Delaware Provides Financial Incentives to Child Care Providers Serving Infants

Delaware initiated a financial incentive to support high-quality child care providers serving infants in late 2014. The Office of Early Learning awarded a total of $150,000, funded through the states Early Learning Challenge grant, in Infant Incentives to 90 providers in December 2014. Providers must meet three criteria to be eligible to apply. They must: 1) be rated at the highest levels (4 and 5) in Delaware Stars, the states Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS); serve infants; and 3)have at least 5% of their 0-5 year old children receiving child care subsidies. The state created the incentive in response to findings from a 2013 cost study of early learning programs participating in the QRIS, which showed that programs serving infants need additional supports beyond what families and the child care subsidy provide. Providers will have two additional opportunities to apply for the Infant Incentive in March and October 2015. Learn more.

Learn more about the cost study, Modeling Quality Costs for Delaware Stars: Report on the Program Cost of Quality, completed by Anne Mitchell, President of Early Childhood Policy Research and co-founder of the Alliance for Early Childhood Finance, here.

Learn more about Delawares Early Learning Challenge grant and how it is being used to support infants, toddlers, and families at www.zerotothree.org/elc.