All Our Kin’s technical assistance (TA) team collaborates with organizations across the country engaged in innovative work to grow family child care (FCC) in their local communities. In this edition of All Our Partners, we caught up with Emma Bart-Plange, Program Manager of the staffed FCC network at The Family Conservancy (TFC) in Kansas City. With the support of GreenLight Fund Kansas City, TFC and AOK are in the midst of a comprehensive four-year partnership to build a network in the Kansas City community. Through our five key areas of TA, we are supporting TFC in their goal of building an educator-centered network.
Emma Bart-Plange, Amy Cochran, Gayle Anderson, Jenny Brandt, Ramyia Silvers, Janelle Balarashti, Casey Thomas, and Kelly Ramsey
All Our Kin: Emma, could you tell us about your role at TFC and the work of the organization overall?
Emma Bart-Plange: I’ve been at TFC for 18 years in a variety of roles. I’ve worked with directors, coached classroom teachers, and supported FCC providers. Two years ago, I moved into this position as FCC Network Manager, as part of our collaboration with GreenLight Fund Kansas City and All Our Kin. It was exciting for me because FCC is my passion. In my role, I oversee the network and our team, and help to create systems for its various aspects, all with the goal of providing meaningful services to our providers. TFC believes that every child can reach their full potential when we invest in them and those who care for them, and our FCC network is very much aligned with this. It is the mission of TFC to help children and families achieve a lifetime of success in the Kansas City metropolitan area serving KS and MO.
AOK: How did TFC originally connect with AOK? Could you talk a bit about the four-year project that we are collaborating on?
EBP: In 2020, we had two team members attend AOK’s Business Series Train-the-Trainer, and that was our initial connection. Then two years later, GreenLight was interested in focusing on FCC providers in Kansas City. GreenLight selected AOK and chose TFC as the local partner to carry out the work. We were all very excited to partner with AOK because of the expertise and knowledge that they bring.
We began recruiting FCC providers to establish a strong foundation for building a sustainable FCC network model at TFC. With the guidance of Kelly Ramsey, AOK’s Network Development Strategist, we developed a strategic plan that broke the project into yearly goals, incorporating TA strands along the way. Our main priority was centering the voices of educators, guided by a theory of change. After four years, our ultimate goal is to increase the number of licensed providers in the community and create high-quality, sustainable businesses serving children and families.
AOK: What difference do you think it makes to partner with AOK on building a staffed FCC network in Kansas City?
EBP: AOK's support has been very helpful. With Kelly, we did not have to create everything from scratch. AOK has the structure, and then we were able to use that to look at the specific needs of our providers in Kansas City in both Missouri and Kansas. For example, we’ve used AOK’s landscape scan tools to help us assess licensing needs and to make a policy agenda. It helps us to really identify the challenges and goals in our community.
Having Kelly as my partner and coach has been truly valuable. It’s been great to have someone to work alongside, to brainstorm together, and to have a support person. But beyond Kelly, we’ve had support from so many people at AOK – Sarah for licensing, Joel for business, Becca for policy, Ana Elisa for data, the list goes on! I look at it as a flower. The FCC network is in the middle with the nectar, and the petals around it are supports of the network, just like AOK supports us.
AOK: Could you talk more about the role that educators play in your FCC network?
EBP: We have brought together an Advisory Council that is made up mainly of educators and also partners in the community. We make sure that we have educators from different counties to represent their individual needs, and we have some folks who work in licensing and at community-based groups. We wanted to make sure that we had a diverse set of council members.
The main role of the council is to guide the vision and mission of the FCC network. They’ve been instrumental in helping to make a SWOT analysis, developing a policy agenda, and looking at the real needs of our providers. They’ve also helped us recruit providers to our network, because they are in the community. They bring their expertise and contribute to services and activities offered by the network. This is a true representation of the provider voice in the field.
AOK: How do you hope that the staffed FCC network will impact educators, children, and families in Kansas City?
EBP: We have worked with 122 providers in the Kansas City community. We’ve been getting great feedback from our FCC providers on the Business Series that we’ve been offering. Seasoned providers have told us that they wish they had this training long ago, as they’re learning how to measure their space for time-space percentage and rewriting their contracts with families.
Another place where we’re looking to bring more providers together is during our monthly community of practice. This helps reduce the isolation providers experience, and creates spaces to connect and brainstorm together. We hope that this and other aspects of the network will help providers see themselves as business owners and educators, that they bring value to the children in their programs. By maintaining a sustainable business, they are impacting the workforce and allowing parents to go to work. So we are hoping to create impacts for providers, the children, and their families.
And then we recently heard from a provider who has been in business for 24 years. She said,
“I've never had any training as beneficial as this Business Series. I had to go back and redo my contract because I now understand the meaning of a contract.”
AOK: Do you have an anecdote or a success story from your network?
EBP: At a recent community of practice meeting, a new provider was communicating with a seasoned provider who had been in the field for 20 years. As they were talking, the new provider realized that maybe she wasn’t alone in some of the problems that she was facing. She said, “I’m so glad I came because I made a friend. I made a connection.” She didn’t feel so alone. Being able to offer providers this space to connect has been very rewarding for them.
AOK: Is there anything else that you’d like to share?
EBP: TFC has always provided training for early childhood educators, and now it’s great to have a network specifically focused on FCC providers. It’s one place for providers to brainstorm, to learn about their businesses, to gain skills about helping children grow, and to enhance every aspect of their programs. It’s a place to help parents, families, and of course, the workforce. It’s very important for the Kansas City community. I am thankful for my team (Amy, Luisa, and Chloe) and ECE staff (Jenny, Janelle, Ramyia, Casey, and Gayle) in supporting the FCC network at TFC.
We want to thank Emma Bart-Plange and her team at The Family Conservancy, along with our partners at GreenLight Fund Kansas City, for their thoughtful and dedicated collaboration!