Calling all early childhood providers, educators and parents: your voice is needed! Help us shape a federal policy agenda focused on improving equity and inclusion for young children with disabilities and development delays across the birth-to-five early childhood system by sharing your experiences, perspectives, and ideas. Please complete our survey by March 18 and help us amplify our reach by sharing with your networks:https://bit.ly/3pd6uya
Tag Archives: Policy
Policy and Advocacy Team: Call for Team Leader
One of the most powerful tools DEC has is the ability to use our collective voice to advocate for young children with disabilities and their families. To that end, the DEC Policy and Advocacy Team helps to develop DEC’s policy recommendations to ensure that proposed legislation, regulations, and documents from the US Departments of Education and Human Services increase opportunities for all young children including children with disabilities and their families.
The Policy and Advocacy Team functions as a necessary and significant arm of the DEC Executive Office, focusing DEC’s policy and advocacy efforts by working collaboratively with the DEC Executive Office Leadership, the DEC Governmental Relations Consultant, and the Children’s Action Network (CAN) Coordinator. Division for Early Childhoods Teams are officially recognized bodies of DEC members who are supported by the DEC Executive Office. Teams reflect the formal positions of the Division for Early Childhood and participate in developing, maintaining, and evolving strategies and initiatives that are critical and center to supporting DEC’s mission and beliefs.
CAN supports DEC’s mission by encouraging members to take action on legislation and issues that already have been endorsed by DEC/CEC or issues that DEC/CEC have already provided recommendations about. The Governmental Relations Consultant and the Executive Director develop and sustain relationships with national organizations, agencies, and governmental entities.
The Policy and Advocacy Team ensures DEC has a seat at the table with important stakeholders and will provide CAN with the tools needed to engage in effective advocacy. The Team also ensures a proactive stance in the drafting of policy and legislative recommendations and issue briefs; suggests updates to the DEC policy webpages as appropriate; supports the dissemination of policy and advocacy specific information; and assists in planning DEC policy and advocacy events and resources (including policy/advocacy specific actions at the annual national conference).
At this time, DEC is seeking a new Policy and Advocacy Team Leader to continue the important work of planning and supporting DEC policy and advocacy activities.
Source: Division of Early Childhood, Council for Exceptional Children
NOW HIRING: INTERNS (Obama Foundation)
The Obama Foundation is looking to hire a diverse cohort of passionate, mission-oriented, and qualified interns to serve in our Chicago and D.C. offices. This internship is open to current undergraduate and graduate students who are eligible to work in the United States.
We believe our interns will become some of the world’s most valuable leaders in varying capacities. Our hope is that this internship can provide interns with exposure to diverse models of leadership and practical work experience, especially for those who might not otherwise get them.
The Fall 2018 internship will run for 14 weeks beginning on September 4, 2018 and ending on December 7, 2018. For students on the quarter system, the internship will run from September 17, 2018 to December 21, 2018. Interns will be required to work 40 hours a week in either our Chicago or Washington, D.C. office.
The application opened on April 23, 2018 at 9AM CT and will close on May 14, 2018 at 5PM CT. We will not accept late applications.
If you are a law student interested in an internship in the Office of the General Counsel at the Obama Foundation for the Spring 2019 term, click here.
To ensure you get all the information you need in a timely manner, we encourage you to read our FAQ page before reaching out with questions.
What do interns do?
We are looking for interns who have excellent time management and organizational skills, are strong writers and researchers, and are eager to work in a fast-paced office environment. Interns will play a key role in providing departments at the Obama Foundation with the administrative, logistical, and operational assistance needed to execute their work. To learn more, check out our department descriptions here.
Who can apply?
Current full-time or part-time undergraduate and graduate students eligible to work in the United States are welcome to apply. The Foundation is committed to recruiting a diverse cohort of interns and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. The Foundation does not discriminate against any person on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital or parental status, creed, national origin, citizenship status, disability, medical condition, pregnancy, ancestry, genetic information, military service, veteran status, or any other protected category under local, state, or federal law. We encourage qualified persons of all backgrounds to apply. If you are a qualified candidate with a disability, please contact us at interns@obama.org if you require a reasonable accommodation to complete this application.
The Foundation will provide interns with a stipend and reimbursements for a portion of the expenses directly related to their internship. Please note the Foundation will not provide relocation or housing assistance.
Completing the application
Please note that as you fill out your application, you will not be able to save your responses or return to them before submitting. If you’d like to take more than one session to work on your answers, please download the Application Worksheet to draft your application responses offline. Please note you will still have to enter your answers into the application before the deadline.
Source: The Obama Foundation
Available at: https://www.obama.org/internship/
Child Care Aware® of America Symposium and Gala Celebrating Passion and Persistence. Igniting Possibilities
April 17-20, 2018
Marriott Marquis
Washington, DC
Child Care Aware® of America 30th AnniversaryChild Care Aware® of America is celebrating 30 years in the child care community at the Child Care Aware® of America Symposium 2018. The Symposium is the biennial event that brings together individuals from across the country come together to discuss the hottest topics of research, policy, and practices of interest to the early child care and education community. This year has been extremely special as Child Care Aware® of America celebrated 30 years of growth and accomplishments. We are honored to have you help celebrate the closeout of Child Care Aware® of America’s 30th Anniversary. |
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Speakers/ProgramWe’re excited to announce that the digital version of the 2018 Symposium program is now available for download on the Child Care Aware® of America website. Download the PDF to browse the agenda and explore the sessions and speakers most relevant to your work.
Learn more about plenary topics that were covered during the 2016 Symposium here. |
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Who Should Attend?The Symposium is the biennial event that brings together child care experts, Child Care Resource and Referral leaders and staff, child care providers, researchers, policymakers, parents, students, and anyone interested from across the country come together to discuss the hottest topics of research, policy, and practices of interest to the early child care and education community. |
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Why Should You Attend?
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RegistrationRegister Early and Save! Get the best rates when you register early. Bring your family, staff or become a Child Care Aware of America member and save even more.
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Submit Your Proposal to Provide Technical Assistance in Building Healthy Child Care & Communities
With the support of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), Child Care Aware® of America (CCAoA) is pleased to offer technical assistance (TA) to states on projects that support development or maintenance of quality child care settings that promote child health.CCAoA will select up to six (6) organizations to participate in this nine-month project, based on the strength of their applications. Please submit your proposals by 5 p.m. EST on Wednesday, February 28, 2018.
During the Healthy Child Care, Healthy Communitiesproject period, the selected organization will determine which element of healthy child care will be its priority and will develop and implement a TA plan to achieve a goal articulated in this application. This goal must be a SMART goal—a goal that is Specific, Measurable, Assignable, Realistic and Time bound. We are interested in supporting statewide, regional, or local organizations with these initiatives through intensive TA that supports systemic changes to state or local policies or practices through one or a combination of the following levers for change:
- Policy Development and Analysis
- Advocacy
- Research and Community-Informed Practices
- Family and Community Engagement
- Workforce Capacity Building Activities
Elements of a successful application include:
- Participation in or building of a broad-based coalition focused on addressing health in child care settings.
- Expressed interest in using data and data visualization to answer a research question or to solve a problem related to healthy child care settings.
- A description of the types of support activities offered by CCAoA that it plans to use to support the equity-rooted policy and practice levers selected.
- Preference will be given to applicants who are willing to enter into data partnership agreements with CCAoA,
- Total number of points that may be obtained through evaluation criteria is equal to 100 points. Maximum point values for each question are listed.
Get further information about this opportunity here. Questions about the process or the submission may be addressed to Krista Scott, Senior Director of Child Care Health Policy at Child Care Aware® of America (CCAoA).
Submit Your Proposal
(Which includes goals, requirements, scope of work and criteria)
Deadline: February 28, 2018
Project Duration: March 15, 2018 to December 14, 2018
Implications for PreK-12 Education in Trump’s New Budget
By Aaron Loewenberg, Abbie Lieberman, Roxanne Garza, Abigail Swisher and Elena Silva
FEB. 12, 2018
On Monday afternoon, the Trump administration released its FY 2019 budget. While the budget proposal was quickly dismissed by some as “dead on arrival,” it is still an important indicator of the administration’s priorities for the upcoming year.
The proposal includes a 5.6 percent decrease in funding to the Department of Education. If enacted, this would amount to a total funding cut of $3.8 billion compared to what was enacted in the 2017 fiscal year. The administration originally sought a far larger cut of $7.1 billion to the department, but $3.3 billion were restored in an addendum that reflects the increased spending levels reached in last week’s congressional spending deal.
The proposal also includes a 21 percent decrease in funding to the Department of Health and Human Services, requesting a total of $68.4 billion for HHS. HHS is where many early care and education programs are housed, such as Head Start and grants to subsidize child care.
This post provides an overview of what the proposed budget means for public education.
Source: New America
Available at: https://www.newamerica.org/education-policy/edcentral/implications-prek-12-education-trumps-new-budget/
OHS Head Start Program Performance Standards Talk
Webinar, February 15, 2017 2–3:30 p.m. EST
Join the Office of Head Start (OHS) in this conversation about the Head Start Program Performance Standards (HSPPS). This webcast is part of a grantee series to help grantees understand and implement the standards released in 2016.
Join us this month to discuss family and community engagement. Learn more about how family engagement is woven throughout the HSPPS, with a particular focus on:
- Education and child development
- Family and community engagement
- Transitions
- Enrolled pregnant women
- Human Resources management
Before the webcast, please read HSPPS section Family and Community Engagement Program Services, 45 CFR § 1302 Subpart E. We will also discuss sections Transition Services, 45 CFR § 1302 Subpart G; Services to Enrolled Pregnant Women, 45 CFR § 1302 Subpart H; and Human Resources Management, 45 CFR § 1302 Subpart I.
Who Should Participate?
The webcast will benefit an array of audience members, including Head Start and Early Head Start executive leadership, program directors, managers, and staff members. Please call in with other colleagues in your organization where possible.
How to Register
Select the link to register: https://goto.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1125887
This registration is only valid for the webcast on Feb. 15.
Space is limited. Sign up today to attend the session from your office or conference room. You will receive a confirmation email with instructions on how to join. The webcast will be accessible via computer, tablet, and other Internet-connected devices. Phone access is available for those requiring alternative accommodations. Send an email to webcasts@hsicc.org to receive telephone access.
Save the Date!
Register early for next month’s OHS HSPPS Talk on Wednesday, March 15, 2017: https://goto.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1125888
Did You Miss One?Watch previous OHS HSSPS Talks on-demand on the Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center (ECLKC) at https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/policy/presenting/webcast.Questions?Send your questions to webcasts@hsicc.org.
Joint Statement on Collaboration and Coordination of the MIECHV and IDEA Part C Programs
January 19, 2017
Creating a high-quality system of services and supports for infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families.
The purpose of this joint statement from the U.S. Departments of Education (ED) and Health and Human Services (HHS) (the Departments), is to set a vision for stronger partnerships, collaboration, and coordination between awardees of the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program (MIECHV) and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Part C Program (IDEA Part C Program). Specifically, this joint statement provides recommendations to states, territories, and tribal entities to identify and enhance opportunities for collaboration and coordination between MIECHV and the IDEA Part C Program.
Effective collaboration and coordination across MIECHV and the IDEA Part C Program can create a high-quality system of services and supports for infants and toddlers with disabilities and their families. It is the position of both Departments that all infants and toddlers and their families should have access to coordinated, comprehensive services that support overall health, development, and wellness. This joint ED and HHS statement aims to advance this position by:
- Providing an overview of the MIECHV and the IDEA Part C Programs;
- Emphasizing the potential for collaboration and coordination between MIECHV awardees and the IDEA Part C State programs;
- Highlighting existing opportunities for partnerships between MIECHV awardees and the IDEA Part C State programs; and
- Providing recommendations to states, territories, tribal entities, and local programs for identifying and increasing opportunities for collaboration and coordination.
Download:
Follow us on Twitter and see tweet about this joint statement here! https://twitter.com/ED_Sped_Rehab/status/822090143721025536
Fewer Children, Fewer Providers: Trends in CCDBG Participation
January 2017
The Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) is the major federal funding stream for states to help low-income families afford child care and increase the quality of child care for all. CCDBG gives states flexibility in setting many child care policies within federal parameters. Over the past decade, the CCDBG program has been shrinking due to insufficient federal and state investments. States also have discretion to use funds from the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant/program to support child care for low-income families. In 2014, the latest year data are available, combined TANF and CCDBG spending on child care fell to $11.3 billion, the lowest level since 2002.1 As a result, fewer children are getting help. Most recently, in 2015, fewer than 1.4 million children received CCDBG-funded child care in an average month, the smallest number of children served in the program since 1998. From 2006 to 2015, over 373,000 children have lost assistance—a decline of 21 percent.2 Within this context of declining investments and shrinking access, this factsheet explores trends among the child care providers receiving CCDBG funds and implications for the families served by this program.
Source: CLASP
Available at: http://www.clasp.org/resources-and-publications/publication-1/CCDBG-Provider-Factsheet-2006-2015.pdf
Helping Families and Staff Maximize Tax Credits
Thursday 26 January 2017, 03:00 PM – 04:15 PM
Tax credits for the working poor lift more families out of poverty annually than any other poverty-reduction effort. Join us for a discussion about tax credits, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), and how to help ensure families claim all tax credits and deductions for which they are eligible. Learn how to connect families with free tax services This webinar is part of the Building Foundations for Economic Mobility Webinar SeriesTopics Include:
- Locating local free tax preparation services in your program’s area
- Exploring available resources for beginning partnerships or delivering tax preparation services on-site
- Using effective approaches for tax preparation to encourage financial goal-setting with families and staff
Source: National Center on Parent, Family, and Community Engagement
Early Childhood News Update 
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