Child Care Provider Mentor Toolkit
Thank you for taking time to support a child care provider as a coach, mentor, volunteer or consultant. This Toolkit is designed to leverage your existing business expertise by bringing you up to speed in the least amount of time possible, in order to provide highly targeted and actionable support to the child care industry.
How Mentorship for Child Care Providers Works
- Watch the Child Care Mentors training videos to learn what you need to know about the child care industry to best help child care providers up for success. This will take no longer than 2 hours in total, and will be incredibly helpful!
- A frequently asked question we get is: “Do I have to be an expert in the child care industry to mentor a child care provider?” The answer is NO. We want you to support providers using your expertise as a business leader, AND we are providing training videos that will help you get up to speed about common challenges for child care providers. For example, we have a budget template that will be incredibly useful to providers, and we want you to learn how to walk them through inputting their data.
- This is a pilot program, and your feedback is valuable and needed for us to learn what works and what doesn’t. Please send any feedback to [email protected].
Mentor Toolkit
Use this toolkit before you engage in your first mentoring session to get up to speed on how you can best leverage your talents to support child care providers. Questions? Contact [email protected].
| Resource | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| Are you familiar with the child care industry? | 5 Minute Video Overview of the Industry | – Some Terms to Know – Child Care Industry Big Picture – Why the Industry is in Crisis – How You Can Help |
| Are you working with a Child Care Home, or a Child Care Center? | HOME 5 Minute Video Overview CENTER 5 Minute Video Overview | – Typical Facility & Staff – Top Needs – The Iron Triangle – How you can help |
| Have you done an assessment or do you know the support they need? | HOME Assessment Questions | Assessment Questions: – Check in on Mental Health and refer if necessary to resources on Energize Colorado > Get Help > Mental Health – Using a Budget? – Bad Debt? – Enrollment at target? – Formal Business Structure? – Commingled Personal & Business Finances? – Is there a Calculation of Deductible Business %? Address Issues in the Order of the Assessment above and look for resources on each of these areas in this portal. |
| CENTER Assessment Questions | Assessment Questions: – Check in on Mental Health and refer if necessary to resources on Energize Colorado > Get Help > Mental Health – Using a Budget? – Bad Debt? – Enrollment at target? – Hiring Challenges? Address Issues in the order of the assessment above and look for resources on each of these areas in this portal. | |
| What do they need? | HOME Budget Template | Home budget template and 5 minute overview of how to use it. Contains all CCCAP rates by county, living wages, and quality score impacts on reimbursement rates. |
| CENTER Budget Template | Center budget template and 5 minute overview of how to use it. Contains all CCCAP rates by county, living wages, and quality score impacts on reimbursement rates. Additionally automatically run synaroes of enrollment, CCCAP or rate changes. | |
| Marketing or Enrollment Support Webinar | 30 minute webinar to find out about marketing tactics and strategies to help providers develop a pipeline or work toward full enrollment. | |
| General Business Stability | 13 minute video on the Iron Triangle (three critical areas for child care providers to focus on): full enrollment, full collections, and budget based-pricing. Also, focus on automation. Some additional resources: – Child Care Management Platform- Early Learning Ventures – Iron Triangle Overview – Other Child Care Business Resources from Stoney Associates | |
| Funding | Press Release: CDHS Grants for child care CDHS Grants Web Page: CDHS Grants | |
| Hiring Challenges | 15 minute focused video on how to hire child care staff | |
| Licensing Questions | This link is for your local Early Childhood Council, a person in your county who can connect you with your local Licensing Specialist or share information on support and resources for Colorado Shines, Colorado’s Quality Rating and Improvement System. Or, to talk with a state licensing specialist call 303-866-5948 or 800-799-5876 and ask for the Specialist on Duty. | |
| Quality Ratings | For licensed programs, use this link to go to the Office of Early Childhood Provider Hub, which will provide access to Colorado Shines, the Professional Development Information System (PDIS), ATS (CCCAP), and licensing. For programs not yet licensed, or licensed programs needing more information, contact your Early Childhood Council (a person in your county who can connect you with your local Licensing Specialist or share information on support and resources for Colorado Shines, Colorado’s Quality Rating and Improvement System) |
VOLUNTEERS ARE THE ENGINE OF ENERGIZE COLORADO
We have an active group of 100 volunteers across the state. We’re building a better, more equitable future together.
Brooks Johnson is President and Managing Director at Green Mountain Capital and serves as an Energize Colorado volunteer.
I enjoyed (and was affected) by hearing personal stories of pain during the pandemic. I didn’t know whether I could help create positive outcomes, but I think everyone appreciated the help, and I appreciated the opportunity to gain people’s trust.
