FY2011 Grants and Programs Coordinated Family and Community Engagement GrantEducator and Provider Support Procurement Early Childhood Mental Health Grant

Board of Early Education and CareJanuary 12, 2010

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EEC seeks to balance our core values of access and quality while forwarding our agenda for children and families.

In light of potential fiscal reductions for FY2011, our efforts continue to focus on defining and reporting outcomes on our investments while ensuring the integrity of programmatic models; and aligning all our expenditures to support our strategic plan.

Context

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EEC Line Items Family Support and Engagement (3000-7050) - funds family support and engagement through the MFN,

PCHP, the JFSP, Reach Out and Read, and Early Childhood Resource Centers. Also supports the family support portions of the Coordinated Family and Community Engagement grants.

Mental Health (3000-6075) - mainly funds grants for mental health consultation services to empower programs to manage mental health issues to reduce the number of expulsions.

UPK (3000-5075) - provides grants to preschool programs (center based and public school) to promote school readiness and positive outcomes for children and to inform the longer term implementation of a program of universally accessible, high-quality early education.

Head Start (3000-5000) - provides state supplemental salary grants for federally funded Head Start agencies to support their programs. These funds are also used by agencies toward meeting matching requirements for federal Head Start funds.

Quality Supports (3000-6000) - mainly funds grants to early education and care providers to assist in attaining quality programming. In FY2010 this included Program and Practitioner Support grant (which offers support towards programs in seeking accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), the non-sped portion of the Building Careers grant, and a portion of the Coordinated Family and Community Engagement grants (the piece that was formerly CPC Local Planning funding).

Access Management (3000-2000) - provides funding for costs associated with the management of EEC’s financial assistance programs. This includes contracts with the Child Care Resource and Referral agencies for managing access and determining eligibility for vouchers. This also includes funding for translation services for our eligibility documents and courses.

Low Income Eligible Child Care (3000-4060) - provides child care, early education, and afterschool financial assistance for children from low income and at-risk families through vouchers and contracts; also provides grant funding to support Inclusive Preschool Learning Environments and Supplemental Services to children with IEPs

Coordinated Family and Community Engagement (CFCE) Grant

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Early Education and Care System Components : CFCE

Early Education and Care and K-12 Linkages (FS, C, I, WF)Informed Families and Public (FS, C, I)

EEC Strategic Directions:Q = QualityFS = Family support, access, and affordabilityWF = Workforce C = Communications I = Infrastructure

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Coordinated Family and Community Engagement Grants (CFCE)

CFCE will be a Continuation/Renewal Grant for FY ’11

Purpose: to develop/implement a comprehensive plan for coordination and delivery of comprehensive services to families and to create access to local comprehensive supports for early education and care providers.

FY2010 Consolidation - BackgroundIn FY2010 CPC, MFN, PCHP and JFSP programs were asked to voluntarily consolidate their programs into CFCE grants (CPC was mandatory).

• 120 CFCE grantees represent 137 CPC, 34 MFN , 22 PCHP , and 11 JFSP programs

• 71 CPC, 8 MFN and 3 PCHP programs did not apply in consolidation with other programs.

• Grantees that did not consolidate made a commitment to continuing to work toward that goal for FY2011.

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Coordinated Family and Community Engagement Grants (CFCE) Background

FY2010 CFCE grants represent a merger of EEC funding from:

•Line Item 3000-6000 Community Partnerships for Children Local Planning and Coordination $10,114,569

•Line Item 3000-4060 Supplemental Services $1,374,776

•Line Item 3000-7050 Family Engagement and Support (MFN,PCHP and JFSP) $3,691,076

FY ‘10 CFCE Total: $15.18M distributed to 120 CFCE grantees

Proposed Total for FY 2011 CFCE funding : $11.5M**This amount includes funding for Reach Out and Read (FY ‘10 $585,000) and the five Early Childhood Resource Centers (FY ‘10 $35,000) which are funded out of line 3000-7050.

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Coordinated Family and Community Engagement Grants (CFCE) Background

FY2010 CFCE Objectives

Objective #1: Increase knowledge of and accessibility to high-quality early education and care programs and services for families with children prenatal through school-age.

Objective #2: Promote family education, engagement and literacy.

Objective # 3: Facilitate collaboration and community planning between local early education and care partners and other community stake holders or partners.

Objective #4: Provide support and information to families with children transitioning between and among early education and care settings, home and school.

Objective #5: Support early education and care programs across the public and private sectors in delivering high quality services.

Alignment with EEC’s Strategic Plan

The goals and priorities of the CFCE grant directly align with ten of the twelve Indicators of Success under the Family Support, Access and Affordability section of the EEC Strategic Plan. The Indicators are: Families are aware of the mixed early education and care system and have access to affordable, high-

quality early education and care services. Families are recognized as full partners in the education of their children and are empowered to be

involved with the physical, social, emotional and intellectual development of their children. Families are informed about child development and aware of family support resources. Early education and care services are delivered through a seamless system that is responsive to the needs

of all families and provides supports and resources for transitioning children in and out of early education and care programs and services.

Families of infants have access to programs and services that support the development of healthy attachment between babies and their primary caregivers and promote early brain development.

Parents are recognized as their child’s first teacher and have access to literacy supports that build skills among children and parents.

Families have access to high quality supports and resources for transitioning children in and out of early education and care programs and services.

Families that are limited or non-English speaking have access to information about early education and care and the services available.

Strong partnerships are established between families (parent/caregiver) and educators to maximize high quality early education and care for all children.

Family services are integrated and delivered in a coordinated manner across state agencies.

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EEC Advisory Committee Feedback

Importance of monitoring and measuring impact of CFCE investment. Document best practices and formalize process for sharing with all grantees. Provide guidance on creating strategic plans - provide direction to existing community and

state resources for information. A meeting for January 27th is planned for grantees and will include a training on strategic planning.

Love the idea of a strategic plan and thinking longer term; this gives opportunity for focus and maximization of resources.

With the anticipated 30% cut in the family support budget line item, it will be a challenge to assess community needs and to deliver on the objectives of

the grant. The additional requirement for a strategic plan will be supported with ARRA funds.

has EEC thought about targeting funding cuts to specific communities in order to provide adequate funding to prioritized communities? EEC Board has voiced support to maintain the foundation across the state that has been established in anticipation of healthier fiscal times.

EEC needs to either take a passive role and let communities decide or be more prescriptive and tell them what you want to protect. EEC established priorities for FY10 and for the FY ‘11 CFCE grant within the objectives of the grant.

EEC should look at maximizing current databases to accommodate the new data collected by CFCE; at least provide a template so like data is being collected and can be used/compared etc.

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What’s new in FY ’11?

FY ’10 CFCE objectives remain the same, with more emphasis on providing: Evidence based early and family literacy activities Transition supports for children and families High-quality, accurate and comprehensive consumer information on

community resources that address a broad range of family and educator needs

All independent MFNs (8) and PCHP programs (3) must partner with an existing CFCE grantee or submit a new CFCE application for FY ’11. There will not be independent applications for MFN or PCHP programs.

Grantees will propose a method for tracking and maintaining a database of the families they work with through a variety of program strategies.

Grantees will propose a plan for measuring success and evaluating the benefits of CFCE services.

Grantees will develop and implement a community based strategic plan for meeting the needs of families with children birth to eight years old. Funding for strategic planning process will come from ARRA funds ($250,000), approved at May 2009 Board meeting.

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Educator and Provider Support Procurement(Professional Development)

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Early Education and Care System Components : Workforce

Workforce and Professional Development (Q, WF)

EEC Strategic Directions:Q = QualityFS = Family support, access, and affordabilityWF = Workforce C = Communications I = Infrastructure

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Moving Educator and Provider Support Forward

Guiding the Work: EEC Board’s Strategic Plan EEC’s Workforce Development Plan “Steps Forward,” MA Early Education and Care and Out-of-

School Time Workforce Development Task Force

Outcomes for Workforce Development: Better alignment across early education and care and

elementary/secondary education Professional development for different settings, educators,

and children Continued progress in key areas (competencies, pathways,

orientation) Help position EEC for the Early Learning Challenge funds

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Background: FY2010 FundingEEC Currently Purchases:

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FY2010 Desired outcomes

Building Careers Colleges

21 grants $923,776 Support educators working in early education and out of school time with college courses, academic advising, and career counseling.

Increase the number of well trained practitioners by providing appropriate learning experiences and resources needed to achieve a related credentials and degrees.

CPC Program and Provider Supports

94 grants $1,985,914 Increase the number of programs which are accredited by NAEYC, NAFCC, or COA.

Increase the number of well trained practitioners by providing appropriate learning experiences and resources needed to achieve a related credentials and degrees.

CCRRs Professional Development

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$703,589 Support the new child care regulations with professional development that helps programs meet new requirements (curriculum, inclusion, interactions, oral health, literacy, etc);

Increase the number of well trained practitioners by providing appropriate learning experiences and resources needed to achieve a related credentials and degrees.

Total $3,613,279

Focus Resources

EEC intends to focus its remaining resources by: Combining this funding into a single procurement for FY11 that

addresses common goals across these programs;

Purchasing professional development that supports both individual educators on a pathway and programs’ efforts to attain higher levels of quality through QRIS.

EEC’s goals for: Educators: Address two primary pathways, both with mentoring,

coaching and other supports, to: move educators towards degrees in early education or a related

field and increase educator competency as evidenced in the attainment of

CDAs and other certifications.

Programs: Support providers in developing their staff, moving up QRIS scale, and obtaining accreditation.

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Achieving These Goals

To achieve these goals EEC will focus resources on three areas:1.  Career and Provider Planning

individual educators and programs, and/or program leadership training to support career planning for their

individual staff.2. Coaching and Mentoring

support the academic success of individual educators in higher education,

implement a career plan for educators to attain specific skills, knowledge and abilities, and/or

Support improvements by programs that result in achieving a higher level on QRIS or accreditation.

3. Competency Development attain an associates, bachelors or masters degree in early

childhood education or a related field; attainment of specific competencies by educators; attainment of increasing levels on QRIS by programs.

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Criteria for Professional Development

Professional Development:

1. Must be evidenced-based and aligned with EEC’s 8 core competency areas.

2. Must leverage resources across public and private agencies to provide state-wide coverage in all required topics.

3. Is a shared responsibility between educators and the programs that employ them: Increasing the competency of educators also helps the programs they work in attain increasingly higher levels of quality.

4. Must meet the needs of the early education and out of school time workforce.

5. Must be targeted and intentional to meet the needs of all children.

6. Must be presented as a partnership to cover all three core functions to deliver professional development.

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EEC Advisory Feedback

The sought after alignment across grants and funding should be more defined. There should be overall monitoring to see how different resources interact.

EEC should facilitate partnerships by assuring that bidders are aware of other programs that offer related services.

Training that does not fit within a degree or certification track (oral health, shaken baby, SIDS etc.) needs to be addressed.

There needs to a co-pay option to leverage resources and assure professional development is accessible to the field.

Vendors should be required to provide services to both individual educators and programs so to limit gaps in what is available.

There needs to be a way to assure quality control of training so it is evidence-based and aligned with core competencies.

Public school educators could be used as a resource; EEC should work with ESE closely on this.

This should link CFCE Objective #5 (“Support early education and care programs across the public and private sectors in delivering high quality services”) by linking parents’ and providers’ training needs.

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FY11 Mental Health Statewide Consultation Services Grant

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Early Education and Care System Components : Mental Health

Workforce and Professional Development (Q, WF)Informed Families and Public (FS, C, I)

EEC Strategic Directions:Q = QualityFS = Family support, access, and affordabilityWF = Workforce C = Communications I = Infrastructure

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Early Childhood Mental Health -- Background

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In FY10 EEC supported Early Childhood Mental Health Services through two initiatives:

1. Comprehensive Mental Health in Child Care (CMHCC) Program 13 programs, $600,000 (Supportive line item, 3000-3050), embedded model Early education and care providers are partnered with mental health clinics to locate

clinicians on-site at programs that have supportive child care contracts with EEC. Mental health clinicians provide support and training to staff at the child care program and

link families with needed clinical services through the partnering clinic.

2. Mental Health Consultation Services Grant 10 grantees serving 70+ cities/towns, $900,000 in grants (out of $1M Early

Childhood Mental Health line item, 3000-6075), consultation model Grantees provide:

On-site consultation by a mental health consultant to coach/mentor staff; Consultation to parents; On-site observation and assessment of children’s social/emotional and behavioral

skills on a referral basis; Individualized behavior plans for children; Case management by coordinating services across agencies; and On-site crisis intervention support.

Early Childhood Mental Health FY11 Proposal

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Continue to utilize CSEFEL (Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning) professional development as the foundational base for support of young children’s social-emotional growth Enhances knowledge and skills; supports the implementation and sustainability of

evidence-based practices; and increases the size of the workforce skilled in supporting the social emotional development of young children (birth – 5 years old)

Combine the two current early childhood mental health initiatives and provide one RFR for a Mental Health Statewide Consultation Services Grant to leverage resources to benefit children, families and programs across the Commonwealth (total FY11 funding estimated at $1.5M) Move to strictly consultation model (no more embedded services) and take mental health

initiatives statewide Goals:

• Build on success of EEC’s previous models of mental health consultation and services to provide a system of mental health consultation accessible statewide

• Meet needs identified by EEC• Create efficiencies by building on the current system of collaboration with partners

and use of 3rd party billing without duplication

Selection of the Consultation Model

Embedded versus consultation Embedded: Provides clinicians on site in programs; high cost

per program; short reach Consultation: Provides services to programs on an as needed

basis; low cost per program; far reach Hybrid (embedded and consultation): Provides a mix of the two

models above; moderate cost per program; moderate reach

Why consultation? EEC and the Board acknowledge the successes of the

embedded model, though it has a short reach Consultation allows mental health services, for which there is

great need, to be accessible to programs statewide Provides a foundational base on which future initiatives can be

built Consultation model compliments other mental health services

being implemented (i.e. EOHHS initiatives such as MYCHILD and MassLAUNCH, and services across the state through supportive child care contracts)

Additional work will be done to gather information on models being implemented in the field, best practices, etc. for use in additional mental health initiative planning24

FY11 Mental Health Statewide Consultation Services Grant Purpose

The objectives of the model are as follows:

Promote the healthy social and emotional development of all children, particularly those children whose emotional development is compromised by poverty, biological or family risk factors, or other circumstances which may contribute to toxic levels of stress;

Build the capacity of early education and care program staff to enhance children’s learning through positive, nurturing interactions with children and with their families and to address the needs of children who exhibit behavioral challenges;

Attend to social-emotional needs of children so they are ready to learn and be successful in their early education;

Reduce the number of children who are suspended or expelled from EEC-funded programs;

Promote collaboration for better access to services for children and their families; and

Maximize resources by ensuring that certain mental health interventions are funded, when appropriate, through insurance payments.

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FY11 Required Services

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Provide on-site mental health consultation and support services by a qualified behavior specialist/mental health consultant

Individual-level and Program-level services

Strengthen the involvement of parents by encouraging them to access needed services; supporting their participation in the development of individualized behavior plans for their children; and providing support to parents through on-site consultation, technical assistance on behavioral strategies and interventions, modeling of positive interactions, translation services and referrals, as needed

Provide crisis intervention planning and on-site crisis support in a timely manner for early education and care programs

Complete required documentation and reporting including, but not limited to, number of sites and classrooms visited; ages and numbers of children observed and served; outcomes, including the number of children who risk suspension or expulsion due to their challenging behaviors, types and frequency of behavioral issues observed, and analysis of the most effective intervention strategies; placement of children into special education classrooms; and the number of public school children who (as an alternative to being expelled) are placed into special education classrooms, the nature of special needs found, and tracking of the services provided to these children and percent returned to original preschool classrooms.

FY11 Required Services, Continued

Provide trainings to programs, and utilize train the trainer models when possible, to build self-sufficiency of staff to respond to the social-emotional needs of children. Also, incorporate training and resources to allow programs to create and build their own relationships with local mental health providers.

Provide on-site, clinical mental health interventions (including diagnostic evaluation; individual, group and family counseling; family and case consultations; collateral contacts) utilizing 3rd party billing for services

Conduct outreach and elicit referrals from EEC-funded programs and providers located within the service area

Support continuity of services provided to programs. Grantees must :

Ensure clinicians visit the same programs whenever possible and track clinicians lengths of tenure with programs;

Match programs with mental health providers who speak the language and understand the diversity of the population to which they are consulting; and

Survey programs/providers to determine the effectiveness of mental health consultation services provided through this grant.

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Advisory Council Feedback

The following is feedback received from the January meeting of EEC’s Advisory Council:

Recommendation for EEC to maximize services by coordination with EOHHS/DPH initiatives

Noted that in public schools, children are not allowed to be expelled, so they are moved into SPED; EEC should track the placement of these children into SPED (find out when they were referred, what services were received, etc.)

Question if there has been an analysis of the most effective intervention strategies

Recommendation that EEC look at different models (embedded and consultation, etc.) and work with stakeholders to discuss benefits of different evidence-based models (it is recognized that the embedded model has value, but it is the trade off to going statewide with consultation)

• EEC should find a way to connect organizations, people, etc., to maximize whatever model is implemented

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