TIFTON, Ga. (WALB) — State leaders took the show on the road to South Georgia on Thursday, meeting child care owners and directors face-to-face to share resources.

The Tifton stop at the UGA Campus Conference Center is the first of four DECAL Road Shows this month hosted by the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL) in partnership with Child Trends.

Amy M. Jacobs, DECAL Commissioner, said, “It’s important for us to get out as a DECAL team and staff to have that face-to-face interaction, and give providers the opportunity to ask questions that they may email us about. That’s what we are as a state agency, we are here to support child care providers.”

Laukik Patel, Angel Learning Center, said, “South Georgia really needs the funding because child care is very vital to our communities, our parents. It’s very hard for parents to afford what providers need to charge, so the gap is right now being filled by the operators with their margins.”

Providers heard updates from DECAL leadership, attended breakout sessions on topics including Behavior Support, Criminal Records Checks (CRCs), Quality Rated, Child Care Services, the new GELDS, and a Needs Assessment, and met DECAL staff.

Danielle Chappell, Brilliant Minds said, “I want to have the confidence to know that we will be supported as providers, that we will be able to grow and have the support from state officials so that we can become better and provide better care for children.”

Providers meeting DECAL staff one-on-one matters—because when centers lose staff or struggle with behavior, parents scramble for backup.

This matters to Georgia families because when classrooms lose staff or struggle with behavior, parents scramble for backup care. Nearly 90% of DECAL’s $1.2 billion budget goes directly to providers, and 11% goes to operations like training, coaching, and technical assistance. Commissioner Jacobs says to do more, there needs to be an additional investment.

“There are some things that we are doing. But we are going to have to have greater investment to do more. I think that everyone sees the need, we just have to prioritize and figure out where we start,” she said.

The roadshow is just the start by connecting with providers, but the new DECAL Listens 24/7 call-in line will allow Child Trends to independently review feedback as part of Georgia’s Child Care Needs Assessment.

The findings will help inform how the state prioritizes and invests more than $400 million in federal discretionary child care funding in the years ahead.

“Anyone can call, it doesn’t have to be child care provider. It can be a family, citizen, stakeholder, grandparent, whoever can leave a message. And our friends at Child Trends will be listen and summarize it,” Jacobs said. “We won’t be listening to it and we won’t know who you are. Call DECAL Listens and leave us your feedback because we want to hear from everyone in Georgia.”

DECAL takes this same road show to Cartersville, Morrow, and Statesboro through Oct. 29.

Georgians can participate in DECAL Listens at 888-222-8740, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or learn more at decal.ga.gov and families.decal.ga.gov.

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