How did the COVID-19 pandemic impact the childcare workforce? This brief analyzes Illinois employment data through 2020 to gain insights on the impact of the global pandemic on childcare workers, who historically have received low wages and experienced high burnout rates. The brief noted that the lowest paid-workers were most likely to experience employment disruptions in 2020, and 42% of workers in the pandemic cohort received unemployment insurance in 2020, compared to less than 3% of the pre-pandemic cohort.

The Administration for Children and Families will host a webinar on December 13, 2021 from 2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET as part of a series of webinars on topics related to implementation and coordination of early childhood programs in American Indian and Alaska Native communities. This webinar supports participants in learning about approaches to building and improving facilities for early care and education in tribal communities. During the webinar, participants will hear an overview of issues related to building and improving facilities for early care and education, followed by a panel highlighting innovations and promising practices being implemented in tribal communities. Participants will discuss highlighted strategies with peers and hear about resources they can use in their own communities and programs.

The Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin at Madison hosted a webinar on November 4, 2021 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. CT, which explored ways that fathers’ roles and responsibilities shifted during the pandemic. Topics included father involvement in childcare and support for virtual learning, how the pandemic heightened existing challenges for low-income and noncustodial fathers, insights from practice and research, and supports that fathers may need to maintain positive changes or recover from negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Representatives from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, the City of Milwaukee, the University of Michigan, and the 4Dad Fatherhood Initiative in Kalamazoo, Michigan made presentations.

The deadline for families to submit information to the IRS for advanced payments of the Expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC) is November 15. The American Public Human Services Association (APHSA) is hosting a webinar series for human service agencies and community providers to highlight the tools and resources states are using to assist eligible families in receiving this credit. A webinar was held on October 13, 2021, during which representatives from the Virginia Department of Social Services (VDSS) and Code for America discussed on-the-ground efforts to connect eligible non-filer families to the CTC. Available resources include a webinar recording, the Code for America Navigator Resource Page to help navigate GetCTC (a web portal that makes it easier for families with low incomes to get the Child Tax Credit), a New Partner Form for tracking outreach efforts, and CTC Outreach Toolkits from GMMB and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

The deadline for families to submit information to the IRS for advanced payments of the Expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC) is November 15. The American Public Human Services Association (APHSA) is hosting a webinar series for human service agencies and community providers to highlight the tools and resources states are using to assist eligible families in receiving this credit. APHSA will convene the third webinar along with GMMB on October 22, 2021 from 2:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. ET to discuss the CTC Message Toolkit for Human Services Agencies and demonstrate how these resources can be used to spread the word to families about the CTC.

The deadline for families to submit information to the IRS for advanced payments of the Expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC) is November 15. To assist in ensuring that eligible families receive this credit, the American Public Human Services Association is hosting a webinar series for state agencies to discuss the CTC tools they are using. The first webinar was October 1, when the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center (TPC) discussed how TPC’s data visualization map can inform a strategic approach to targeting CTC outreach, and what Colorado is doing today to reach eligible families.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had devastating effects on the livelihoods, finances, and well-being of millions of individuals in Indian Country. Compounding the burden of job losses are widespread school shutdowns and the lack of affordable child care, which simultaneously hinder TANF-participating parents, particularly mothers, from gaining meaningful employment while imposing additional costs on already tight family resources. These trends present urgent and essential demands on Tribal TANF programs. To respond to these challenges, the Office of Family Assistance hosted a webinar on October 27, 2021, which provided insights on Federal and State resources that can assist parents in transitioning into employment, as well as innovative practices from Tribal TANF, child care, and community organizations to support low-income families. The webinar also identified strategies for coordinating Tribal TANF and Child Care offices.

This Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) webpage includes CDC and partner resources and offers guidance in reducing stress children might encounter when transitioning back to in-person learning. Also included is the link to a CDC podcast entitled Transitioning Back to School or Early Child Education.

The third of a three-part series, this April 27, 2021 webinar from the Center for Health Care Strategies examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic reducing young children’s access to in-person early childhood and learning programs. Presentations covered approaches that states and communities might use to address development and learning needs as the children reenter early childhood and learning settings. Speakers included representatives from the Ohio Department of Education, the North Carolina Department of Health Benefits (Medicaid), and the Office of Head Start.

Educare schools provide full-day, year-round early care and education for young children living in families from underserved communities. This brief illustrates the experiences and responses of Educare’s early childhood care and education (ECCE) staff during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as systemic inequities that Educare schools encountered. Interviews with staff from 18 Educare schools revealed three common themes: the importance of supporting the ECCE workforce’s physical and mental health and overall well-being; the redefinition of expectations and mechanisms for accountability; and the ECCE workforce’s ongoing commitment to professional development. The brief describes a set of identified challenges for each theme that the ECCE workforce encountered and overcame.