A publication of the Mississippi Low-Income Child Care Initiative | Volume 9 | July 2020
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Hello Child Care Leaders,
MLICCI celebrates a historic vote in the Mississippi Legislature to take down our state flag that symbolized racial oppression. Thanks to all of you who called your legislators during the flag vote! We congratulate all those organizations, individuals, and legislators who worked to make this happen, and we look forward to a flag that unites Mississippi by representing everyone.
We urge you to apply for a small business grant created by the MS Legislature with federal CARES Act funding. To apply, visit
www.backtobusinessms.org
.
Learn how to apply through our
webinar.
July's Childcare Leadership Team (CCLT) newsletter is packed with a variety of topics and information, but we hope you'll take a few minutes to read and get updated on the latest news with:
- Mississippi's Department of Human Services and the task force DHS created to advise on spending federal aid money for child care providers
- The pandemic supplies we've sent to child care providers on our CCLT team
- Our new Voting Project 2020
- Much more!
Thanks for all you do for the families you serve!
-The MLICCI Team
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$47 million sent in Mississippi in federal child care money
Mississippi received $47 million in federal child care money in response to COVID-19. MLICCI urges DHS to use this $47 million to provide grants to child care centers in the Child Care Payment Program.
CCPP providers are the most vulnerable child care centers in Mississippi always, but especially in this COVID-19 crisis. CCPP providers serve low-income working parents who can’t afford to fill the revenue gap that CCPP centers face by having to hire more staff to offer smaller class sizes to meet CDC guidelines, or pay operational costs that remain the same despite lowered enrollment levels, or purchase extra sanitation and PPE supplies.
We advocate grants to CCPP centers so that each CCPP director has the money she needs to make her own decisions about the funding priorities for her center. If you agree, let DHS know! Here’s who and how:
DHS has established a task force of child care association presidents to advise them about how to spend this $47 million. If you have input for the task force, you can send it directly to Chad Allgood or Andrea Sanders. Also, you can contact one of the members of this task force. A list of task force members can be found
here.
Minutes from task force meetings will be posted on the
SECAC website.
Minutes from the most recent meeting of the task force can be found
here.
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$1.25 billion in federal CARES Act money sent to Mississippi
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Mississippi received $1.25 billion in federal COVID-19 CARES Act money.
Mississippi Today reports, “Before ending their 2020 session – for now – lawmakers ... finalized spending $1.25 billion in federal coronavirus relief funds.
"The Legislature earmarked the spending for small business grants, internet access in rural areas and computers to help schools provide distance learning in the pandemic, and to reimburse hospitals, cities, colleges and other institutions for pandemic-related expenses.
"The Legislature’s spending plan passed [July 1] provides Governor Reeves with $50 million in a 'discretionary fund' he will control.”
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MLICCI sends COVID-19 supplies, financial aid to Child Care Leadership Team
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In early March, COVID-19 began to impact people across the state of Mississippi. Our team at MLICCI contacted Child Care Leadership Team (CCLT) centers to learn how they were faring and what they needed to stay afloat.
We learned that many centers had closed temporarily because attendance numbers had dropped. The number of children who attended continued to drop due to parents’ workplaces closing and parents keeping their children at home with them. Other factors that prompted the closing of centers were loss of staff and the scarcity of sanitation supplies required to operate according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines. Directors stated they wanted to re-open just as soon as it was safe to do so and had the supplies to keep their centers sanitized.
MLICCI responded quickly by identifying and working with Food and Supply Source, a bulk supplier, that in turn identified vendors that could ship the supplies that Child Care Centers had requested. MLICCI invested $50,000 to purchase and ship sanitation supplies, touch thermometers and masks to 150 CCLT members.
MLICCI also recognized CCPP centers are struggling financially, so we raised the funds to provide our CCLT centers with $1,000 per center.
MLICCI received many notes and calls of gratitude and thanks from CCLT members for the immediate response to their needs. As one Child Care Director expressed, “Y’all are right on time.”
MLICCI also heard from providers, who were not part of the CCLT, who inquired if they too could receive supplies.
"While we would have liked to send supplies and resources to everyone who requested them, our funds were limited," said MLICCI Executive Director Carol Burnett. "This will not be the only time that we every try to help CCLT members, so we encourage centers who would like to be part of our Childcare Leadership Team to contact our team."
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MLICCI holds COVID-19 webinars for child care providers
On March 27, 2020, MLICCI held the first of eight webinars intended to provide timely information to approximately 900 child care centers across the state that serve parents with child care vouchers.
Topics were chosen to inform operating child care centers affected by the pandemic about a variety of subjects:
- Unemployment (Mississippi Department of Employment Security)
- CCPP and CCAIR (Mississippi Department of Human Services)
- Child care licensure (Mississippi Health Department)
- CACFP (Mississippi Department of Education)
- Applying for Payroll Protection Program (Ty Necaise)
- Introduction of Back to Business Mississippi, the newly created grant program for Mississippi’s small businesses (State Rep. Jarvis Dortch, 66th District)
- Instruction for applying for small business grants from COVID-19 relief money from the state of Mississippi (Hope Policy Institute and Mississippi Small Business Development Center)
In these webinars, experts and officials shared instruction and insight and answered child care providers’ questions. All of our webinar recordings are available on our COVID-19 Resource page at the link below.
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MLICCI launches Voting Project 2020
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MLICCI has launched Voting Project 2020 to increase voter turnout in Mississippi for the November 2020 election. We expect that COVID-19 will affect people’s ability to vote, so the project will inform people about how to vote in this important election.
MLICCI has entered into a partnership with Tougaloo College to connect student interns with CCLT members, all to reach center parents and staff with information about voting. The Voting Project will run from July until to Nov. 23, 2020.
MLICCI’s partners in this project include One Voice, Black Voters Matter, and State Representative Zakiya Summers (68th District).
“This is a voluntary, non-partisan project intended to get as many people as possible registered to vote in the November 2020 election,” said Roberta Avila, CCLT Coordinator. “Due to the coronavirus, all of the outreach to the centers, staff and parents will be done virtually and through the mail by the student interns. While outreach will target those centers that are part of the CCLT, any Director of a child care center is welcome to join the Voting Project.”
To join the project or get more information, contact Roberta Avila:
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In The Press: MLICCI's Carol Burnett Weighs In on Pandemic Challenges Facing Child Care Providers
Mississippi Today published an informative story about the challenges facing child care providers in Mississippi during of the pandemic. MLICCI Executive Director Carol Burnett weighs in, offering insight for readers.
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Child care provider help wanted for MLICCI's new single moms project
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MLICCI is actively seeking child care centers for our new program that connects single moms in Mississippi to the education, training and work support resources they need to acquire higher-paying jobs in their local area.
Our goals are:
- To move single moms into higher paying jobs
- To provide them with the child care they need
We invite child care providers who offer the Child Care and Development Fund subsidy to join our roster of centers that allow our EESM moms to enroll their children with. (Joining our providers list is free.)
Once a single mom submits an application, one of our caseworkers will discuss career options, job training and child care with her. Our goal is to sign her up for the Child Care Payment Program through Mississippi’s Department of Human Services.
EESM for Child Care Providers
Child care providers who are interested in working with our program should fill out our
contact form.
EESM for Single Moms
Single moms can enroll in EESM and receive its services for free. Single moms who would like to learn more about better-paying jobs and career advancement are encouraged to
apply now.
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DHS is holding bi-weekly webinars to provide information for child care providers and the general public.
Here’s a link to the webinars
where you can sign up and also hear recordings of previous webinars.
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Watch an exciting online rally for child care hosted by NWLC and MomsRising
The National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) and MomsRising recently hosted a virtual rally that brought together families, child care providers, politicians and other folks from across the country to share their stories, show support and appreciation for caregiving, as well as call for greater investment in this sector that means so much to our communities.
From the NWLC:
"Congress has failed to provide enough funding to help the child care industry survive the COVID-19 crisis. Without more support, providers will close permanently, leaving parents without care options when they can finally return to work or school. That's why we need to tell Congress to pass the
Child Care Is Essential Act, which would provide $50 billion dollars in grants to help save the child care sector."
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Tell Congress: Pass the "Child Care Is Essential" Act
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Update on State Early Childhood Advisory Council (SECAC)
Since January 2020, there have been no meetings of the State Early Childhood Advisory Council. SECAC provides counsel to the governor on issues related to young children and their families. According to Holly Spivey, staff person for SECAC, Governor Tate Reeves has not decided on the composition of the 2020 Council or the scope of the Council.
The Department of Human Services, Division of Early Childhood Care and Development (DECCD) is posting all relevant COVID-19 information for Child Care Centers at the SECAC website.
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ABOUT MLICCI
In Mississippi, one of the biggest barriers to employment for low-income single moms is access to child care. Because we believe that no mother should have to choose between the job she needs and the child she loves, MLICCI works to improve the state’s child care assistance program and strengthen the financial viability of the child care centers that serve low-income mothers.
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