
Quality Rating & Improvement made up 22.7% of the recorded consultations in 2023
Community Development
Application Packets
CCR&R works directly with providers to complete the necessary paperwork for their application to be a registered Child Development Home provider. During this process, CCR&R staff can build connections with providers while guiding them through Iowa’s regulation process. They can meet one-on-one with the provider to go through the information virtually or in person, are available by phone or email, and offer translation services to non-English speaking providers. There is also an option to use fillable forms when completing the required documents.
Whether working on a renewal or a new registration, federal record checks are required. In November, FieldPrint® Iowa was launched throughout the state. This service is free to the provider, where providers can make an appointment, be fingerprinted and complete the required federal checks. Fingerprints are completed and submitted electronically to reduce the timeframe for processing. There are FieldPrint® Iowa sites throughout the state and more are being added to serve providers.
Technical Assistance
8209
CCR&R staff assisted providers with education and guidance to complete their registration application packets for HHS.
Application
194
CCR&R submitted applications to HHS for new Child Development Homes (CDH) and Child Care Homes accepting Child Care Assistance (CCHA).
How does CCR&R assist in Iowa’s child care registration process?
REQUEST
Reach out to a CCR&R agency to request a provider registration packet, which includes the registration application form and at least six additional forms that are required.
RECEIVE
CCR&R receives applications by mail, email or the HHS Application Portal online. We will guide applicants through the HHS registration process and all requirements,
REVISION
CCR&R will verify the application for completeness. To avoid registration delays, HHS only processes applications that have been reviewed for completion by CCR&R.
RETURN
Do not send packets directly to HHS. Once a packet has been reviewed, CCR&R will mail it to HHS. If there are questions or errors with the application, HHS will be in contact directly with the applicant.
COMMUNITY PARTNERS
Why should communities consider child care as an economic development strategy?
Child care is an essential part of a community's critical infrastructure. When creating strategies for your community's economic development, don't forget to include planning around child care. CCR&R can help facilitate discussions and solutions in your community, think of us as your conversation guide. Our Community Development Specialists work with community partners, businesses and agencies that are looking to find local solution.
- Stronger local economy - Communities benefit and prosper when parents have access to affordable, high-quality child care
- Attracting and retaining qualified employees and new businesses
- Increasing employee earnings and tax revenue
- Building a stronger future workforce
- Stronger local workforce - When children are cared for in a safe, nurturing setting, parents are able to give more attention to their jobs.
- Increased workforce productivity
- Increased number and quality of job applicants
- Increased workforce retention
Presentations & Events
Community Partners
436
Fairs
223
Parent Groups
97
Communities of Practice, Peer to Peer Colaborations
59
coaching the coach
Professional Development
CCR&R continues to find new ways to improve the quality of our services too. HHS invested in two Social, Emotional, Behavioral and Mental Health Specialists. It is their job to support all the Child Care Consultants throughout Iowa by training them on coaching techniques, intervention techniques and offering specialized training.
Three major coaching projects were implemented this year: ChildNet 3.0 Coaching, Program-Wide – Positive Behavior Intervention Support, and Practice Based Coaching for CCR&R staff.
Practice-based coaching is a cyclical process for guiding practitioners’ use of evidence-based practices for promoting positive child outcomes.
Practice-based coaching involves the following components:
• collaborative partnerships
• shared goals and action planning
• focused observation
• reflection and feedback
CCR&R is partnering with the Iowa Positive Behavior Intervention
Support State Leadership Team to bring this training to all consultants
who work with early childhood programs. All new CCR&R will continue
to be trained in Practice Based Coaching as part of their foundation
skill set.
Notable Numbers:
- # of individual trainings for CCRR staff- 11
- # of meetings held for external coaches- 8
- offered 18 virtual office hours opportunities
- # of behavior intervention tools given to programs-75
A new pilot was started allowing each region to enroll Child Development Home providers and a Child Care Consultant into ChildNet Coaching the Coach. This ChildNet series was designed to train the Child Care Consultants on proper coaching techniques as a program completes the ChildNet 3.0 training series.
The goal at the end of the series is the Child Development Home provider would be ready to be ChildNet Certified. The providers who were willing to participate in the pilot were given a technology grant to have the proper tools for online learning and completion of the ChildNet Certification
Notable Numbers:
- 7 coaches and 7 programs participated
- 100% programs completed the full training series (25 hours)
- 6 of 7 programs have completed the Child Net Certification and the remaining 1 is actively working on completing it
- 2 of 7 programs are IQ4K rated and the remaining 5 have reported it will be part of their future plans to participate in the program
- $ Spent on Technology Incentives- $13,649.22
Program-Wide Early Childhood-Positive Behavior Intervention Support is a quality initiative included in the higher levels of IQ4K. To support programs to higher levels in IQ4K, CCR&R has to have the skill set to help coach the programs to reach their Program-Wide EC-PBIS goals.
The Social Emotional Behavior and Mental Health Specialists created a coaching program. Child Care programs who participated could receive a Technology Grant and a Benchmarks of Quality Incentives to have the correct technology and classroom resources needed to implement EC-PBIS in their programs
Notable Numbers:
- number of coaches-6
- number of programs completed successfully-7
- EC-PBIS Program Wide Benchmarks of Quality (BOQ) - Total Amount Spent-$119,828.16
- EC-PBIS Program Wide Technology - Amount Spent-$12,990.77
Training Certificates
HHS Funded
5,795
Training Certificates Issued
10,580
Blended Funding source
4,785
Iowa Quality for Kids
Iowa Quality for Kids
Building quality environments one block at a time
Iowa Quality for Kids (IQ4K®) is Iowa’s new Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) for HHS licensed Child Care Centers and preschools, registered Child Development Homes and programs operating under the authority of an accredited school district or nonpublic school.
IQ4K allows programs to assess their current grade across all areas of programming and devise a structured plan to increase the overall level of program quality. This program was released April 1, 2022, with 249 rated programs through June 30, 2023.
Benefits of IQ4K for children and families include enhanced nutrition and physical activity plans, planned family and community partnerships, improved environments for children and assessment tools for teaching and learning.
855-244-5301
@IowaCCRR
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@NEIOWACCRR - CCR&R of NE Iowa
@CENIACCRR - CCR&R of Central Iowa
@SWIOWACCRR - CCR&R of SW Iowa
@CCRRIA - CCR&R of SE Iowa
Funding provided by the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services through the Child Care Development Fund