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Send us Fan Mail On October 18, 2021, DECAL welcomed our new Early Head Start - Child Care Partnership Director.  DECAL has been an Early Head Start – Child Care Partnership grantee since 2014. Megan Fickes joined us after 14 years of Head Start/Early Head Start experience working with Pennsylvania’s Office of Child Development and Early Learning.  Joining us to talk about DECAL’s Early Head Start...

Send us Fan Mail If you’re a food bank, school, camp, church, government entity, or nonprofit organization, you may be eligible to receive reimbursement for serving nutritious meals to kids and teens this summer through Happy Helpings...the new name for Georgia’s Summer Food Service Program.  Here to talk about how DECAL’s Nutrition Division will ensure Georgia’s kids will have access to meals and...

Send us Fan Mail Fathers, mothers, foster parents, or guardians of young children that have had a child in childcare or early intervention currently, or in the past two years…they all make up DECAL’s Family Peer Ambassadors.  The Ambassadors serve as leaders in their community, engaging families in activities to provide them with information about child development and strategies they can use to s...

Send us Fan Mail DECAL’s Child Care Services Division is responsible for ensuring the health and safety of thousands of children in Georgia while also providing training and technical assistance, licensing new child care programs, and determining exempt programs.  The division also responds to any concerns or complaints the public may have through the CCS Consultant of the Day.  Joining us to talk...

Send us Fan Mail WSB Radio's Scott Slade talks with Commissioner Jacobs about the availability of child care, staffing shortages, and the impact of COVID-19 in Georgia. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Early child development helps build a foundation for lifelong learning, behavior, and health.  With that in in mind, DECAL and the Georgia Foundation for Early Care and Learning have named our inaugural Georgia’s Early Childhood Educators of the Year for 2022.  The infant winner is Diana Black from Pookie Bear Learning Center in Savannah, the toddler winner is Maria Claudia Ortega...

Send us Fan Mail Research tells us that, regardless of their abilities, children in high-quality child care programs are better prepared to enter school and more likely to develop healthy social and emotional skills.  When child care providers offer inclusive child care, they’re supporting not only children with disabilities but also their parents who can work, go back to school, or just take a br...

Send us Fan Mail Something new and exciting is coming to the School of Public Health at Georgia State University here in Atlanta.  The research center known as the Mark Chaffin Center for Healthy Development has been chosen as the future home for the Georgia Association for Infant Mental Health.   Joining us to talk about plans for the Georgia Association for Infant Mental Health is Laura Lucas, I...

Send us Fan Mail Now in its twenty-ninth year, Georgia’s Pre-K Program has more than 3,700 classes serving over 73,000 students statewide.  Those classrooms are served by 36 Pre-K specialists on a daily basis.  But who do you contact if you’re a teacher, director, parent, or the general public with a question or concern about Georgia’s Pre-K Program?  Here to talk about the Pre-K Specialist of the...

Send us Fan Mail Starting January 18, applications are open for Round 2 of our $1,000 POWER Supplemental Payments.  POWER stands for Providing Our Workforce Essential Recognition.  You might remember we did this last spring and summer and now they’re back for 2022…$1,000 bonus payments to some 35,000 early learning professionals and staff here in Georgia.  The bonuses are funded through the Americ...

Send us Fan Mail Recently we surveyed our DECAL team on topics they would like to hear featured here on DECAL Download.  One of the suggestions was to launch a new feature called “A Day in the Life” where we learn more about a member of the DECAL team and what they do for Georgia’s youngest learners and their families on a daily basis.  Today we’re spending a “Day in the Life” of Rachael Lee, Qual...

Send us Fan Mail It’s the holiday season and here at DECAL we’re making a list and checking it twice on gift ideas for your youngest learners, nutritious meals and snacks for the holidays, as well as our favorite traditions and New Year’s resolutions for 2022.  Joining us this week to help celebrate the season is Annie Blair, Infant Toddler Specialist; Ann Panzica, Child and Family Development Tra...

Send us Fan Mail Commissioner Amy M. Jacobs responds to questions from our DECAL team and our followers on social media. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail Georgia’s Department of Public Health has announced that there are approximately 987,000 children ages 5-11 in Georgia who are now eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine...that’s about 4.4 percent of the total population in Georgia.  Commissioner, this is something we’ve been looking for and should help in containing the virus among our younger learners and ultimately making schools an...

Send us Fan Mail In October, Commissioner Jacobs joined Governor Brian Kemp in announcing eight Georgia child care programs that have received our inaugural Quality Rated Language and Literacy Endorsement.  We’re very proud of these programs who are demonstrating a commitment to providing high-quality, language-rich environments for Georgia’s youngest learners.  Joining us to talk about Quality Ra...

Send us Fan Mail Ten-thousand children.  That’s how much DECAL is expanding our Childcare and Parent Services or CAPS Program, as of November 1.  Commissioner Amy M. Jacobs and Governor Brian Kemp made this announcement last month to provide additional support to Georgia’s families and child care providers and to ensure more children have access to quality early educational opportunities.  Joining...

Send us Fan Mail For 31 years, WSB Radio’s Clark Howard and the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services has made sure that every child in Georgia’s foster care system has at least one gift on Christmas day. Traditionally, shoppers attend Clark’s live events in Walmart locations in the metro Atlanta area to purchase gifts from a child’s wish list.  Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and supply c...

Send us Fan Mail During our recent Georgia Pre-K Week, students received a nice surprise in the mail…their own copies of a new book by children’s author and Zac Brown Band lead guitarist Coy Bowles.  The book is called “Can You Touch a Color,” and it’s a follow up to Coy’s book “Behind the Little Red Door."  Joining us this week to talk about “Can You Touch a Color” is the author and musician...

Send us Fan Mail During our annual Georgia Pre-K Week, held October 4-8, DECAL officially named Georgia’s Pre-K Teachers of the Year for the 2021-2022 school year. The private center winner is LaNita Carey from Jackson Creek Academy in Lilburn, and the public school winner is Stephanie Curington from Kings Chapel Elementary School in Perry.  Joining us to talk about this experience are our new Geo...

Send us Fan Mail With 700 employees all across Georgia, traveling between cities to visit child care programs and meet with community partners and advocates, the DECAL team has stockpiled some great information about the Best Places to Eat in Georgia.  Joining us to talk about this tasteful topic is Carrie Ashbee, Executive Director of the Georgia Foundation for Early Learning; Billie Joe Sutton i...

Send us Fan Mail “Our food, our future.”  October is National Farm to School and Early Care and Education Month with thousands of schools, early care and education sites, farms, communities, and organizations across the country celebrating food education, school gardens and lunch trays filled with healthy, local ingredients. Joining us to talk about National Farm to School and Early Care and Educa...

Send us Fan Mail The Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students, that most people know as GEEARS, celebrates ten years of community impact this year, although due to COVID the milestone was celebrated virtually.  Joining us to talk about Ten Years of GEEARS and its relationship with DECAL is Stephanie Blank, GEEARS founder and chair of the Board of Directors, and Mindy Binderman, Executiv...

Send us Fan Mail DECAL and the Georgia Foundation for Early Care and Learning have announced the recipients of the 2021-2022 DECAL Scholars of the Year.  This year’s program celebrates the 20th Anniversary of DECAL Scholars which supports early care and educational professionals in Georgia in gaining more education and skills and earning financial awards.  Joining us to talk about this very specia...

Send us Fan Mail WGAU Radio's Tim Bryant interviews Susan Adams, Deputy Commissioner for Georgia's Pre-K Program and Instructional Supports, about Georgia Pre-K Week and other topics. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail There’s a new face in DECAL’s Pre-K and Instructional Supports Division overseeing our Infant and Toddler, Inclusion and Behavior Supports, and Child and Family Development teams.  Director of Practice and Support Services Rebecca Ellis joins DECAL from the Technical College System of Georgia where she served as Director of Accountability in the Office of Adult Education.  She’s a...