The 2021 Minnesota Legislature directed the Department of Human Services (DHS) to identify barriers that prevent racially, ethnically, culturally, and geographically diverse childcare programs/ providers from pursuing a Parent Aware Rating — and solutions to overcome them. To accomplish that, this project reached out to and respectfully engaged BIPOC childcare providers and other identified key stakeholders, and reported outcomes and recommendations that DHS will use for the Legislative Report.
Using lists of BIPOC providers provided by DHS, our racially diverse and multilingual reached out to and conducted brief phone/Zoom interviews with as many as possible of the 300+ DHS-licensed family childcare providers and 50+ Tribal-licensed providers. We also conducted multiple, customized virtual sessions with BIPOC family and center providers, advocates, and implementation partners, and managed various parallel online surveys.
Compiled Round 1 results from over 360 contributors and prepared a comprehensive analysis and presentation for Round 2 virtual feedback. The final Analysis and Compilation report (see snips below) includes issues and challenges, ideas and solutions, and potential outcomes in the following major content areas:
- Process Consistency, Information, Perceptions
- Geographic and Technology Access, Experience, Literacy
- Cultural Proficiency, Relationships, Trust
- Language Access, Jargon
- Expertise Definitions, Recognition
These provider-driven results shaped the DHS Equity Report that the agency presented to the Legislature in spring 2022.
