Michigan Head Start Association, Inc.

February Is Fatherhood Awareness Month

Governor Jennifer Granholm has declared February 2009 as Responsible Fatherhood Awareness Month in order to provide an opportunity for Michigan citizens to learn more about how fathers impact the lives of their children. The Michigan Fatherhood Coalition asks that agencies consider planning special community events in February to highlight the importance of father involvement in improving outcomes for Michigan children.

Advocacy Tools and Tips

What is Advocacy?

Advocacy is something that we are all familiar with. Even if you do not know it, you advocate for things on a daily basis. You convince your co-workers where to go for lunch. You persuade your child to try something new at the dinner table. Many conversations that take place between two people have a lot of things in common with advocacy. What it comes down to is talking someone else into doing something for you.

Advocates have issues that they are passionate about. They see problems in the world around them that they want changed. Everything that is done to make those changes happen is some form of advocacy. Each of the topics below will take you to a specific page on one of a variety of different aspects of advocacy.

Setting Your Advocacy Agenda

Framing Your Message

Working Together

Staying Informed

Budget Advocacy

Media Advocacy

Additional Advocacy Resources

For best results, please view the these topics using the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader which may be downloaded for free here.

Head Start Funding for Fiscal Year 2009

Congress has begun work on next year's budget allocations for Head Start, and at this point the following has been proposed:

· House Labor HHS Subcommittee = $242 million increase for 2009

· Senate Appropriations Committee = $223 million increase for 2009

However, a Continuing Resolution has been passed that is effective through February 2009. This means that programs will continue to be funded at this year’s allocations with no changes (i.e., flat funding).

The United States Congress is currently on recess for the Summer District Work Period (August 11-September 5). The District Work Period gives members of Congress (representatives and senators) the opportunity to return to their respective congressional districts (or, for senators, their states).

This is an excellent opportunity for Head Start programs to contact your representative and senators to not only communicate your needs but also to invite your members of Congress to visit your Head Start program; meet with educators, parents, staff, and community supporters; and discuss the challenges your program faces in delivering high-quality services due to cuts in funding and the effects of inflation.

It is also a prime opportunity to discuss Head Start and Early Head Start funding and to obtain their commitment to not only supporting the Head Start program but also to providing the necessary funding resources needed to enable Head Start programs to implement the new requirements mandated in the reauthorization.

MHSA Legislative Priorities for 2007-08

v Continue to support and advocate for reauthorization of Head Start/Early Head Start. Specifically,

Maintain federal-to-local structure
Re-compete only the lowest performing Head Start grantees
Increase degree requirements of Head Start teachers and staff only if new federal funds are appropriated
Maintain the current Policy Council-Shared Governance Structure
Increase income eligibility to 130 percent of poverty level

v Plan, promote, and fund support services for children aged 0-5 to:

Ensure the physical health, safety, social-emotional and cognitive development of children so that they are ready to succeed in school and life;
By legislative mandate, provide that children’s basic nutritional needs are met and addressed through the Child and Adult Care Food Program and National School Lunch Program;
Allow state and federal programs and funds to be combined to provide full-day early childhood care and other programs for children and families; and
Continue to raise awareness and recognize the importance of male involvement in children’s education, healthcare, and support.

v Maintain Parent Involvement in MSRP and increase per pupil funding.

v Increase childcare reimbursement and allow eligibility for parents enrolled in college courses.

v Work with Michigan legislature to allow Head Start programs to be eligible for E-Rate.

v Promote Head Start involvement in planning and implementation of Universal Pre-K programs.

v Continued monitoring and raising awareness of child day care licensing.

v Provide for nuclear and kinship family supports and benefits, such as basic health insurance coverage, that allow low-income working families and their children to thrive and be productive, contributing individuals in their communities.

v Provide support and advocacy for other initiatives, programs, legislation, etc. that promote children and families succeeding in school and in life.

MHSA Position Statements

Position on the 2006 Michigan Civil Rights Ballot Initiative

Adopted by the Board of Directors: August 4, 2006

Statement of Guiding Principles Related to Proposed Immigration Legislation

Adopted by the Board of Directors: August 4, 2006

Region V Policy Update:

OHS Regional Office Review of Risk Management, Monitoring and other Topics:

MHSA on March 12, 2009

PI-HS-09-01 for Conversion form HS to EHS (this was subject of 1/15/09 webcast) and PI-HS-09-02 for Conversion of part-day enrollment to full working day enrollment: Both these conversions are mention in the new Act. The PI provides guidance based on the requirements of the HS Act. Applications must be on 424’s and include required approvals.
Enrollment of Children with Disabilities ACF-PI-HS-09-04
Provision of Diapers ACF-PI-HS-09-03

Head Start Enterprise System (HSES): This has become the place for data entry and management for Head Start. The Regional Office of OHS already uses it for Risk Management data. Grantees are now using it too for entering/uploading: EOM data monthly, contact information, documents submitted prior to triennial review (this is a very recent change) and most recently the ability to enter GABI data on the web in HSES has been added.

T/TA System:

· Additional contracts based on requirements of the Head Start Act have been awarded for each of the states in Region 5. Booz Allen Hamiliton is the state-based contractor for Michigan; Pat Griffis is the manager for the Michigan Office. All staff are on board.

· The regionwide contract for direct TA to grantees with BAH ended on 2/28/09 and was immediately succeeded by a bridge contract to BAH which will continue to TAS staff in place until Phase 2 of the state-based system is funded. The bridge contract does not include content area experts. Cathy Dolan-Burke of BAH continues as the manager of this contract.

· T/TA supplements grants to support the implementation of the new teacher requirements in the Head Start Act were made; under certain circumstances, it is possible to reprogram unobligated portions of these funds into the next budget period; speak with your Program Specialist if this may be your case.

· SOLAR: this new resource for grantees was the subject of an IM and also a webcast. This is not a required tool. It was initially developed as a way to gather and organize data on individual staff training needs as input to each program’s annual Technical Assistance Plan. One of the pilot sites was a Michigan grantee, Wayne County Department of Health and Human Services.

Reports:

· The EOM report is now monthly and filed on HSES.

· PIRs: All Program Specialists should have had a conversation with each HS/EHS the program about the 07-08 PIRs. The PIR is one of the primary sources of data used in the Risk Management Meeting (RMM).

· New system for monitoring underenrollement based on data submitted in the EOM Report

· American Recovery and Reinvest Act (ARRA) will have extensive accountability requirements and therefore funding agencies and recipients of grants must submit reports. Recovery.gov has much useful information on the ARRA and will have more as it is implemented.

On-Site Monitoring:

· Triennial reviews: The 30-day notice rule is still in place.

· Follow-ups: These will continue. The number depends on the results of the triennials and some will be desk reviews rather than on-site.

· Review reports now include areas of strength as presented by the grantee during the review.

· Summary of findings for FY08 (see attachment). These are risks to avoid.

Risk Assessment Process:

The process in Region 5 began in April 2008 and will complete this process for all grantees annually. Most are conference calls, about 25% are face-toface and some have been a combination of these two methods. GAO defines risk as whatever prevents an organization from achieving its objectives. The OHS risk management process is a preventive strategy which also promotes continuous improvement. A key part of the preparation process is a discussion which the Program Specialist has with the grantee to identify areas to be covered at the risk management meeting.

Funding:

· We were under a Continuing Resolution through March 10, 2009. Consequently we funded November-April grantees in installments as in past years.

· The President is expected to sign the Omnibus Appropriations bill on or about 3/11/09. It includes an increase for HS of $234.8M.

· The recently passed House version of the American Recovery and Reinvest Act (ARRA) or Stimulus package includes $2.1 Billion for HS/EHS. Stay tuned.

· The requirements of the Head Start Reauthorization regarding the allotment of increased funding will guide the use of the $234.8M and $1 B of the ARRA funds. The $1.1 balance of the ARRA funds are dedicated to EHS expansion.

· Section 640 of the HS Act spells out the requirements for allotment of increased funds:

o First Cut of Increase

§ COLA

§ Indian and Migrant program expansion

§ T/TA

o Second Cut of Increase

§ Quality

§ HS and EHS Expansion

§ State Advisory Councils

· Enrollment Reductions due to budget issues are on hold pending the outcome of FY 2009 funding decisions.

· The funding Guidance letters each grantee is receiving have some changes in requirements for what is to be included in the refunding application. Please read these letters carefully when they are received by your agency. They are addressed to the Board Chair with a copy to the Executive Director.

· GABI is part of the refunding application and, starting with grantees due for refunding on June 1, 2009, it is expected that it be submitted on the web in addition to being part of the application. This is a more efficient way for grantees and OHS to handle this data. See the FAQs posted on 1-13-09 on ECLKC.

· There have been three announcements for supplemental funding for three training events – all of which are voluntary. As a handy reference, RO staff are using the following table but be sure to read the actual IM. Requests for funding must be on a SF-424 with all required approvals and non-federal share included. By now, all applications for the Dual Language Institute should have been received, if supplemental funds are needed, since the event took place in October 2008. All the IMIL sessions have been completed. Some of the CLASS events are still in the future. There is no specific deadline but please do not neglect to make an application.

Event	Amount of Supplement	Funding Will Cover Grantee and/or Delegate per IM
CLASS IM-08-11	100 % costs up to a specified # of people depending on the size of the agency (see IM)	Grantee and each Delegate
IMIL or alternative IM-08-13	50% of grantee expenses	Grantee
Dual Language Institute IM-08-14 and IM-08-017	Up to $2500 depending on actual expenses	Grantee

Collaboration:

There are many examples of Head Start and GSRP collaboration. Let us know of ways in which we can support this. Several grantees have proposed the use of GSRP funding as non-federal share for the HS grant.
HSSCO: The grant was refunded March 1, 2009. Thanks to grantees for providing the assessment data requested by the HSSCO for inclusion in information provided to OHS.
Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) for Collaboration with Pre-school: These MOUs are required under the new Act to be in place by 12/12/08. We have received many MOUs form grantees and will be evaluating based on guidance form OHS.

Region April 2009 Report

RO Update as of 4/13/09

The instructions for the COLA and Quality Increase were released on April 2, 2009 in a Program Instruction, PI-HS-09-06. The letters with individual COLA and Quality allocations per grantee were emailed the week of April 6. The RO has scheduled a call with all Michigan grantees to cover questions grantees may have. This is on April 16 at 9:30 Central / 10:30 Eastern. An email alert on this went to all HS Directors and Executive Directors on April 13.

An announcement regarding HS and EHS expansion was posted on grants.gov on April 2, 2009. The full announcement has not been released as of April 13.

William M. Sullivan, Head Start Manager

Administration for Children and Families/DHHS

Office of Head Start

233 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 400

Chicago, IL 60601

312/886-4917 Fax: 312/353-2629

william.sullivan@acf.hhs.gov

What's Happening in Michigan?

Governor Granholm has signed into law PA 268 of 2008 (State School Aid Act).

Important features include:
DISTRICT/PUBLIC SCHOOL ACADEMY GRANTEES:
Section 32d
• A change in program name from the Michigan School Readiness Program (MSRP) to the Great Start School Readiness Program (GSRP).
• The term “Half-Day” is changed to Part-Day.
• An increase in funds appropriated for the School District/PSA GSRP; from $85.6M to $88.1M.
• Provision for parenting education option (PIE) is retained. A district may not exceed the lowest amount spent on PIE during FY07 or FY08.
• Comprehensive programming must include developmental screening as described in the Early Childhood Standards of Quality for Prekindergarten (ECSQ-PK).

AGENCY (COMPETITIVE) GRANTEES:
Section 32l:
• An increase in funds appropriated for the Agency MSRP; from $12.65M to $15,150,000. The number of children that could be served part-day is 4,455 at $3,400 per-child. Two slots may be combined to make a Full-Day program.
• Comprehensive programming must include developmental screening as described in the Early Childhood Standards of Quality for Prekindergarten (ECSQ-PK).
• Collaborative recruitment and enrollment process between early childhood partners is required; referral process is detailed for families that are income-eligible for Head Start.
• Low income is expanded from 250% to 300% of the federal poverty level.

Section 37
• Collaborative recruitment and enrollment process between early childhood partners is required; referral process is detailed for families that are income-eligible for Head Start.
• “Schools-of-choice” restriction is waived for consortiums where each consortium member agrees to serve children based on the allocation to the entire consortium.
• Low income is expanded from 250% to 300% of the federal poverty level.

Section 39
• A grantee may collaborate with Head Start to create a Full-Day program by blending Part-Day GSRP allocation and Head Start funds. This provides for one child to pull down both state and federal funding streams within the same program year. All Head Start and GSRP policies and regulations apply to the blended program.
• Second-Round funding is altered to reflect “hold harmless” language, ensuring that if funds are available after the initial allocation, a grantee will receive the requested number of slots or an allocation based on the number of children served in the prior year, whichever is less.
• The per-slot allocation remains constant at $3,400. The number of children that could be served Part-Day is 25,911.
• Initial grantees are capped at 32 Part-Day slots.
• Part-Day is defined as a program that operates at least four days per week, thirty weeks per year, with at least 300 hours of teacher-child contact.

You can read the Fiscal Year 2009 State School Aid Bill in its entirety by clicking here.

STAFF:
Robin J. Bozek, Executive Director (click here to email)
Molly Lor, Program Assistant (click here to email)

"The Mission of the Michigan Head Start Association is to promote equal opportunities for all Head Start children, families and programs to succeed."