Several panel work groups gave brief updates May 16 on draft recommendations and year-end reporting plans, including a family-friendly workplace designation, an exit-interview proposal, and resource updates for workforce supports.

Why this matters: Work-group recommendations feed into panel recommendations to the Kansas Children’s Cabinet and can inform policy, recognition programs and data practices affecting employers, providers and the early-childhood workforce.

Brenda Bandy, co-lead of the Family Friendly Workplaces work group and a representative of the Kansas Breastfeeding Coalition, said the group has compiled designations used by other states and intends a Kansas designation to include robust criteria, meaningful tiers (for example, bronze/silver/gold) with technical assistance to help employers progress, and employee feedback collected via an existing survey platform run by Kansas POWER of the Positive. Bandy said the work group has drafted a recommendation and plans to submit it to the panel at the June meeting after receiving feedback from Melissa Rooker at the cabinet.

Natalie McClain, speaking for the Exit Interviews work group, reported that her group is close to a formal recommendation for an exit-interview process for individuals leaving the early-childhood field. After consulting with members of the CAPE team, McClain said the group intends to recommend that exit interviews be housed within the CAPE portal and will share a draft recommendation with Melissa Rooker for review.

Other brief work-group reports included ongoing efforts to review and add workforce resources to the All In for Kansas Kids website, mental-health support coordination between groups, and a communications group drafting questions to map how information flows across work groups. Panel staff asked each work group to prepare a presentation summarizing the year’s work for the June panel meeting to help onboarding of new members and to document handoffs to July work groups.

No formal votes were taken on the draft recommendations during the meeting; multiple work groups plan to submit refined recommendations to staff for review with Melissa Rooker before formal panel consideration.