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By Beth Hess, Managing Director, Policy Follow Beth on Twitter and LinkedIn The federal government is attempting to respond to the child care crisis impacting families in Ohio and across the country. The Federal Administration for Children and Families announced in July a proposed rule designed to lower child care costs, increase families’ child care options, improve child care provider payment rates and practices, and make enrollment easier and faster. The proposed rule offers many improvements to the publicly funded child care system including: Capping co-payments for families at 7%. Providing more flexibility to states in waiving co-payments for families meeting certain criteria. Requiring states to provide more responsive consumer education. Presuming family eligibility for three months. Building child care supply through requiring states to guarantee child care slots in selected programs using grants and contracts. Allowing child care providers to collect the full state payment rate, regardless of what they can charge private pay families. Aligning state payment processes to the private pay market (for example, paying providers on enrollment instead of by attendance). The policy improvements included in the proposed rule reflect positive steps forward that child care advocates have been vocal about for many years. These policy improvements also align with several of the recommendations of the final report from Ohio’s Legislative Study Committee on Publicly Funded Child Care and Step Up to Quality. In response to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Groundwork Ohio partnered with child care stakeholders to offer insights into how the proposed rules will benefit Ohio. Additionally, Groundwork’s comments addressed the financial hurdles Ohio will face to implement these new rules, requesting additional funds to meet the new expectations. Read Groundwork’s full public comment here.

By Christina Rodriguez, Executive Director, Mom’s House of Toledo Mom's House strives to break the cycles of poverty and welfare. It is our mission to guide at-risk single parents through the process of achieving educational goals and provide tools and resources needed to become effective parents. Mom’s House serves young, low-income, at-risk, single parents and their children by helping to build strong generations in the Toledo area. With intervention and support, the young parents have set and attained lifetime educational goals and the ability to break the cycle of poverty for themselves and their children. Some clients are the first in their families to graduate from high school or the first to even consider going to college. Mom’s House offers a Family Wellness Education Program and Early Childhood Education Program, which includes an array of different services. Mom’s House Family Wellness Education Program The Mom’s House Family Wellness Education Program is a critical component to breaking the cycle of poverty, at-risk behaviors, and cycles of abuse in the lives of our young families through addressing the root causes of poverty. By providing an exemplary model of individualized family support services and education, clients are empowered to become self-sufficient and less likely to have a repeat unplanned pregnancy and continued dependence on the welfare system. Mom’s House stands out because of one essential component: the HEARTWORK. It is essential to provide additional supportive services to at-risk, single parents and their families that ultimately work to reduce statistics and change mindsets. Early Childhood Education Program The Mom’s House Early Childhood Education Program has been awarded Five Stars, the highest recognition by the State of Ohio’s Step Up to Quality Initiative. Lucas County statistics show that children who come from broken or at-risk families who lack the funds, support, and understanding necessary to provide proper care and education development for their child, so critical in the early stages of development, remain at-risk for the rest of their lives. The children of young mothers are less prepared to enter the school system and score lower on measures of school readiness compared to the children of older mothers. In fact, the children of teen mothers score lower on assessments of cognition, knowledge, and language development compared to the children of older mothers. The goal of the Early Childhood Education Program is to help the children develop to their fullest capability, setting them on a path for long-term success. Mom’s House proudly brags that 96% of children leaving their program are Kindergarten-ready. The comprehensive program not only offers formal early childhood support in the classroom, but also helps educate the moms so that learning can extend into the home environment as well. Unfortunately, Mom’s House continues to have a waiting list. The need for these services is at an all-time high as the board of directors continues to strive for growth. The two-generation program has shattered statistics and broken barriers for hundreds of families in Toledo. Learn more about Mom’s House.

By: Kezia Ofosu Atta, Policy Assistant, Groundwork Ohio Follow Kezia on LinkedIn August marks National Breastfeeding Month, an aspect of parenting that has occurred for centuries. Many factors prevalent through society and time have contributed to families meeting the nutritional needs of their children in various other ways, including dealing with physical health barriers, workforce issues, and other challenges out of their control. Thus, breastfeeding has become a privilege for a lot of mothers and children. It is important for us to advocate for breastfeeding and put systems in place to make things better while also highlighting different types of barriers to breastfeeding and raise awareness that breastfeeding is a choice. Benefits of Breastfeeding for Mothers and Children Breastfeeding is a natural and nourishing experience that helps parents and children bond. On its face, babies receive many benefits from breastfeeding such as nutritional nourishment that leads to brain and body development, secure attachment to the mother that positively influences the child’s mental health, and important cognitive and emotional development that results from the bond of breastfeeding. It is important to highlight that if a parent does not breastfeed, that does not mean their child will not be set up to succeed or face negative outcomes. In Positive Effect of Breastfeeding on Child Development, Anxiety, and Postpartum Depression, researchers found that “Postpartum mothers with low risk of Postpartum depression breastfed their children more often than mothers with a mild or severe risk of perinatal depression.” Breastfeeding can be considered a “protective factor for postpartum mood swings,” contributing to the health benefits for the mother and child. Health and Social Difficulties that Discourage Breastfeeding Many women face societal pressure regarding how they decide to feed their children. Some women are plagued with external pressure for either breastfeeding too long into their child’s development or too little into their child’s development. Researchers found that “breastfeeding and non-breastfeeding women may experience judgment and condemnation in interactions with health professionals as well as within community contexts, leading to feelings of failure, inadequacy, and isolation.” Although breastfeeding is a natural act, mothers have been socialized to see it as a brave act, often negatively affecting mothers who face actual health issues that prevent them from being able to breastfeed. Children can thrive whether breastfed or formula-fed. Systems should be put in place that encourage women to breastfeed if they can, but women should not be forced to breastfeed if it places a heavy burden on their health, career, and wellness. Breastfeeding in the Workplace Returning to work and various levels of work flexibility and policy can have a tremendous impact on breastfeeding. In a study conducted on 715 employed mothers, 90.1% of mothers who were on maternity leave from shift work breastfed. This remarkable percentage decreased to 21.5% after returning to work for one-to-six months and further decreased to 17.9% after more than six months in the workforce. Additionally, workers with non-traditional hours breastfed at a rate of 87.6% during maternity leave, 24.1% for the first six months after returning to work, then actually increased to 34.6% after six months of returning to work. Systems in place at workplaces can affect a working mother’s ability to breastfeed. In a recent study conducted at a female labor-intensive electronics manufacturing firm in Taiwan, researchers found that when workplaces establish a dedicated breastfeeding room, it “encourages and increases the rate of continued breastfeeding.” Recent developments have also been made in labor laws. One is the PUMP Act, signed by President Biden in December of 2022. This act enables “more nursing employees the right to receive break time to pump and a private place to pump at work.” It is also an improvement to the already amended provision in the Fair Labor Standards Act, which permits “employers to provide a reasonable break time for an employee to express breastmilk for their nursing child for one year after the child’s birth each time such employee need to express milk.” Although the breastfeeding provision in the Fair Labor Standards Act and the PUMP Act are both vast legal improvements, they do not guarantee milk expression at the workplace for women who choose to breastfeed their children past a year. Even when difficulties are met in workplaces, women still face barriers to breastfeeding outside their homes and when feeding in public places. Women are often criticized for openly breastfeeding in public places as the act has been sexualized and mothers are forced to cater to people’s feelings about public breastfeeding to make others comfortable. In Shame if you do-shame if you don’t: women’s experiences of infant feeding, researchers recounted stories of women’s experiences with breastfeeding where one woman said, “I didn’t do it (public breastfeeding). I was more concerned with people looking and thinking why is she doing that in public she shouldn’t be there, she should be doing that somewhere behind doors, inside in privacy.” Various health challenges can also decrease or prevent breastfeeding. These include mastitis, trauma, traumatic birth, PCOS, and hypoplastic breast tissue. It should be widely acknowledged in breastfeeding advocacy that some mothers may be unable to breastfeed due to health and other socio-emotional reasons, and they should not be pressured. Looking Forward Although various improvements have taken place including an increase in available public and workplace breastfeeding areas, more advocacy for open breastfeeding, and an increase in breastfeeding educational opportunities and resources, more work must be done. We hope that in the coming years, breastfeeding and its awareness will be available for all women and expectant individuals, leading to knowledge, comfortability, and a sense of pride when people make decisions about their choice to breastfeed.

As part of our “Get to Know Groundwork” series, we've been spotlighting members of our amazing team. This week, we’re getting to know Margo Arnold, who joined Groundwork Ohio in August of 2023 as part of the Center for Family Voice team. In this role, Margo will coordinate for the Center to elevate the voices of families with young children in early childhood policy and advocacy to achieve programmatic, policy, and practice changes at local, regional, and state levels. Prior to joining Groundwork Ohio, Margo spent the past decade working in civic and community engagement at various Central Ohio non-profits including Mental Health America of Ohio, New Salem Baptist Church, and Asian American Community Services. Margo is a proud graduate of Columbus City Schools, as well as The Ohio State University, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Public Affairs with a specialization in Community Organization and Civic Engagement. Margo is an AmeriCorps Alumna and most recently managed the AmeriCorps Seniors, a Senior Companion Program through Catholic Social Services. Check out our Q&A with Margo to learn more about why she’s a passionate advocate for young children and families in Ohio. Q: What drew you to early childhood policy research and advocacy? Tell us more about your “why." A: Throughout my life, making a difference has always been an important value. With ever-increasing disparities in the world, there is a present need to make a difference in the lives of society's most vulnerable. In many cases, education is the barrier to progress. So, the journey of educating and empowering families through the Center for Family Voice is vital in bringing about community transformation. Q: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received or a lesson learned that has helped you in this work? A: The power of persistence is one lesson that I’ve carried throughout my career. Whether it is a lack of capacity or budgetary constraints, nonprofits and families face many barriers that hinder progress. Yet, often these obstacles shrink in the face of collaboration. Through unity and collaboration, we can gain the courage to persist and ultimately to overcome. Q: What is a motivating word for you in 2023? A: My word for 2023 is FREEDOM. Our freedom helps us to free others, so I am intentional about addressing whatever doesn’t allow me to live freely. Q: When you aren’t advocating on behalf of young children and families, what do you enjoy doing? A: On an intentionally lazy Saturday, you’ll find me napping, journaling at the park, or trying out new recipes or restaurants. Q: Describe a scene from your vision of the future for Ohio’s youngest children and their caregivers. A: My future vision is simply for adequate resources for those who need it. I envision ongoing wraparound support for parents before and after they birth children in hospitals or their homes. I see consistent support for families who homeschool or send their children out to school, as well as clarity for families to know which resources and leaders to connect with for their individual and community needs. Connect with Margo on LinkedIn or by Email.

By Caitlin Feasby, Statewide Coordinator, Ohio Infant-Toddler Court Team Follow Caitlin on LinkedIn Ohio ranks 46th in the nation for children having three or more Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). Although common, ACEs are not inevitable. As one of a three-part policy brief and resource page, the Health Policy Institute of Ohio’s (HPIO) most recent publication offers insight into the ways state policymakers and local-level partners can strategically reduce the long-term individual and societal impact of ACEs in Ohio. Our proactive response promotes healthier and happier children while drastically improving outcomes across their lifespan, helping Ohio become the best place to be a child and raise a family. The Impact of ACEs in Ohio Early life experiences associated with safe and stable housing, and responsive, nurturing caregivers help an infant to form strong attachments and develop a sense of safety and belonging. As a baby matures into childhood, those strong foundations carve a path for healthy development in domains such as physical health, cognitive and social skills, language, and literacy. For children without a strong foundation or for those exposed to certain traumas during vital developmental years, negative impacts on physical health, mental health, and poorer educational outcomes emerge as barriers throughout childhood and into adulthood. A well-balanced structure between an infant’s environment, consistent caregivers, and enriching experiences is the ideal, but not the reality for many of Ohio’s children. ACEs are potentially traumatic events that occur between the ages of 0-17. Using a simple questionnaire, adverse experiences fall under four primary categories (included in the picture to the left) in which exposure to an adverse experience equates to one point. A score of 4+ on a scale of 0-10 is considered clinically significant with greater risk of negative outcomes throughout the lifespan of a child. By age 5, nearly 1 in 5 Ohio children have been exposed to two or more ACEs. The scope of this issue is enormous. While some individual factors can influence ACE scores, more complex issues such as poverty, poor educational outcomes, and social/environmental factors are the most blatant contributors and point to colossal systemic barriers outside individual control. Deep racial inequities in housing access, poverty, and the gross over-representation of Black and other POC in child welfare and criminal justice systems substantially increase the likelihood of ACEs in children of color. Groundwork Ohio published a factsheet noting that while 40% of white children have at least one ACE, 51% of Hispanic children and 61% of Black children have at least one ACE. What happens in childhood has immense authority over the course of our lives. A 2017 meta-analysis shows higher ACE scores can translate to increased problem behaviors across the lifespan, including excessive alcohol consumption, drug use, and violence victimization or perpetration. ACEs have physical health implications as well, and a high ACE score is strongly associated with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, and respiratory and liver diseases, and are closely associated with poor mental health outcomes including increased rates of depression, anxiety, and higher risk of suicide. The data is clear: ACEs result in lower life satisfaction scores and shorter life expectancies. They have a deleterious impact on individual, community, and state levels and come at a significant cost to state infrastructure and individual out-of-pocket expenses. If exposure to ACEs were eliminated, an estimated $10 billion in annual healthcare spending could be avoided along with more than $4.5 billion in annual spending to treat depression attributed to ACEs exposure. A Systematic Approach to Change Although this data is alarming, there is a corrective path forward and many meaningful solutions are already available throughout Ohio. HPIO recommends 12 key strategies to prevent and mitigate the impacts of ACEs, ranging from trauma-informed care to family income supports. While some strategies are costly to implement, the individuals and communities most at risk of ACEs exposure are worthy of our investment. Using a cost-benefit ratio, HPIO explains the up-front cost of financial investment in these strategies is outweighed by substantial social benefit returns. Any strategy with an estimated cost-benefit greater than $1 demonstrates meaningful social benefit. For example, by expanding the Ohio Earned Income Tax Credit to 30%, the cost-benefit ratio is $1.75. Comparatively, Dating Matters, a comprehensive teen dating violence prevention program, has a cost-benefit ratio of $34.90. For more information on the cost-benefit analysis of HPIO’s 12 key strategies, click here. Building Skills and Strengthening Connections to Caring Adults HPIO’s most recent brief expands on strategies that build skills and strengthen connections to caring adults. By focusing on skills enhancement, parents and youth are better able to manage stress in the face of everyday challenges. These skills training programs offer a benefit to children and their caregivers by strengthening relationships, increasing caregivers’ understanding of child development, and promoting healthy behavioral management. Skills training has been shown to effectively reduce the cycle of generational trauma, promoting healthier relationships across the lifespan, and lessening ACEs exposure. School-based Violence, Bullying, and Intimate Partner Violence Prevention Programs Online and school-based bullying, sexual dating violence, and physical fights impact millions of children each year. School-based intimate partner violence prevention programs aim to curb exposure to violence by promoting healthy relationship development through education and skills training. Dating Matters is one such program available in Ohio and has illustrated effectiveness in promoting healthy relationships while enhancing awareness of unhealthy relationships. Evidence shows Dating Matters is successful in reducing incidents of sexual violence perpetration and victimization, bullying, cyberbullying, and physical violence. School-based Social and Emotional Instruction These programs focus on teaching life skills and emotional and behavioral management to navigate challenging situations. Skills such as cultivating healthy relationships, understanding and managing stress, and making good decisions are shown to increase positive social interactions and demonstrate positive results in education performance, employment outcomes, and overall life satisfaction. While Ohio law does not require teaching these skills in K-12 education, funding is available to Ohio schools to invest in a variety of wellness activities, which can include teaching life skills and emotional and behavioral management, early childhood mental health initiatives, and substance use prevention to name a few. Although not required, 81% of Ohio schools offered prevention-focused programming during the 2020-2021 school year. Mentoring Programs Finally, mentoring programs are designed to match youth with volunteers to develop supportive relationships and promote the child’s personal growth. Mentoring relationships have been shown to reduce delinquent behavior, aggression, and drug use for youth who are at risk. An array of mentoring programs are available in Ohio, including Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and MENTOR. Although there is no state funding available for mentoring programs, federal grant funding is available to expand these services and increase accessibility to mentorship. A Challenge Worth Taking Each of these strategies comes with a unique set of strengths and challenges. For example, Dating Matters is most effective when the curriculum is tailored to the needs of individual communities while making the program engaging and personal for students. HPIO notes funding constraints are an implementation barrier for parents and caregivers to receive family skills training, school-based social and emotional instruction programs, and mentoring programs. Workforce shortages create an additional barrier for all but volunteer mentoring programs. Exciting efforts to expand Ohio’s capacity to provide improved care are happening every day. In addition to the programs and strategies outlined by the HPIO’s ACEs series, Groundwork Ohio is also dedicated to ACEs reduction strategies and is housing the statewide expansion of the Safe Babies approach for Ohio Infant-Toddler Court Teams. The Safe Babies approach is designed to improve child welfare outcomes for children ages 0-3 and their families by employing a holistic and family-centered approach. By enhancing oversight and interdisciplinary problem-solving, expediting effective services, providing trauma-responsive support, and prioritizing continuous quality improvement, Safe Babies is a revolutionary approach to child welfare for system-involved children and families who rely on our state systems to work well. To continue following these conversations: Stay informed on the HPIO’s continued work on ACEs prevention strategies and learn how you can advocate to policymakers. Read more about the Safe Babies approach Follow Groundwork Ohio for developing information on the Safe Babies approach and its expansion in Ohio.

By Stephanie Geneseo and Ashley Wellman, All Nestled Inn, Family Child Care Center An Initiative of All Nestled Inn, Family Child care Center, Chesapeake, Ohio What is the ANI Initiative and how did it begin? Advocating for the Need of Inclusion in Early Childhood Environments, or ANI, was born out of the recognition of the immediate need for placement not only for quality child care, but care in general for children of differing needs in southern Ohio. We had enrolled in and were accepted to represent the state of Ohio for the inaugural cohort of the National Association of Family Child Care's (NAFCC) Leaders Shaping Leaders initiative. This initiative is a dynamic in-person and virtual learning series that includes 30 sessions of interactive education and networking. It also included 15 teams of NAFCC leaders and emerging leaders who would participate in a year-long professional development journey uniquely designed for Family Child Care (FCC) providers to strengthen personal and civic leadership, advocacy skills, entrepreneurship, and business sustainability all grounded in NAFCC values and commitments. Within Leaders Shaping Leaders, we were encouraged to look for a civic need within our community and to build a community project to truly make change surrounding it. While other teams took to developing associations and podcasts, we knew of a locally established, well-qualified family child care center that chose not to reopen following the government shutdowns of the pandemic and who happened to be the only local FCC that openly qualified to work with children with special needs. We also felt this loss as we would accept phone calls daily from families looking for placement for their children. They would cry, as they would be so used to hearing "no" as soon as they volunteer the information that their child may have autism, an intellectual/developmental disability, or simply require interventions such as speech therapy, applied behavioral analysis, occupational therapy, physical therapy, or other services. Many of these families were simply exhausted, both physically and emotionally. We saw a need for this care in our community and designed the ANI initiative in a few phases: Establish All Nestled Inn FCC as a fully inclusive environment. This required an entire system of documentation to be developed, staff to be trained (continuously), and an invitation extended to all community partners (i.e., OT, PT, SP, IT...) into ANI to complete sessions within the inclusive environment. 2. Expand reach to teach other FCCs and child care centers to implement inclusive environments utilizing the ANI system of design. We have now seen our services expanded: Consultation services are now offered. A full training curriculum has been rendered. We’re taking part in speaking sessions at national conferences: At the 2022 NAFCC National Conference in San Francisco, we were able to introduce our initiative to the nation among partners, funders, peers, vendors, and attendees alike. At the 2023 NAFCC National Conference in Atlanta, we were able to partner with the National Parent Leadership Institute as a sponsor who asked us to present our curriculum and teach interactive session attendees the ANI system design, and emphasize Why Inclusion Matters, as well as how to make their environments truly inclusive. We offered the session bilingually and attendees from all over the nation, along with a few from Liberia and Mexico, attended our class. 4. Upcoming speaking sessions include the OAEYC Conference in Ohio in 2024 and the 2024 MFCN Conference in Montana. We at ANI believe no child should be considered optional when they had no option, and we will advocate as such. About the Authors Stephanie Geneseo has been in business for 30+ years and has degrees in Child Development and Organizational Leadership. Ashley Wellman, while newer to the field of child care, has brought a wealth of knowledge and experience to the field after spending eight years in adult intellectual/developmental disabilities and/or autism, and two years with children in sexual trauma as well as foster care. Ashley earned her M.Ed. in Counseling & Human Development, as well as her MBA. In addition, she has now worked with Stephanie at All Nestled Inn FCC formally for three years. About All Nestled Inn, FCC All Nestled Inn, FCC, now regularly holds at capacity, with a running waitlist, and is known in the community and abroad as the go-to for families who are interested in an inclusive environment for their children or need assistance with their child with differing abilities. The general demographic of All Nestled Inn is 4-6:13 who have some sort of differing ability or require a specialized service. For more information, please contact All Nestled Inn, FCC.

By: Lawrence Witherspoon, Director, Center for Family Voice, Groundwork Ohio Follow Lawrence on Twitter and LinkedIn "Plant the seed, cultivate the seed, watch the seed grow." These are the words my grandmother left with me six months before her passing. Her name was Eugenia Harris and while some called her Jean, I called her grandma. My Grandmother grew up working in the tobacco and cotton fields of Mississippi. She eventually came to Ohio seeking financial stability and took a job working for a cleaning company to provide a better life for her family. Once my grandmother was able to save up enough money, she sent most of it to her siblings to relocate north of Mississippi, including my mother and me. I remember the day we arrived in Ohio; it felt just like yesterday. She was in the kitchen cooking this wonderful meal for us. I can still smell the fried chicken, biscuits, and pound cake. After eating, I remember seeing people from our neighborhood stopping by to grab food for their own families. At that moment I realized my grandmother wasn’t just my grandmother – she was the grandmother of our community. It was very clear that everyone in our community either knew my grandmother or had heard about her. My grandmother had simply planted seeds. As a child growing up, I knew my grandmother to be a hard worker and provider. She worked part-time for a cleaning company at night and provided child care for single mothers during the day. She saw a need in the community and was determined to do something about it. What started as extra income for our family became a resource for our community. As word began to spread throughout the community, more families were looking to my grandmother for child care. Eventually, the demand for affordable child care became overwhelming and my grandmother no longer could provide care for everyone who needed it. My grandmother presented this problem to one of the local churches in our community and began advocating for more assistance for these families. My grandmother also began working with members of the local church to provide training on child care and supervision and inspired other women to become child care providers. My grandmother was now cultivating the seeds. In my adulthood, I started to notice my grandmother’s health decline at a rapid pace. She was no longer able to provide child care for families in our community but continued to support those who were empowered by her to continue the work. During this period, families returned to the community to visit my grandmother, thanking her for providing care for families for over 30 years. I watched children who grew into adults drop off food and gifts to my grandmother, thanking her for taking care of them when they were babies. As an adult, I now reflect on that pivotal moment in life and realize that my grandmother’s impact on our family and community introduced the blueprint that eventually led me to my purpose. Over the past 15 years, I’ve been an advocate and servant in the community, working in child welfare, early childhood advocacy, and ministry. My grandmother showed me that advocacy isn’t just a word, it's action. If only she could have watched it grow. It is an honor to continue her legacy, and while our communities have made incredible progress since her early days as a child care provider, most communities across the state of Ohio remain unable to meet the demand for affordable, quality child care. As Groundwork and our partners work to increase access to quality child care, it is community members like my grandmother who will continue to be on the frontlines of community solutions. I encourage you to plant your own seeds, cultivate those seeds and I promise you’ll see them grow! Our family child care providers across the state play a critical role in the past, present, and future of child care in this state and nation. Read our family child care report to learn more about family child care in the state of Ohio. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lawrence shared this pivotal story of his grandmother at the graduation ceremony of the 2022 Class of Early Childhood Leadership Fellows. Watch him deliver this story to see his grandmother come to life through his words.

By Troy Hunter, Director of Research, Evaluation, and Performance, Groundwork Ohio Follow Troy on LinkedIn Ohio seeks to invest in children with disabilities as it introduces the Professional Early Childhood Inclusion Credential (PECIC) under the Ohio PROMISE initiative. This credential is an effort to increase inclusion through awareness, knowledge, competence, and confidence of child care professionals for including and meeting the needs of children with disabilities and their families in early childhood spaces. Ohio’s Children Deserve Better The inclusion of individuals with disabilities has come a long way from the initial creation of schools in the United States. Children and adults with disabilities have an extensive history of being oppressed, ostracized, and excluded from the rest of society. It wasn’t until 1975 with the initial creation of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, later reauthorized as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), that children with disabilities had rights and protection to education. However, there are many children in Ohio who have limited access to quality care and deserve better. “Inclusion is ensuring that everyone, regardless of their abilities, has the opportunity to participate fully in society. This starts with expecting our very young children with disabilities and their families to be welcomed and cared for safely in every environment where they live, play, and learn. It is furthered by allowing our children without disabilities to engage with, learn alongside, and befriend their peers.” -Ohio Promise Increasing Impact In 2021, Ohio provided disabilities services to 20,802 preschoolers and 16% of total public-school enrollment in Ohio were served under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. In 2020-2021, 5.6% of children were receiving Part-C Early Intervention. Children with disabilities are in communities and deserve to have a place where they belong. Setting a foundation for inclusion is critical at a young age for children with and without disabilities. Forty-five percent of White students and an alarming 67% of Black students with disabilities spend less than 80% of their time in a general education classroom as reported by the National Center for Learning Disabilities. Prioritizing the inclusion of children with disabilities at a young age can help promote more children to be included with their peers throughout their educational experience and within their lives. Investing in inclusion early in childhood can help increase inclusive practices as children get older. House Bill 7 introduces another way for Ohio to invest in children by increasing eligibility for early intervention for children born before 28 weeks of age and increasing funding for early intervention services. In Ohio, 10.3% of children were born preterm which can lead to long term developmental impacts on children. Call to Action Early childhood professionals and partners can take the first step toward committing to inclusion in Ohio by applying for the credential. By making this investment in inclusion, providers communicate that it is important to ensure all children have a place and belong in their center. At its core, inclusion means belonging, and belonging is having a meaningful place at the table with peers. Applying for this credential helps pull out a chair and invites children with disabilities to have a seat and feel at home. To apply for the credential, applicants must have a minimum of a high school diploma or be able to document enrollment or graduation from a Career Technical Education course of study as a high school student. The PECIC is structured in three levels but individuals pursuing the credentials currently can only apply to Level 1. Level 2 and 3 will be available later in 2023. The credential will be initially awarded for two years and then can be renewed for three-year cycles after that. To obtain the credential, applicants must prove successful completion of five core courses: Making Referrals in Early Childhood Settings (Available on OCCRRA through OhioTrain) Preschool Special Education 101: Childfind (Available on OCCRRA through OhioTrain) Responding to Trauma and Supporting Resilience (Available on OCCRRA through OCALI) This Child, Each Child Will Grow and Learn (Available on OCCRRA through OCALI) We Can Do This, Right Where We Are (Available on OCCRRA through OCALI) The advantages of the PECIC expand beyond child care. When professionals are equipped with the tools to create inclusive environments, the benefits extend to all children. Inclusion nurtures empathy, compassion, and understanding among young children, setting the stage to value diversity and respect every individual. Ohio's PROMISE PECIC demonstrates a commitment to inclusion. By prioritizing the needs of children with disabilities and their families, and by equipping child care professionals with the necessary skills and knowledge, Ohio is making the first steps toward a more inclusive society. The PECIC isn’t enough alone to make meaningful change to how we include individuals with disabilities in our community, but it is a tool that can be used to foster a sense of belonging for all children, and all Ohio’s children deserve to belong. You can go to the OCCRRA page to learn more about the credential and how to apply. Update: In a letter released on Friday, August 4, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services introduced the Inclusive Child Care Program (ICCP) designation for qualifying programs. Financial support is offered to select ICCP-designated programs, with eligibility requirements based on staff training. One-time payments are provided to programs receiving the ICCP designation, and grandfathered programs with prior experience also receive payments with the first 50 child care programs being eligible for a one-time payment of $15,000 and first 50 Family Child Care home providers being eligible for a one-time payment of $2,500. The ICCP designation is valid for a year, requiring annual renewal. Additionally, forthcoming funds will further support access to inclusive child care for children with special needs and their families. More information and the application to apply is available here.

By Elijah Smith, Policy Assistant, Groundwork Ohio Follow Elijah on LinkedIn Following President Biden’s State of the Union Address on February 7, 2023, the United States Congress received the administration’s budget request for Fiscal Year 2024, jumpstarting the federal budget process. The President’s FY 2024 budget request included: An additional $980 million for Child Care and Development Block Grants An additional $1.1 billion for Head Start and Early Head Start An additional $45 million for the Preschool Development Grant A full breakdown of the President’s early learning funding proposals can be found here. After receiving the budget and determining the total level of discretionary funding, Congress divides the work of allocating funding across 12 appropriations subcommittees. House of Representatives On July 14, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education held a mark-up on the proposed funding levels. The committee's marked-up budget includes: A 29% cut in overall social spending A $20 million cut to Child Care and Development Block Grants A $750 million cut to Head Start and Early Head Start A complete elimination of the Preschool Development Grant Senate Last week, the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies held a bipartisan mark-up on the proposed funding levels. The committee's marked-up budget includes: An additional $700 million for Child Care and Development Block Grants An additional $275 million for Head Start and Early Head Start A $5 million cut to the Preschool Development Grant The federal budget process is still ongoing. As the Appropriations bill moves through the Senate and the House of Representatives, it is important that the voices of children and families are heard. As part of their budget advocacy, First Five Years Fund has released the “First Five Years Fund Child Care Champion Toolkit: 2023.” This toolkit includes state-specific fact sheets, social media graphics, sample op-eds, outreach tools and more. Please visit their Action Center and email, call, or Tweet at your lawmakers.

By Patrick Caniglia, Policy and Research Fellow, Appalachian Children Coalition “I’m still working,” an Appalachian grandmother recently explained. “Once I retire, our income is going to be totally different. Once I retire, will I still be able to provide the same level of care for my granddaughter?” For Scioto County resident Bev Stringer, this lingering anxiety is common. Bev has raised her granddaughter since her birth in the NICU following a premature, substance-induced labor after a relapse by her mother. Bev has had custody of her granddaughter, now 8, ever since. Alongside questioning the future for her granddaughter, other stressors are at the front of her mind, such as: Interacting with the schools, Parenting her granddaughter today versus doing so one generation prior, Understanding the technology her granddaughter must use to keep up with schooling, and Receiving financial assistance or other benefits for which she initially had no idea her granddaughter was eligible. These issues and more occupy a day in the life of a kinship caregiver in Appalachian Ohio. Defining Kinship Care Today, about 239,000 Ohio children are living under the care of a relative other than their parents, with 117,000 of these youth living without any parental presence at all. With only about 7,200 licensed foster homes throughout the state, grandparents, other relatives, and fictive kin continue to step up and care for children in need. These kinship caregivers are even more prevalent in Appalachian Ohio, where there are greater concentrations of drug overdoses and poverty. In addition to these specific issues, the region shares many obstacles that are found in rural communities across the state. In particular, a lack of access to transportation and child care stands out. Southeastern Ohio families pay approximately $1,000 more in transportation costs per year compared to the statewide average. Meanwhile, 60% of rural Ohioans live in a child care desert. Bev agreed with these regional challenges. If Bev’s sister-in-law had not been able to babysit her granddaughter during infancy, she would have had no choice but to quit working. Other prominent issues include interacting with schools and the state’s public assistance programs. So why become a kinship caregiver? Why sacrifice your own health, retirement savings, and golden years of relaxation to care for a child who is not your own? Well, for kinship caregivers like Bev, it does not feel like much of a choice to begin with. “She’s our only granddaughter,” Bev said. “We definitely didn’t want anyone else to take her.” Although it may not feel like a choice, many kinship caregivers find their decisions are well worth it. “I feel very blessed,” Bev repeatedly emphasized throughout our conversation. In addition to this satisfaction and love amid the chaos for many kinship families, the research backs kinship care as the preferred option for youth who cannot live with their biological parents. Simply put, kids living with kin exhibit more positive outcomes than those living in foster homes. Living with kin can curb the trauma faced by youth and ignite the healing process. Current Assistance and Programming Options Ohio provides limited financial support for kinship caregivers. Multiple assistance options such as the Kinship Guardianship Assistance Program, Kinship Support Program, Kinship Permanency Incentive Program, and child-only Temporary Assistance for Needy Families provide cash assistance for kinship caregivers based on the custody status of the children in their care. However, these options are each less than half of the amount that licensed foster parents receive. Meanwhile, many grandparents caring for their grandchildren are also living on a fixed income, unable to return to the workforce even if they wanted to due to age or health complications. All these different assistance options provide limited financial support, are explained little by case managers, and are difficult to access, especially for kinship caregivers working through the application processes for the first time. Bev received some cash assistance for her granddaughter without knowing she was eligible for it or where it came from, and was only informed about the assistance by caseworkers well after she had received custody of her granddaughter. “I just thought that because I work, my granddaughter wasn’t eligible for anything,” Bev said. “She was also eligible for a medical card. I had no idea.” What Comes Next? Perhaps one of the easiest solutions in supporting the state’s kinship caregivers will be the most difficult to achieve. Specifically, increasing and streamlining kinship care financial assistance would help prevent kinship caregivers from facing application fatigue and missing available assistance while providing support equitable to that received by licensed foster families. Secondly, outreach is also a major component in increasing the rates of eligible kinship caregivers receiving assistance. For example, making it mandatory for all local job and family service departments and children's services offices to actively share all available kinship caregiver assistance options would likely improve utilization rates. Currently, statewide initiatives such as the Ohio Kinship and Adoption Navigator are working to fill that void by connecting caregivers in need with available services. Ensuring case managers refer kinship caregivers to available resources from the start will prevent detrimental gaps for transitioning families. However, Bev noted that improving financial assistance alone is not enough to buoy kinship caregivers in need of support. “It would be great to have a club to meet and talk about their challenges and how they’re doing,” she said. Throughout her experience raising her granddaughter, Bev said she has asked herself many times, “Am I going to be able to do this?” Kinship caregiver support groups offer essential spaces for caregivers to air out their concerns while sharing their success stories. Within Appalachian Ohio, in-person support groups are rare because of a lack of access to child care and transportation. Statewide organizations such as the Ohio Grandparent/Kinship Coalition and Ohio Kinship Caregivers Connect offer monthly and weekly support groups online, respectively. However, county-level support group programming, such as Healthy Grandfamilies by the West Virginia State University Extension, offers even more localized support while being further embedded in communities. As Bev summed up her experience raising her granddaughter, she laughed and emphasized knowingly, “It sure takes a village.” Throughout our conversation, Bev was not hesitant to discuss the struggles of raising her granddaughter. However, she repeatedly expressed her appreciation for the additional support she did not initially realize she truly needed. For children like Bev’s granddaughter to get the support they need to grow and thrive, it will likely take a collection of solutions to ensure these youth do not fall through the cracks. It takes a village to raise a child, and the state can and should improve its system to lift up its villagers. The impact of this change would transform outcomes for the state’s most vulnerable children. About the Appalachian Children Coalition The Appalachian Children Coalition is an alliance of behavioral health, education, and social service professionals from the Appalachian region seeking public and private solutions to our region’s most acute needs. Every child deserves equal access to support services to help them grow into happy, productive adults. To contact the Appalachian Children Coalition, please email info@appchildren.org. With questions or comments regarding this blog post, feel free to reach out to Patrick Caniglia at pcaniglia@appchildren.org. We look forward to hearing from and working alongside you.

Each month, Groundwork Ohio reads the latest and greatest resources on early education and health from a wide variety of sources. Below is a compilation of the most important articles we have read throughout July 2023. OHIO NEWS Study shows sharp increases in maternal deaths over two decades School lunches, child tax credits, childcare access: What Ohio’s new budget does – and doesn’t do – for kids The State of Poverty in Ohio: Vulnerable to Destruction Columbus parents are in need of child care. Here's how it is affecting the workforce Child care availability impacts Dayton area businesses National polling shows Ohio voters want affordable child care Ohio must pay more to childcare centers that serve low-income families Ohio will pay for more kids' meals this school year NATIONAL NEWS Business Insider A millennial couple earning 6 figures pay $60,000 a year for childcare. It's their biggest financial burden. Center for American Progress Policymakers Must Understand How Education, Health Care, and Economic Security Shape Early Child Development EdSource Is the child care crisis poised to get worse? First Five Years Fund Bipartisan, Bicameral Bill Tackles Access to Child Care for Parents Who Work Nontraditional Hours Forbes New Legislation Arrives To Support Moms In The Workplace, 30 Years After FMLA NBC News White House details plan to lower child care costs for low-income families New York Magazine A Child-care Crisis Is Looming New York Times More Mothers Are Dying. It Doesn’t Have to Be This Way NPR Why parents, day care owners and day care workers are trapped in a broken market Yahoo! News Governors Ask Congress for Child Care Funds as States Face Workforce Disruptions

By Jessica Salem, MPA, Executive Director, Center for Health Equity, Dayton Children's Hospital The Dayton Children’s Center for Health Equity employs new and innovative approaches to reduce disparities and improve community health. The Center supports the hospital’s transformation from a health care delivery organization to an institution of wellness by recognizing where health disparities exist, identifying health outcomes to improve, supporting clinical staff in health equity improvement activities, and researching and evaluating interventions to decrease disparities. Central to our work is authentic community engagement to highlight the voices of families and the community. Through this work, we co-design solutions with the community that may be far more impactful than what we could have done alone. An example of how we engage the community is our community advisory board, which is a little different than a patient-family advisory committee that gives input into hospital clinical operations. Our community advisory board includes a dynamic group of community members who give feedback on the Center programming and approaches. They have been critical in survey creation, identifying new community partnership opportunities, and giving input in the direction of our community health programs. Another way we engage with our neighbors is through our community-driven research agenda that uses mixed methods and community-based participatory research approaches to engage others in the research process. Through these methods, we have engaged community members as co-principal investigators in research projects. When the Center for Health Equity was created in the fall of 2021, we were committed to ensuring community and family voice. We look forward to working with the Center for Family Voice through Groundwork Ohio to learn and share our strategies to continue elevating the voice of families across the state of Ohio. To learn more about the center's work within the community, please contact Jessica.