News You Can Use Week of February 10, 2012
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Conference Call Regarding President Obama's FY 2013 Budget On Monday February 13, 2012, President Obama will release his budget proposal for FY 2013 and should include specific funding proposals for Head Start and Early Head Start for next year. After the budget is released, please join NHSA's Government Affairs staff to discuss what the proposed level of funding is, what it means, and what next steps we can and should take. The call will be held on Monday February 13, 2012 at 3:30 PM EST. The call-in number is 712-432-0900 and the access code is 484503#. | |
| “I have been blessed to be touched by Head Start & Early Head Start since 1972. It helped mold me into the wonderful woman I am today. It gave me the tools to advocate for myself and others at a very early age. I actually have the audacity to think, feel, & believe deep down in my heart that I am somebody!!!” That’s the beginning of just one of the many testimonials that Head Start alumni, parents and staff have shared as part of the 27 Million Windows Campaign already - and NHSA is challenging programs to join in. Watch videos, read stories, and find out how you can get involved at go.nhsa.org/27MillionWindows! Valentine’s Day Outreach Activity Valentine’s Day is nearly here, and it’s another opportunity to maintain a relationship with your Members of Congress! If you haven’t already, we encourage you to participate in our Valentine’s Day activity to educate Congress about their local programs - with a loving touch from children. Access instructions and templates here or design your own Valentine package!
Winter Leadership Institute Feedback We hope many of you have returned home from Washington with useful information that you’ve put to work in your communities. If you attended the conference and haven’t already completed our Hill Visit Feedback Form, we strongly urge you to let us know how your visits went. This informs how we interact with your Members of Congress and lets us better support you for future visits. If you missed the Winter Leadership Institute or want to watch it again, visit ourwebpage to watch recordings of Billy Shore’s keynote, Senator Durbin’s award reception, and the many Members of Congress who spoke at our Hill Breakfast. NHSA Leaders As Learners Series Sharpen your negotiation skills! Join the free NHSA Leaders As Learners Negotiation Skills Training, March 5th & 6th, 2012, in Atlanta, Georgia! Polish your skills including how to build consensus, negotiate with interested parties and collaborative partners in the field, and promote power sharing in state and regional associations. This training is targeting local, state, regional and national leaders in the Head Start community with priority given to Head Start agency directors and board members and directors of regional associations. Course fees are provided by W. K. Kellogg Foundation. For more information and application form visit our website. Application deadline for this course is February 13, 2012. NHSA Helps Celebrate Teach For America Week at a Washington DC Head Start
Ms Vinci read The Gingerbread Baby, which the three and four year-old students enjoyed participating in the refrain “I’m a gingerbread baby, you can’t catch me!” Ms Vinci also observed the students deep in their roles playing in various centers, where students created flowers for her in the art ‘flower shop’ and served food in the ‘deli’ center. “We’re thrilled to have Ms. Vinci share her passion for early learning with Ms. Faulker’s class today,” said Laura McSorley, managing director of Teach For America’s Early Childhood Education initiative. “Their Head Start experience is setting them up for future success in school.” Teach For America is the national corps of outstanding recent college graduates and professionals who commit to teach for two years in urban and rural public classrooms and become lifelong leaders in expanding educational opportunity. Today, 9,000 corps members are teaching in 43 regions across the country, while nearly 24,000 Teach For America alumni continue working from inside and outside the field of education for the fundamental changes necessary to ensure educational excellence and equity. Since 2006, over 1,000 highly committed early childhood education corps members have reached students at a critical stage of development, providing students in low-income communities with the foundational skills they need to achieve. Currently, over 280 corps members are teaching pre-K, in a variety of school and community-based settings, including dozens of Head Start classrooms across the country. For more information, visit http://www.teachforamerica.org. If your Head Start program is interested in partnering with Teach For America, email ece@teachforamerica.org. 39th Annual Conference: Exploring Opportunity for All Registration is now open for NHSA’s 39th annual conference in Nashville, TN April 16th-20th. Find out about engaging sessions, special tracks, exciting events and the Day of Opportunity now - and get registered! 2012 Policy Agenda Adopted Each year, NHSA’s Government Affairs team prepares a policy agenda and recommends it to the board. In Washington DC in January, the NHSA board adopted this year’s agenda. Access it on our website to find out what NHSA’s legislative priorities are for 2012. February Family Connections Newsletter Family Service & Parent Engagement Coordinators! The February NHSA Family Connections newsletter is ready to print. This issue focuses on the idea of “non-punitive” discipline, helping families understand positive discipline and how to use it. Family Connections is produced by PreSchoolFirst and is an exclusive benefit for NHSA Program Members. To access, go to NHSA’s Family Service Resource Center. Playground Maps and Grants Available from KaBOOM! Calling all educators, parents, and community advocates! Want to know where to play? Find the playgrounds in your neighborhood on the Map of Play, and while doing so, help map the state of play in the US. Educators and community members can use the free resource to locate great places to play and identify not-so-great places in need of improvement. If each member of the Head Start community contributes to the Map of Play by mapping one playspace -- taking a photo, entering a location, and providing a rating of that space -- this would go a long way toward helping identify Play Deserts, neighborhoods with a critical lack of safe places to play. It’s even easier with the mobile applications for iPhone and Android. Mapping Play Deserts allows communities and national non-profit KaBOOM! to identify where the problem is greatest and then address the Play Deficit more effectively by targeting these underserved areas, including applying for construction or improvement grants for playspace projects. Please contact Amy Dickinson (adickinson@kaboom.org) with questions, comments, or ideas! Oral Health Resources The National Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center offers a wide range of materials about oral health, including tools particularly designed for Head Start providers and families. You can also stay up-to-date on maternal and child oral health by downloading the latest Resource Bulletin, issued in December. Don’t Miss Upcoming Legal Advisory Service Trainings The Head Start Legal Advisory Service, a collaboration between Feldesman Tucker Leifer Fidell LLP and the National Head Start Association, has developed key offerings designed with programs like yours in mind. Join Ted Waters and Zoë Beckerman for the following webinars: (2/15/12) Human Resources Lifecycle in Head Start (3 pm eastern time) HR in Head Start can be very confusing. The regulations require that certain actions need to take place pre-employment; others during the hiring process, and still others while someone is employed by your program. And then what happens if someone's employment needs to be terminated? Getting these elements right matters - not just for proper program operations, but for morale too. In this webinar, we will discuss the Human Resources Lifecycle of the Head Start employment relationship and include:
Who Should Attend: Executive Directors, Head Start Directors, Human Resources Director and HR Personnel, but all are welcome. (3/07/12) Staff Qualifications and HR Policies and Procedures (3 pm eastern time) 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. The Head Start Legal Advisory Service, a collaboration between Feldesman Tucker Leifer Fidell LLP and the National Head Start Association, has this topic, as well as other new offerings on topics designed with programs like yours in mind. To register or see the full list of this season’s trainings, please go to: http://headstart.peachnewmedia.com/store/provider/provider09.php. To register, please visit: http://headstart.peachnewmedia.com/store/provider/provider09.php |
27 Million Windows Campaign Is Underway!
On February 9th, NHSA Executive Director Yasmina Vinci was a guest teacher in Keely Faulkner's Head Start classroom at Powell Elementary School in Washington, DC, as a part of Teach For America Week. Teach For America Week is an annual celebration that engages local leaders in support of the movement to expand educational opportunity. Participants serve as guest teachers in the classrooms of Teach For America corps members, inspiring students with dynamic lessons that connect their curriculum to real life.