Sarah Vanover, Author at Kentucky Youth Advocates

KYGA24: Sustaining the Child Care Sector

KYGA24: Sustaining the Child Care Sector

Child care was a huge topic of discussion during the 2024 legislative session. Advocates appealed to elected officials to help them understand that safe and reliable child care makes it possible for families to be part of the workforce and benefit the whole community. Legislators also examined the price tag that would be attached to stabilizing Kentucky’s child care industry, and that price tag was not small. In previous years, most of the child care [...]

By Sarah Vanover|2024-05-09T14:55:52-04:00May 9th, 2024|Blog, Bloom Kentucky, Economic Security, Education|

Deep Dive into the Horizons Act and What It Means for Early Childhood Education

Deep Dive into the Horizons Act and What It Means for Early Childhood Education

As Kentucky approaches the end of the federal fiscal year in September 2024, a potential child care crisis is looming for the entire state. Child care providers have already stopped receiving the sustainability payments that were allowing centers and family child care homes to increase staff wages while still paying their fixed expenses. With the sustainability payments over, child care programs are making tough decisions on whether to reduce wages, increase tuition, or close their [...]

By Sarah Vanover|2024-02-29T16:57:11-05:00February 29th, 2024|Blog, Bloom Kentucky, Child Welfare & Safety, Economic Security, Education|

Stabilizing Child Care Requires Investing in Child Care

Stabilizing Child Care Requires Investing in Child Care

The federal stabilization payments for child care – dedicated to wages and fixed expenses – funded through the American Rescue Plan have all been dispersed. This month, the Cabinet for Health and Family Services and the Beshear Administration will issue one final stabilization payment to child care providers. Beginning in 2024, all the additional American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds will focus on projects like the Child Care Assistance Program, start-up grants for family child care [...]

By Sarah Vanover|2023-12-07T13:00:04-05:00December 7th, 2023|Blog, Economic Security, Education|

Federal Update on the State of Child Care

Federal Update on the State of Child Care

In 2021, the United States Congress passed the American Rescue Plan Act that provided $24 Billion to stabilize the child care industry with most of those funds specifically dedicated to stabilization payments going directly to child care programs. This supplemental funding stream was dedicated to staff wages, facility expenses, utilities, and health measures utilized by the child care programs. On September 30th, those funds will have officially expired, and child care programs all over the [...]

By Sarah Vanover|2023-09-21T12:55:29-04:00September 21st, 2023|Blog, Economic Security, Education|

Kentucky’s Application Open for Employee Child Care Assistance Partnership Program

Kentucky’s Application Open for Employee Child Care Assistance Partnership Program

The entire workforce is struggling to find the high-quality employees that it needs to stabilize business. In the past, employers could offer a competitive salary and a benefit package with health insurance and that would be enough to draw in the employees they needed. However, that is no longer the case. Eighty-three percent of working families with children under the age of five are struggling to pay for child care. If the adults in the [...]

By Sarah Vanover|2023-06-02T14:55:06-04:00May 31st, 2023|Blog, Economic Security, Education|

Showing Appreciation for Kentucky’s Child Care Providers

Showing Appreciation for Kentucky’s Child Care Providers

Friday, May 12th is National Provider Appreciation Day. This is a day dedicated to thanking our child care providers for all of their hard work to support young children and their families. On any given day, child care providers are singing songs, reading books, playing dress-up, changing diapers, and kissing boo-boos. Along with providing children with a safe place to be while their parents are at work or school, providers are interacting with young children [...]

By Sarah Vanover|2023-05-10T12:19:44-04:00May 10th, 2023|Blog, Economic Security, Education|

Early Childhood Education Task Force 2022 Findings & Recommendations

Early Childhood Education Task Force 2022 Findings & Recommendations

Kentucky’s Early Childhood Education Task Force has been meeting diligently since June to obtain a greater understanding of Kentucky’s child care resources and how the state can better support that infrastructure to assist families and local businesses. On November 21st, the committee formally presented its findings and recommendations for the rest of Kentucky’s General Assembly. Among its findings, the committee identified that Kentucky does not have enough child care available for all working families and [...]

By Sarah Vanover|2022-12-15T16:13:29-05:00December 15th, 2022|Blog, Economic Security, Education|

Updates on CCAP to Benefit Families, Child Care Providers, and Local Economies

Updates on CCAP to Benefit Families, Child Care Providers, and Local Economies

The regulations for the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) have been updated multiple times in the past two years in order to better support Kentucky’s working families and Kentucky’s child care providers. These updates have been possible due to one-time COVID-19 federal relief funds. Several new programs have been implemented in the past couple of months that benefit working families and child care providers. Here’s an overview of the programs and how they are [...]

By Sarah Vanover|2022-11-09T14:02:05-05:00November 9th, 2022|Blog, Bloom Kentucky, Economic Security|

A Look at the Mixed Delivery Preschool Model

A Look at the Mixed Delivery Preschool Model

The September meeting of the Early Childhood Education Task Force focused a large portion of its time gaining an understanding of the options for mixed-delivery preschool, which is a model defined as mixing two or more of the three major types of early childhood education: Private Child Care State-Funded Public Preschool Head start (for 3 to 5 year olds) or Early Head Start (for infants up to 3 years) This blending is an optional model [...]

By Sarah Vanover|2022-09-29T08:48:59-04:00September 29th, 2022|Blog, Economic Security, Education|

Celebrating New Benefits for Child Care Employees

Celebrating New Benefits for Child Care Employees

With the help of the American Rescue Plan funds, Kentucky will begin awarding child care subsidies for all employees that work in licensed and certified child care programs regardless of the role that they work, such as teachers, kitchen staff, etc. After a year of brainstorming how to best retain and attract child care employees and strengthen the child care infrastructure, Kentucky is establishing this categorical eligibility support for certified and licensed child care employees [...]

By Sarah Vanover|2022-09-22T09:33:18-04:00September 22nd, 2022|Blog, Economic Security, Education|

About Sarah Vanover