Content for Early Childhood Educators

The Vermont Business and Technical Assistance Program (BTAP) provides expert business training, technical assistance and consulting to help start, sustain, and grow child care businesses.

• SharedServicesVT.org is an online resource platform that offers ECE program support to all regulated programs in VT through HR resources, customizable templates, curriculum ideas, professional development, discounts, safety tips, tools for parent engagement, and Vermont specific information.
• Early Childhood Jobs VT is Vermont’s free job board for early educators. Job seekers can search and apply for jobs at no charge; regulated employers can advertise jobs at no charge by visiting SharedServicesVT.org.
• Make Way for Kids Infant and Toddler Capacity Building Grants. For more information, contact the Vermont Grants Team: vtgrants@firstchildrensfinance.org.

VTAEYC advances equity and excellence in early childhood education with early childhood educators as our foundation. As a membership organization, we provide resources and advocate for policies that move early childhood education forward now and for the future.

• SPARQS Supporting a culture of quality
• Programs VTAEYC has many supports, grants, resources and services for ECEs
• Membership VTAEYC is a professional membership organization that promotes high-quality early learning for all young children birth to age 8, by connecting early childhood practice, policy, and research.

LGK offers resources to support sustainable business practices as a way to ensure continued access to child care for VT families.

• Child Care Business Management Software enables directors to receive payments and manage attendance, billing, employees, medical records, child/family data, real-time ratios and more directly from the web or an app. For more information on the best childcare management software for your program, check out Capterra.
• Vermont Child Care Lynx is a user-friendly online resource to help early education programs throughout Vermont market themselves to families at no cost. Promote your early childhood program by highlighting all you have to offer, share your website, rates, update openings, and add a detailed description and photo! Check out this video for more information on Vermont Child Care Lynx and then click here to enter your program!

Learn how to use digital tools, like email and social media, to become a stronger child care advocate within your existing networks and create meaningful connections with families in your program. Created specifically for early childhood educators, here are some resources to get you started:

DIGITAL ADVOCACY TOOLKIT

WATCH OUR TRAINING ON YOUTUBE

Then start advocating & organizing:

• Follow LGK on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to stay up-to-date on campaign events and other opportunities.
• Share an advocacy post (or two) from Let's Grow Kids on your social media channels.
• Join the LGK Early Educator Facebook Page to share and engage with your colleagues.
• Add an advocacy paragraph to your next program newsletter. Here is an example you can use: Our child care program supports Let’s Grow Kids! Right now, over 60% of Vermont’s youngest children don’t have access to the child care they need. When they can find it, Vermont families are spending up to 30% of their household income on child care, even with financial assistance. Meanwhile, early childhood educators earn the least of all college graduates nationwide and many can’t afford to stay in the field. Vermont’s current child care system is failing us all. Please join us in supporting Let’s Grow Kids as they work to create systemic change: https://letsgrowkids.org/join

In addition to our work to bolster the early educator workforce in Vermont, we are providing scaffolding for Vermont’s child care system, shoring up critically underfunded elements of the system to ensure that it is sustainable far beyond 2025.

By 2025, we will ensure that our nonprofit partners are strong and in position to carry on critical roles including policy advocate, early childhood systems coordinator and planner, early childhood educator professional organization, higher education and professional development steward, and child care business resource advisor. These key partners include:

• Vermont Association for the Education of Young Children
• Building Bright Futures
• First Children's Finance
• Northern Lights @CCV
• Vermont Community Loan Fund
• Child Development Division
• Help Me Grow Vermont
• The Step Ahead Recognition System