News You Can Use Week of May 20 2011
SAVE The Dates!
If you are atending the Office of Head Start's First Annual Birth to Five Leadership Institute this October in Washington, you will not want to miss these special NHSA training opportunities:
Sunday, October 2, NHSA will offer three special all-day trainings focusing on:
- Social Networking, Guerilla Marketing, and Media Relations in Your Community,
- Going Green in Early Learning Facilities, and
- Connecting the Head Start Framework to the Common Core Learning State Standards.
Thursday, October 6, close-out this incredible week with a day of side-by-side Policy and Advocacy workshops. The day will highlight innovative and hands-on advocacy tools and provide a long-term early learning policy perspective as seen by some of the best and brightest Washington insiders.
Last Chance to Register for Leaders as Learners in Boston, June 6th-7
NHSA is pleased to launch, with the generous assistance of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Leaders as Learners Series. The Series provides a unique opportunity for small groups of Head Start leaders to interact with leading thinkers and practitioners in areas of operations, community relations and marketing, and public policy, in intense, two-day seminars in Denver, Colorado, and Boston, Massachusetts. Click here to register.
The upcoming Negotiation Skills Training in Boston targets local, state, regional, and national leaders in the Head Start Community. Attendees will participate in a number of simulations, reflect on negotiation analysis, learn about positions and interest, signaling, internal/external negation, linking, and sequencing. This is truly a wonderful opportunity for leaders to develop skills and tools to improve their workplace environment. PLEASE NOTE: THE DEADLINE FOR HOTEL RESERVATIONS FOR THE BOSTON SESSION HAS BEEN EXTENDED UNTIL MAY 20th.
Submit Nominations for NHSA Awards & Scholarships
NHSA is pleased to present the Head Start community the opportunity to acknowledge and reward many wonderful individuals and programs who provide the very best to vulnerable children and families. Please note a number of the categories have changed, and we have added for 2012 special awards in the areas of innovation and community service. Check out the changes and make nominations here.
Don't Forget to Sign Up for the Head Start Management Academy
Join your colleagues in San Antonio, Texas for the Head Start Management Academy! The Head Start Management Academy is an intensive four-day course that comprises modules designed for Head Start directors, managers, and other Head Start professionals. Visiting Faculty consisting of knowledgeable and dynamic presenters, facilitate daily interactive dialogue, presentations on theory, and extended learning experiences that help learners translate theory into practice. The Head Start Management Academy also offers opportunities for participants to share with colleagues and acquire new skills and resources. Candidates who successfully complete the credential program are eligible to receive the NHSA Administrator or Manager Credential, graduate or undergraduate credit, and Continuing Education Units (CEUs). For more information, please click here.
Funding Opportunities for Centers that Partner with Pediatricians:
Welcome to the AAP Community Pediatrics Funding update, your source to the latest funding announcements for May 2011.
This month's featured funding opportunities are AAP Community Access to Child Health (CATCH) Planning Funds and Resident Funds grants. This grant cycle includes a special call for projects that benefit American Indian/Alaska Native children and projects to improve access to immunizations for children who are most likely to experience barriers. Additional topics include medical home access, access to specific health services not otherwise available, and connecting uninsured/underinsured with available programs.
Grants of up to $12,000 will be awarded to pediatricians and $3,000 to pediatric residents to plan innovative community-based child health initiatives. Priority is given to projects that will be serving communities with the greatest health disparities. The pediatrician or pediatric resident grantee must lead the project and be involved in proposal development and project activities. Resident grants may include implementation activities. Family physicians serving Native American children may apply in partnership with a pediatrician.
The application deadline is July 29, 2011, so don't miss your opportunity to apply for a planning or resident funds grant.
We welcome any feedback or comments about this e-mail alert. Please e-mail your comments to Karla Palmer.
Join President Obama's Fatherhood and Mentoring Initiative
As you may know, President Obama is deeply committed to the cause of responsible fatherhood in our country. As the father of two young girls and someone who grew up without his dad in the home, the president knows firsthand the power of a father's presence in the lives of his children-and the holes dads leave when they are absent.
That's why he launched the President's Fatherhood and Mentoring initiative. Its goal: to encourage individuals, especially fathers, to be involved in the lives of their children, and to be positive role models and mentors for other children in their lives and communities.
Signing the Pledge is just one way to show that you will do your part to be a positive and supportive figure in the lives of children to help them reach their full potential.
Join the Presidents' Fatherhood and Mentoring Initiative by signing the pledge at: www.fatherhood.gov/initiative, En Español -www.fatherhood.gov/iniciativa
What do you get when you sign up?
- Information on local and national events that support fatherhood and mentorship
- Links to exceptional fatherhood and mentoring resources
- Access to unique content
Join now to be invited to a conference call on May 18, exclusively for those that joined the Administration in this effort. The conference call will include Senior White House officials and leading figures from around the country.
Thank you so much for being a part of this critical effort for our children and our nation's future.
Upcoming Head Start Legal Advisory Services Trainings
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. You can register at: http://headstart.peachnewmedia.com/store/provider/provider09.php
(6/8/11) Understanding Head Start and Early Head Start Eligibility
ACF's Program Instruction HS-10-02, Income Eligibility for Enrollment, addresses how Head Start employees must determine and verify income eligibility. The PI states that programs "should provide annual training to employees responsible for determining and verifying income eligibility and to ensure that those employees are fully aware of the consequences established by the grantee for employees who knowingly sign a verification form that contains false information." This topic is of special importance - in fact, programs are receiving additional scrutiny about their eligibility practices from Congress, the Government Accountability Office, the HHS Office of Inspector General, and the Office of Head Start. In the wake of Congressional and Departmental scrutiny and recent draft regulations on the topic, now is the time to make sure your staff is determining eligibility correctly. This webinar will cover:
- What the Head Start eligibility rules are (and, which are mandatory or optional);
- The recent draft regulations;
- Where the pitfalls lie for your program in determining eligibility (including reviewing eligibility documents and signing income verification forms); and
- How to ensure your program is in compliance with the requirements of the Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act; PIs and the Head Start Policy Clarifications.
Tips for best practices will be included and your questions will be addressed.
Who Should Attend: Eligibility Workers, Eligibility Managers, ERSEA staff, Executive Directors, Head Start program Directors, and other senior staff, but all are welcome.
(6/29/11) Non-Federal Share in Head Start - Getting it Right
Head Start programs are required to provide a 20% match of non-federal funds for the operation of their programs. This match (or "non-federal share") applies to regular Head Start and Early Head Start funds, as well as those received under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Year in and year out, non-federal share is an ongoing trouble area for programs. Join us in this webinar to learn or refresh:
- What items and services your program can count as match;
- How to document matching share;
- Why showing "overmatch" makes sense; and
- Common and not-so-common pitfalls to avoid.
Based on our review of numerous examples from the field, we'll also discuss what we think your non-federal share documentation forms should look like.
Who Should Attend: Executive Directors, Head Start Directors, Fiscal Staff, and Management Team, but anyone is welcome.
YOUR NEIGHBORING PROGRAMS ARE ALSO SIGNING UP FOR ON-DEMAND TRAINING, INCLUDING TRAININGS ON:
- Board and Policy Council Member Boot Camp;
- Compliance, Investigations and Audits;
- Head Start Monitoring;
- Head Start Eligibility;
- And More!
Click here for more information and to register for either our live webinars or our on-demand content:
http://headstart.peachnewmedia.com/store/provider/provider09.php
Dear NHSA Colleagues: We'd like to invite those of you who are responsible for HS curriculum coordination or serve as early childhood specialists, HS program directors and managers to join an exciting project. The goal of this project is to correlate the The Head Start Framework with the Common Core State Standards for Kindergarten. This collaborative project began at the NHSA 38th Annual Conference, but this important task is not yet finished. Join a Correlation Project- Virtual Work Group and help colleagues create a roadmap that connects Head Start outcomes with standards followed by kindergarten programs around the nation. We need the expertise of those who supervise or coordinate curriculum in Head Start programs and/or are program child development specialists. Read the details below and decide if you have what it takes to be a valuable member of a Virtual Work Group. Thank you for your consideration, Why correlate the Head Start Framework to the Common Core State Standards for Kindergarten? Over 43 states have adopted the Common Core State Standards which include Kindergarten standards (CCSS-K). Read the Standards. To date the Head Start Framework and the CCSS are the only two sets of common standards used in multiple states. The (CCSS-K) affects the education of millions of children in our nation--including tens of thousands of current EHS/HS children. These standards reflect what a child should know and be able to do by the END of Kindergarten. A correlation of the two can provide a valuable missing link to connect an early childhood roadmap to the "cradle-to-career" continuum. The First Draft of the "Correlation" At the NHSA 38th Annual Head Start Conference & Meetingsin April 2011, a group of NHSA members attended our session titled Roadmap to Collaboration: Connecting Head Start Child Development and Early Learning Framework & Common Core State Standards for Kindergarten. During the Roadmap to Collaboration session, groups of Head Start professionals & practitioners teamed up to help correlate The Head Start Framework domains and domain elements into a continuum with the Common Core State Standards for Kindergarten. Our goal was to complete an Initial Draft the NHSA and the Head Start Community can use to: Our Process: Participants were divided up into six work groups and given a specific set of Common Core State Standards for Kindergarten (CCSS-K) to collectively read and correlate. Work Groups next reviewed pages of The Head Start Framework broken down into domains and domain elements and printed on stickers. Groups discussed which Framework domains and domain elements correlated to the (CCSS-K) assigned to their group, and adhered those stickers next to the appropriate Kindergarten Standard. Our Progress during the Session: Each Group briefly presented their work and then voted on how well they felt the work they completed met the goals. Some groups were confident and others were split in their opinion regarding their correlations. A final poll was taken and 78% of the session participants wanted to work further to complete this correlation. We all believe this is important work. Participants decided to continue working in the "virtual" world and meet in online webinars to complete the next draft. Since the presentation, we invited session participants to sign up and continue the project. We are pleased that several have signed on to help us with the next step. What is a Correlation Project - Virtual Work Group? We are organizing the next step in this project using virtual work groups. Would you like to join us? Who should join? We are extending an invitation for Head Start directors and managers who are responsible for coordinating curriculum or serve as early childhood specialists to join the project. We need the expertise of those who supervise or coordinate curriculum in Head Start programs and/or are program child development specialists. Note: We reserve the right to screen Work Group participants in the Correlation Project to confirm they are actively employed in a non-profit organization that serves Head Start children. Individuals employed or associated with a commercial for-profit vendor or organization that sells goods or services to early childhood or Head Start are not invited to join the project at this time. What special skills or equipment is needed? How will we participate? This next step will involve independent reading of background information, reviewing electronic documents online on your own time, and participating in two or more online sessions over the summer months. Click here and complete the following survey to enroll in this Correlation Project. Or paste this url into your browser: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ After we receive and confirm your Correlation Project Sign Up contact information, we will email you a confirmation email. Once we read through all the sign ups, we'll notify you of the Work Group to which you will be assigned. We will take your Work Group preferences into consideration as we organize the groups, but ultimately we will try to distribute participants evenly in all six work groups. Finally we will email a project schedule and links to documents and readings that will help you get ready for the first meeting.
Mari Blaustein,
Director of Early Childhood Services Senior Manager Education Services
The Source for Learning, Inc. The Source for Learning, Inc.