Author: christinacortezbannick

As we begin a new year together, I wanted to share a few quick reflections after successfully closing out our first full year as an agency. Before looking forward, I wanted to pause to look back. 2024 was filled with numerous challenges and opportunities.  

Together, with the input of our partners, we created foundational planning documents that will add structure, accountability, and help set a vision to prioritize our work for the years ahead.

Read Growing Oregon Together
Read the DEI Action Plan.

Child health and safety is a big part of what we do. The Child Care Licensing Division moved this work forward in numerous ways including working with partners to revise and implement new rules, offering technical assistance, conducting investigations, and supporting providers to keep kids happy, healthy, and safe in care. This work took place out of field offices across the state. In order to help ensure child safety, this last year CCLD ran over 23,500 background checks. 90.92% of them were approved within four weeks or less – a huge improvement from the backlog of several years ago. 

This initiative aims to provide a flexible funding stream to support culturally responsive education and care, language preservation and revitalization, professional development, and equitable access to early learning and child care resources for Native American children and families. Additionally, the DELC Office of Tribal Affairs launched a Foundation of Tribal Affairs training for staff to deepen their knowledge in addition to developing a comprehensive Tribal Consultation Policy draft to help ensure meaningful engagement and respect for Tribal sovereignty in agency decision-making processes.  

The Early Learning Council set an ambitious vision for a strong early childhood system in Oregon. DELC staff assisted the Council as they welcomed new members and met regularly to provide leadership, receive community feedback, and guide policy including tracking progress on the implementation of Raise up Oregon, which provides an intersectional roadmap for early education envisioned alongside five other partner state agencies. The Council will review legislative agendas to see where these early childhood goals are showing up in the next legislative session as one indication of this collective impact.

Expanding family access includes serving families regardless of immigration status as a result of recent policy expansions. Due to high demand and limited resources, the waitlist remains in place, but the program is working better for families and is currently serving more families than ever before. DELC is also the only agency (we are aware of) communicating with waitlist applicants by mobile phone text messages thanks to partnerships with the Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) and the ONE system. Current information about ERDC data is available on the interactive data dashboard.  As of the end of 2024, over 12,000 households were actively accessing subsidized child care through ERDC, which is the highest number of families we’ve seen served by the program in the last decade.   

It’s important for all staff to feel supported at work and have a sense of belonging. Agency leadership started the year by holding listening sessions with DELC teams to learn more about their unique needs and hopes. Next, staff participated in agency-wide trainings led by the DELC Equity and Human Resources offices, and additional required training was provided by Workplace Change. HR staff led the agency’s first staff wellness fair event which was a major success with staff. The agency’s first Affirmative Action Plan was submitted and the first DEI Action Team and Wellness Committee launched successfully with representatives from across the agency to continue moving the work forward to build an inclusive and welcoming agency. 

The agency added new data dashboards for Child Care Licensing and the Preschool Promise program in English and Spanish. The Employment Related Day Care (ERDC) dashboard was launched shortly after the transition to DELC and the Oregon Prenatal to Kindergarten (OPK) dashboard is set to launch early in 2025. Together, this new focus on external data and trends helps shed light on what children and families need to thrive. The newly launched DELC Research, Analysis, and Data team also worked to ensure information sharing so that policymakers and the public have the information they need to make data-informed decisions to advance early childhood education priorities.  

DELC submitted our second Agency Budget Request (ARB) since becoming DELC. The document was nearly 900 pages long and outlined agency resources and approaches. We know that when we invest in early care and education, we help reduce persistent racial and gender inequalities not only for providers but also for children and their families. While resources are limited, the ARB is a chance to outline the necessary infrastructure to ensure children, families, and providers have what they need to be supported to thrive. 

High-quality programs provided supports to families with young children such as Baby Promise, Early Childhood Equity Fund, Employment Related Day Care, Oregon Prenatal to Kindergarten, Healthy Families Oregon, Preschool Promise, Relief Nurseries, and additional support was provided by Early Learning Hubs and Child Care Resource and Referrals. Together, these programs help to unify and strengthen early learning and education across Oregon while creating better access for children and families across the state. Additionally, to address Oregon’s child care deserts for babies and toddlers, a recent waitlist exemption allowed Baby Promise families to bypass the ERDC waitlist. 

DELC operations continued to ensure the young agency had the skills and services to make the agency successful. Some of this work included leadership development for staff and posting 63 positions. Other work included submitting the first IT Strategic Plan, outlining guidance around AI, and hiring a facilities manager to ensure the buildings and staff inside them are safe and operational. DELC Organizational Development staff ensured we worked to meet deadlines and stay on task. The Grants Management Team supported numerous grantees across the state with funding opportunities and Procurement continued to efficiently support DELC staff in the processing of any contracts, amendments, solicitations and granting opportunities including 533 amendments over the year. Staff set up strong foundations and structures for the agency by creating policies, information technology infrastructure, and agency-wide budget processes. This work leveraged limited financial resources to their greatest effect. The agency also updated its organizational structure with a “dual deputy” model to help teams operate more efficiently. In turn, this new structure will allow the agency better serve Oregonians.  

In the last program year, approximately 32,000 children and families received state funded infant, toddler, preschool programming and/or home visits. Oregon Prenatal Kindergarten, (OPK) administered a reallocation process which increased prenatal to three programming. The Preschool Promise program closed out the program year at 96% slots filled ensuring the children get access to supports to help them get the strongest start possible. The Program team also developed new streamlined processes which included implementing a new application process for grantees that will generate a waitlist to help expedite future expansion and reallocation. 

The Early Childhood Suspension and Expulsion Prevention Program (soon to be rebranded as Every Child Belongs) was established through HB 2166. DELC formalized a relationship with Oregon Infant Mental Health Association (ORIMHA) to help coordinate this work. They partnered with DELC to lead an Advisory Committee to guide the work with the contributions of numerous partners. Over the course of the year, Regional Service Providers (RSP) were successfully selected in 14 of 15 regions. These RSPs will begin the recruitment process early in the next year to hire 22 Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health (IECMH) specialists who will support licensed child care programs across the state as part of this new service. IECMH Consultants have long been a missing puzzle piece in the availability of early childhood education supports in Oregon. These specialists will be a huge step forward to bring specialized expertise directly to child care providers. DELC partnered with the Coalition of Communities of Color (CCC) on a soon to be released research study to better understand ways in which child care providers prevent the use of suspension and expulsion and to understand the resources available to support them in their communities. There is a great deal more work to do to decrease disparities and ensure child care providers have what they need to keep children in care, but we are excited about these tangible steps forward. 

We know that relationships are at the root of all we do and help lay the foundation for broader structural change. Over the course of the year, DELC worked to build strong government-to-government relationships with Tribes and deepen partnerships with advocates, unions, legislators, culturally specific nonprofits, providers, families, and numerous other community groups. The agency hosted webinars, Provider Information Sessions which were livestreamed over social media, issued nearly two dozen press releases and My Oregon News stories, took part in interviews, and created informational materials in multiple languages to increase information sharing and engagement in policy development. Agency staff took part of community events to hear directly from partners in the field including site visits with NeighborImpact, Early Head Start, Relief Nurseries, and other early learning and care programs. The recommendations for the redesign of Spark were provided after significant engagement with over 2,233 community members and a group of early educators and family members were the committee and driving force that developed the recommendations. The same group will be working with DELC and Western Oregon University on implementation of the recommendations in the coming year. We overhauled our newsletter and grew the audience to over 5,600 subscribers to the DELC Community Newsletter. DELC utilized feedback forms, listening sessions, focus groups, professional learning groups, surveys, advisory committees, Rulemaking Advisory Committees (RACs), and workgroups to gather feedback and engage with the field. We also made improvements to ensure broader public engagement in policy development. 

Before a child learns to read and write, they learn to listen and speak. Brain science shows that children are developing these skills from birth, which is why support for children to gain early literacy skills is critical in the first few years of life. Literacy learning starts at home in the lap of a trusted and caring adult – long before a child enters preschool or kindergarten.  The Oregon Legislature passed the Early Literacy Success Initiative (HB 3198) with leadership from Governor Tina Kotek. The bill charged DELC with establishing a Birth Through Five Literacy Plan and with distributing $9.4 million in grants from the Birth Through Five Literacy Fund. Early Learning Hubs, new and existing ECEF grantees, and Tribes received grants to promote early literacy strategies. Based on extensive community input, at the end of the year, we submitted to the legislature a Plan that includes implementation progress and recommended strategies. DELC will continue to provide annual status updates to the legislature to track progress. 

We testified and frequently engaged with legislative leadership and attended committee hearings. Numerous legislatively required reports helped to illustrate DELC’s implementation and administration of new programs and initiatives. We worked with the legislature to pass budget allocations for the Employment Related Day Care program, the Birth through Five Literacy Fund, and passed new rules for the microcenter pilot program, public records requests, procurement practices, the Baby Promise program, a match requirement for CCR&Rs, and family child care. We proposed legislative concepts to increase options and provide support to Oregonians in need through the ERDC program and to support and honor Tribal sovereignty through the Oregon Tribal Early Learning Plan and Fund. We also furthered our partnership with our federal partners. As part of our Child Care and Development Fund expectations, we completed our 2025/2027 State Plan, which serves as a comprehensive snapshot of Oregon’s child care policies and our triennial application for federal funds. We worked with the Governor’s office to elevate proclamations around Provider Appreciation day, Head Start Awareness month, and the Week of the Young Child. In doing so, we are helping to raise awareness and build support for early learning and the people who make this work happen. Because of the tremendous work happening and the efforts of our partners and the bipartisan support, Oregon is emerging as a leader in early care and education.  

DELC leadership visited with child care providers in celebration of Provider Appreciation Day. We heard directly about the challenges and joys of working in the field of early learning and care. Over the course of the year, building off of the provider survey, we submitted the Workforce Barriers Research report. The HB 2991 report elevates the ways Oregon’s early learning and care workforce is vital to children’s development and families’ economic stability and identifies recommendations to key challenges. Spark (Oregon’s Quality Recognition and Improvement System for early childhood care and education programs) is helping early care and education professionals continue improving the quality of care they provide. The Spark team worked closely with community members to develop an equity-based approach for the redesign of Spark. The goal for redesigning Spark is to create a system that is inclusive of Oregon’s diverse families, child care providers, and early learning programs. The initial plan was approved to move forward into a detailed design phase. Through our partnership with the Early Learning System Initiative (ELSI) we trained new trainers which produced over 200 new trainers for Pyramid Model throughout Oregon. ELSI also provided a Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math (STEAM) Camp over the summer, with over 1,000 educators and coaches participating to continue gaining new skills.  

We are working to continue to strengthen our customer service approaches across the agency. Work is underway to develop agency wide expectations. Our Direct Pay Unit team assisted ERDC providers in processing an average of 14,350 child care billing forms, 375 child care provider listing forms and re-evaluation forms, 550 provider connection requests, and 4,425 phone calls each month. We are here to help, and we take our work seriously. One of DELC’s values is continuous improvement and as we move to a new provider management platform, we hope to continue finding ways to better support child care providers and appreciate all the work that they do to support the children in their care.  

Many of DELC’s programs ensure children are set up for a strong start. That means providing services and supports to families in ways that meet them where they’re at. The Healthy Families Oregon (HFO) program is a free, voluntary, home visiting program that offers support and education to families who are expecting or parenting newborns. This year, HFO reinstated services in Lincoln, Coos, and Curry counties so that we now have statewide coverage. Relief Nurseries support families who are raising children aged birth through five years and who are experiencing high levels of stress. The Relief Nursery model originated in Oregon and has been proven to reduce child maltreatment and unnecessary foster care involvement. This year, Relief Nurseries opened two new sites. Together these and other program models help strengthen families by intervening with early supports to ensure families and children have the supports they need to thrive.   

This year, Oregon opened the first competitive grant application to finance early learning and child care facilities. Investments in infrastructure are critical to expanding early learning and care opportunities which provide the care Oregon workers need to grow the economy. While Oregon has been a leader in investing in early learning, previous investments have been limited to services. In 2023, Oregon legislators passed HB 3005, allotting $50 million in lottery bonds to Business Oregon to administer the Child Care Infrastructure Fund Program. DELC contracted with Northwest Native Chamber and First Children’s Finance (FCF) to support providers with technical assistance. In August, the application portal opened and received 738 applications. These grants will finance the development of new and existing early learning and child care facilities. In addition to CCIF technical assistance, FCF created support materials and facilitated 10 trainings for early childhood providers related to public funding opportunities. The work doesn’t end here. DELC staff also participated in the HB2727Child Care Facilities Work Group led by the Department of Land and Conservation Development to continue finding innovative ways to reduce barriers to developing child care facilities through building and zoning codes. 

Thanks to an allocation of $1.7M by legislation, DELC was able to launch the Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library of Oregon program for children from birth to age five across the state to receive free monthly books regardless of family income. The annual cost of providing one child with one book each month is $25, where DELC is paying half of the total cost and remaining half is covered by local funds. This has resulted in over 62,000 children enrolled in the program, a 14.48% increase since the program launched in May 2024. As of December 2024, 35 counties have countywide program coverage that leaves only one county with limited access to the program remaining. Watch the video to hear from Dolly herself!