Programs
Updating Your Provider Profile
Expecting to contract with ELC of the Big Bend in the 25-26 fiscal year? Update your Provider Profile today to avoid possible delays in payments or enrollments.
What is a Provider Profile?
Provider profiles contain all relevant information pertaining to a child care provider: their business name, address, license number, provider type, capacity, and hours of operation – just to name a few. This information allows for ELC’s Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) program to provide customized listings to interested families seeking child care.
Why do I, as a Child Care Provider, need to update my profile?
Every year, beginning in January, ELC child care providers update their profiles in the Provider Portal to ensure they are included in our CCR&R services. A provider profile update is required for providers who want a School Readiness or VPK contract for the upcoming program year.
Benefits of a Provider Profile:
- Inform communities about child care and the cost of care.
- Offer customized child care listings to families based on their needs.
- Provide a FREE marketing tool for ALL legally operating child care providers in Florida.
ELC is requiring all providers to update their profiles and complete the Cost of Care Survey by April 1st.
How to Update Your Profile
Follow the instructions below to update your provider profile and maintain your eligibility for contracts and programs. For instructions that include screenshots of the online form, please click here to view.
The General Tab collects basic information about your program, including provider types and whether or not there is interest in contracting with ELC of the Big Bend to provide School Readiness or Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) services.
The Facility tab collects contact information for the provider. The Provider Portal user is required to enter contact information for staff responsible for different aspects of the business. If the staff person is an Authorized Contract Representative or VPK Authorized Contract Representative, click the checkbox below each section (Director, VPK Director, etc.).
The Services tab collects information on the ages of the children in your care, as well as different provider services.
The Curriculum tab collects information about your curriculum; you may choose multiple curriculums. If you are a School Readiness provider, an approved curriculum must be chosen. If no approved curriculum is being used, please select “Other.” If you do not see your curriculum listed, choose “Other” as the curriculum.
The Fees & Discounts tab collects information about your fees – please enter all applicable fees. All amount fields must have either a dollar amount or zero entered. If a fee is not applicable, the amount entered must be “0.” If there are no family discounts offered, select “None.”
The Hours of Operation tab collects information on the type of schedules you offer. Please click the checkbox next to the day of the week before inputting hours of operation for that day. Please note: the default hours of operation for each day are 6:00 a.m.– 6:00 p.m.
The Staffing & Capacity tab collects information on how many children your facility can care for; these questions are asked by age group. For each care level, you should enter the highest number of teachers and children for all classrooms for each care level. This tab does not calculate staff-to-child ratios, but stores staffing and capacity numbers for ELC to review.
Staff-to-child Ratio is the number of children that an individual teacher is responsible for. To reflect the actual ratio, the “Teachers in Classroom” column should always be 1. For example, if you have 2 teachers with one class of 20, you should list 1 “Teacher in Classroom” with 10 “Children in Classroom” and a “Group Size” of 20. You can omit the age groups you do not serve.
Group Size is the maximum number of children, by age, that can be in a single classroom at any given time. You can omit the age groups you do not serve.
The Private Pay Rates tab collects information on your private pay rate based on unit of care and care level; you must enter in the private pay rates for each “Unit of Care” and “Care Level” offered. If care is not provided for that Unit of Care and Care Level, no entry is needed.
If you indicated that you wanted to complete a contract to participate in the School Readiness program on the General tab, you will also have a section on the Private Pay Rates tab to enter the Daily Rates for the School Readiness Program. You may edit the $0.00 amount for each “Unit of Care” and “Care Level” offered by the provider or click on the SR Daily Rate Helper button. The Helper button will automatically calculate the rates based on the Full Time Monthly Rates or Full Time Weekly Rates, and the Part Time Weekly Rates entered in the Private Pay Rates section. The rates are also editable after calculation. These rates will be utilized in the contracting process if you enter into a School Readiness contract with ELC of the Big Bend.
NOTE: With Release 3.5, School Readiness providers must now answer a question regarding the family’s responsibility to pay the differential between the Approved Reimbursement Rate and the Private Pay Rate.
The Closures Calendar tab collects information on any days you will be closed during the fiscal year (July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2026). Once a date is selected, it will change from white to blue. ELC of the Big Bend may define reimbursable holidays for the School Readiness program, which will be shaded gray. When a provider closure date and a coalition-defined reimbursable holiday are the same, the date will be shaded dark blue. You do not need to include Saturdays and Sundays on the Closures Calendar if services are not provided on those days.
NOTE: Actual reimbursable holidays will be selected during the contracting process if you enter into a School Readiness contract with ELC of the Big Bend.
The Documents tab allows you to upload documents for ELC of the Big Bend to review. Based on your answers in the provider profile, the Documents tab will display types of documents that may be uploaded to support a contract to provide School Readiness or VPK services. You may enter up to five documents for each document type. Documents uploaded in this tab will also populate in the Document Library and will be utilized during the contracting process. Please ensure that no document on file is expired.
After reviewing the information for each section, you must click the Next button to continue. To submit the Provider Profile, the Full Name must exactly match the name entered on the Manage Users page (and is case-sensitive). The Provider Portal user must then check the “Check box to certify by electronic signature” check box and click the Submit button.
