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In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Georgia has received over $2-billion in federal money to help stabilize the child care industry, increase access to high quality child care for all families of young children, and support the state’s early childhood education workforce.  The money comes from the federal Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act and from the American Rescue Plan Act.  We recently announced plans for spending the remaining $400-million in a list of projects supporting child care providers, the ECE workforce, families, and other groups.  Joining us to discuss our plans for supporting families is Elisabetta Kasfir, Deputy Commissioner for Federal Programs.  

For many kids across Georgia, summer vacation means more fun and free time. But for kids facing food insecurity—made worse by COVID’s impact on already tight-family budgets—no school can also mean limited access to affordable, nutritious foods.  That’s where Happy Helpings comes in, the summer food service program funded by USDA and administered by DECAL. Joining us today with an update on Happy Helpings Georgia is Tamika Boone, Nutrition Services Director here at DECAL, and Cindy Kicklighter, Nutrition Marketing and Outreach Manager.  

We're taking a tour of DECAL’s six regions by talking to our Community Partnership Coordinators, representatives from our Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies, and introducing you to child care providers in each region. Today, we’re talking about the Central East Region. The Central East region consists of 23 counties, beginning with DeKalb County to the left and stretching all the way to Lincoln, Columbia, Richmond, and Burke counties on the South Carolina border. Joining us to talk about the Central East Region are Hannah Smith, Early Education Community Partnership Coordinator; Deidra Fitzpatrick, a Technical Assistance Coordinator with LEAP Early Learning Partners, one of our child care resource and referral agencies; Beverly Johnson, owner of Discovery Point Child Development Center #61 in Conyers; and Antoinette Elliott, who is a family child care provider in DeKalb County and a member of our Peer Support Network.

It may be summertime but before you know it we will be opening up the 2022-2023 school year for Georgia’s Pre-K Program, our 30th year offering Pre-K in Georgia. Joining us to talk about preparing for Georgia’s Pre-K Program is Faith Duncan, Director of Georgia’s Pre-K Program; Laurianne McDonald is a Pre-K specialist working with programs in Southeast Georgia; and LaNita Carey from Jackson Creek Academy in Lilburn is one of our Georgia’s Pre-K Program Teachers of the Year for the 2021-2022 school year.  

Starting last month, DECAL announced that student parents are now a “priority group” for receiving financial assistance through Georgia’s Childcare and Parent Services Program (CAPS). This new priority group is a major step forward in our Two-Generation Approach to assisting young children and their families. Joining us to talk about the new student-parent priority group is Elisabetta Kasfir, Deputy Commissioner for the CAPS Program; Ni’Aisha Banks-Devore, a wife, mom of four, and entrepreneur; and Dr. Meghan McBride, Vice President of Adult Education at Georgia Piedmont Technical College in Clarkston.  

This week we open it up to our DECAL team as well as followers on social media to ask questions of Commissioner Jacobs.  This is an opportunity to talk about a wide variety of topics and discuss those issues that are concerning you most, including updates on STABLE (Short-Term Assistance Benefit for Licensed Entities) and POWER (Providing Our Workforce Essential Recognition).

We’re taking a tour of DECAL’s six regions by talking to our Community Partnership Coordinators, representatives from our Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies, and introducing you to child care providers in each region. Today, we’re talking about the Southeast Region consisting of 40 counties that stretch from Monroe County, north of Macon, all the way down to Lowndes County on the Florida border.  Joining us to talk about the Southeast Region are Tomisher Campbell, Early Education Community Partnership Coordinator, and Jeneine Barlow, the Technical Assistance Manager at the CCR&R of Southeast Georgia. Also joining us is Shalinda Smith, a family child care provider in Emanuel County and Bree Carter, the Owner and Director of Bree’s Creative Learning Preschool Childcare Center in Lowndes County. 

For the ninth consecutive year, DECAL is calling for families and caregivers to increase awareness of the dangers of leaving children unattended in vehicles.  Joining us to talk about our annual Look Again campaign and ways to prevent pediatric vehicular heatstroke is Dana Morrison and Rhonda Parker, both directors of field operations with Child Care Services here at DECAL; and Michelle Walker is Manager of Child Advocacy Programs with Safe Kids Georgia and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.  

Today, it’s another one of our “Day in the Life” features where we learn more about a member of our DECAL team and what they do for Georgia’s youngest learners and their families.  Today we’re learning more about our Inclusion and Behavior Support Services Unit that helps early learning professionals and families learn more about inclusion and social emotional development.  Meet Fachelle Garner, Inclusion and Behavior Support Specialist here at DECAL.  

This spring and summer, we’re taking a tour of DECAL’s six regions by talking to our Community Partnership Coordinators, representatives from our Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies, and introducing you to child care providers in each region. The Northwest Region consists of 11 counties including Fulton and ten other counties in the northwest corner of the state, spreading from Haralson, and continuing up to the Tennessee line and over to Pickens and Cherokee counties.  Joining us to talk about the Northwest Region are Glenda Davis-Canteen, Early Education Community Partnership Coordinator, and Brittney Everett, the ECE Specialist Team Lead at Quality Care for Children CCR&R of Northwest Georgia. Also joining us today is DiAnne Coggins, a family child care provider and one of our Peer Support Network Ambassadors, from College Park in Fulton County. And from further north, we have Kari Emerson, a Program Specialist with Ninth District Opportunity Head Start & Early Head Start at the Pickens County Head Start program in Tate Georgia. 

Today, it’s another one of our “Day in the Life” features where we learn more about a member of our DECAL team and what they do for Georgia’s youngest learners and their families.  Today we’re learning more about CAPS…a federal program administered by DECAL that helps pay for the cost of child care so parents can work or attend school.  We’re spending a “Day in the Life” of Tara Davis, CAPS Family Support Coordinator for the Northwest Region, and Gina Haskins, CAPS Scholarship Administration Specialist.  

Like so many other industries, child care has seen its share of staffing shortages lately.  DECAL has tried to help through POWER supplemental payments for anyone eligible who is working in child care…and over $1.57 BILLION directly to child care programs in Georgia to stabilize child care, support the workforce, and increase access to quality care and learning.  

Joining us with updates on POWER and STABLE is Christi Moore, Professional Learning Director here at DECAL; Woody Dover is our Enterprise Project Management Director; and Rian Ringsrud, Deputy Commissioner for Finance and Administration.  

In 2018, the Georgia Foundation for Early Care and Learning partnered with the Georgia Forestry Foundation to host the first Moonlight through the Pines, a fundraising event for both organizations featuring great food and singer songwriters from Georgia.  We had such a great time with that event, we are doing it again on May 18, this time with the foundation for the Technical College System of Georgia.  Joining us to talk about Moonlight through the Pines: A Singers Songwriters Soiree is Kelsey Bassett, Executive Director of the TCSG Foundation, and our own Carrie Ashbee, Executive Director of the Georgia Foundation for Early Care and Learning.  

Plus a special message from Commissioner Jacobs about State Employees Recognition Week 2022.

For the second year in a row, DECAL will celebrate Children’s Mental Health Week in Georgia May 2 through 6.  Similar to Georgia’s Pre-K Week and Inclusive Early Learning Week, this special week in May reminds us that the early years in a child’s life provide a key opportunity to establish safe and secure relationships and support healthy social and emotional development.  

Joining us are Laura Lucas, DECAL Director of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health; Dr. Chelsea Morris, Professor at University of West Georgia and co-author of the children's book, "Suri the Spider Selects a Solution," and Lorie Summers, a Kids on the Block Puppeteer for Mental Health America of Georgia who is joining our celebration this year.  

Over the next few months, we’re going to take a tour of DECAL’s six regions by talking to our Community Partnership Coordinators, representatives from our Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies, and introducing you to child care providers in each region.  

Joining us this week to talk about the Southwest Region are Edward Rowell, Early Education Community Partnership Coordinator, and DJ Fitchlee, Training Director of the Child Care Resource and Referral Agency of Southwest Georgia based at Albany State University.  Also joining us is one of our Peer Support Network Ambassadors, Brett Copeland, Assistant Director for Child Development Centers at Central Georgia Technical College in addition to being the Peer Support Network Ambassador for Bibb County; and Gwen Dodson, Data Coordinator of Fort Valley State University Head Start in Fort Valley. 

Commissioner Jacobs was the guest on the April 23-24, 2022, episode of Georgia Focus on the Georgia News Network, a program heard on 181 radio affiliates statewide.

For over 15 years, the CDC’s Learn the signs. Act Early program has provided free milestone checklists for families, early childhood education professionals, and medical clinicians to use in monitoring the development of young children in their care.  In March, the CDC published revisions to the milestones and this week we are bringing our listeners up-to-speed.  Joining us to talk about the Learn the Signs, Act Early Program is Bridget Ratajczak, DECAL’s Child and Family Development Supervisor who serves as the CDC’s Act Early Ambassador for Georgia; Rebecca Ellis is our Director of Practice and Support Services who also happens to have two young boys and uses the Milestones; and Dr. Jennifer Zubler is a general pediatrician in Atlanta and consultant for the CDC Learn the Signs. Act Early. Program.  

It’s the time of year when high school seniors across the state begin receiving acceptance letters from various colleges…and making plans for starting their higher education in the fall.  But what if we told you one Atlanta high school senior has been accepted by 21 colleges with scholarships totaling more than $1 million.  And it all started in Georgia's Pre-K Program.  Joining us on the podcast is Taylor Edwards, a senior at Midtown High School in Atlanta, along with her mom Robin Lewis.   

Today, it’s another one of our “Day in the Life” features where we learn more about a member of our DECAL team and what they do for Georgia’s youngest learners and their families.  Today we are talking to the manager behind the POWER payments, a big initiative both last year and this year here at DECAL.  Welcome Abby Mozo, Manager for the POWER payments.  

In January, the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education (GPEE) presented its 18th edition of the Top Ten Issues to Watch Report.  The report identifies and analyzes key education issues Georgia will be or should be addressing in the coming year.  Joining us to talk about the Top Ten Issues to Watch is Dr. Dana Rickman, GPEE President, and Matt Smith, Senior Policy Analyst.