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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 07072006 - C.37 • `�E 6E..L TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS :,� Contra Costa FROM: Danna Fabella, Interim Director County '� Employment and Human Services Department sra-�a�« DATE: July 7, 2006 SUBJECT: Family and Children's Trust Committee (FACT) Recommendations for FY 2006/2007 Funding fol Contracts from the Childcare Affordability Funds. SPECIFIC REQUEST(S)OR RECOMMENDATION(S)&BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION RECOMMENDED ACTION: I. ACCEPT the Family and Children's(Trust Committee (FACT) recommendations for FY 2006/2007 funding for contracts from the Childcare Affordability Funds, and, II. APPROVE AND AUTHORIZE the Interim Employment and Human Services Director, or designee, to EXECUTE contracts with the following agencies for the period of July 1, 2006 through June 30, 2007 as listed below: Contractor Program Contract Amt. Professional Association of Childhood Educators Infant/Toddler Subsidies $120,000 (PACE) for Low-Income Families Mt. Diablo Unified School District Crossroad High School Childcare $ 35,000 Services for Teen Parents Pittsburg Pre-School and Childcare Services for Teen Parents $ 35,000 Community Council Professional Association for Childhood Educators Transitional Childcare Subsidies $50,000 (PACE) for Families at 76-85% State Medium Income (SMI) Total: $140,000 FINANCIAL IMPACT: $140,000 Childcare Affordability Fund; 100% County. CHILDREN'S IMPACT STATEMENT: The contracts will support all five of the community outcomes: "Children Ready for and Succeeding in School", "Children and Youth Healthy and Preparing for Productive Adulthood", "Families that are Economically Self Sufficient", "Families that are Safe, Stable and Nurturing", "Communities that are Safe and Provide a High Quality of Life for Children and Families"by availing families of safe, affordable childcare and providing subsidies for the childcare. The outcome is a stabilization of the family unit and the provision of opportunities for individuals to obtain and maintain unsubsidized employment. BACKGROUND: In February1997, the Board approved a recommendation from the Family and Human Services Committee that the Family and Children's Trust Committee (FACT)be responsible for establishing priorities for use of the Childcare Affordability funds and recommending to the Board those agencies and contract amounts to be supported with these funds. CONTINUED ON ATTACH M ENT:_X_YES SIGNATURE: vRECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR _X—RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE YAPPROVE OTHER SIGNATURE(S).. ACTION OF B A ONAPPROVED AS RECOMMENDED�_ OTHER VOTE OF SUPERVISORS \, I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE UNANIMOUS(ABSENT I ) AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN AYES: NOES: AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD ABSENT: ABSTAIN: OF SUPERVISORS �OrN',THE DATE SHOWN. ATTESTED 1c L��— D , 2w, JOHN CUL N,CLERK OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR Contact: DANNA FABELLA, 3-1583 cc: CONTRACTS UNIT(EB) COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR BY DEPUTY AUDITOR-CONTROLLER Page Two The FACT Committee undertook an extensive needs assessment process in the fall of 2005 in preparation for developing the 2006-2007 Request for Proposals (RFP). Included were a series of meetings with the key child care agencies and programs with policy/administrative responsibility in the County, a door-to-door and phone survey of 1,890 community residents in the low-income, high-need zip codes of the County and public meetings held in east, west, and central county to elicit information from parents,providers, community residents and others as to the most important needs for child care in their neighborhoods and communities. Following analysis of the needs assessment data, the following three (3)priorities were identified and formed the basis of RFP #1087 which was released in February, 2006: ➢ Teen Parent programs on-site or in close coordination with the schools at which the teens are enrolled that include additional supportive services to encourage continued school enrollment, improved parenting and life skills, employment and training assistance, and mentoring/tutoring. ➢ Child care subsidies for low-income parents whose income is 76-85% of the state median income (SMI) for up to six months of transitional child care. ➢ Parent-choice infant/toddler subsidies for low-income working parents county-wide. Four proposals were received in response to this RFP and the FACT Committee and Contracts/Fiscal Units of the Department conducted a thorough technical and financial review of each proposal. As a result of this review and rating process, FACT recommends that each of the four applicant agencies be awarded contracts as stated above. FACT staff presented these recommendations in a report to the Family and Human Services Committee on June 12, 2006 (see attached) and FHS approved forwarding them to the full Board of Supervisors for final approval. u ATTACHMENT Employment and Human Services Department Contra Costa County TO: Family and Human Services Committee Supervisor Mark DeSaulnier Supervisor Federal Glover FROM: Danna Fabella, Interim Director, Employment and Human Services Mary Kay Miller, FACT iStaff RE: FY 2005-2006 Child Care Affordability Report DATE: June 19, 2006 RECOMMENDATION(S) The Director of the Employment and Human Services Department recommends that the Family and Human Services Committee accept this report of the 2005-2006 Child Care Affordability RFP process from the Family and Children's Trust Committee (FACT) and direct FACT to implement contracts through the Department with the following agencies: 1. Professional Association for Childhood Education (PACE): $120,000 for "County-wide Parent Choice Subsidies for Infant/Toddler Childcare". 2. Mt. Diablo Unified School District— Crossroads High School: $35,000 for "Teen Parent Child Care". 3. Pittsburg Preschool and Community Council: $35,000 for "Teen Parent Child Care". 4. Professional Association for Childhood Education (PACE): $50,000 for "Transitional Child Care Subsidies for Low-Income Working Families". BACKGROUND _ FACT staff met with this Committee on May 1, 2006 to describe the needs assessment process for establishing priorities for use of the Child Care Affordability funds for 2006-2007, developing and managing the competitive process for awarding these monies, and monitoring the resulting programs for contract compliance and achievement of outcomes. At the conclusion of that meeting, FHS directed FACT to continue the RFP process and provide its recommendations for new contracts in June. CONTRACTOR SELECTION PROCESS RFP #1078 was released in March, 2006. The four priority areas for services being requested were: ❖ Up to $80,000 for teen parent child care programs on-site or in close coordination with the schools at which the teens are einrolled that include additional supportive services to encourage continued school enrollment, improved parenting and life skills, employment assistance and training, mentoring/tutoring, etc. ❖ Up to $50,000 for child care subsidies for low-income parents whose income has recently reached 76-85% of the state median income level to provide up to 6 months of transitional child care support. ❖ 'At least $120,000 for parent-choice infant/toddler subsidies for low-income working parent's county-wide. Four proposals were received in response to the RFP #1078 solicitation. Each of the proposals was determined by the Contracts Unit of EHSD to be in full compliance with the terms of the request and addressed one of the RFP priorities Copies of the proposals were forwarded to all FACT Committee members for their independent review and rating using the attached Rating Score Sheet. On May 17th, the Committee held an open Review Meeting to review all of the scores and comments of the Committee members. At that meeting, there was unanimous agreement to forward each of the proposed contracts to your Committee for approval. Three of the programs being recommended for approval for 2006-2007 will be continuation programs from this fiscal year. The fourth program, "Transitional Child Care Subsidies for Low Income Working Families" will be a new contract that responds to one of the priorities set forth in the RFP. The four proposed contract programs are described below. Priority#1: Child Care for T.Pn Par.nfc 1. Mt. Diablo Unified School District: Crossroads High School The Crossroads High School project provides childcare for the children of teen parents attending school, supportive services to the teens that empowers them to continue their education, break the cycles of teen pregnancy, poverty and violence, and education/skill building programs to improve their parenting practices and eventual self-sufficiency. Enrollment in the program is at capacity of 50 students and their children. All of the children are under 5 years of age with the far I ajority under 2. 67% of the teens and their children are Latino, 9% are African American, 14% Caucasian and the remainder are Native American or Multiracial. The program is open to any pregnant or parenting high school student in MDUSD and the current enrollment includes 30 students from central county and 20 from east county. Childcare is provided by a lead teacher and two associate teachers in each of three child care rooms (infant, toddler and pre-school) with support from childcare attendants. The program models being used are CAL-SAFE (California School Age Families Education) and Early Head Start. The psychologist that is supported with Child Care Affordability funds works with the teens to increase their understanding of the developmental milestones of their children and ways to encourage healthy growth. The teens are strongly encouraged to interact with their children during the school day and they are with them during the lunch period. These times are used to model appropriate interactions, methods of dealing with behavior issues, and ways to encourage strong bonding of the teen and her/his child. Developmental profiles are maintained for each child and staff assist the parents to incorporate strategies for enhancing developmental outcomes outside of the classroom. Services for the teen parents include both academics and parenting classes/enrichment activities. The goal of the program is to provide the services necessary to support the teens academic, life skills and parenting successes and provide a road map for their continued growth after graduation. The students have academics in the morning and parenting education classes, individual counseling, public health nurse/pediatric clinic visits, nutrition education, psychologist interactions with the student and their children, and enrichment classes, as needed, in the afternoons. Social casework services and transportation are provided and a Spanish couples counseling class is offered in the evenings. A new addition to the program supported by the Child Care Affordability funds is a Spanish- speaking counselor. Over half of the students speak Spanish and 20% of the students are Spanish-only speakers. In addition to the counseling and support services provided by the counselor, the teens are enrolled in ESL classes and audio equipment has been purchased to enhance their skills. Working with these mono-lingual teens presents new challenges, and the project has dealt with them admirably. Crossroads is a model program of the integration of childcare, academic education and supportive services to encourage young teens to become better parents, continue their education and set goals for themselves and their children that lead to a productive self-sufficient life in the future. 2. Pittsburg Pre-School and Community Council Teen Parent Child Care Program Twenty-five both in and out-of-school youth and their children are supported by the Child Care Affordability funds in this program that provides continuing education to students seeking their GED, supportive services to improve their self-sufficiency, employability and parenting skills, and coordination with teen parents continuing their education at Pittsburg High School. Childcare is provided in the Pre-School's Therapeutic Nursery, a long-established program of developmental childcare services. Up to twenty-five teens and their children will be enrolled. In the current program, 75% of the youth and their children are Latino, 17% are African American and 8% are Caucasian. All are from Pittsburg/Bay Point. The Therapeutic Nursery is open from 7 AM to 5:30 PM to accommodate the teens that need to travel to work early. It is housed in a very large building that is also home to other childcare programs for older children. The Nursery includes both infant and toddler space and has a capacity of 28 children. It is well designed, having recently been re-furbished by a specialist in space planning for young childrenf The classrooms are staffed by credentialed teachers and aides, and are equipped with numerous activity areas for large and fine motor development, space for creative projects, books, meals (breakfast, lunch and snacks are provided) and napping facilities. There is a strong focus in the program on growth and development in the domains of social/emotional, physical, and cognitive. Staff use the Desired Results Developmental Profile (DRDP) program to initially assess the child's development and continue to track that development across all the domains as long as the child is in the program. Parents review these assessments with the teachers on a routine basis and are instructed in the best ways of encouraging their child's development at home. Continuing parent education is a focus of the program and classroom teachers model appropriate interactions, behavior management, and other positive parenting practices. Other specific education classes for parents (nutrition, well-baby care, promoting nurturing positive relationships, etc.) are provided on an on-going basis. Parents are involved with their children often during the day, working in the classroom, during mealtimes, observing their own child as he/she interacts with'the other children, or, for older children, participating in field trips/park excursions. One of the clear advantages of this project is that if a child is enrolled as an infant, he/she is able to move from the nursery to the toddler program and from there to the pre-school classroom at specified ages. PPSCC is committed to retaining the children of the teen parents enrolled in this program until they reach school age to provide continuity of services and ease the burden on their young parent(s) who by that time are in the work force or in continuing educational programs. The teens receive academic instruction in preparation for the GED from 1:30 to 4 PM every day. If necessary, transportation for both the teen and her/his child is available via the PSCC van. The credentialed instructor spends significant time on both math and language skills because most of the teens are performing several years below grade level in these areas. The tutoring is individualized to each student and there is a continual focus on the acquisition of academic skills as well as life-skills. The program has graduated ten youth so far and several others will take the GED soon. Several of the recent graduates are enrolled in community colleges. In addition to academic instruction, the teen parents receive significant job training/placement assistance. PSCC has a computer lab that is accessible for technical training, resume writing, and web-based job searches. There is a job developer on staff who works closely with the teens to prepare them for future work activities. One of the interesting components of the program is that the teens have been encouraged to hold jobs during the morning hours and return to PSCC in the afternoon for academic skill building. Staff believe that the youth have had few positive role models of job-related success and work to break down misconceptions and increase their self- confidence when searching for and maintaining employment. Other services available to the teens include health screening, ESL classes, counseling and substance abuse rehabilitation, health and social service outreach focusing on perinatal health, HIV/AIDS and homeless care, and nutrition education. Two new program components are being explored. The first is to have the teen parents screened for TB and fingerprinted so they can work in the classrooms as aides with their own and other children, and the second is to develop a program at Juvenile Hall so that teens with young children can be assessed and a plan developed for their continued education and job training before they are released on probation. Priori Y#2_ Parent Choici dies for InfanV]roddler Child Care 1. Professional Association for Early Childhood Education (PACE) This project provides parent-choice infant care subsidies to low-income families. The families and service providers are located throughout the county; however priority is given to families in the low- income communities of Richmond, San Pablo, Concord, Pittsburg, Bay Point and Antioch. Eligibility for the program includes: • Family income falls within 50-75% of the California Median Income Guidelines; • Family has a need for child care and has no other viable option for non-subsidized child care; • Child is under 24 months old This program has been integrated into the PACE Alternative Payment Program (APP) and managed in a similar manner. Outreach for these services occurs via flyers and mailings, referrals from community-based agencies, phone contacts with area providers, collaborative meetings with other agencies, etc. Once a potential family is identified, the case manager assigned to the program assists them to provide the necessary documentation, helps identify and select an appropriate provider (exempt, non-exempt family child care, or center-based), and manages the payment process to the provider. Case managers have a background in early childhood care and are equipped to sensitively assist parents through the process of searching for the best provider for their situation. They are also available to provide resources and referrals to other agencies for additional services the parent(s) might need. PACE has an eligibility list of overI1000 Contra Costa families in need of subsidized care. Admission to this program follows the Admission Priorities Guidelines of the California Department of Education-Child Development Division. The Guidelines assist in determining which eligible family is admitted first among families with varying incomes and sizes. When two or more families are in the same rank, the family with a special needs child has priority. After that consideration, the family who has been on the elilgibility list longest is admitted first. Families may continue to receive subsidy payments for their infant until the child reaches 24 months old. The case manger works with families who are about to leave this program to transition onto other programs for iwhich they are eligible. This may be one of the other PACE programs or an outside childcare funding program depending on the families' eligibility status. If a family is eligible for another of the PACE funding streams, they will receive priority when a slot opens up to avoid undue disruption in services that often jeopardizes the parent's employment. Families receive partial subsidy a ount up to $700/month depending on the number of children in the family and the family's income level. Currently, 24 families are enrolled and this number will remain the same during the new contract year. Half of the families are using exempt care providers and half are using non-exempt family childcare providers — none are using center-based care, most likely due to the increased cost of such care. Priorly#3- Transitional Child Care Sub for Low-In .ome Working Familiec 1, Professional Association for Childhood Education (PACE) This new program is seeking to address a need for transitional child care support for families who have been receiving subsidized care at the state eligibility levels (between 50 — 75% of the state median income) but who are duel to lose their eligibility due to slight increase in income. This often happens when the employed family member receives a small increase in salary that just puts him or her $100-200 per year over the maximum allowable level. Often these families also lose their eligibility for housing assistance, food stamps, WIC and other public programs at the same time. If this happens, many times the family is forced to drop their employment in order to save their housing or other aide. This is counter-productive to the purpose of providing child care assistance in order to promote family stability and employment. The new program is a replication)of one that that PACE administers in San Mateo County and will follow the same guidelines. Up to 15 families will be provided this extended subsidized child care for up to 6 months or until they are able to maintain their child in care independently. Due to its experience in San Mateo County, PACE has the case management software to track families within the 76 — 85t' SMI calculate family fees, produce certificates and determine on- going eligibility for families. CONCLUSION The FACT Committee has continued to monitor the current contractors during this past year through data collection and site-visits with each project. Each of the programs has met or exceeded their goal and each has remained committed to providing exemplary services, often by I I instituting program enhancements and securing additional funding to supplement what FACT has been able to provide through the Child Care Affordability funding. Three of the programs are being recommended for continued contracts resulting from the RFP process and the fourth recommended contractor has the capacity and experience in another county to provide the transitional child care services requssted in the latest RFP. FACT followed an extensive, equitable and open process in the conduct of the needs assessment, RFP development and rating and review of the proposals submitted for consideration and hopes that the Family and Human Services Committee approves these recommendations and forwards them to the full Board for approval.