ECEAP in the news - Poverty increasing, Governor's budget being developed

As poverty increases in Washington, WSA is encouraging Governor Gregoire to protect ECEAP funding in her 2009-2011 supplemental budget proposal.  ECEAP is often the only safety net for the most vulnerable families in our state, and we're seeing increased levels of need:

• Last year, 32% of ECEAP children were from families with an annual income of $10,000 or less. This year, 41% are at this level
• At enrollment, 33% of families were on food stamps last year and 45% this year.
• Last year, 33% of children were not up-to-date on medical exams at enrollment. This year, it is 47%.
• Last year, 58% of children needed a dental exam. This year, 64% need these.
  The number of children who are fully immunized declined from 94% to 91%.

KIRO-TV ran a great story about ECEAP funding and this increased need for services:

• 11-12-09 KIRO-TV - New Effort To Save State's 'Head Start' Program

Click here for the WSA News Release.

WSA/WSTC is hiring

WSA is seeking a part-time administrative assistant to assist the association with conference preparation, web site and data base maintenance, and some basic clerical help. We are looking for someone with strong organizational and administrative skills that can work independently and complete tasks in a professional and timely manner. The position pays $12 per hour and we are seeking someone to work at least 8 hours per week. Please send resume and cover letter to Katy Warren.  Deadline is November 30th.

• Job Description

Leadership Development Opportunities for Parents and Staff

There are two great leadership opportunities available through WSA/WSTC for 2010, one for staff and one for parents.  These are intensive, highly successful year-long programs that require a real commitment from participants, and have shown amazing results.  Both are competitive application processes, so get your applications in for 2010!

WSA Parent Ambassadors

The WSA Parent Ambassador Program was made possible from a generous grant
from the Peppercorn foundation. The parents selected for this program will
participate in a yearlong parent advocacy program.  They receive training on legislative advocacy and grassroots organizing, and are responsible for training parents in their local programs and participating in organizing WSA advocacy campaigns.  Deadline for the Parent Ambassadors Application is November 30th, 2009.

• Click here for the Parent Ambassadors Webpage
• Click here for the Parent Ambassadors Application webpage

Collaborative Leadership Institute

The Collaborative Leadership Institute (CLI) is a 10-month leadership development program sponsored by the Department of Early Learning and other partners for emerging early learning leaders in Washington, and it includes participants from all areas of early learning including Department of Early Learning, Head Start/EHS/MS/AIAN, ECEAP, Out of School Programs; Resource and Referral Network, child care centers/homes; health; schools & ESDs; and at-large including parent cooperative preschools, board members, affiliated businesses and libraries.  Deadline for the Collaborative Leadership Institute Application is January 14, 2010.

• Click here for the CLI Application Webpage

Early Learning Plan Feedback Needed

Our state is developing a long-term "Early Learning Plan" that would guide our legislative and agency early learning policy for the next 10 years.  The process is moving very quickly, and we encourage our ECEAP/Head Start families and staff to sign up as a 'key communicator' and provide feedback to the partners in this effort - Department of Early Learning, OSPI and Thrive by Five.

There is also a more near-term effort to provide recommendations to Governor Gregoire on what early learning policies and programs should be prioritized for this 2010 legislative session.

You can click on the links below and see what's being proposed.  You can send feedback via those survey links, or you can email us and we'll pass it along.   We've shared our own thoughts about what's missing (like subsidy reform!), but we need you to share your thoughts too.

• Early Learning Plan Webpage
• Become a “Key Communicator”

• Draft Vision, Principles, Outcomes and Strategies
  • Give your feedback on the Early Learning Plan document

• Draft near-term recommendations to the Governor
  • Click here to give your feedback on the near-term priorities

 There is a very short time frame for comments on the Governor’s priorities, since that report is due December 1.  Please make sure DEL hears from as many ECEAP/Head Start folks as possible!

There are also community meetings happening all across the state to discuss the Early Learning Plan - Click here for DEL's event calendar.  You’ll note that on November 10th there will be meetings in all the ESDs around the state.  We encourage everyone to attend those meetings.

State agencies make budget recommendations

State agencies have been asked to identify cuts in the budget for the 2009-11 supplemental budget, in preparation for the Governor's budget proposal that will come out in December

Some of the suggestions are of great concern to our ECEAP and Head Start community, including:  

DEL – ( memo from Kate Verville, Chief Operating Officer to Victor Moore, Director of OFM)– DEL was asked to identify $1.936 mil in reductions

• Reduction of state funding to ECEAP ($761k), which would result in the elimination of 100 ECEAP slots.
• Elimination of state funding for the Career and Wage Ladder ($750k)
• Reduction of state funding to Child Care Resource and Referral Network ($425k)
• The letter also notes an “offsetting error” in the ECEAP budget bill proviso amount in fiscal years 2010 and 2011, stating that the amount was $818,000 too high.

DSHS – (Three documents: memo from Sec. Dreyfus to DSHS staff, memo from Doug Porter to HRSA staff, and a table with identified reduction options). These include:

• Cutting Apple Health eligibility from 300% FPL to 205% FPL (to which DSHS notes, ‘…we will still be able to leverage federal SCHIP funds for our Medicaid children’s enrollment’) – this would impact kids in both the CHIP and CHP programs
• Eliminating funding for medical interpreters
• Eliminating Maternity Support Services
• And others impacting families…

We encourage everyone to contact the Governor to urge her not to cut ECEAP and other programs that help low-income families during the time that the help is needed most.   We'll be sending out more information about this next week.

Directors Meeting & Policy Council Leadership Conference Registration

For more information go to our Events and Training Page.

Register Here - Policy Council Leadership Conference

Register Here - WSTC Winter Directors Meeting

Tobacco Cessation Webinars Nov 6th and 13th

WSA has been partnering with the Washington State Department of Health, the Legacy Foundation and Puget Sound ESD to expand this very successful Pierce/King County tobacco cessation pilot project to ECEAP, Head Start and EHS programs across the state. 

Given the state’s budget woes, this year the training will be done online, in a series of four free webinars.   This will be a good start in developing the skills you need to help your families become tobacco free.

Click here for more information.

2010 WSA Advocacy Goals

The WSA board of directors met last week to finalize our advocacy goals for the 2010 legislative session.  This year in Olympia we will be advocating to:

• Maintain investments in the Early Childhood Education and Assistance Program (ECEAP)

• Reform components of the existing child care subsidies program so that low-income parents can give their children the continuity of care they need. 

• Include Voluntary universal preschool for three- and four-year-olds in an expanded definition of basic education. The program should be phased-in, beginning with targeted interventions and expanded to ensure that all children are school ready. 

• Design an early learning system that provides opportunities for all children pre-natal to age 8, their families, and early learning caregivers and educators. 

A more detailed version of the advocacy goals (including our federal advocacy goals) is below, along with contact links for your state legislators.

Now is the time--especially ECEAP directors, staff, and parents--to start setting up meetings with your state lawmakers to talk to them about our advocacy goals. It's also a great opportunity to invite them to visit your program while they are still at home.  If you need some help or have any questions feel free to contact us at (253) 373-9100. Please let us know how your meeting goes and if there anything that WSA needs to do to follow up.

• State Senate and House Roster (click on your member's name to get to his or her website, local office information, etc.)

• If you don't know your legislators, click here and go to the "Find your Legislator" tab.

• 2010 WSA Advocacy Goals (pdf)

Visit our New WSA Blog

We've started a brand new WSA Blog, to create a place where folks in our community can discuss hot issues, ask questions and share information with us and with each other. 

Every week or two we'll be posting about an issue or question of importance to ECEAP, Head Start and Early Head Start programs and families. We invite everyone to comment and share your thoughts and ideas, and if you would like to 'guest blog' with your own topic, or if you have an idea for a topic that might be interesting to our members, send Joel or Katy an email.

Joel's first post is on Medicaid - a very hot topic given the current Health Care Reform debate!  Check it out and share your thoughts and experiences. 

You can also always find the blog by hitting the "Check out the WSA Blog" button in the left column of this page.

We need your subsidy stories

As we approach the 2010 Legislative session and the child care subsidy system is once again on the agenda, we're interested in hearing directly from folks who use it.  Your stories will be used as we talk to legislators, DEL and DSHS about possible changes that will benefit families, providers, and taxpayers.

We’re looking for your first-hand experiences of challenges and barriers in working with the child care subsidy system, either as a parent/guardian, or a provider of subsidized care.

Click here to share your story, and help us make the subsidy system work for everyone involved. 

You also might be interested in the preliminary results of our Child Care Subsidy Provider Survey, which we conducted along with other early learning partners.  We will soon have the final report on that survey, but in the meantime, click below for a pdf version of the preliminary results powerpoint presentation:

• Child Care Subsidy Provider Survey - preliminary results ppt (pdf)

Head Start & Early Childhood Research Presentation

Dr. Ben Allen, the research director at the National Head Start Association, joined us for a WSA member conference call 7/24/09 and updated us on the latest research in Head Start and other early learning programs nationwide.  A pdf version of his powerpoint presentation can be found below.

• NHSA Early Learning Research powerpoint (pdf)
  

FEDERAL EARLY CHILDHOOD INFO UPDATE

There are many bills moving in the US Congress that may affect early learning, including Rep. McDermott's Early Support for Families Act, the Education Begins at Home Act, and several bills related to the Child Care Development Block Grant. 

• Click here for a PDF summary of pending federal bills and their status.
  

What's New with WSA plus bonus Legislative Update!

In a letter to WSA members and friends, Joel Ryan shared some of our goals for the Association for the next few months, our upcoming events, and a brief recap of our successes in the last state legislative session and our goals for Washington DC.

• Click here for a PDF of Joel's letter to WSA members

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE 05/11/09 - Obama Budget Update

President Obama’s Budget Includes Funding for New Investments for Early Learning
President Obama has announced his detailed budget for 2010. The budget includes only a modest increase of $122 million for Head Start, but includes funding for several new investments. His budget provides $123 million for the creation of a new home visiting fund, $300 million for an Early Learning Challenge fund to support states in their efforts to raise the quality and standards of child care, and $500 million out of Title I funding for early learning grants. Congress will now start work on crafting their own specific budget proposals for the 2010 fiscal year.

'JUST FOR PARENTS' NEWSLETTERS

Our WSA Parent Ambassadors have been doing amazing work this year, testifying in Olympia, contacting their legislators both here and in Washington DC, doing trainings in their own communities, and inspiring other parents to advocate for themselves and their families. And even with all that, they have time to write a regular newsletter for Head Start/ECEAP/Early Head Start Parents!

Click here for links to printable versions of  the Just for Parents newsletters and other useful links for parents.

New Toll Free number to contact your Congressman and Senators!

The National Head Start Association (NHSA) has created a toll-free number that can be used to reach your members of Congress. The new, toll-free number is
(888) 622-NHSA (6472). Calling this number will connect you directly to the Capitol Hill Operator, who can then transfer you to your elected officials. Communicating with your members of Congress and expressing your policy priorities keeps them accountable to you and is an invaluable way to advocate for Head Start!

Ask your elected officials whether they support full funding for Head Start. Call for their support of the inclusion of funding for Head Start as part of an economic recovery package, supported by the Coalition on Human Needs. Educate them on where your program stands as it struggles to provide quality care on a reduced budget. Call now!