B503B8006AA09F93872584400056F599 Hearing Summary CLICS/CLICS2019A/commsumm.nsf PUBLICBILL SUMMARY For PRESENTATION FROM THE OFFICE OF EARLY CHILDHOODINTERIM COMMITTEE EARLY CHILDHOOD AND SCHOOL READINESSDate Jul 23, 2019 Location SCR 357 Presentation from the Office of Early Childhood - Committee Discussion Only Attachment Tag File Name Attachment http://www2.leg.state.co.us/CLICS/CLICS2019A/commsumm.nsf/0/ED7457E09169...$File/190723 AttachD.pdf?OpenElement 190723 AttachD.pdf 09:49:53 AM Senator Story invited the following presenters from the Office of Early Childhood (OEC) in the Colorado Department of Human Services to the table: Mary Anne Snyder, Director of the Office of Early Childhood, Mary Alice Cohen, Director of the Division of Community and Family Support, Erin Mewhinny, Director of Early Care and Learning. A copy of their presentation can be found as Attachment D. Ms. Snyder explained that the OEC focuses on child maltreatment prevention strategies, early childhood mental health, suspensions and expulsions, the Early Intervention program, Head Start Collaborative, and the Home Visiting program. Ms. Cohen discussed OEC's community and family support programs, which can be divided into three types: early intervention, family support, and transitions to school, which includes social-emotional skills and ensuring a healthy start to school. Ms. Cohen discussed early childhood mental health and told the commission about a new report on suspensions and expulsions that includes recommendations about what a mental health expert can do to mitigate suspensions and expulsions. She discussed the Incredible Years (IY) program, which is delivered to pre-kindergarten and kindegarten classrooms and supports classroom management for teachers and a parenting program for families. She answered questions regarding the need for additional funding and capacity for the IY program and went into further detail on the Early Intervention program. 10:09:32 AM Ms. Cohen discussed child maltreatment prevention programs, which include Colorado Community Response, SafeCare, Promoting Safe and Stable Families, and Family Resource Centers. She explained that the programs focus on parenting classes, goal setting, connecting caregivers to resources in their communities, providing families with one-time financial assistance and coaching, and building support networks. She emphasized the importance of supporting families to create nurturing, safe environments that promote a child's overall well-being. 10:13:40 AM Ms. Cohen discussed the evaluation of outcomes for OEC's programs, as well as school readiness indicators that can be measured for each of OEC's 14 programs. Ms. Mewhinney explained OEC's duties for licensing child care centers, including inspections, investigations, and background checks. Ms. Mewhinney spoke about aligning licensing and quality early learning initiatives and told the commission about the Colorado Shines Quality Rating and Improvement System, which aims to improve the quality of early child care using indicators of quality. These indicators include child health, family partnerships, leadership management and administration, learning environment, and workforce and professional development for staff. She explained that some of the quality improvement (QI) supports and incentives offered include coaching and professional development to those entities that achieve a level 2 on the QI scale in an effort to raise them to a level 3, 4, or 5. 10:39:03 AM Ms. Mewhinney continued to discuss quality incentives and implementation supports, as well as the Colorado Child Care Assistance Program (CCCAP), which is state-supervised and county-administered and mainly funded by federal sources with a state and county match. She explained the Child Care Development Fund as well as several recent pieces of legislation passed by the General Assembly. Ms. Mewhinnney answered questions regarding how many children and families are eligible for CCCAP, whether there is currently a waitlist, and why there is a gap in the number of eligible families and those receiving services. Ms. Snyder stated that current funding levels only cover between nine and twelve percent of eligible families. 11:04:02 AM Lindsey Dorneman, Director of the Preschool Development Grant Program in OEC, came to the table to begin her portion of the presentation. She explained that the grant was provided to states to conduct a comprehensive statewide needs assessment for children from birth to five years old, followed by in-depth strategic planning based on the needs-assessment. She stated that the purpose of the grant is to more efficiently use existing federal, state, local, and non-government resources, encourage partnerships, and provide and support parental choice. She explained that there are five required grant activities: to conduct a needs assessment; develop, update, or implement a strategic plan based on the needs assessment; maximize parent choice and knowledge of the state's mixed delivery system; share best practices among early childhood service providers; and improve overall quality of early childhood care and education services. Ms. Dorneman explained that the needs assessment will focus on early care and learning needs for families, other service needs that exist for families, and service needs for child care providers. 11:11:38 AM Ms. Dorneman spoke about the timeline for the needs asssessment and strategic plan, and answered questions from the commission members. Ms. Mewhinney came back to the table to discuss Senate Bill 19-063, which requires OEC, along with the ECLC, to develop a strategic action plan to address infant and family child care home shortages in Colorado which will be distributed to the General Assembly in December 2019. 11:27:17 AM Scott Groginsky, Special Advisor to the Governor on Early Childhood, and Tara Smith, State Two Generation Program Coordinator for the Governor's Office, came to the table to begin their presentation on the Governor's priorities on infant and early child care. Mr. Groginsky stated that the Governor supports disaggregated and transparent data and policies on child-specific and population levels, places a high value on a mixed delivery system of early child care that focuses on parent choice, as well as a comprehensive child care system/coordination of services that includes nutrition, mental health, vision, dental health, diverse language supports, and access for parents to job training information and workforce supports made available at child care centers. Ms. Smith explained the National Governors Association Technical Assistance Grant that Colorado received in order look at prenatal to age three with the hope of focusing on early child care workforce issues and how to tie in early child care with the health and school readiness programs and policies. They answered questions from the commission members. 11:45:33 AM Mr. Groginsky and Ms. Smith continued to answer questions from the members.