Wisconsin Early Childhood Association

Teach - the t.e.a.c.h. Early Childhood scholarship and reward stipend program promotes professional development within the child care workforce through scholarships that offer financial support to pay most of the costs of tuition, books, travel, release time, and a bonus after the student successfully completes a scholarship contract, in exchange for a commitment by the student to remain in their job for a specified period of time. Weca administers this program under contract with the Wisconsin department of children and families (dcf) with federal funds from the u.s. department of health and human services child care and development fund (ccdf). During the year, weca served 1,284 Early Childhood professionals through the t.e.a.c.h. Program. The r.e.w.a.r.d. Program is a compensation initiative that awards stipends to Early Childhood professionals based on education already attained and years worked in the field. Weca administers this program under contract with dcf with federal funds from ccdf. Weca provided 18,706 stipends this year through the statewide reward program and 4,477 stipends through the city of milwaukee workforce stipend program.

Child and adult care food program - the Wisconsin Early Childhood Association's (weca) child and adult care food program helps pay for nutritious meals and snacks served to children in regulated family child care home settings. The program pays a fixed amount for each meal and snack served that meets the u.s. department of agriculture's (usda) standards. Family child care providers are trained in program rules and proper nutrition for children. During the year, weca served 491 family child care providers throughout Wisconsin.

Shared services - the Wisconsin Early education shared services network (weessn) is a program designed for child care providers in Wisconsin. Weessn offers on-site executive coaching and program support with tech solutions, responsive professional development, resource sharing across a statewide listserv, and a shared substitute teacher pool. These services, and others that weessn provides, deliver solutions to some of the most pressing challenges in the Early education field. The 2,200 group and family child care programs enrolled in weessn save time and money utilizing collaborative resources and are better able to provide quality support to staff and families. Weessn operates as a state-wide network, available to child care providers in all counties of the state.

Policy and advocacy - provides support for grass roots advocacy cohort, development of an infant/toddler policy platform for the state working with a state collaborative team and advocating for this policy agenda, and efforts to gain workforce feedback to our national Association's professional framework called power to the profession.

Other direct services - provides a variety of other direct service projects including a farm to Early Childhood education project in milwaukee geared at supporting sound nutrition at participating programs and other onsite coaching/mentoring services for child care programs.

Conference and training - weca provides continuing education classes and customized trainings and workshops for the Early Childhood workforce in Wisconsin. Weca charged fees to cover the cost of trainings. In 2023, the weca annual conference was again held in a virtual format as a pandemic safety precaution and welcomed a record-setting 850 attendees. The event had four keynote presentations, 25 live workshops, and 23 on-demand sessions. Educators were able to grow their professional knowledge and skills and network with other attendees, sponsors, and presenters on the virtual platform. The 2023-24 conference will be held in-person with some hybrid attendance options for virtual attendees, in addition to other virtual content available on the platform.