MICHIGAN
CHILD CARE TASK FORCE MINUTES
Meeting Minutes for February 4, 2004
MCCTF Co-Chair Contact
Information:
Lisa Brewer
Michigan 4C Association
T.E.A.C.H. Director
866-648-3224, ext.27
brewer@mi4c.org
Richard Lower
Michigan's Children
Policy Associate
800-330-8674
lower.richard@michiganschildren.org
Future SCHEDULE for the
TASK FORCE:
March 3 &endash;
LEGISLATIVE BREAKFAST (Karoub Associates-Downtown
Lansing); regular meeting Lake Ontario Room, 3rd
floor, State of Michigan Library
April 7 &endash; Lake Ontario Room, 3rd floor, State
of Michigan Library, Lake Ontario Room, 3rd floor, 717
West Allegan, Lansing, MI 48909-7507; (517)
373-1580
Co-Chair Richard Lower
called the meeting to order at 9:45 a.m. Introductions
were done. Lisa Brewer and Richard Lower took
minutes.
Early Announcements:
- It's "Snowe Day!"
However, D.C. senate offices are closed this week due to
the recent scare. Mark Sullivan announced Senators Levin
and Stabenow's district phone numbers and e-mails.
- Richard announced that the Center for Law and Social
Policy (CLASP) has put out a wonderful document on the
process of Head Start Reauthorization to date and what is
expected in the coming months. Visit www.clasp.org for
more.
- Governor Granholm's State of the State address is
available online at www.michigan.gov. She includes once
again early childhood, although it was not the focus of
the address as it was in her first address.
GUEST SPEAKER(S)
Michele Corey, Director
of Community Advocacy at Michigan's Children, talked
about data use in supporting advocacy efforts at the
state and local level. She covered topics such
as:
- Why talk about
data?
- Data of interest to the early childhood
community.
- What's the question to be answered by data?
- How to turn the information into action.
- Analyzing the data.
- Data as the tip of the iceberg and the complexity of
the issues of interest.
For a copy of the
presentation and related handouts from Kids Count in
Michigan, please contact Michele at
corey.michele@michiganschildren.org or 517/ 485-3500.
John Colina, The Colina Foundation and Everybody Ready,
spoke to us about his efforts in the Downriver area. John
started by explaining his background and how came to be
an advocate for children. John is a former business owner
in southern Wayne county and when the Ready to Succeed
Partnership (RTSP) movement came about, which brought in
the business community to the work around early
childhood, John started Everybody Ready.
www.everybodyready.org. In establishing Everybody Ready,
he used the RTSP model to convene the broadest possible
group to come together. Everybody Ready has an annual
budget of roughly $150,000 and has one full-time staff
member. The majority of efforts through Everybody Ready
is done through volunteers. The first meeting was in 2000
with the knowledge that ASAP-PIE was being established
and there are 21 school systems in the Downriver area. A
partnership established between the ISDs and Everybody
Ready. John talked about the need for outreach to local
public officials if the effort was to be successful. He
learned of one monkey wrench that complicated things
working at the state level on children's issues and that
being term limits. Thus, they came to the realization
that the future leaders of our state are at the local
level and efforts need to focus there. Everybody Ready
also wanted to hold an elected officials breakfast
meeting, but they knew that to really get those
individuals to attend an invite needed to come from more
prominent individuals in the community. So, they worked
on getting buy-in from their state representatives and
local mayor and they had them make personal phone calls
and send invites to the breakfast. This broadened the
reach tremendously.
U.S. Congressman John Dingell showed up as well, which
increased the groups credibility in the eyes of the
elected officials and community, When talking about
engaging the business community, he acknowledged for him
it was easier as he was the Chair of the local Chamber of
Commerce and a businessman that helped him facilitate
engagement. However, John spoke to the fact that in
general with the business community you need some
reason&emdash;not necessarily money or material
benefits&emdash;to hook them.
The Colina Foundation shares resources with Everybody
Ready and reported that about 65 percent of its
grantmaking is in the areas of parenting and 0-5
programming and services. The other 35 percent is in the
area of ages 6-18. Some suggestions: look into using the
resources of the local Chamber of Commerce. They have
professional facilitators that were a great help in the
initial group meetings. For more on Everybody Ready,
visit www.everybodyready.org
BUSINESS OF THE TASK FORCE
Department of Education, Judy Levine
1. MSRP-State Aid/Competitive &endash; There will be an
update on the MDE web site on February 20, 2004. There
has been a recommendation for fiscal year 2005 for MSRP
State Aid to take a 3.12 percent cut across the board. No
cuts are proposed for the MSRP Competitive.
2. Even Start- Once again this year, President Bush has
recommended in his budget proposal for ZERO dollars in
funding for Even Start. A great resource on this program
and advocacy efforts is the National Family and Literacy
Association. You can also contact Renee DeMars-Johnson in
the MDE for more information.
3. Great Parents Great Start- The program is being
recommended to be refunded in fiscal year 2005. However,
there has been a recommendation for a 3.12 percent
reduction.
4. 21st Century Community Learning Centers- look to the
MDE web site for upcoming Technical Assistance sessions.
www.michigan.gov/mde click on "Keywords"and then "Early
Childhood/Parenting"-This will lead you to the schedule
of TA sessions.
5. A contractor has been hired, Sandy Howe, and the
strategy is being development for the process of revising
and updating the Standards of Quality.
Michigan Family Independence Agency, Kathi Pioszak
1. No FIA update this month.
Michigan Department of Community Health, Deb
Marciniak
1. The Great Start Summit &endash; Great Results for
Young Children, sponsored by the Great Start Strategic
Action and Planning Project, is being held today (Feb. 4)
in East Lansing. The featured presenter is Elizabeth
Burke-Bryant, Director, National School Readiness
Indicators Initiative.
Participants will:
- Understand why it is
important to focus on results for young
children
- Become familiar with
national and Michigan initiatives to define results
and indicators
- Acquire a tool for
establishing results and indicators and gain
first-hand experience in using the tool, creating
preliminary set of statewide results for public
comment.
- Participate in
shaping the selection of statewide results and
indicators, by taking the summit's preliminary set of
results to their communities for dialogue and share
the community response with the Great Start Strategic
Action and Planning project.
- In a few days, check the
www.greatstartforkids.org web site to learn how you can
start or join a community conversation to provide input
on the preliminary "results for young children" that are
generated at the Summit.
2. On Jan. 28, the Georgetown University Center for Child
and Human Development sponsored a conference call on
Evidence-Based Social-Emotional Curricula for Young
Children. Phil Strain and Gail Joseph, Univ. of Colorado,
explained how they reviewed the literature and identified
8 social-emotional curricula for children ages 3 - 6
years that appeared to be evidence-based. Then they rated
each curriculum with respect to 9 "level of confidence"
criteria. The two highest-rated curricula were:
- The Incredible Years:
Dinosaur School (http://www.incredibleyears.com/).
First Steps to Success: Jeff Sprague & Hill
Walker, Co-Directors, Institute on Violence and
Destructive Behavior, 1265 University of Oregon,
Eugene, OR 97403; (541) 346-3591
The next conference call
in the Georgetown series on Social-Emotional Development
is scheduled for Feb. 25 04 from 1-2:30 p.m.. Presenters
will discuss The Impact of Maternal Depression and/or
Substance Abuse on Young Children. If you would like to
participate at the downtown Lansing site (Lewis Cass
Building), contact Jackie Cadwell, 517 241-5767.
3. The National Child Care Information Center has an
extensive Selected Resources List on Early Childhood
Mental Health at www.nccic.org/cctopics/ecmhealth.html.
4. As we have noted at the last few MCCTF meetings, MDCH
Services to Children and Families and Early On Michigan
have developed a booklet for service providers who work
with families with infants, toddlers and preschoolers
titled, Social-Emotional Development in Young Children.
The booklets have been printed and soon will be
distributed locally through community mental health
agencies in conjunction with Multi-Purpose Collaborative
Bodies. State agencies and organizations may request a
few copies from Jackie Cadwell, 517 241-5767.
5. MDCH Services to Children and Families has also been
working on a Social-Emotional Developmental Wheel.
Planning is to underway to conduct focus groups with
child care providers and parents to get their input on
the format and language before the wheel is finalized for
printing. 6. The Michigan Mental Health Commission had
its first meeting on Feb. 2, 2004. Pat Babcock, Director
of Public Policy, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, is chairing
the Commission. The Commission members -- including
mental health consumers, advocates, state and local
officials and service providers -- are scheduled to meet
the first Monday of the month through September. At that
point, the Commission will present its suggestions to
Governor Granholm.
Child Day Care Licensing, Pat Hogg
1. The Child Day Care Center Rules are tentatively
planned for public hearing this coming fall 2004.
The Michigan League for Human Services
1. Regarding TANF and CCDBG reauthorization, the U.S.
Senate is scheduled to take up these in the month of
February.
2. The 2003 Michigan Kids Count book was released on line
on January 8, 2004. A hard cover book will be out by the
end of the month. For more information contact the League
at 517-487-5436.
Additional Legislative Updates, Richard Lower
1. It is estimated that because of the federal 2005
budget, Michigan will now have a $1.3 billion
deficit.
2. Governor Granholm's fiscal year 2005 budget will be
presented to the Legislature on February 12, 2004 at noon
in the House Appropriations Room in the Capitol.
MCCTF 2004 ACTION AGENDA REVISTED - led by Richard
Lower.
1. The MCCTF 2004 Agenda was approved. Talking points are
being revised and will be sent out over the network along
with the agenda soon.
ADDITIONAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
1. SAVE THE DATE! March 3, 2004 will be our next
legislative reception from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. prior to
our normal meeting.
Text of Invitation: The Michigan Child Care Task Force
invites you to attend a Legislative Reception on
Wednesday, March 3, 2003 from 7:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. in
the Governor's Room, Karoub Building,121 Allegan,
Lansing, MI. The reception will provide an opportunity
for legislators to meet with constituents to learn about
early childhood education and care.
Coffee and bagels will be served.
2. The March 3, 2004 speaker will be Dan DeGrow, St.
Clair County ISD Superintendent. Mr. DeGrow will talk
about his efforts to include early childhood education
and care in a local millage.
SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE
Send comments and suggestions regarding this e-mail
network, or requests to be added or removed from it, to
mcctforce@miaeyc.org.
Please FORWARD THIS NOTICE TO OTHERS; we invite and
courage people to join this e-mail network.
The MCCTF Organizational Sponsors:
Michigan 4C Association (Community Coordinated Child
Care);
Michigan's Children;
Michigan Association for the Education of Young Children;
and
Michigan Head Start Association.
Legislative Sponsors: Senator Patricia Birkholz, Dist.
24; and
Representative Michael Murphy, Dist. 68.
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