June 30th marked the end of another successful grant cycle for the QCC Early Childhood Quality Improvement grants, with the participation of 45 programs.
There were 35 individual IMPACT Legacy participants who each earned a $500 stipend for completing at least 15 hours of Professional Development. Many completed much more than the required minimum. In fact, a total of 908.5 Professional Development hours were completed by this dedicated group of childcare providers! The IMPACT grant is now going into its final year, with no expectation of it being re-funded after the 24-25 fiscal year. This year’s grant did not even include enough in the grant for stipends which had to be pulled from other Prop 10 funding, but it has always been our aim with childcare quality improvement grants to put as many dollars into the hands of the childcare providers themselves as we possibly can.
The last year of the QCC grant (It has changed in name and focus for next year) had 19 individuals participating. Of those 19, there were 17 who completed the minimum hours for earning a stipend, for a total of 839 Professional Development hours. Total stipends paid out had to be reduced by 33% across the board due to the completion of so many hours. So those who earned 30 hours received a stipend of $748 and those who earned 45 hours received a stipend of $1123. Next year’s iteration of this grant is called the Quality Improvement Grant (QIG) and will be limited to 15 Family Childcare Provider participants.
Eight state preschool programs participated in the QRIS-CSPP grant. Of those 8 there are 3 who rated at Tier 4 and 5 who rated at Tier 5. Rating consists of a rigorous program review that looks at assessment scores, program practices and staff qualifications and professional development, and can earn a program as much as $5000. Participation was down slightly this year but did see the addition of two brand new programs that both rated at Tier 5.
Grant information sessions for programs and individuals to apply for next year’s grants are scheduled for August 27th (in Person) and August 29th (online).