Getting Started
Partnerships Aren’t Just a Head Start Issue
A number of Head Start grantees across the county have initiated some type of partnership with community-based early education and care, usually child care centers. Many of these arrangements are for wraparound care, while some have Head Start staff working in a classroom dedicated to Head Start students but housed in a child care center and some actually have Head Start services delivered by center staff.
Unique to this initiative, is that the Head Start Grantee was joined in its effort to create a model for partnerships by one of its delegate agencies, the local child care resource and referral agency and the agency responsible for administering funds for welfare reform efforts (called “Work First” in Michigan) for the Grantee’s area. Together the four received foundation funding to dedicate staff to coordinating the effort.
Each of the four partners had a vested interest in seeing these services get to families. The resource and referral agency, Child Care Coordinating Council of Detroit/Wayne County (4C), was charged, in part, to connect parents with the child care services their families needed. 4C staff knew from their work, that a number of families who were eligible for Head Start were not enrolling because the half-day program offered in most of the local area did not meet their needs. They also knew that when these families went to child care alone, they missed the support services included in the Head Start program and that many of the families needed these services.
The CEO of Southeast Michigan Community Alliance (SEMCA) was concerned that parents receive the support they needed to transition into employment. While serving on the Head Start Policy Council, he continually asked how the number of full-day, full-year slots could be increased to meet the needs of working parents in a way that their children did not miss the Head Start experience. Both the Head Start grantee and delegate agencies wanted to see that all children eligible for the program would indeed be a part of Head Start.
Prior to the application to the foundation, the partners presented the concept to the Delegate Policy Committee and the Grantee Policy Council and Wayne County Head Start Governing Board for approval. They also sought the involvement from at least one parent from each level of shared governance.
The Skillman Foundation funding covered the partial cost of a Project Director and a full-time Child Care Partnership Specialist (CCCP Specialist), as well as funds for materials and training for the centers and for marketing the effort. This was important, in that it allowed the dedicated time of two staff people who would facilitate the creation and begin the implementation of a model that considered the strengths and needs of both Head Start and the child care centers.
Staff members from all of the partner agencies, as well as Head Start parents and local child care center directors worked to create a model that would deliver Head Start services within full-day, full-year child care centers.
Research on the Status of Child Care Partnerships
The Project Director spent time researching what was being done in child care partnerships across the country and in Michigan. She attended a three day workshop done by National Child Care Information Center at the National Head Start Association annual conference on partnerships. The NCCIC staff was also helpful in connecting her to Head Start grantees around the country that were generous in sharing their experiences with Head Start/Child Care Partnerships.
After many phone calls and much reading, the project director also visited Head Start programs in Lansing, Grand Rapids and Traverse City, Michigan who shared their approaches and introduced her to some of their partners. The information collected was invaluable to the TECPI efforts as the staff and committees began to make decisions as to what the working model for the local effort would look like.
The Project Director summarized the findings of her research for the Steering Committee:
The reasons most often sited by Head Start for desiring partnership:
Why stipends are preferred to cost allocation:
State of Michigan, FIA Memorandum 7/16/01, to County Directors and District Office Managers from Jim Nye, Field Operations Administration Subject: CDC Eligibility for Head Start/Child Care Partnerships
An important concept to remember in making partnerships work is that partnerships should be revenue neutral for Head Start and revenue positive for child care.
A number of Head Start grantees across the county have initiated some type of partnership with community-based early education and care, usually child care centers. Many of these arrangements are for wraparound care, while some have Head Start staff working in a classroom dedicated to Head Start students but housed in a child care center and some actually have Head Start services delivered by center staff.
Unique to this initiative, is that the Head Start Grantee was joined in its effort to create a model for partnerships by one of its delegate agencies, the local child care resource and referral agency and the agency responsible for administering funds for welfare reform efforts (called “Work First” in Michigan) for the Grantee’s area. Together the four received foundation funding to dedicate staff to coordinating the effort.
Each of the four partners had a vested interest in seeing these services get to families. The resource and referral agency, Child Care Coordinating Council of Detroit/Wayne County (4C), was charged, in part, to connect parents with the child care services their families needed. 4C staff knew from their work, that a number of families who were eligible for Head Start were not enrolling because the half-day program offered in most of the local area did not meet their needs. They also knew that when these families went to child care alone, they missed the support services included in the Head Start program and that many of the families needed these services.
The CEO of Southeast Michigan Community Alliance (SEMCA) was concerned that parents receive the support they needed to transition into employment. While serving on the Head Start Policy Council, he continually asked how the number of full-day, full-year slots could be increased to meet the needs of working parents in a way that their children did not miss the Head Start experience. Both the Head Start grantee and delegate agencies wanted to see that all children eligible for the program would indeed be a part of Head Start.
Prior to the application to the foundation, the partners presented the concept to the Delegate Policy Committee and the Grantee Policy Council and Wayne County Head Start Governing Board for approval. They also sought the involvement from at least one parent from each level of shared governance.
The Skillman Foundation funding covered the partial cost of a Project Director and a full-time Child Care Partnership Specialist (CCCP Specialist), as well as funds for materials and training for the centers and for marketing the effort. This was important, in that it allowed the dedicated time of two staff people who would facilitate the creation and begin the implementation of a model that considered the strengths and needs of both Head Start and the child care centers.
Staff members from all of the partner agencies, as well as Head Start parents and local child care center directors worked to create a model that would deliver Head Start services within full-day, full-year child care centers.
Research on the Status of Child Care Partnerships
The Project Director spent time researching what was being done in child care partnerships across the country and in Michigan. She attended a three day workshop done by National Child Care Information Center at the National Head Start Association annual conference on partnerships. The NCCIC staff was also helpful in connecting her to Head Start grantees around the country that were generous in sharing their experiences with Head Start/Child Care Partnerships.
After many phone calls and much reading, the project director also visited Head Start programs in Lansing, Grand Rapids and Traverse City, Michigan who shared their approaches and introduced her to some of their partners. The information collected was invaluable to the TECPI efforts as the staff and committees began to make decisions as to what the working model for the local effort would look like.
The Project Director summarized the findings of her research for the Steering Committee:
The reasons most often sited by Head Start for desiring partnership:
- Partnerships provide additional slots to meet the needs of working parents and parents in school.
- Partnerships allow families more daily hours of service than even the typical Head Start full-day classroom.
- Siblings can often be cared for in the same setting in partnerships cutting stress for families.
- Partnerships allow Head Start to serve families they might otherwise miss. If Head Start serves all of the families it is funded for, this may also make expansion possible.
- 2 of 3 sites visited estimated the cost of partnership to be about 1/3 the cost of providing full-day Head Start classroom themselves.
- Partnership brought greater resources to the families served, whether they were Head Start eligible or not.
- The enhancement stipends paid to the partners allowed directors to improve their centers. They did a range of things from adding equipment and materials, to increasing the teacher’s salary based on increased education and responsibility, to using part of it to apply a discount or scholarship to the parent co-pay.
- The directors were excited that the overall partnership not only provided multiple ways to enhance, but also maintain quality.
- Clearly defined benefits of partnership, specifically in the areas of finances, services to partner centers, and training.
- Clearly defined expectations for both Head Start and the Center partner spelled out in a Service Agreement or Contract
- 8 of 9 partnerships profiled by QUILT, (now folded into the work of NCCIC) and all three sites visited gave a stipend for quality enhancement to their partners. They varied in size and how they were used by the child care centers. All of the directors in the site visits cited this as very important to their ability to successfully partner.
- Dedicated staff support to the centers. A key element in creating and sustaining partnerships is having a person who serves as the liaison between the center staff and the Head Start staff who respects and understands the needs of both programs. The center directors and classroom teachers reported that the Partnership Specialist:
- Helped make the Head Start paperwork and requirements clear and “doable” to them.
- Became a trusted mentor with valuable ideas for enhancing the classroom to meet Performance Standards.
- Arranged training for staff and brought the directors together to network and train with each other, creating extra support for the directors.
- Assisted with or arranged many of the required screenings.
- Was a knowledgeable referral source to better meet the needs of all families.
- Helped the parents, center staff and Head Start staff understand the benefits of dual enrollment.
- She made sure that partner sites did only such paperwork as was absolutely necessary.
- She reminded other Head Start specialists to include partnership classrooms when they were planning for or buying for other classrooms.
- She was the connection between the center staff and the other specialists when there were needs to be addressed with either children or their families. (Non-Head Start children, in most cases, did not get the same level of service Head Start eligible children did, but the specialists were usually available for consultation to give center directors information and referrals.)
Why stipends are preferred to cost allocation:
- Cost allocation can actually resort in a higher cost to Head Start than paying a quality enhancement stipend as Head Start would pay a percentage of all costs associated with having the children in the program.
- If Head Start paid its fair share via cost allocation, there would really no in-kind realized.
- If Head Start paid for the costs of delivering Head Start, it separates Head Start from child care, thus disqualifying the provider from billing for 3.5 hours per day.
BUT IF…
- “Head Start provided comprehensive services (e.g. curriculum oversight, health, dental, vision, staff training/mentoring, literacy, etc.) in the child care setting. Head Start may provide resources to enhance the child care program but does not reimburse the provider for child care services.”
State of Michigan, FIA Memorandum 7/16/01, to County Directors and District Office Managers from Jim Nye, Field Operations Administration Subject: CDC Eligibility for Head Start/Child Care Partnerships
An important concept to remember in making partnerships work is that partnerships should be revenue neutral for Head Start and revenue positive for child care.
