A technical assistance opportunity for states and organizations across the country who are looking to launch or expand their own holistic staffed family child care networks
Past participants perspective:
"If you do not have the support to figure out how to bring about change, you’re not going to get anywhere. We’ve been very fortunate to walk this path with All Our Kin, and feel confident that they will continue to help us do our work in excellence. We feel confident and capable, and that is in large part because of the time we have spent in this community. We're really grateful.”
- Micha Lynn Johnson, Director Early Embrace Initiative, Raphah Institute
What is a Staffed Family Child Care Network?
Staffed family child care networks have paid, specialized staff members who provide services and resources to licensed family child care educators (as well as their staff and applicants in the licensing process). Networks offer educators opportunities to develop a continuing, long-term professional relationship with a network coordinator or a family child care specialist. Additionally, networks offer a place to connect with other educators, creating strong peer networks in an otherwise isolating profession.
What will we gain from participating in the Network Development Cohort?
Network Development Cohort participants will:
Why should we invest in learning about All Our Kin's network model?
The Network Development Cohort is an opportunity to learn and apply best practices from All Our Kin’s proven outcomes-based approach.
Our model:
Who should apply to participate in the Cohort?
The Inaugural Network Development Cohort is best suited for teams of 3–5 core stakeholders who constitute a leadership team focused on planning or enhancing a staffed family child care
network. Typical teams include leaders from Child Care Resource & Referral agencies, nonprofit organizations, child care unions, government employees, Early Head Start-Child Care
Partnerships, shared services alliances, family child care educators, etc.
Each team will designate a Team Lead. The Team Lead is responsible for submitting the application on behalf of the team and will serve as the main point of contact.
Who should be on a team?
Teams consist of 3-5 people who are in positions to influence and/or implement a family child care network, e.g., state or territory child care administrators and staff, and leaders from Child Care Resource & Referral agencies, nonprofit organizations, child care unions, child care provider associations, Early Head Start-Child Care Partnerships, shared services alliances, family child care educators, etc.
At least one member of every team must be currently operating as a family child care educator. Family child care educator participants should be included in early conversations about this opportunity and their ideas should inform the application responses. Teams are expected to compensate family child care educator participants for their work in meetings and to support accessible conditions for their participation, e.g., covering the cost of substitutes, technology, or transportation as needed.
Team members should have:
What will Cohort teams do?
Teams will participate in Full Cohort and Individual Team Meetings. During full Cohort Meetings, teams will explore All Our Kin’s (AOK) network model–learn what AOK does, why and how we do it. Teams will hear and learn from AOK’s technical assistance team, network site staff and family child care educators in our networks. During Individual Team Meetings, teams will receive tailored technical assistance and consultation to support their network planning/implementation.
Teams will receive proprietary templates and examples from AOK. There will be opportunities for information sharing, peer learning, and collaboration. Participants will benefit from engaging in their work alongside fellow cohort members. Using reflective practice and action plans, teams will apply what they learn from AOK and others to their own network strategies.
What are the responsibilities of the Team Lead?
The Team Lead is responsible for submitting the application on behalf of the team and will serve as the main point of contact for the team. The team lead will be responsible for coordinating with All Our Kin to schedule and plan Individual Team Meetings and for facilitating the team’s progress on goals in between meetings.
What is the time commitment?
The Cohort will run January-August 2023. Teams will participate in intensive full Cohort sessions in January, April and July (1½ days for each session), monthly individual team
advising sessions (60-90 minutes each) and monthly office hours (60 minutes each, optional).
The amount of time required outside of Cohort meetings depends on your team’s goals and current assets and may include work that you and your team members are already thinking of or
doing to plan or implement a network, e.g., conducting a landscape scan and needs assessment, developing your network logic model, staffing plan, budget, or programming line-up.
How are we expected to compensate FCC educator participants? Is there a range you can provide?
Compensation for family child care educator participants may look different for every team. One approach is to translate the approximate salaries of other team members into an hourly rate and use that rate to compensate the FCC educator(s) for the time she spends in team meetings and supporting the work in between meetings. Another approach is pay the educator(s) at a rate equivalent to a consulting rate. Regardless of the compensation rate your team decides on, we encourage teams to support an administrative process that does not place an undue burden on the FCC educator.
How does my team apply?
Please indicate your interest in the Cohort by completing the application.The application requests short answers to a series of questions designed to help us better understand the participants and goals of each team. As a reminder, only one person (the Team Lead) should fill out the application on behalf of the entire team. We will review your application and be in touch soon to schedule a short, informal interview to further understand your team’s goals. If you have questions specific to the application, please contact All Our Kin’s, Director of Network Development, Jenifer Drake at jennifer@allourkin,org.
What is the deadline to apply for the 2023 Cohort?
We welcome teams to submit an application for the 2023 Cohort by October 10, 2022.
What is the fee to participate?
Teams will pay a fee of $15,000 to participate in the Cohort. In order to value the time and expertise of family child care educators, teams are expected to compensate the family child care educator participant(s) for their participation. FCC educator compensation is separate from the $15,000 fee. See “Who Should Be on a Team” and “How are we expected to compensate FCC educator participants?” for more information about FCC educator compensation requirements.
All Our Kin seeks funding to subsidize the price for all participants, but does not currently provide scholarships. We do however, encourage organizations to present this opportunity to potential funders for organizational support. If the $15,000 fee presents a barrier to participation, please reach out to us.
Links and Resources
All Our Kin Evaluations and Publications
Staffed Family Child Care Networks: Improving Access, Quality, and Sustainability is a
27-minute video about the importance of staffed FCC networks. In this video, the National
Center on Early Childhood Quality Assurance is joined by strategic partner All Our Kin, and
researcher Toni Porter.
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