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MEETING MINUTES for
MARCH 5, 2003
Co-chairs Lisa Brewer and
Kristen McDonald-Stone called the meeting to order shortly
after 9:30. Each person gave a self introduction and the
group adopted the agenda.
UPDATES ON THE
BUSINESS OF THE TASK FORCE
There will be a Fatherhood
1-day conference in Lansing on April 10 and 11 at the
Lansing Center and Radisson Hotel. Up to 75 scholarships
will be available. Total capacity for the conference is 300
so sign up early. For details, contact the Michigan Head
Start Association -517/374/6472; www.mhsa.ws.
MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF
EDUCATION - Judy Levine reporting:
1. Michigan School Readiness
Competitive Grants &endash; Two technical assistance (TA)
sessions are coming up, one in Lansing and the other in
Gaylord. Grant readers are needed to help evaluate grant
applications. The deadline for applying to be a reader is
April 14; the reader session will be Monday, May 19.
2. In response to a question about funding MSRP in fiscal
year 2004, MDE staff have hopes that the programs will do
well. The budget cuts in the program in FY 2003 still seem
likely to be handled by vacancies.
3. 21st Century Community Learning Center Grants/Technical
Assistance meetings will be held at four sites across the
state, beginning April 1. For information visit the web
address: http://www.michigan.gov/mde/0,1607,7-140-5236-39974--,00.html.
Grant readers are needed for the 21st Century applications;
you can obtain information on becoming a reader at the same
web address.
4. The State Board of Education recently passed the
"Out-of-School-Time Standards" and they will soon be
available on the MDE web site.
5. You can obtain information on early childhood programs
at: http://www.michigan.gov/mde/0,1607,7-140-5234_6809-22847--,00.html.
Information on MDE grants is available at: http://www.michigan.gov/mde/0,1607,7-140-5236---,00.html.
FAMILY INDEPENDENCE
AGENCY - Kathi Pioszak reporting:
1. In a "Memo to the Field," FIA announced a 6% cut in the
hourly pay to relative child care providers; this amounts to
12-15¢ per hour. There will be an effort to retain the
$150 training incentive and to have that training qualify
one for a 25¢ per hour bonus.
2. In a Memo to the Field in January, FIA announced a
phase-out of income eligibility in order to reduce
spending.
3. New reimbursement handbooks will be out this spring.
4. Two-party checks will be phased out and checks will go
only to parents, who will then be the employer; FIA wishes
to avoid being the employer so it can avoid IRS issues
involving social security.
5. FIA and other agencies will develop an infant/toddler
program in cooperation with U.S. Health & Human
Services. Details to come later.
6. Details on provider reimbursement and other money
matters are available on the FIA web site at:
http://www.michigan.gov/fia/1,1607,7-124-5453_5529---,00.html.
HERO FROM ZERO AWARENESS
CAMPAIGN - Sharon Peters, Michigan's Children,
reporting:
1. The "Be Their Hero From Age Zero" awareness campaign is
going well. This is Phase II of the campaign; Phase I
happened in the fall, 2001. Phase II, on T.V., radio,
billboards and elsewhere, looks similar to Phase I, but has
two new features: (a) it reaches out to new groups, with
emphasis on at-risk communities; (b) the awareness campaign
includes a toll free phone number, 888-BE-A-HERO. The phones
are staffed by Bridges for Kids, which has extensive
experience in helping families find needed resources.
2. The campaign links families with local resources, in
most cases by referring them to local ISDs. Much work is
needed to develop a truly comprehensive state network that
can effectively and efficiently link families to
services.
3. The awareness campaign is keeping track of the types of
calls that come in and will analyze the kinds of callers
attracted by this campaign. So far, this effort seems not
linked with the newly emerging "211" system; the task force
members felt this link-up was important.
GUEST
SPEAKERS:
NANCY WILLYARD:
Director, HEAD START STATE COLLABORATION PROGRAM - an
overview of the program's goals and activities.
1. Head Start State Collaboration Projects exist in all 50
states and Puerto Rico. The projects strive for state-level
coordination of early childhood services for low income
families. The state pays 20% of the costs and the feds pay
80%. Michigan's program started in 1996.
2. HSSCP helps develop state policies on a collaborative
basis. It focuses on 8 policy areas: child care, health
care, education, welfare, national service, family literacy,
developmentally disabled children, homeless children.
3. HSSCP typically is part of the Governor's office, though
in Michigan it has been housed in FIA. In fact, for the time
being, the Michigan Head Start Association has a contract
with FIA to administer the program through 2003. Governor
Granholm is considering having a closer relationship with
HSSCP after this year. Nancy can be reached at: 235 S. Grand
Ave., Suite 1314, P.O. Box 30037, Lansing Michigan 48909 -
517/241/5091; fax 517/241/9033;
willyardn@michigan.gov
LAURIE NICKSON:
Professional Development Coordinator, Michigan AEYC;
Co-chair, MICHIGAN EARLY CHILDHOOD PROFESSIONALS CONSORTIUM
(MECPC).
1. Laurie gave an overview of MECPC's work in building a
professional development system for early childhood
education and care. The consortium's mission is to " . . .
promote a high quality, comprehensive professional
development system and to build and to support careers in
early education and care." Membership is open to any
interested person or organization.
2. MECPC developed and adopted, in December 2001, a paper
titled, "Core Knowledge and Core Competencies for Early
Childhood Care and Education Professionals. This paper is a
work in progress and was revised just last month. The paper
is available at: http://web.grcc.cc.mi.us/freypds/
3. The Consortium supports accreditation in various ways:
information sharing; workshops and presentations at
conferences; validator training; awareness raising. A
problem the consortium faces is finding validators when
childcare facilities are ready for evaluation.
4. MECPC serves as the advisory committee to T.E.A.C.H.
Early Childhood® MICHIGAN.
5. It promotes articulation agreements and standardization
of early childhood courses at Michigan's community
colleges.
6. The group has six active task groups that focus on:
Accreditation; Community Outreach & Funding; Michigan
Community Colleges; Specialized Credentialing; T.E.A.C.H
Early Childhood MICHIGAN®; Special Needs.
7. Laurie pointed out the growing importance of NAEYC's
annual professional development conference held each year in
June, and in Portland, Oregon this year. This conference has
become a major event for people interested in the
professional development of the early education and care
field. You can get information about the conference at
www.naeyc.org. You can obtain additional information, or
join MECPC or one of its task groups by contacting either of
the co-chairs: Laurie Nickson; 517-336-9700; 800-336-6424 ,
lnickson@miaeyc.org OR ErinMcGovern; 616-447-3080;
erinmcgovern@kentisd.org.
REAUTHORIZATION
TANF - Jane Zehnder-Merrell,
Michigan League for Human Services: The House (in Congress)
passed HR 4, which creates some problems for Michigan. It
requireswelfare recipients to work 40 hours per week instead
of "up to 40 hours," the Michigan requirement. The U.S.
Senate may be able to change this provision. HR 4 creates
other problems: it makes it harder for recipients to get
needed supports (such as transportation); it limits
educational and training opportunities; Michigan may have to
institute an expensive work fare program to help recipients
meet this work requirement.
HEAD START - Kristen
McDonald-Stone, Michigan Head Start Association: Head Start
proponents hope to delay reauthorization until 2004 to give
the President time to reconsider some of his proposed
changes. The President's desire to block-grant Head Start
funding will be vigorously opposed, in part, because federal
dollars would go to the state instead to local communities.
However, Governor Granholm seems interested in block
granting Head Start because it will give Michigan
flexibility in creating prekindergarten programs; she might
merge Head Start and school readiness funding. Head Start
proponents fear that comprehensive services now provided to
children might disappear. Also, its "Performance Standards,"
might disappear as well as its family focus.
CHILD CARE TASK FORCE
ACTION AGENDA
The group examined a
proposed action agenda based on work done at the February
meeting. The group approved the draft and asked that it be
prepared for use at the Legislative gathering scheduled for
April 2.
OTHER
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Dr. Bruce Perry, the
internationally acclaimed brain scientist and expert on
early childhood abuse/neglect, will be at the Lansing Center
on April 23. Cost is $55. Forms & info are available
through the Michigan Trust Fund by calling 1-800-CHILDREN or
going to www.michiganschildren.org
Provider Appreciation Day is
May 10, 2003. On this day, employers of child care providers
make a special effort to thank their providers. Visit
www.Provider Appreciation.org for information.
The task force advocacy
network has 915 email and 141 snail mail members for a total
of 1056.
The NEXT MEETING will
be on April 2, 9:30 a.m. - noon, State of Michigan Library
in Lansing, the Lake Ontario Room.
SPEAKERS: To be
announced
ALSO:
o Budget updates
o News from Congress
o More news on Governor appointments
o Using the Action Agenda
o and more . . .
Before the April 2 meeting
&endash; A LEGISLATIVE RECEPTION will be held from 7:30 a.m.
to 9:00 a.m., Karoub Building, Governors Room, 121 W.
Allegan St., Lansing, MI.
Thanking You for Your
Support:
Kristen McDonald-Stone, Michigan Head Start Association
Lisa Brewer, Michigan 4-C Association/T.E.A.C.H.®
Co-chairs, Michigan Child Care Task Force
o Please FORWARD THIS NOTICE
TO OTHERS; we invite people to join this email network.
o Comments, suggestions, or requests to be removed from this
list should be directed to smanchester@MiAEYC.com.
o The task force sponsors: Michigan 4C Association
(Community Coordinated Child Care); Michigan Association for
the Education of Young Children; Michigan Head Start
Association; Michigan's Children
o This message is made possible, in part, by generous
support from the Frey Foundation of Grand Rapids.
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