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Today, it’s another one of our “Day in the Life” features where we learn more about a member of our DECAL team and what they do for Georgia’s youngest learners and their families.  Today we’re learning more about our Inclusion and Behavior Support Services Unit that helps early learning professionals and families learn more about inclusion and social emotional development.  Meet Fachelle Garner, Inclusion and Behavior Support Specialist here at DECAL.  

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This spring and summer, we’re taking a tour of DECAL’s six regions by talking to our Community Partnership Coordinators, representatives from our Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies, and introducing you to child care providers in each region. The Northwest Region consists of 11 counties including Fulton and ten other counties in the northwest corner of the state, spreading from Haralson, and continuing up to the Tennessee line and over to Pickens and Cherokee counties.  Joining us to talk about the Northwest Region are Glenda Davis-Canteen, Early Education Community Partnership Coordinator, and Brittney Everett, the ECE Specialist Team Lead at Quality Care for Children CCR&R of Northwest Georgia. Also joining us today is DiAnne Coggins, a family child care provider and one of our Peer Support Network Ambassadors, from College Park in Fulton County. And from further north, we have Kari Emerson, a Program Specialist with Ninth District Opportunity Head Start & Early Head Start at the Pickens County Head Start program in Tate Georgia. 

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Today, it’s another one of our “Day in the Life” features where we learn more about a member of our DECAL team and what they do for Georgia’s youngest learners and their families.  Today we’re learning more about CAPS…a federal program administered by DECAL that helps pay for the cost of child care so parents can work or attend school.  We’re spending a “Day in the Life” of Tara Davis, CAPS Family Support Coordinator for the Northwest Region, and Gina Haskins, CAPS Scholarship Administration Specialist.  

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Like so many other industries, child care has seen its share of staffing shortages lately.  DECAL has tried to help through POWER supplemental payments for anyone eligible who is working in child care…and over $1.57 BILLION directly to child care programs in Georgia to stabilize child care, support the workforce, and increase access to quality care and learning.  

Joining us with updates on POWER and STABLE is Christi Moore, Professional Learning Director here at DECAL; Woody Dover is our Enterprise Project Management Director; and Rian Ringsrud, Deputy Commissioner for Finance and Administration.  

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In 2018, the Georgia Foundation for Early Care and Learning partnered with the Georgia Forestry Foundation to host the first Moonlight through the Pines, a fundraising event for both organizations featuring great food and singer songwriters from Georgia.  We had such a great time with that event, we are doing it again on May 18, this time with the foundation for the Technical College System of Georgia.  Joining us to talk about Moonlight through the Pines: A Singers Songwriters Soiree is Kelsey Bassett, Executive Director of the TCSG Foundation, and our own Carrie Ashbee, Executive Director of the Georgia Foundation for Early Care and Learning.  

Plus a special message from Commissioner Jacobs about State Employees Recognition Week 2022.

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For the second year in a row, DECAL will celebrate Children’s Mental Health Week in Georgia May 2 through 6.  Similar to Georgia’s Pre-K Week and Inclusive Early Learning Week, this special week in May reminds us that the early years in a child’s life provide a key opportunity to establish safe and secure relationships and support healthy social and emotional development.  

Joining us are Laura Lucas, DECAL Director of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health; Dr. Chelsea Morris, Professor at University of West Georgia and co-author of the children's book, "Suri the Spider Selects a Solution," and Lorie Summers, a Kids on the Block Puppeteer for Mental Health America of Georgia who is joining our celebration this year.  

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Over the next few months, we’re going to take a tour of DECAL’s six regions by talking to our Community Partnership Coordinators, representatives from our Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies, and introducing you to child care providers in each region.  

Joining us this week to talk about the Southwest Region are Edward Rowell, Early Education Community Partnership Coordinator, and DJ Fitchlee, Training Director of the Child Care Resource and Referral Agency of Southwest Georgia based at Albany State University.  Also joining us is one of our Peer Support Network Ambassadors, Brett Copeland, Assistant Director for Child Development Centers at Central Georgia Technical College in addition to being the Peer Support Network Ambassador for Bibb County; and Gwen Dodson, Data Coordinator of Fort Valley State University Head Start in Fort Valley. 

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Commissioner Jacobs was the guest on the April 23-24, 2022, episode of Georgia Focus on the Georgia News Network, a program heard on 181 radio affiliates statewide.

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For over 15 years, the CDC’s Learn the signs. Act Early program has provided free milestone checklists for families, early childhood education professionals, and medical clinicians to use in monitoring the development of young children in their care.  In March, the CDC published revisions to the milestones and this week we are bringing our listeners up-to-speed.  Joining us to talk about the Learn the Signs, Act Early Program is Bridget Ratajczak, DECAL’s Child and Family Development Supervisor who serves as the CDC’s Act Early Ambassador for Georgia; Rebecca Ellis is our Director of Practice and Support Services who also happens to have two young boys and uses the Milestones; and Dr. Jennifer Zubler is a general pediatrician in Atlanta and consultant for the CDC Learn the Signs. Act Early. Program.  

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It’s the time of year when high school seniors across the state begin receiving acceptance letters from various colleges…and making plans for starting their higher education in the fall.  But what if we told you one Atlanta high school senior has been accepted by 21 colleges with scholarships totaling more than $1 million.  And it all started in Georgia's Pre-K Program.  Joining us on the podcast is Taylor Edwards, a senior at Midtown High School in Atlanta, along with her mom Robin Lewis.   

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