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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 03072006 - C.58 et' >�Y = ` TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS .i.-= ,�;_'_;,, Contra •;�__ �.-A' '�_ FROM: John Cullen, County Administrator S': ;i Costa P DATE: March 7, 2006 County`�'s�o����� SUBJECT: Community Services Department Monthly Update S C . SPECIFIC REQUEST(S)OR RECOMMENDATION(S)&BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION RECOMMENDATION: ACCEPT monthly update on the operations of the Community Services Department. FISCAL IMPACT: No impact from this update. BACKGROUND: To enhance oversight of the Community Services Department the County Administrator is conducting monthly meetings with the department to receive updates on program issues and to plan and/or authorize actions that may be needed. To ensure they remain updated regarding the status of the program, the Board of Supervisors directed the County Administrator, or his designee, to provide them with a monthly status report. Attached is the regular monthly report on the operations of the Community Services Department. This report includes updates on the activities of the Policy Council, personnel issues, fiscal and audit reports and other programmatic issues. CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: NO YES S GNATURE: RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE APPROVE OTHER SIGNATURE(S): ACTION OF BOARQ APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED OT R VOTE OF SUPERVISORS I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN AND ENTERED ON MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN. UNANIMOUS(ABSENT .� ) AYES: NOES: ABSENT: ABSTAIN: Contact: Dorothy Sansoe(5-1009) cc: Community Services Department ATTESTED County Administration HN CU E ,CLERK OP THE BOAR11 OFSUPERVISORS BY: DEPUTY s Y• C 0 To: John Sweeten, County Administrator COMMUNITY SERVICES DEPARTMENT From: Joe Valentine, Executive Director ]oe valentine Subject: Monthly Report Executive Director Date: February 15, 2006 Patricia Stroh,PhD Program Services Director I am submitting the following report to ensure ongoing communication with the County Administrator regarding all issues pertaining to the Head Start program and the Community Services Department(CSD). A. Policy Council 1. In January,three members of the Head Start Policy Council Executive Committee attended the California Head Start Association conference in Sacramento. The members reported what they learned at the conference to the Policy Council during February's Policy Council meeting. One important highlight of the conference included learning more about the importance of male involvement in the lives of children. 2. During January's and February's meetings,the Policy Council representatives received training on the Department's "Self-Assessment" process in order to prepare them for their involvement in this process next month. 3. The Policy Council's "Male Involvement" subcommittee continues finalizing the letter and flyer for the planned, targeted mailing to 300 male primary caregivers within the Head Start program. Latrina Johnson, secretary of the Male Involvement subcommittee, will be attending the Fatherhood Conference at the end of February in Phoenix, Arizona. B. Personnel Report 1. A"Community Services Deputy Director"position is being proposed for establishment in order to provide for a clear chain of command and coverage when the Director is away from the office. Additional management responsibilities are also being assigned to this position. The former CSD "Assistant Director"and"FACS Head Start Director"positions will in tum be abolished in order to maintain a more streamlined management structure. 2. The Department will participate in an on-site recruitment drive on February 28, 2006 at RichmondWORKS, and we are expecting a good turnout. 3. A breakfast meeting with Local One was held on January 31, 2006. Key management staff attended as well as the business agents and executive boards from both the line and supervisor's units of Local One. Several issues and updates were discussed. Overall, it was a positive and productive meeting. 4. The first meeting of the newly formed CSD Labor/Management Committee is scheduled for March 31, 2006. Management and Labor have met several times with the assistance of a facilitator to develop the structure and ground rules for the committee. The committee will provide a vehicle for ongoing 2425 Bcor anproblem solving. d,California94520 � 1� g Lane Drive,Suite 260 Concord, communication d joint . Tel 925 646 5540 Fax 925 646 5904 ww•%.ccccsd.org John Sweeten Page 2 February 15,2006 C. Fiscal and Audit Reports 1. The Department was notified by the Administration for Children&Families (ACF) on January 31, 2006 that the Defense Appropriation Act reduces the 2006 Head Start and Early Head Start base funding level by one percent. For Head Start,this means a reduction of about$162,000 and for Early Head Start a reduction of $19,000. We will adjust our budget for the remainder of the year by reducing non-Iabor administrative expenditures. 2. The President's budget proposal for Federal Fiscal Year 2007 also includes a 1%cut to Head Start as well as no inflationary adjustments. When this 1% cut is combined with the estimated Congressional Budget Office increase in the consumer price index for all urban consumers (CPI-U) of 2.1 percent, then this would result in a net reduction of approximately 3%to the Head Start and Early Head Start budgets. This would be equivalent to reducing enrollment for Head Start by 54 children and Early Head Start enrollment by 7 infants and toddlers. 3. The president's 2007 budget also includes the proposed elimination of the Community Service Block Grant Program,the elimination of Emergency Funding for Energy Assistance, and a 10%reduction in the Low Income Heating and Energy Assistance Program [LIHEAP] which would eliminate services to approximately 1,640 low income families. 4. We received the final monitoring report from the Department of Community Services and Development regarding the findings from their recent audit of our LIHEAP and Weatherization program. There were no findings of deficiency. There was one recommendation to better integrating the files for Weatherization clients between our Department and Building Services that we'll be following up on. 5. On February 8, 2006, the Department received supplemental funding from the Administration for Children and Families (ACF)providing a one-time allocation of$4,000 for attendance at the National Hispanic Institute in Denver, Colorado from February 27 through March 3, 2006. This conference will provide staff with ideas for new strategies to address the increasing percentage of our children and families who are from Spanish-speaking households. D.Enrollment 1. The Head Start and Early Head Start sites are fully enrolled; Head Start enrollment is at 1,560 children and Early Head Start enrollment is at 210 children. The Spanish-speaking children enrolled in the program represents 52%of the total children served; 41%are English-speaking; and 7%speak other languages in the home. 2. Our Head Start National Reporting System standardized testing results for the fall assessment period have been received. This testing compares the performance of our children to those across the country. The mean scores for four year old children in Contra Costa County Head Start exceed the mean scores for Region 9. This is remarkable since we have such a high percentage of English-language learners in our program. E. Special Proiects/Activities John Sweeten Page 3 February 15,2006 1. On February 28, we'll be holding an"All-Staff Summit"at the Centre Concord in Clayton. The purpose of this day long conference is to alert staff of the critical need to be vigilant with regards to child supervision and safety at all of our sites, and to engage them in the development of practical strategies that they could implement in their own classrooms. We'll also be updating them on organizational changes and hosting displays of"best practices"at each of the sites. John Sweeten, John Gioia, Rollie Katz, and others will be invited to make a few remarks. Region 9, ACF and parents have been notified that our sites will be closed for that day. 2. Head Start sponsored its fourth annual "Give a Kid a Smile"day for which more than 350 preschool children received dental examinations and treatment. This project was held at four Head Start centers and five dental offices throughout the county. A recent article was printed in the Contra Costa Times that featured this event. 3. CSD is planning its Head Start/Early Head Start annual Self-Assessment that will take place March 6— 10, 2006. During the self-assessment, staff,parents and others will study the various aspects of our program to match service practices with the federal regulations. Areas of strengths and challenges will be identified and, if needed, changes for improvement will be implemented. 4. CSD has worked with the Risk Management Department to implement an "Injury and Illness Prevention Plan"that is specifically focused on reducing injuries in the preschool classroom environment. All staff will have been trained when the program is complete. 5. The Department is currently in the process of developing new Strategic Goals for the next two years. At a day long work session,the department's senior managers identified four key areas that the entire organization needs to focus on. Over the next month,we'll be identifying existing strategies and activities that will help us achieve these goals, as well as developing additional strategies where necessary. The individual performance expectations for senior managers will include their responsibility for these strategies and activities. The 4 goals are: • Recruiting and developing excellent staff • Achieving and maintaining full enrollment; • Maintaining 100%compliance with safety and program funding requirements; • Developing operational excellence in all of our administrative systems; and, 6. CSD has received a$5,000 nutrition grant from the California-Nevada Community Action Partnership. This grant, entitled ASIA(Appropriate Serving and Increased Activity), is designed to help prevent obesity in preschool-aged children by increasing training for our teachers and the children's parents. 7. As a pilot project in West County, CSD is partnering with the West County Unified School District and the Child Care Council to provide parenting workshops for our Spanish-speaking parents. The workshops will be held at our Brookside center in Richmond every Tuesday evening from 5:30 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. during the month of March. The workshops are designed to John Sweeten Page 4 February 15,2006 help parents deal with frustrating behaviors, learn about child development, and find support from other parents. 8. We recently learned that the California Child Development Administrators Association has awarded its 2006 "Advocacy" award to the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors. They gave the award to the Board of Supervisors to recognize the fact that they were the first group who supported the grassroots campaign for the Standard Reimbursement Rate(SRR)and have supported legislative efforts to increase reimbursement rates for child development providers and to provide funded professional interest days to support staff development. Cc: Pat Stroh, Program Services Director Policy Council family, &fNum. Sef vic s Coriuniifee Maria Fort, ACF