Season 2, Episode 10: A Look at Colorado's New Law to Fund 10 Hours a Week of Preschool, with Nicole Riehl

07/26/22 • 48 min

In this podcast, Nicole Riehl, president and CEO of Colorado Executives Partnering to Invest in Children (better known as EPIC), discusses a new Colorado law that will pay for 10 hours a week of preschool for all 4-year-olds, and what that means for child care providers and families.

Nicole was an early childhood teacher for five years and her background includes extensive work with Denver’s preschool programs as well as coordinating various early childhood quality improvement events, resource, and activities across Colorado. She was the CEO of Denver’s Early Childhood Council before taking over the helm of EPIC in 2019.
She discusses how this new state law was designed for flexibility to allow parents to choose what preschool their children can attend and still be eligible for those 10 hours of preschool, as well as the importance of making the program accessible and easy to use for providers and families.
To learn more about Colorado Epic, visits its website: www.coloradoepic.org.

Previous Episode

Season 2, Episode 9: How States are Responding to Child Care Staffing Shortages, with Jacob Stewart

In this podcast, Jacob Stewart, director of state government relations at the Early Care and Education Consortium, describes what individual states are doing to combat staffing shortages in child care.
Massachusetts, for example, launched a general, statewide workforce bonus for which child care providers are eligible to receive $4,000 per new employee hired and retained for 60 days.
Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Ohio and Pennsylvania have offered multiple bonuses ranging between $300 and $1,200 per worker.
Other states are offering wage enhancements, internship programs, a refundable tax credit, financial support to obtain credentials that are state required as well as enabling employees to leverage their experience to move up career ladders and more!
These findings are part of a data-packed report his organization recently put out titled "The Child Care Workforce Shortage: Solutions from Around the Country."
As of February 2022, two-thirds of providers reported a staffing shortage that affected their ability to serve families; of those, 52% were forced to serve fewer children while 37% had a longer waiting list, according to the report.
Read the full report here!
Listen as Jacob delves into the findings of this report ... and he describes negotiations that are happening for legislation that could help the child care industry despite the demise of the Build Back Better plan.

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Season 2, Episode 11: Back-to-School Tips for Your Child Care Center, with Aliya Johnson Roberts

Aliya Johnson-Roberts, an education and business consultant who leads Consulting with AJR, is the executive director of the Bustleton Learning Center and Pratt Street Learning Center in Philadelphia, serving more than 250 children.
Her mother was an in-home child care provider, and Aliya went into the fashion industry before realizing her passion is early childhood education.
Aliya has a master’s degree in early childhood education and educational leadership from Arcadia University and is a PhD candidate in educational leadership. And she’s preparing to expand Bustleton’s Learning Center’s services to include kindergarten through the third grade.
In this podcast, Aliya shares some useful tips to help prepare your child care center for back-to-school season, which is something we traditionally think of as happening in a school setting like elementary school and in older grades. But it's vital for child care providers too!
Learn more about Aliya's consulting business at consultingwithajr.com and search her name on the social media channels you follow!

The Child Care Business Podcast - Season 2, Episode 10: A Look at Colorado's New Law to Fund 10 Hours a Week of Preschool, with Nicole Riehl

Transcript

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Welcome to the childcare business podcast brought to you by ProCare solutions.

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This podcast is all about giving childcare , preschool, daycare , afterschool, and other early education professionals, a fun and upbeat way to learn about strategies and inspiration you can use to thrive. You'll hear from a variety of childcare thought leaders, including educators, owners, and industry experts on w