NYCU February 7, 2011
| Happy New Year! Good News about You
Upcoming NHSA Events
Affiliate Relations Working for You
NHSA in Action
Recent Office of Head Start (OHS) Announcements
Research Services for You
Resources for You
GOOD NEWS ABOUT YOU NHSA’s Recent Capitol Hill Breakfast and Leadership Institute We had what the participants called “best ever” few days together. If you missed it, you missed an opportunity for your voice to be heard, to access new information, acquire new skills, and have a great experience on the Hill. Nearly 500 Head Start and Migrant and Seasonal Head Start leaders from all over the country came to the nation’s capital recently to talk with their Congressional representatives about Head Start in their states and districts and to participate in our January 2011 Leadership Institute. For some of them it was the first time, others have been coming every year. Institute participants heard inside information from multiple speakers, including pollsters, pundits, congressional staffers, and lobbyists, and met with leadership of other national organizations. They were addressed by OHS Director Sanchez-Fuentes and her team, and participated in various skill-building workshops led by top experts in fields such as communications and advocacy, Attendees were also a part of a historic event for Head Start – the “Results for Life” breakfast on the Hill, The event showcased the effectiveness and long term outcomes of Head Start as embodied in its many accomplished alumni, and featured remarks by five Members of Congress, Head Start alum and Mayor of Providence, RI, Angel Taveras, and the reading of a letter from Lucille O’Neal (Shaquille O’Neal’s mother and a former Head Start parent). An astounding bipartisan attendance at the breakfast by 16 Members of Congress and over 80 congressional staffers who spoke with their constituents about Head Start back home indicated an encouraging level of interest in the important work of Head Start in our nation’s communities. Click here to see a video of the breakfast and visit our Facebook page to view photos. The Head Start alumni in attendance were professionally videoed and their stories will be appearing on www.ourheadstart.org. If you are an adult who was a child in Head Start, be sure to visit the website and post your story. After breakfast, Head Start folks began their meetings with Congressional offices, giving them a chance to build relationships with those that represent them in Washington and putting a friendly face to the Head Start name. Jo Ann Williams Recalls Meeting the Late Sargent Shriver in 1965 As a young woman in 1965, Jo Ann Williams met Sargent Shriver, and he inspired her to make her career in Head Start serving Arkansas’ most vulnerable children and their families. Williams is now the Executive Director of the Child Development, Inc. Head Start program. To read her story, click here UPCOMING NHSA EVENTS 38th Annual Head Start Conference & Meetings. Register Early and Save Money! The upcoming Annual Head Start Conference & Meetings offers more than 250 educational sessions on a wide variety of professional development topics. Pre-conference special tracks and free training seminars highlighting evidence-based methods and evolving knowledge in the early childhood field include: the Head Start New Staff Training; the Early Head Start Institute; Coaching for Success; the American Academy of Pediatrics Training; Strategic Program Governance; Implementing Effective Human Resources Practices in Head Start and; Strategies for Working with Meth-Affected Children and Families. Participants will learn best practices, effective strategies, and cutting-edge approaches that keep them current with new advances and trends in the field. The conference will be held in Kansas City, Missouri, April 4-8, 2011. You will receive a $100 discount if you register by February 15! To learn more, click here . To register, click here. AFFILIATE RELATIONS WORKING FOR YOU The Power of a Network During the recent NHSA Leadership Institute, leaders of a variety of national organizations met with NHSA’s affiliate network to discuss the emerging policy challenges facing advocates in the 112th Congress. Facilitated by Ed Condon, NHSA Director of Affiliate Relations, Yasmina Vinci, NHSA Executive Director, welcomed the attendees and presented NHSA’s new vision and mission, and Ben Allen, NHSA Public Policy and Research Director, provided an overview of NHSA's Policy Framework. Two areas of broad agreement among the national organizations included preserving funding and protecting quality at the current national levels. In addition, a number of groups will be tracking closely the reauthorization of Elementary and Secondary Education Act with a trained eye on how best to promote use of federal education dollars in state and local early education systems. Specific to early education, many organizations will be focused on workforce issues, from compensation and professional development to certification and related state system issues. Also of importance will be keeping a broad, comprehensive approach to protecting young children, and advocating for health and social service support to vulnerable families. Advocates expressed how important it will be to educate the new House of Representatives so that they have first-hand knowledge of the impact to their communities of proposed cuts. A number of organizations shared their desire to expand national and local coalitions to involve allies who share their interest, but have not been as united. Efforts to connect with commerce, environmental, health, recreation, and national security allies are high on the agenda of most organizations. Lastly, many of the organizations participating in the network meeting shared that they were adjusting communication strategies to include broad public engagement. Suggestions ranged from poverty summits to expanded data sharing and outreach to private sector champions to dramatize the needs of communities. In attendance were staff from ZERO TO THREE, CLASP, Community Action Partnership, Parents As Teachers, National Association for the Education of Young Children, First Five Years Fund, Early Care and Education Consortium, Afterschool Alliance, National Women’s Law Center, National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies, Council for Professional Recognition, Every Child Matters Education Fund , National Council of La Raza, HighScope Educational Research Foundation, Children’s Defense Fund, National Black Child Development Institute, Grantmakers for Children, Youth, and Families, National Center for Learning Disabilities, Inc., Service Employees International Union, The Pew Center on the States, Prevent Child Abuse America, Nemours, and American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO. More than 30 Head Start association leaders attended the session, including folks from the Alaska, Washington, California, Texas, Kansas, Florida, Kentucky, Illinois, Wisconsin, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, National Indian Head Start Directors Association and the National Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Association. NHSA IN ACTION Ron Herndon and Carolyn Stennett Met with South African Educational Officials Through the U.S. Department of State’s International Visitors Leadership Program, NHSA Board Chairman Ron Herndon and Carolyn Stennett, NHSA Deputy Director and General Counsel, met a delegation from South Africa to discuss challenges and solutions in American primary and secondary education. Carolyn Stennett Commented on the Death of Ambassador Sargent Shriver The late Ambassador Sargent Shriver headed the Office of Economic Opportunity and used OEO funds to create the Head Start in May 1965. Last month on the day of his death, NBC News Channel 4 in Washington, DC interviewed Carolyn Stennett about Shriver’s contributions to Head Start. To watch her interview, click here. NHSA Approves Its 2011 Policy Agenda The NHSA Board of Directors approved NHSA's 2011 Policy Agenda on January 30, 2011. The Policy Agenda is a roadmap for educating policy makers and advocating for changes in current law, regulation, and practice that the Head Start community would like to see implemented in 2011. Click here to read the agenda. NHSA Submits Comments to the Advisory Committee on Head Start Research and Evaluation In its first meeting on January 25 and 26, 2011, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Advisory Committee on Head Start Research and Evaluation discussed the Head Start Impact Study, the Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES), the Baby FACES, and future evaluations of Head Start and Early Head Start. To read NHSA’s recommendations for the overall Head Start research agenda, click here. RECENT OFFICE OF HEAD START ANNOUNCEMENTS Webcast about the New Head Start Child Development and Early Learning Framework The Head Start Child Outcomes Framework has been revised and renamed the Head Start Child Development and Early Learning Framework. To watch the webcast, click here. RESEARCH SERVICES FOR YOU Recent Changes to the NHSA Dialog Journal The NHSA Dialog: A Research-to-Practice Journal for the Early Intervention Field has been renamed as the NHSA Dialog: A Research-to-Practice Journal for the Early Childhood Field so that the scope of the journal will be clearer to researchers and practitioners. Current NHSA program members and NHSA individual academic/researcher members receive an annual subscription to the journal as one of their NHSA membership benefits. However, to be environmentally friendly, these members will only receive online access to the journal. Meanwhile, the Editorial Advisory Board has been revamped and expanded including international members for the first time. On April 4th there will be sessions about how to use the journal as a research tool for programmatic improvements at the upcoming annual Head Start training conference in Kansas City, Missouri. If you have any questions, contact Ben Allen at ballen@nhsa.org Opportunity for Practitioners to Ask the Editor of the NHSA Dialog Journal Research Questions The NHSA Dialog: A Research-to-Practice Journal for the Early Childhood Field has an Ask NHSA Dialog section. This section provides a forum for Head Start and Early Head Start practitioners to pose questions and have their questions answered from experts in the field around a particular topic. To ask your question, email it to nhsa_dialog@uncc.edu. Upcoming Third Annual Edward Zigler Western Research Institute NHSA is collaborating with the California and Region 9 Head Start Associations to hold the Third Annual Edward Zigler Western Research Institutes, scheduled for February 8 in San Francisco, California. For more information, click here. RESOURCES FOR YOU Upcoming Conference Call with First Lady Michelle Obama about the Let’s Move! Healthy Schools Campaign The White House will be holding a conference call with First Lady Michelle Obama on February 8th at 2:45 pm EST for the public to learn about the Let’s Move! Healthy Schools campaign. To join the conference call, dial (866) 227-1607 and ask to participate on the Let’s Move Healthy Schools Call. Upcoming National Youth Summit On February 26, the Obama administration will be holding a National Youth Summit in Washington, DC. The summit’s purpose is to mobilize young people to develop strategies and pathways for all youth – those who are in middle and high school as well as those who are out of work, out of school and out of the mainstream – to be on track to achieve high school and postsecondary credentials. For information about how to participate in the summit, click here. Recent Article about the Sustainability of a Preschool Curriculum The October – December 2010 issue of the NHSA Dialog contains an article examining the ability of Head Start and pre-k teachers to sustain the implementation of a quality preschool curriculum. This topic is important given the limited resources of programs to purchase a new curriculum. To read the article, click here. Don’t Miss Out on Important Training Topics Led by Ted Waters and Zoë Beckerman, the Head Start Legal Advisory Service, a collaboration between Feldesman Tucker Leifer Fidell LLP and the National Head Start Association, has new offerings on important training topics designed with programs like yours in mind. Don’t miss out on these upcoming, cost effective training webinars. Click here to register. Personnel matters can be challenging for management. In addition, in Head Start, special rules apply to the employment relationship (that is, between a Head Start agency and an employee). In this webinar, we will discuss some of the unique aspects of Head Start agency employment. Join us to learn about:
Who Should Attend: Executive Directors, Head Start Directors, Human Resources Director and HR Personnel, but all are welcome. (2/16/11) Establishing a Culture of Compliance The recent allegations of improper eligibility determinations in the Head Start world should serve as a wake up call to programs across the country. Effective compliance is the name of the game across the board for the Head Start program, whether you are explaining your practices to funders, program reviewers, auditors or the media. So just how do you establish a culture of compliance in your Head Start program? Join us on this webinar to learn:
Who Should Attend: Executive Directors, Head Start Directors, Senior Management, Compliance Officers, Compliance Committee members, but all are welcome. With all of the additional scrutiny that Head Start programs are receiving externally from the Government Accountability Office, the HHS Office of Inspector General, the Office of Head Start, Congress, the media, and others, there has never been a better time to understand when and how to conduct internal investigations. This webinar will specifically focus on:
Who Should Attend: Executive Directors, Head Start Directors, Human Resources Directors, other senior management, but all are welcome. YOUR NEIGHBORING PROGRAMS ARE ALSO SIGNING UP FOR ON-DEMAND TRAINING, INCLUDING TRAININGS ON:
Click here for more information and to register for either our live webinars or our on-demand content. | |