Panel reviews work groups: family‑friendly workplaces, workforce recruitment and early childhood mental health

Panel members reviewed the five active work groups that will drive the panel’s recommendations for 2025–26 and heard short chair reports on past work and near‑term priorities.
Family‑friendly workplaces: Melissa Martin (Spark Quill) described a proposed statewide designation to recognize employers that adopt family‑friendly policies. The framework under development would include a structured application, tiered recognition with employee voice required, no‑cost resources, a renewal cycle, and four policy domains (leave, health support, work schedules and economic supports). Martin said the group recommends a neutral home outside of a state agency to host the designation and will develop survey instruments, scoring rubrics and a fee/waiver structure.
Mental health supports: Megan Kluth (KU CPPR) said the mental health work group focuses primarily on the early childhood workforce’s mental health needs and connections to family and child mental health. The group has compiled system needs, training and resource lists and plans a convening in Topeka on Oct. 15 to inform concrete projects. Kluth said the team will create a workforce mental health survey and coordinate with Preschool Development Grant (PDG) gap analyses to identify geographic and population‑specific needs.
Targeted recruitment/workforce pipeline: Amy Gottschamer (owner/executive director, Goolsby's Learning) reviewed two years of analysis about barriers that discourage people from entering or staying in early childhood careers. The group documents impediments beyond wages — public perception, professional respect, small‑business skills for home‑based providers and misalignment between high school or paras’ training and KDHE licensing requirements — and plans targeted outreach to high school and para populations and alignment work on competencies and minimum requirements.
Systems communications and ECE collaboration hub: Marietta’s systems communications group surveyed early childhood governance groups to create a draft communications guide and asked for a permanent home for the resource. Panel members also heard a pitch for a new Early Childhood Education collaboration hub to take a system‑level, cross‑sector view and identify gaps and voices missing from current efforts; Christy Smith framed the hub as a space for "big picture" thinking and barrier‑busting connections across programs.
Member actions: Panel staff will circulate a short survey asking members to pick work groups and to indicate willingness to serve in leadership roles. The next panel meeting on Sept. 19 will include dedicated time for initial work group meetings; chairs asked members to complete the survey beforehand.