When parents seeking child care dial 888-291-9811, they reach a trio of friendly, helpful Child Care Resource Specialists on the other end of the line. They can reach this same help through on-line chat at ParentAware.org. We asked our specialists Jen, AnnaMarie, and Vanessa what they love most about their work. “We get to help educate families about what high-quality, early education looks like. We make sure that parents can find a qualified, safe, educational environment for their child. We have all been there ourselves, and can meet parents where they are. When parents call in, they are oft ..read more

Child Care Aware of Minnesota strives to offer quality service to everyone we touch. In the past year, we measured the following satisfaction levels with our programs: Professional Development 98% of people seeking customer support for Eager-to-Learn or from a professional development advisor received the help they needed promptly. Parent Aware 95% of the most recent cohort were satisfied with their experience. 95% found the process to join easy and understandable. Financial Supports REETAIN Bonuses:  86% were satisfied overall with various aspects of the program. 91% reported no cha ..read more

Workforce retention is a constant challenge in child care programs. Fortunately, Minnesota has a program to help these programs retain and support staff. The Retaining Early Educators Through Attaining Incentives Now (REETAIN) program provides competitive bonuses of $500 – $3,000 to incentivize well-trained child care professionals to stay in the workforce, creating more consistent care for children over time. Recipients of REETAIN bonuses commit to remain in their position or business for at least one year after the grant is awarded. Since 2003, REETAIN has awarded grants to over 3,000 early ..read more

The 2024 Legislative session began on February 12. While this is the “short” session focused on bonding and policy, there will be some activity related to early childhood issues. Child Care Aware of Minnesota helps you stay informed about the latest child care and early education policy news. Each week during the legislative session, our legislative update provides a brief overview of bills that have been introduced, action that has been taken at the committee level or on the floor, and any other pertinent news related to early care and education and school-age care issues. We also produce a b ..read more

Child Care Aware of Minnesota staff throughout the state work hard to meet the needs of the field through numerous programs, including training, grants and scholarships, help entering the early childhood field, and Parent Aware Ratings. We measure how satisfied our constituents are through surveys of program participants, and the results for the past year are in! Here is an overview by program: Professional Development 98% of people seeking customer support for Eager-to-Learn or from a professional development advisor received the help they needed promptly. REETAIN Bonuses 86% were satisfie ..read more

People in the early childhood field know that the amount that most child care programs can charge families for tuition is usually less than the actual cost of operating the programs, much less running a profitable business. A new report demonstrates this is true across almost all geographies and program types in Minnesota. In fall 2021, the Minnesota Department of Human Services contracted with First Children’s Finance (FCF) to develop a cost model to estimate the cost of child care in Minnesota. The model estimates the cost of meeting health and safety requirements for licensed child care pro ..read more

Child Care Wayfinder is a one-stop navigation network for starting and growing child care programs. It provides encouragement, support, and connection to resources required for initial licensing and resources needed for sustaining or expanding currently licensed child care programs. It began in 2022 and operates through a system of local navigators in Child Care Aware agencies throughout the state and at Minnesota Tribal Resources for Early Childhood Care (MNTREC). Child Care Aware of Minnesota recently interviewed the navigators in our Child Care Wayfinder program to see how this new initiati ..read more

The new Great Start Compensation Support Payment Program starts this month. Last spring, the Minnesota Legislature approved a range of child care investments, including funds to continue monthly grant payments to providers. Child care centers must use the funding from the program to increase staff compensation and benefits, while family child care programs can use the funds for a wider variety of costs. The Support Payments build off Minnesota’s previous Child Care Stabilization Grant Program, which helped support about 70% of the state’s child care providers during the COVID-19 pandemic. If t ..read more

Parent Aware Rated programs have a lot to say about their Parent Aware experience! Recently, we were able to interview two family child care business owners in northern Minnesota, Jo and Lisa. These first-person testimonials help tell the story of the benefits of becoming Parent Aware Rated and focus especially on the positive relationships that these two early educators built with their Parent Aware coaches. The videos are available to view on our Parent Aware YouTube channel. Three other Parent Aware testimonial videos from 2022 are also available. Are you a Parent Aware participant who woul ..read more

Workforce retention is a constant challenge in child care programs. Fortunately, Minnesota has a program to help these programs retain and support staff. The Retaining Early Educators Through Attaining Incentives Now (REETAIN) program provides competitive bonuses of $500 – $3,000 to incentivize well-trained child care professionals to stay in the workforce, creating more consistent care for children over time. Recipients of REETAIN bonuses commit to remain in their position or business for at least one year after the grant is awarded. Since 2003, REETAIN has awarded grants to over 2,800 early ..read more