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Happy 2025!
The 2025 Montana Legislative Session gets underway Jan. 6! It is an opportunity for our lawmakers to ensure Montana is the best place to live and raise a family – elevating early childhood as a top priority is critical for building a stronger Montana.
Zero to Five Montana is here to help you get involved!
- Want to learn more about the legislative process and how to engage? Check out our Advocacy 101 webinar or reach out and we can tailor a training to meet your needs!
- Sign up for our February advocacy event, Have A Heart for Kids (see below for more information!)
- Sign up and join us for our weekly legislative update calls every Thursday at noon (starting Jan. 9)
- Check out our early childhood bill tracker!
- Access our advocacy resources
Register before Jan. 21 & be entered to win a special prize from Zero to Five Montana!
We're giving away some limited edition Miir kids bottles and some other awesome goodies! Register now and learn more about early childhood advocacy and the legislative process during our Early Childhood Summit in Helena on Feb. 5, and our advocacy day at the capitol on Feb. 6.
Together, we can elevate awareness and action around early childhood issues in Montana!
Community Early Childhood Advocacy Opportunity
Zero to Five Montana is excited to announce a new opportunity to support communities in Montana with their early childhood advocacy efforts. The Community Early Childhood Advocacy Opportunity will help communities design and implement an action plan informed by local needs to increase awareness and drive action on early childhood issues.
We are seeking to partner with community-based teams or parent groups passionate about early childhood and ready to address key issues through advocacy. Zero to Five Montana staff will provide guidance and support to help participants achieve their goals using a collaborative, community-centered approach.
Mini-grants of $1,000-$5,000 will be available to approved groups to help cover coordination, planning, and related expenses for activities from January-July 2025. Applicants must identify a coordinating entity, such as an existing 501(c)(3) organization, community action agency, business, or other suitable entity, to receive the funding.
Selected community teams will:
- Complete the formation of a core team of individuals (minimum of two).
- Select 1-2 team members as the Team Lead(s) to serve as point(s) of contact for the Zero to Five Montana staff and attend regular check-in calls.
- Engage community members, especially those with lived experience, to inform the development and implementation of the action plan.
- Participate in other project elements including virtual peer-learning sessions
- Provide feedback on project structure and activities to inform continuous quality improvement.
- Develop an early childhood advocacy action plan.
- Complete reporting documentation as requested.
Applicants will be asked to outline an estimated budget for their proposed activities, which may range from $1,000-$5,000. Budgets may include travel expenses to attend Zero to Five Montana's 2025 Have a Heart for Kids event, happening Feb 5-6.
To apply, click the button below and fill out the application survey. Applications are due by Jan. 8, 2025, at 5 p.m.. *Paper or phone interview applications are available if needed.
For questions or additional information, please contact Callie Parr at calliep@zerotofive.org
Announcing the Employer-Sponsored Child Care Grant Program!
Zero to Five Montana, in partnership with the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services Bright Futures Birth to Five program, is offering a one-time grant opportunity for Montana employers through the Family Forward Montana initiative to develop an employer-sponsored child care program. The goal of the program is to implement a child care strategy reflective of the goals of the employer that is sustainable and creates cost sharing between the employee, employer, and the State of Montana.
Grants will range from $10,000 to $100,000 depending on the size and scope of the employer’s project plan. This program application will be available in winter of 2024. Grant funding will total $2 million to be awarded in two cohorts over 2024 and 2025. Data collected from this pilot will help inform future public private partnerships.
This initiative aims to:
Build awareness of Montana’s growing child care needs and the critical role employers play in helping to address it.
Educate employers and community organizations on employer-supported child care models, including those that apply to individual employers, groups of employers and/or nonprofit community-based organizations acting on behalf of a group of employers.
Create and advance locally driven solutions that increase child care access and support working Montana families.
Join us Jan. 17 at noon for an informational lunch & learn webinar!
REGISTER HERE
Interested employers can apply at familyforwardmt.org by Feb. 7.
New business technical assistance program for Centers & Family/Group programs
Are you a child care provider interested in improving overall program quality, as well as administrative and business knowledge? Consider this your invitation to sign up for Montana Child Care Business Connect’s Program Excellence and Administration Knowledge (PEAK) business technical assistance program!
The goal of this small group business technical assistance program is to support licensed and registered child care centers and family/group programs in Montana to increase overall program quality, as well as administrative and business knowledge. These quality business practices use research-backed recommendations from the McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership. Every month, participants will conduct self-assessments and create action plans to increase quality business practices in their program. Center participants will receive 18 hours ECP credit upon successful completion, Family/Group participants will receive 8 hours ECP credit upon successful completion. Each cohort will have 3 participants, and we will run as many cohorts as needed dependent on interest.
The PEAK for Family/Groups coaching program uses the Business Administration Scale (BAS-2) Second Edition to review, design, and implement quality business practices. Programs will learn the BAS-2 scale and its 10 subscales.
The PEAK for Centers coaching program uses the Program Administration Scale (PAS) Third Edition to review, design, and implement quality business practices. Programs will learn the PAS-3 scale and 25 subscales.
CLICK BELOW TO ENROLL!
New MCCBC Resources!
Recently published: A new resource for child care providers! “An Advisor’s Guide to Business Partnerships in the Child Care Industry.”
Senior Child Care Business Advisor Jason Nitschke notes that entering a partnership can accelerate a business’ ability to get started, grow, and stabilize more quickly than a traditional single-owner structure. However, business partnerships should not be entered into lightly whether they be in the child care industry or any other.
Get Jason’s top 5 recommendations at bit.ly/CC-biz-partners
🔹🔹🔹
The latest on the Montana Child Care Business Connect blog: Introducing MCCBC’s New Data-Driven Staffing Pattern & Wage Scale Template!
There are dozens of staffing pattern and wage scale templates available from national, statewide, and local organizations. But as our Senior Child Care Advisor Jason Nitschke notes, one consistent question posed to him as he has supported child care providers of all shapes and sizes over the last few years, is: What should I be paying my staff?
To answer the question, Jason has designed a dynamic spreadsheet to assist child care providers in developing a comprehensive staffing plan and wage scale. Learn more and access the template and user guide here: https://bit.ly/mcccc-ws
Shared Services Update
TELEHEALTH
AllyHealth Telehealth services are now available!
Please visit the Shared Services web page for more information and registration.
CHILD CARE SUBSTITUTE SOLUTIONS
Coming soon!
Leaders Revitalizing Recruitment & Retention Cohort #2
Launching Soon!
Coming Soon! Later this month, we’ll be launching the application for our 2nd Leaders Revitalizing Recruitment & Retention cohort. Don’t miss your chance to join a dynamic group of child care leaders committed to exploring innovative strategies for overcoming staff recruitment and retention challenges. Stay tuned!
EDUCATION & EVENTS
New 10-week course: All Our Kin Business Series
Now on a wait list!
Our first All Our Kin Business Series session is full but if you tried to register and couldn't because the course is full, please reach out to Kendra Edlin at kendrae@zerotofive.org to place your name on the waiting list!
The All Our Kin 10-week Business Series, starting Jan. 14, is designed specifically for family and group child care providers who love what they do and also want a sustainable business.
Tiny Trainings are back Jan. 16
Our Tiny Trainings series is back! Starting Jan. 16, please join us for our weekly micro-learning webinars for the busy business owner. Offered 1:30-2 p.m. every other Thursday.
Are you looking for business solutions to help your child care business run smoothly? Montana Child Care Business Connect offers shared services to help. Enroll in this Tiny Training Series to learn how Telehealth, Substitute Services, and using a Child Care Management Software can support your 2025 business goals.
Tiny Trainings are 30-minute webinars and attendance at four of the five trainings in this series will give the participant 2 hours ECP credit. Tiny Trainings are for anyone working in child care in Montana.
- Jan. 16: What are Shared Services?
- Jan. 30: Telehealth
- Feb. 13: Substitute Services
- Feb. 27: The Power of Using a Child Care Management Software
- March 13: Using Shared Services to Attract & Retain Employees
Register here by Jan. 16 to participate!
Find recordings of our previous Tiny Training webinars on the MCCBC YouTube channel, or visit childcarebusinessconnect.com.
MCCBC is offering courses through www.ChildCareTraining.org!
We’ve partnered with ChildCareTraining.org to offer free courses with ECP credits. Click below to enroll!
(Be sure to go to Montana Courses then “Other Free or Reduced-Fee Courses” from the CCT Course Catalog to find the Zero to Five Montana courses!)
PARTNER EVENTS
UM Early Childhood Summit:
Call for Spotlight Posters and Awards
Save the dates for the University of Montana's annual Early Childhood Summit: April 3-5, 2025. Summit organizers are looking for Spotlight Poster submissions and Award nominations! See below for more info and to register.
National Strolling Thunder event recruiting families to advocate in Washington D.C.
Zero to Three's Strolling Thunder event is back! One family from every state and the District of Columbia will travel to Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. on May 20, 2025, to share their stories and call on policymakers to write a new chapter for America’s babies.
In the News
- Early child care advocates prepare for upcoming legislative session (MTPR)
- 2024 Must Reads: 9 Stories about Early Care and Education that We Can't Stop Thinking About (Early Learning Nation)
- New law aims to help families get child care assistance subsidies faster (WXXI)
- Parents are quitting jobs, passing on raises – to qualify for child care (The Hechinger Report)
- 'We're working for daycare': How American individualism and economic forces are breaking families (Motherly)
This project is funded in whole or in part under a Contract with the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services. The statements herein do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Department.
