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Send us Fan Mail Last month, Commissioner Amy M. Jacobs announced a new Interim Executive Director for the Georgia Foundation for Early Care and Learning to replace outgoing director Carrie Ashbee who recently moved with her husband and daughter to Mobile, Alabama. Laura Wagner is no stranger to DECAL.  She comes to the new role from Quality Initiatives and Partnerships where she served Quality Ra...

Send us Fan Mail This week we return to our tour of DECAL’s six regions 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. Today, we’re talking about the Central West Region that includes Cobb and Paulding Counties to the North with Clayton and Fayette County furthest Eas...

Send us Fan Mail There’s no doubt about it…we are all living in a digital world and, since the start of the pandemic, more and more of what we do is virtual and online. With so much emphasis on smartphones and computers, cyber criminals are also at work trying to take advantage of businesses and individuals alike. Joining us to talk about cybersecurity is Dennis Brice, Chief Information Officer he...

Send us Fan Mail In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Georgia has received over $2-billion in federal money to help stabilize the child care industry, increase access to high quality child care for all families of young children, and support the state’s early childhood education workforce.  The money comes from the federal Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act and from t...

Send us Fan Mail For many kids across Georgia, summer vacation means more fun and free time. But for kids facing food insecurity—made worse by COVID’s impact on already tight-family budgets—no school can also mean limited access to affordable, nutritious foods.  That’s where Happy Helpings comes in, the summer food service program funded by USDA and administered by DECAL. Joining us today with an...

Send us Fan Mail 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. Today, we’re talking about the Central East Region. The Central East region consists of 23 counties, beginning with DeKalb County to the left and stretch...

Send us Fan Mail It may be summertime but before you know it we will be opening up the 2022-2023 school year for Georgia’s Pre-K Program, our 30th year offering Pre-K in Georgia. Joining us to talk about preparing for Georgia’s Pre-K Program is Faith Duncan, Director of Georgia’s Pre-K Program; Laurianne McDonald is a Pre-K specialist working with programs in Southeast Georgia; and LaNita Carey fr...

Send us Fan Mail Starting last month, DECAL announced that student parents are now a “priority group” for receiving financial assistance through Georgia’s Childcare and Parent Services Program (CAPS). This new priority group is a major step forward in our Two-Generation Approach to assisting young children and their families. Joining us to talk about the new student-parent priority group is Elisab...

Send us Fan Mail This week we open it up to our DECAL team as well as followers on social media to ask questions of Commissioner Jacobs.  This is an opportunity to talk about a wide variety of topics and discuss those issues that are concerning you most, including updates on STABLE (Short-Term Assistance Benefit for Licensed Entities) and POWER (Providing Our Workforce Essential Recognition). Supp...

Send us Fan Mail 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. Today, we’re talking about the Southeast Region consisting of 40 counties that stretch from Monroe County, north of Macon, all the way down to Lowndes County...

Send us Fan Mail For the ninth consecutive year, DECAL is calling for families and caregivers to increase awareness of the dangers of leaving children unattended in vehicles.  Joining us to talk about our annual Look Again campaign and ways to prevent pediatric vehicular heatstroke is Dana Morrison and Rhonda Parker, both directors of field operations with Child Care Services here at DECAL; and Mi...

Send us Fan Mail 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 F...

Send us Fan Mail 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 f...

Send us Fan Mail 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 D...

Send us Fan Mail 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...

Send us Fan Mail 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 Coll...

Send us Fan Mail 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.   Joinin...

Send us Fan Mail 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 Coordinato...

Send us Fan Mail 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. Support the show

Send us Fan Mail 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 tal...

Send us Fan Mail 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.  Join...

Send us Fan Mail 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 are talking to the manager behind the POWER payments, a big initiative both last year and this year here at DECAL.  Welcome Abby Mozo, Manager for the POWER payments.   Support the show

Send us Fan Mail In January, the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education (GPEE) presented its 18th edition of the Top Ten Issues to Watch Report.  The report identifies and analyzes key education issues Georgia will be or should be addressing in the coming year.  Joining us to talk about the Top Ten Issues to Watch is Dr. Dana Rickman, GPEE President, and Matt Smith, Senior Policy Analyst....

Send us Fan Mail DECAL is joining the Georgia Department of Education and the nonprofit research institute RTI International to help schools and child care programs test drinking water for lead, communicate about the testing, and remove lead from their drinking and cooking water.  Thanks to a federal grant, this testing program is free of charge and good for the health and safety of children and t...

Send us Fan Mail Today they may be learning their colors, shapes, and letters…but before you know it, those four year olds in Georgia’s Pre-K Program will be all grown up and headed to technical school or college.  That’s why each year we join Path2College 529 Plan and the Georgia Student Finance Commission for our Pre-K to College Sweepstakes.  This is the fifth year for our sweepstakes and here...