COVID-19 (coronavirus) guidance for OECOSL stakeholders

The Office of Early Childhood and Out-of-School Learning continues to issue news and update guidance to partners and stakeholders in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Listed below is the guidance released to date by OECOSL. All FSSA COVID-19 announcements can be found here.

Grants

• Child Care Closure Assistance Grant provides assistance to a program if a program has closed due to a confirmed COVID-19 case which requires closure of a classroom or facility.

  • Grants will be awarded to programs for the purpose of continuing to regularly pay child care staff and maintain operations for the time period of the required COVID-19 closure.

  • This grant should cover the cost of lost revenue during closure from children who are funded through private pay/cash pay.

  • Providers must have been temporarily closed during the time period of this grant because of a confirmed COVID-19 case of a person affiliated with the facility.

  • Providers must be eligible to receive CCDF and be a licensed center, family child care home, unlicensed registered ministry or legally licensed-exempt providers that are not schools (public or private) or Head Start/Early Head Start grantees in the state of Indiana.

  • For purposes of this grant, total grant awards will be capped at $20,000.

• Note: The grant will be evaluated every two weeks to see if funding is still available to continue. Please check the website regularly!

• The Child Care Closure Assistance Grant application for the weeks of November 16, 2020 – November 29, 2020 is now available and the application can be found by clicking here.
  • Child Care Closure Assistance Grant application guidance
• Note: If a Child Care Closure Assistance Grant period has closed please contact Rene Withers at rene.withers@fssa.in.gov to request a review for an exception to apply.
• Please note: Temporary Assistance Grants have ended! The final grant period was for the weeks of July 13, 2020 – July 25, 2020.
  • Reminders:
    • All applicants can check status of applications by logging back into Submittable and following the instructions/tutorial posted!
    • Please check your junk/spam emails for communications and approvals from Submittable
    • Child Care Closure Assistance Grant applications cover a two week time period. Applications will be posted one grant period at a time, new grants will post once the prior grant closes. The grant period that is currently posted and subsequent grant periods will close on the dates listed on the chart below:
      
      

      Grant period Child Care Closure Assistance Grant	Grant closes at 6 p.m. EDT	Payment
      July 27, 2020 - August 8, 2020	August 11, 2020	August 19, 2020
      August 10, 2020 - August 22, 2020	August 26, 2020	September 2, 2020
      August 24, 2020 - September 5, 2020	September 8, 2020	September 16, 2020
      September 7, 2020 - September 19, 2020	September 23, 2020	September 30, 2020
      September 21, 2020 - October 3, 2020	October 7, 2020	October 14, 2020
      October 5, 2020 - October 17, 2020	October 21, 2020	October 28, 2020
      October 19, 2020 - November 1, 2020	November 4, 2020	November 11, 2020
      November 2, 2020 - November 15, 2020	November 18, 2020	November 25, 2020
      November 16, 2020 - November 29, 2020	December 2, 2020	December 9, 2020
      November 30, 2020 - December 13, 2020	December 16, 2020	December 23, 2020
      December 14, 2020 - December 27, 2020	December 30, 2020	January 6, 2020

Guidance

• Updated guidance regarding Paths to QUALITY™ ratings (November 17, 2020)
• Updated child care guidance (September 30, 2020)
  • Updated child care guidance - Spanish
  • Face coverings in child care
  • Face coverings in child care - Spanish
  • Mask resources for child care providers and families
  • Mask resources for child care providers and families - Spanish
  • Background check guidance
  • Background check guidance - Spanish
• Guidance for school age programs (September 30, 2020)
• School Age Exemption Guidance (August 21, 2020)
  • School Corporation and Entity Agreement Guidance
  • MOU Template
• COVID-19 nebulizer guidance (August 4, 2020)
  • COVID-19 nebulizer guidance - Spanish
• Guidance for child cares - What to do when you have a COVID positive (July 21, 2020)
  • Guidance for child cares - What to do when you have a COVID positive - Spanish
• Guidance for school age summer camp programs (May 22, 2020)
• TB testing guidelines (May 15, 2020)
• CPR certification and renewal (April 30, 2020)
• Extra clothing policy notification template (April 23, 2020)
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in partnership with the federal Offices of Child Care and Head Start, has released new guidance for Child Care settings during COVID-19. Check the link for specific guidance for child care on issues such as: This guidance can be found on the CDC website or at this link. This information is intended for child care programs that remain open, and should be used in conjunction with CDC’s guidance for administrators of child care programs and K-12 schools. This guidance does not supersede federal, state and local laws and policies for child care programs. (April 14, 2020)
  • Social distancing;
  • Child pick up and drop off procedures;
  • Cleaning and disinfecting of toys and bedding;
  • Safely caring for infants and toddlers; and
  • Food preparation and meal service
• Updated guidance for child care providers (March 20,2020)
• Cleaning and sanitizing guidance (March 20, 2020)

Resources/Supplies

• Community resources (October 5, 2020)
• Resources for reopening or communicating changes (July 14, 2020 - Resources for programs as they reopen or need to communicate changes with families as well as resources for families as they return back to child care.
• Other local resources for providers (June 8, 2020) - Local resources including funding or other local supports offered at the county level.
• General supplies (May 1, 2020) - OECOSL will provide updates to general suppliers who have indicated they are able to provide various supplies.
• PPE supplies (April 30, 2020) - OECOSL has collected a list of supplier who have been able to provide specific supplies, such as sanitizers, thermometers and cleaning supplies. OECOSL will update this list as it continues to expand.
• Indy Chamber Rapid Response Hub (April 30, 2020 )- The Indy Chamber has created the Rapid Response Hub in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. The Rapid Response Hub houses a plethora of resources, information and supports for small business and is applicable to small businesses across the state.
• COVID-19 multi-language resource available from Luna (April 1, 2020)
• Talking to children about coronavirus (March 20, 2020)

Webinars

• COVID-19 updates Recorded webinar (October 2, 2020)
  • Webinar presentation / Powerpoint
• COVID-19 updates Recorded webinar (June 27, 2020)
  • Webinar presentation / PowerPoint