Early Head Start- Child Care Partnerships Supporting Successful Applications across Illinois.

Early Head Start- Child Care Partnerships

Supporting Successful Applications across Illinois

Governor’s Office of Early Childhood DevelopmentThe Governor's Office of Early Childhood Development (OECD) was established to facilitate cross system collaboration to advance a more unified early childhood system which ensures high quality care and education for children birth to age 5.– Governor’s Birth to Five Initiative– Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge– Maternal and Infant Early Childhood Home Visiting

Program– Illinois Early Learning Council

Vision of the Illinois Early Learning Council

As we move forward in building our system, our emphasis will be on providing more intensive and effective services to the most vulnerable children and families

• Ensuring access to high quality services—removing barriers to participation • Birth to Five focus

Successful EHS-CC Partnerships are critical to fulfilling this vision!

Illinois’ Opportunity

• Base funding for Illinois is estimated to be $15,933,899– An additional 2.5% will be available for

Training/Technical Assistance

• This is a substantial increase in Early Head Start!

Understanding the federal priorities• Only center-based model is allowed• Priority points are given for applications that are 100%

child care partnerships• Expansion applications are allowed, but FOA states

that Department will prioritize funding for applications that are at least 50% partnerships– If you are doing an expansion without partnerships, you

need to explain why partnerships are not a good option

Priority Zip Codes

• If one or more of these zip codes are part of your service area, you will automatically receive 5 points for community need

• This doesn’t mean only applications that serve these zip codes will be funded!– Many areas with very high need were not included

in the list– You must make the case for the need

Community Need &Objectives

Describing need

• Pay careful attention to the questions asked in the FOA

• Describing your precise geography is very important– Include a map if you can– Show that you understand where the greatest need

is within that geography– This can get tricky to describe if you are applying

for multiple areas—use lots of tables!

Resources for describing the need

• You need to describe:– Estimated number of EHS-eligible children in your

geographic area– Estimated number who are receiving CCAP

• IECAM is your best friend!– In Chicago, Young Children in Chicago is also a great

resource (http://dfss-ycic.chapinhall.org)

• OECD has also assembled some at-a-glance resources for you on our webiste

Documenting current capacity in community• OECD page has info available on numbers of

slots of infant-toddler care in QRS-rated and accredited programs in key zip codes

• If you need information about other areas, please ask us!

• List of QRS Star Rated programs is currently available– Searchable website of ExceleRate sites will be

available early July

Matching program to need

• Need to justify your program based on community need, not just on what you think would be easiest to implement

• Important to look at:– What are parents’ work schedules in your

community? – How close do parents live to centers?

Minimum CCAP Participation

• Partnership applicants must describe plan to ensure that a minimum of 25% of children enrolled are receiving child care subsidy at any given time (bonus points for ensuring 40% are)– This reflects reality in many states of severe under-funding of child care

assistance AND– Reality that some participants will start off eligible for CCAP and then

lose eligibility, but still need to be continuously served

• In our state, we encourage you to plan for the vast majority of EHS-CCP participants to be receiving CCAP– We already have more supportive policies in place than many states– We are working to make them even better for you!

Your Enrollment Plan

• You must estimate the date you will begin serving children (they are looking for this to be as soon as possible)– Must meet ratios and facility requirements from beginning of service– Teacher/FCC provider qualification requirements must be met by 18 months

after grant award

• Recruitment & enrollment must focus on reaching children most in need– You will be expected to maintain a waiting list, and to prioritize highest-need

children– Your child care partners will be expected to abide by this recruitment and

enrollment plan– You must serve a minimum of 10% children with disabilities– Expectation is that all (or nearly all) participants will be under 100% FPL

Project Design & Approach

Describing Your Approach

• This section is much less detailed than in typical EHS or HS applications

• Be brief and to the point, but make sure to show how you plan to meet the required Performance Standards

• Have a Head Start veteran read this over for you to make sure you have included everything you need!

• Our TA consultants can help you if you need assistance planning parts of the program

Things to Note in this Section

• You will want to describe a birth-to-school-entry continuum in your application• Show how you will work with home visiting

programs, preschool programs, and any other services that children will transition from or to

• Demonstrate that children who receive EHS won’t be unserved once they turn three

Organizational Infrastructure &Management Systems

Selling Your Organization

• Demonstrate that you have the capacity to implement this grant

• Description of fiscal controls is quite important—make sure you understand what is required in the HS Performance Standards

• This is a good section to have a veteran HS person review, too!

Staffing

Planning for PD

• Important to take stock of current qualifications of staff in partner sites• Remember, in EHS, there are two Teachers in

every room—both must meet requirements

• Infant-Toddler Credential• We can help connect you to community

colleges and universities if you ask soon!

Bonus Points

Project Budget &Budget Justification

Things to consider

• Lay out your budget to show what expenses (at grantee and partner level) will be paid for by which sources– Early Head Start– Non-federal match– Other sources, which may include federal CCDF

• Separate budget for the 2.5% of T/TA funds• We will post example budget layouts in a

couple of weeks

Start-Up Funds

• This is an additional budget, on top of your request for annual funding

• Costs like new equipment for classrooms, curriculum materials, and other one-time purchases can be requested here

• Also consider a start-up planning consultant or intensive TA support

• Orientation and start-up training for staff belong here• You may need non-federal share for this, too

Overall Guidance on Preparing Your Application

Timeline

• Due date is absolute• Do NOT plan to submit on the due date—way too

risky!• Get online now to make sure you are able to start

your application, have everything you need, and are able to upload documents

• Know that developing MOUs with partners will take many weeks—you should have already started or plan to start very soon

• The application forms (SF-424) are tricky—do NOT wait until the last week to tackle these

Page Limits & Formatting

• These page limits are very tight• You will need to carefully plan your

application to get everything you need included• E.g., consider having all partners sign a single

MOU instead of including multiple copies in appendices

• Know how you will create pdfs from your application—don’t wait until last minute

Next Steps

• OECD will be planning regional meetings to provide support to potential applicants and partners

• We need to know what you need help with!• Contact Karen Yarborough with your TA

needs

What support do you need to be successful?

Web Resources:

• OECD EHS-CC Partnership Page: http://www2.illinois.gov/gov/OECD/Pages/EHS-CCP.aspx

• Administration for Children and Families: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ecd/early-head-start-child-care-partnerships– EHS-CC 101– Webinars– Toolkits– A LOT of Resources!

• BUILD: http://www.buildinitiative.org/OurWork/StateandLocal/StateLocalSystems/EarlyHeadStart-ChildCarePartnerships.aspx– Webinars

Thank You