Posted in Business Practice, DHHS / OCFS

REGISTER for the ECE Workforce Salary Supplement Program & Provider Transition Grant

Posted on by fccamaine

The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Office of Child and Family Services (OCFS) is pleased to announce registration is now open for the Early Childhood Educator Workforce Salary Supplement Program and the Provider Transition Grants.

Registration for both programs are within one form and funds will be distributed at the same time each month.

Early Childhood Educator Workforce Salary Supplement Program

In April 2022, Governor Mills signed the supplemental budget which included salary supplements to increase the pay for early childhood educators employed in licensed child care facilities and family child care programs. The budget provides more than $12 million in ongoing state General Fund dollars to increase pay for early childhood educators providing direct care to strengthen the Early Care and Education system across Maine.

  • The first payments to the workforce will be issued in October 2022 and, as with the ARPA grant, these salary supplement payments must be paid directly to the early childhood workforce. These supplemental payments are required for all providers to receive and pass through to their eligible staff.
  • In addition to the $200 staff supplements, 7.65% additional funds will be added to cover the cost associated with the staff supplements in the providers’ monthly payments.

Providers who have previously received ARPA Child Care Stabilization grant payments WILL receive an email with a link and an access code to their personal registration form. Providers will need to have the following information ready for all eligible staff to update their information in the registration form:

  • Confirm program information within form is up to date,
  • The names of all staff,
  • The staff’s individual email addresses, and
  • The staff’s career lattice level from Maine Roads to Quality (MRTQ).
  • Providers must be open and providing direct child care on a regular basis at the time of registration
  • Programs must have a valid Vendor Code with OCFS

Upon submitting the program information, providers will receive an access code via email that will allow them to gain entrance to the Early Childhood Educator Workforce Salary Supplement Program.

Provider Transition Grants

OCFS will begin distributing the Provider Transition grants in October 2022 to licensed child care providers to help stabilize and support child care in Maine. The grants will be administered for 8-months. This support comes from the federal American Rescue Plan’s supplemental Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Discretionary Funds.

  • The first 4 months (September, October, November and December), programs will be eligible to receive $50 per licensed capacity.
  • The last 4-months (January, February, March and April) programs will be eligible to receive $25 per licensed capacity. 

All licensed child care providers may register for the first installment of grants if they are providing direct child care by September 1, 2022. Future payments will be automatic. Registration after October will be on a rolling basis. Programs approved will only be required to apply once.

The following link is to a webinar containing guidance and detailed instructions for how to complete the registration. Also below are the webinar’s PowerPoint slides. Please review both the webinar and the slides carefully prior to beginning the registration. https://video.maine.edu/media/Early+Childhood+Educator+Workforce+Salary+Supplement+Pro gram+Webinar/1_19z3x0ek

The Early Childhood Workforce Wage Supplement program and the Provider Transition grant registration may be found here:  https://apps.web.maine.gov/online/childcare_grants/provider/login

Please visit the Early Childhood Educator Workforce Salary Supplement Program website at: https://www.maine.gov/dhhs/ocfs/provider-resources/early-childhood-educator-workforce- salary-supplement-program

For questions or more information, please contact:  ECEWageProgram.DHHS@Maine.gov

Author:

FCCAM works to unify, promote and strengthen quality professional family child care in Maine. We understand the critical role of child care providers in the lives of children and families. Through collaboration with other organizations we work to increase awareness of our profession and the value of a strong child care system to Maine's diverse communities.