Providing Good Nutrition Education and Training to Childcare Providers and Their Families

2. Outreach (Recruitment)

Recruitment (outreach) is very important in maintaining the provider base for Provider Resources. We lose providers on a regular basis due to closing their day care or switching to another program.  Recruitment must be done on a consistent basis to keep up claim base at the level needed for our budget.
 
Twice a week the designated person in charge of recruitment will pull the excel lists from the Department of Early Education and Care website http://www.mass.gov/edu/government/departments-and-boards/department-of-early-education-and-care/ 
 
Click on the link for “Find Early Education & Care” and scroll to the bottom of that page to “List EEC Programs by Region”  the current website address for that page is http://www.eec.state.ma.us/ChildCareSearch/activeproviders.aspx
 
This page will have the excel files broken down by the 6 EEC areas.
Each file is very large and has some of the headers that we will not need. Remove all columns except for the following.  The ones remaining all serve a purpose.

Licensee Name
Program Name
Program Address 1
Town
Program Zip
Program Phone
License Expiration Date
License First Issue Date
Capacity
 

·       Licensee Name – there will only be a name there if they are contracted with a day care agency that handles vouchers.

·       Program Name is the providers name

·       Program Address, town and Program Zip is where her day care is located.  A provider sometimes wishes to have information sent to her prior to a rep coming to her home.

·       License Exp. Date- we will use this column to data sort from the licenses being issued recently to those expiring soon.

·       License First Issue Date- this tells you if a provider is new

·       Capacity- what her license capacity is.

Once you have removed the columns we will not need, click on any date in the License Expiration Date column and data sort from Z-A.  To find the sort option- go to your toolbar- under  “Data” click on the Z-A.  This will place all the licenses that have been issued recently at the top of the column in order to the ones that are up for renewal.
 
We look at licenses that have been recently renewed or issued over the past 2 months.  Compare the excel file to the current list/lists that have been saved from recent excel searches.  Delete any provider that was on a recent outreach list.  Once you have removed all those providers, what will be left is the providers that need to be contacted. Copy and paste this list onto a word document.  You will repeat this process for the remaining 5 EEC locations.
 
Once the list is completed with providers from all 6 EEC areas, phone calls will need to be made within that day. Send the list to the rep that covers that area.
 
We call all providers on the list regardless if they are new or a renewing provider.  We have found a lot of providers that are renewing are not on a program.
 
When a rep calls a provider they will say:
·       Hi, my name is “Mary Smith” and I am calling from Provider Resources.  I am wondering if you currently have a food program for your day care.
  • If the provider says yes she is on another program.  They must stop the conversation as we cannot recruit providers that are currently on a program.  They will thank them and wish them a good day.
  • Occasionally a provider will stop you when you go to hang up and will ask you a question.  It is ok if the provider has asked the question to answer her.

 

If the provider says "no" she is not on a food program, the rep should ask her if she would be interested in hearing more information about our program.  Is she says yes, you can continue by saying:
·       We are part of the Child and Adult Food Program. Are you familiar with that program?
·       We are a federally funded program that helps providers provide nutritious meals and snacks to children in their care.
·       We reimburse providers for the meals and snacks served to participating children enrolled in their day care.
·       Providers record daily the meals/ snacks served and the children present.  At the end of the month, the provider submits their menu for reimbursement.
·       If the provider asks what is required for the meal patterns  you can tell them the following and add examples of the meal/snack
o   Breakfast consists of a serving of milk, fruit or vegetable, and grains or bread.
o   Lunch and dinner require milk, grains or bread, meat or meat alternate, and two different servings of fruits or vegetables.
o   Snacks include two different servings of the four components: milk, fruits or vegetables, grains or bread, or meat or meat alternate.
 
·       If a provider asks about reimbursement, you can continue by saying that there are two tiers.  Tier 1 is the higher reimbursement rate and provider sometimes will qualify based on their school district, census area or by their income.  If you do not qualify by any of those methods, you will be 2 Tier.  The rates are as follows:
 
TIER I
TIER II
 
 
 
BREAKFAST
   1.28                                    
     .47
LUNCH/SUPPER
   2.40                                  
   1.45
SNACK     
      .71     
     .19
 
Other items you can let the provider know:

·       That we have guaranteed payments. All menus in by the 3rd will be paid on the 20th.

·       We have a choice of doing your menu’s online or bubble (paper)

·       We are bilingual

·       We offer home studies

·       At this point ask the provider if she would like you to come out and explain the program. 

·       Set up day and time.

·       If the provider is reluctant, do not pressure.  Ask her if you can send her a brochure. Tell her to feel free to call back with any questions.
·       If you send a provider a brochure, call in a week or so to just check to see if she received it and if she has any questions.

 

If you have a sign up please notify the person who assigned you the outreach calls.

 

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