Bright Futures B-5 will provide grants to:
1) Approved licensed and/or registered family child care homes, group child care homes, and centers serving children ages 0-8.
OR
2) Early Head Starts, Head Starts, AIAN Early Head Starts and AIAN Head Starts serving children ages 0-8.
OR
3) Tribally licensed programs serving children ages 0-8.
AND
4) Have not received ARPA Innovation Grant funds.
5) Demonstrate a clear and sustainable implementation plan through the application process.
Funds will be utilized to enhance and expand services for vulnerable children in high need areas which are counties designated as rural or frontier, providers serving tribal populations or on reservations, and child care deserts. Vulnerable populations include infants/toddlers, children with special needs, families with nontraditional care needs, low-income families, triable areas, children in foster care, families who are homeless, and rural regions. Definition for child care deserts can be found at https://www.dphhs.mt.gov/assets/arpa/ecfsd/childcaredesertwhitepaper.pdf). Grantees may reapply for funding in year 2. The total funding allocated for slot expansion activity is $2,000,000 over the two-year period if funding is available.
Eligible expansion areas include:
· Enhance and/or increase slots for infant/toddler care children ages 0-3
· Enhance and/or increase services for children with special needs ages 0-8
· Expanded child care hours of operation children ages 0-8
Funding must be utilized in 1-2 of the expansion areas of infant/toddler, special needs, or expanded hours of operation. Your program must complete an Implementation Plan, a Budget Narrative, and Budget for EACH EXPANSION AREA applied for.
Funding for Infant/Toddler Care for Children ages 0-3:
$8,000 for Family Child Care Homes
$12,000 for Group Child Care Homes
$15,000 for Centers
Funding for Enhancing/Increasing Services for Children with Special Needs ages 0-8:
$5,000 for Family Child Care Homes
$8,000 for Group Child Care Homes
$10,000 for Centers
Funding for Expanded Hours of Operation for Children ages 0-8:
$5,000 for Family Child Care Homes
$8,000 for Group Child Care Homes
$10,000 for Centers
To apply for this funding, the child care program must submit an Implementation Plan, a Budget, and a Budget Narrative. An explanation of what to include in these documents is below:
A child care program will create a detailed implementation plan outlining how your program will use grant funding to effectively and sustainably expand child care services in the area of infant/toddler, special needs, and/or expanded hours of operation. The plan should demonstrate your program's ability to meet community needs and achieve lasting positive outcomes.
The following areas should be addressed in the implementation plan:
· Specific strategies for expanding services (i.e. increasing capacity, flexible and extended hours, resource sharing, partnerships with local community programs)
· Number of additional children and families to be served and the impact on families, program and community (i.e. increased enrollment and access)
· Methods for implementation and sustainability (i.e. collaborative partnerships, needs assessment, professional development, diversified funding sources, community support and involvement)
· Approaches for monitoring and evaluating the program's effectiveness (i.e. surveys, assessments, key performance indicators, outcome measurements, quality and data analysis)
· Information on sustainability. (i.e. funding diversification, community partnerships, staff development, resource management)
A budget narrative helps clarify how grant funds will be allocated and the rationale behind each funding category. It provides context for the numbers presented in your budget and demonstrates the alignment between funding requests and your organization's goals. Here’s a step-by-step guide to crafting an effective budget narrative:
1. Start with an Overview:
- State the total funding requested and specify the funding category.
2. Define the Goals:
- Articulate the specific goals you aim to achieve with the funding.
- Connect these goals to the needs of your target population (e.g., children ages 0-3).
3. Funding can be utilized for the following budget categories although not all categories are required. The program can choose which categories they allocate the funding to, however, the categories listed are the only options to allocate funding. All expenses should be related to enhancing and/or expanding your program in the areas of infant/toddler, special needs, and/or expanded hours of operation:
Equipment refers to large, durable items that support the physical, emotional, and social development of children within the child care environment.
Examples:
- Infant Care Items: High-quality cribs, play yards, and changing tables, ensuring safety and comfort for infants during nap and playtime.
- Bedding, cots
- Adaptive equipment
- Furniture: Age-appropriate tables and chairs for group activities that promote social skills and collaboration.
Supplies are consumable items necessary for daily operations in a child care facility, contributing to the health, safety, and educational experiences of the children.
Examples:
- Classroom Supplies: Markers, crayons, paint, paper, and clay used for creative activities that enhance fine motor skills.
- Learning Materials: Puzzles, building blocks, and counting manipulative toys that support cognitive development and interactive play.
Resources encompass educational materials and tools that enhance curriculum delivery and support effective teaching practices within child care programs.
Examples:
- Age-appropriate Books: A diverse library of children’s literature that supports early literacy, storytelling, and language development.
- Infant Toddler Curriculum Kits: Structured programs that focus on specific developmental areas, such as social-emotional learning, early math, or science exploration.
Professional development refers to targeted training and educational opportunities designed to improve the skills and knowledge of child care staff, ultimately enhancing service quality.
Examples:
- Workshops: Training sessions focused on topics like positive behavior management, understanding child development, or best practices in early childhood education.
- Certification Courses: Specialized certifications in areas like special needs care or trauma-informed practices.
- Ongoing Learning Opportunities: Webinars and conferences that provide updates on special needs strategies, infant/toddler care approaches, cultural competency, and innovative practices in the early childhood field.
Services refer to specialized consulting and support resources contracted to improve operational effectiveness and address specific needs within child care programs.
Examples:
- Child Development Consultants: Professionals who assess children's developmental progress and recommend strategies for support to caregivers.
- Behavioral Health Specialists: Consultants who provide training and resources for staff on addressing mental health challenges and promoting social-emotional well-being among children.
- Occupational or Speech Therapists: Specialists contracted to work with children who have specific developmental delays, providing targeted support and resources for educators and parents.
Compensation refers to the financial remuneration provided to staff members for their work, encompassing salaries, wages, and benefits.
Examples:
- Staff salaries, wages, and/or benefits to support additional staff for extended hours, lower ratios, and more individualized care.
Deliverables:
· Funding awarded to participants must be utilized within the grant period (2/1/25-12/30/25).
· Grantees will provide data and evaluation by completing required reporting to show how funds are utilized through quarterly and annual reports with data collection on the following:
- increase in program capacity
- increase in serving the number of children with special needs
- increase in serving the number of infants and toddlers
- expanding the program’s hours of operation
- report on staff hiring, training and professional development, and/or obtained certification(s)
- description of funding utilization related to budget categories (equipment, supplies, professional development, services, and compensation)
Application Deadline is January 24th, 2024.
Grant Funding Period: February 1, 2025 - December 30, 2025
Payment will be dispersed in two installments. The first payment will go out after grantee agreement and documentation is signed and returned. The second payment will be dispersed after the second quarterly report is received. Quarterly reports will be utilized for monitoring and tracking of funding use and expansion and enhancement efforts within each grant category.
Grant funding will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.
What is Crisis Child Care?
Crisis child care provides initial crisis assessment and intervention services (e.g., respite child care, caregiver counseling), after crisis interventions (such as follow-up care), and/or referral to other community services. The services are provided with no waiting period and without charge to families. This type of care supports families at a time of crisis and can prevent abuse or neglect. Care would be available for extended hours to serve families needing care for children 0-8 in a family crisis situation or for a parent who needs to attend a doctor’s appointment and has no childcare, a family situation that has become unsafe and/or a sudden medical or other family emergency. Staff would receive additional training in trauma, cultural sensitivity, and Infant Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (IECMHC) model.
Targeted population (not all inclusive):
- Children with special needs (medical diagnosis, developmental delays, mental health concerns, etc.)
- Infants and toddlers
- Children in a high-risk family situation
Reasons to utilize care:
- An important appointment, but have no one safe to leave their child with
- When stress and life’s problems are becoming too much to tolerate and could result in taking it out on a child or when someone feels they are losing control
- There is not a safe place for a child to stay while resolving personal issues
- Someone is not able to take care of their child as they would like
- Medical emergencies where a caregiver needs immediate assistance with temporary childcare
- Mental health, substance abuse/sobriety support
- Foster care parent respite
- Emergency custody/custody issues
- Will lose their job if they miss more work or just received a job and have nowhere to take child(ren)
- Being waitlisted for daycares or daycare is closed
- Grandparents caring for grandchildren
What supports are provided to caregivers, parents, and families?
- Helping families form healthy, supportive connections to ensure their child’s needs are met
- Development and/or coordination of supporting resources
- Referrals to local and community services
- Extended child care hours
- Staff have additional training in crisis and trauma informed care
- Assessment of family needs
- No or low cost care
- Drop-in availability
Bright Futures B-5 will provide grants to:
1) Approved licensed and/or registered family child care homes, group child care homes, and centers serving children ages 0-8.
OR
2) Early Head Starts, Head Starts, AIAN Early Head Starts and AIAN Head Starts serving children ages 0-8.
OR
3) Tribally licensed programs serving children ages 0-8.
AND
4) Have not received ARPA Innovation Grant funds.
5) Demonstrate a clear and sustainable implementation plan through the application process.
Funds will be utilized to enhance and expand services for vulnerable children in high need areas which are counties designated as rural or frontier, providers serving tribal populations or on reservations, and child care deserts. Vulnerable populations include infants/toddlers, children with special needs, families with nontraditional care needs, low-income families, triable areas, children in foster care, families who are homeless, and rural regions. Definition for child care deserts can be found at https://www.dphhs.mt.gov/assets/arpa/ecfsd/childcaredesertwhitepaper.pdf). Grantees may reapply for funding in year 2. The total funding allocated for slot expansion activity is $2,000,000 over the two-year period if funding is available.
Eligible expansion areas include:
· Develop and/or expand crisis child care services children ages 0-8 to include expanding hours of operation.
Your program must complete an Implementation Plan, a Budget Narrative, and Budget for Crisis Child Care Expansion.
Funding for Crisis Child Care for Children ages 0-8:
$40,000 for Family Child Care Programs
$60,000 for Group Child Care Programs
$90,000 for Center Programs
Grant funds may only be used in the following budget categories: Equipment, supplies, resources, professional development, services, compensation, travel, and fees for consultation which contribute to health, safety, and development of children.
Equipment refers to large, durable items.
Supplies are consumable items necessary for daily operations in a child care facility.
Resources encompass educational materials and tools that enhance curriculum delivery and support effective teaching practices.
Professional development refers to targeted training and educational opportunities designed to improve the skills and knowledge of child care staff, ultimately enhancing service quality.
Services refer to specialized consulting and support resources contracted to improve operational effectiveness and address specific needs within child care programs.
Compensation refers to the financial remuneration provided to staff members for their work, encompassing salaries, wages, and benefits.
Travel costs refers to the compensation provided to staff for expenses incurred while traveling to and from the consulting crisis child care program.
Fees for Consultation services include the professional expertise in specialized screening/assessment, intervention, and support services that focuses on families in crisis situations needing child care.
Deliverables:
- Funding awarded to participants must be utilized within the grant period (2/1/25-12/30/25).
- Grantees will provide data and evaluation by completing required reporting to show how funds are utilized through quarterly and annual reports with data collection on the following:
· increase in program capacity for crisis child care
· expanding the program’s hours of operation to meet crisis care needs
· set up and implementation of crisis care facility
· report on staff hiring, training and professional development, and/or obtained certification(s)
· description of funding utilization related to budget categories (equipment, supplies, professional development, services, and compensation)
- Meet monthly with state designated consulting crisis child care program to receive TA and mentoring in combination of in person and virtual meetings.
- Complete state designated trauma-based and cultural awareness training potentially includes travel.
- Participate in state pilot Infant Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (IECMHC) which is a prevention-based approach that pairs a mental health consultant with adults who work with infants and young children in the child care setting. Programs are required to collaborate with IECMHC consultant 1 to 3 hours per week for visits, modeling and observation.
Application Deadline is January 24, 2025.
Grant Funding Period: February 1, 2025 - December 30, 2025
Payment will be dispersed after monthly invoices are submitted and approved. Quarterly reports will be utilized for monitoring and tracking of funding use and expansion and enhancement efforts within each grant category.
Grant funding will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.
Description and Purpose
The Montana Department of Health and Human Services (DPHHS) is soliciting proposals from eligible in state healthcare providers to fund costs associated with participation in Electronic Health Record data contribution to Big Sky Care Connect (BSCC), Montana’s Health Information Exchange (HIE).
Access to complete and up-to-date patient information enables providers to make informed decisions, coordinate care, improve care quality, and reduce service duplication. This program aims to reduce financial barriers to technical integration and enhance information exchange participation for behavioral health, children’s mental health, and developmental disability service providers across Montana.
Funding
A qualifying provider would be eligible for the following:
- Integration costs: Up to $15,000 in provider EHR integration costs to be invoiced by the Provider to BSCC at the completion of the integration project. BSCC will submit costs to DPHHS for reimbursement and pay to the Provider, not to exceed $15,000 per provider. The $2,500 for integration fees and the up to $12,500 in integration costs will be reimbursed by DPHHS at successful completion of the project. All integration work must be completed by February 2026.
- Participation costs: Up to $15,000 for the cost of BSCC participation fees. Any annual participation fees in excess of $15,000 required of the provider by BSCC will be the sole responsibility of the provider.
- NOTE: Maximum total provider amount for all costs (either to Provider or BSCC) will be $30,000. Facility EHR integration costs will be reimbursement-based, not prospective funding.
Qualifications
Providers applying for funds under this program must:
- Be enrolled as a Montana Medicaid provider in good standing
- Provide services within adult behavioral health, children’s mental health, and/or developmental disability service areas
- Serve a minimum number of 500 patients annually
- Currently have a modern EMR/EHR solution with the ability to exchange clinical data electronically
- Be willing/able to contribute required clinical data to the BSCC HIE
- Be able to provide required clinical data to BSCC near real-time or at a minimum of one time daily
Provider Requirements
Providers must agree to the following:
- Complete outbound integration to BSCC with a minimum of a HL7 V2 ADT Feed and HL7 V3 CCD feed or equivalent as approved by Montana Medicaid.
- Complete integration work by February 2026
- Maintain these feeds for a minimum of 2 years.
- Work with BSCC to meet USCDI data quality standards.
This application will remain open on a rolling basis until March 31st, 2025 (11:59 PM).
Program Description and Purpose
Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) often need life-long supports and services to ensure health and safety while also accessing and participating in their local communities. These supports and services are often provided on a day-to-day basis by Direct Support Professionals (DSPs).
There is a significant need and in turn value to investing in DSP workforce stabilization and promoting stronger capacity across the continuum to support people with IDD. Specifically, this initiative calls for piloting a DSP credentialing structure to test best practice approaches to DSP stabilization through career ladders. The DSP Workforce Capacity Grants provide one-time grants to five (1 per DDP region) service providers for, on average, 25 DSPs to become credentialed through the National Alliance for Direct Support Professional platform eBadge Academy, a web-based credentialing platform. The Developmental Disabilities Program (DDP) will pre-purchase access to the credentialing platform on behalf of selected agencies, as well as some technical assistance support from NADSP. Grant funds will cover staff time for DSPs participating in the credentialing program as well as “backfilled” staff to cover the shift time of staff enrolled in the credentialing program; payroll processing, grant reporting and tracking and other administrative costs incurred by selected provider agencies; and one-time incentive bonuses to DSPs once they reach credentialing tiers, as modeled below:
DSP – I (Tier 1) –$1,000
DSP – II (Tier 2) – $1,500
DSP – III (Tier 3) – $2,000
DSPs enrolled in the NADSP eBadge Academy must complete the following under each tier to be eligible for the one-time bonuses; a DSP may achieve all three Tiers.
DSP-I
To earn a DSP – I certification, the DSP must earn 15 total E-Badges, including:
- The Code of Ethics Commitment E-Badge
- The 50 hours of Accredited Education E-Badge
- At least one E-Badge in Crisis Prevention and Intervention
- At least one E-Badge in Person-Centered Practices
- At least one E-Badge in Health and Wellness and
- At least one E-Badge in Safety
DSP-II
To earn DSP – II certification, the DSP must earn 30 total E-Badges, including:
- The DSP-I E-Badge
- The 100 hours of Accredited Education E-Badge
- At least one E-Badge in Evaluation and Observation
- At least E-Badge in Communication
- At least one E-Badge in Professionalism and Ethics and
- At least one E-Badge in Community Inclusion and Networking
DSP-III
To earn DSP – III certification, the DSP must earn 50 total E-Badges, including:
- The DSP-II E-Badge
- At least one E-Badge in Empowerment and Advocacy
- At least one E-Badge in Community Living Skills and Supports
- At least one E-Badge in Education, Training, and Self-Development
- At least one E-Badge in Cultural Competence