(a) Information and referral services directed at educating parents who contact the agency regarding early childhood services options and methods of selecting the best option for his or her child; referring parents or guardians to early childhood services providers; informing parents about the availability of financial assistance and tax credits; referral for parents in coordinating part-day early childhood services providers and programs to meet the full-day care needs of parents; referrals for parents of preschool children with handicapping conditions pursuant to section forty-four hundred ten of the education law and section twenty-five hundred forty-two of the public health law; providing written information to those who contact the agency seeking information about early childhood services; maintaining a provider resource file and a file of parents currently seeking early childhood services; and publicizing child care resource and referral services as necessary to assure that the availability of those services are known to the community;
(b) Services directed at expanding the number of available family day care providers and recruiting potential providers; providing information on licensing and registration requirements and available funding sources to potential early childhood services providers and programs; and assisting individuals or organizations to qualify as legal early childhood services providers or programs by providing information on applicable laws and regulations relating to zoning, taxes, insurance, government licensing or registration, and other matters of concern to new providers;
(c) Services directed at maintaining and providing information and resources on early childhood training and other relevant programs for prospective and current providers, including educating child care providers not requiring a license or registration pursuant to section three hundred ninety of this article with information on available training opportunities at the time of enrollment and re-enrollment;
(d) Services directed at developing and maintaining provider data bases to determine service utilization and unmet needs for additional early childhood services;
(e) Assuring access to the United States department of agriculture child care food program for providers in the service area;
(f) Services directed at providing written materials and conducting outreach to employers to encourage their support of child care resource and referral services and other early childhood services; and
(g) Each agency funded herein shall provide services in a manner responsive to the cultural, linguistic and economic characteristics of the community served. 2. Enhanced services which an agency agrees to provide pursuant to a contract may include one or more of the following:
(a) Services directed at expanding the supply of regulated care in areas where such care is not readily available;
(b) Services directed at enhancing the availability and quality of early childhood services which serve families with particular language, ethnic and cultural backgrounds;
(c) Services directed at meeting the early childhood services needs of children with special needs;
(d) Training or technical assistance services targeted to meet specific local early childhood services needs; and
(e) Services directed at promoting, coordinating and assisting collaborative efforts between early childhood services providers and programs to meet the local need for full-day early childhood services.