Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR

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Child Care Resource and Referral (CCRR)

• FY 13 Contract Renewal Discussion

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History of CCRRs in Massachusetts

• In the 1970s Massachusetts was one of the first
  states to develop information and referral
  services to support working families needing to
  find child care for their children. They tracked
  supply and demand data and worked with both the
  child care providers and the state to improve
  quality and access for all families.
• Throughout those early years and into the
  mid-1990s, the core child care resource and
  referral services were
• Consumer education including information and
  referral,
• Training and technical assistance for providers,
• Resource development,
• Data collection and analyses, and
• Policy and advocacy.

Source The CAYL Institute Child Care Resource
and Referral Study Circle Project May 2011
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History of CCRRs in Massachusetts

• In the 1980s, two major changes took place that
  impacted the child care resource and referral
  field in Massachusetts
• First The state merged CCRRs with Voucher
  Management Agencies (VMAs).
• Second Employer-supported resource and referral
  services expanded across the country via Work
  Family Directions.
• Both were a mixed blessing for the CCRRs. Many
  benefited from the contract dollars with
  corporations and served a wide array of working
  families. Simultaneously, voucher management
  began to shift the role of the CCRRs by
  expanding their focus to serving primarily the
  lowest income families and managing vouchers.

Source The CAYL Institute Child Care Resource
and Referral Study Circle Project May 2011
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History of CCRRs in Massachusetts

• In the mid-1990s
• With the passing of welfare reform at both at the
  state and then federal levels, the CCRRs voucher
  management role expanded, becoming almost their
  sole focus.
• Simultaneously, Work Family Directions pulled
  back many of the contracts that had once provided
  private funding to the agencies, making the
  agencies resources very tight for supporting
  moderate income working families.
• In 2009 CCRRRs lost in 9c funding cuts.

SourceThe CAYL Institute Child Care Resource and
Referral Study Circle Project May 2011
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CCRRs Today

• In 2009, the CCRR contract was put out to bid
  resulting in the three-year contracts that began
  on 7/1/10.
• As a result of the bid, the number of CCRRs
  decreased from 14 to 11.
• A new contracting structure was put in place with
  contract for 3 levels
• Level 1 Voucher Management
• Level 2 Information and Referral
• Level 3 State-wide consumer information

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CCRRs Today

• The breakdown in levels of service offered is the
  following
• 3 CCRRs offer Level One only (Voucher
  Management)
• 2 CCRRs offer only Level Two (Information and
  Referral)
• 6 CCRRs offer Level One and Two combined
• 2 CCRRs also offer Level 3 (Enhanced Consumer
  Education.)

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Overlap with other EEC Funding

• Of the 11 CCRRs
• 2 Are the Lead CFCE Grantee
• 2 Subcontract with a local CFCE
• 3 are the lead EPS grantee
• 6 are members of the EPS Network Team in their
  region (2 have subcontracts.)
• 0 are affiliated with a parent agency that also
  receives the EC Mental Health grant.

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FY 11 ARRA Funding

• In FY 11 CCRRs received 561K in ARRA funding to
  support
• the transition to their new contracts,
• Implementation of efficiencies, and
• enrolling children in ARRA funded initiatives.
• CCRRs used these funds
• To fund 22 FTEs to fill gaps in staffing,
• Pay for overtime to handle ARRA intake,
• For the addition of new telephone lines, updated
  websites and scheduling software.
• With the termination of these funds many CCRRs
  have returned to lower staff levels.

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CCRR
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Contract Requirements include

• Level One Subsidy Management
• Voucher Management Determine family eligibility
  for entry and renewal of services per EEC Subsidy
  Policy.
• Family Support Meet with families to begin/renew
  child care subsidy.
• Collaboration with other agencies to support
  enrollment/continuation of eligible services.
• Documentation/recording required
• Billing and Provider Reimbursement
• Provider Monitoring

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CCRRs and Voucher Management
These numbers represent the volume of new (blue)
and reassessed (red) vouchers written state-wide
each month. These numbers do not capture no-show
appointments or appointments held for vouchers
not written due to insufficient documentation.
Source CCIMS
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CCRRs and Voucher Management
Standard Deviation DSS 2 DTA 136 Income
Eligible 221 ARRA 66 Grand Total 318 Avg.
Average (9/10 10/11) September 2009 New
Voucher Placement number was 1,736 October
2009 New Voucher Placement number was 982
Source CCIMS
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Information and Referral Services Level One For
subsidized families, Level Two all families

• Respond to inquiries regarding options for early
  education and care services.
• Needs assessment
• Act as a resource for identifying family needs,
  determining appropriate community resources and
  referring families to the appropriate services.
• Information and referral service provision,
  allowed options for implementation
• Web-based,
• State-wide telephone coverage,
• Face-to-face Services,
• Partnerships with other agencies (TANF, DTA, DCF,
  DPH/EI.)
• Other Brochures, flyers, booklets, faxes, yellow
  pages, radio, tv, web videos, etc.

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Contract Requirements include

• Level Three Enhanced Consumer Education. Provide
  innovative communication models for state-wide
  dissemination of relevant info to families
  regarding early education and care, its
  importance for their children and their role as
  their childrens first educators.

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FY 11 CCRR Contract Performance Data

• Number of outpost locations 29
• Number of families that received a Level Two
  referral 16, 244
• Ave number of appointments held per week during
  traditional hours 1,333
• Ave wait time to get an appointment 1 week
• Number of languages other than English spoken by
  CCRR staff 17
• Number of families that received an Orientation
  to in-home/relative care 821
• Ave Caseload per voucher counselor 676
• Percent NACCRA Quality Assured 60

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FY12 First Quarter Reports
Activity FY 12 Plan FY12 Actual Balance
Outpost Locations 29 29 On target
Goal for average wait time 4 days 5 days Over target by average of 1 day
Number of families to receive a referral 10,809 2,360 22 of goal met in first quarter
Ave Caseload per voucher Counselor 795 868 Above target by average of 84 cases
Total new voucher agreements to be signed 458 125 27 of target met in first quarter
Number families to receive in-home/relative orientation 746 192 26 of target met in first quarter
Total number of families to receive a level 2 referral 16,510 2,820 17 of target met in first quarter

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FY12 First Quarter Report, Level 3
Resources Made Available Number of Items Number of Individuals Reached
CCRR website http//machildcareresourcesonline.org/ 113,062 visitors
Tweets sent 17
Facebook posts 54 6,175
Events listed 83 5,570
Resources distributed (newsletters brochures) 9 49,875
Parent resources accessed
Webinars 4 2,147
Training videos 6
Resource links 32
Provider resources accessed
Webinars 5 2,214
Training clips 7
Resource links 24

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National Association of Child Care Resource and
Referral Agencies (NACCRRA)

• In November 2011, EEC contracted with NACCRA to
  build upon the CAYL report and EECs Strategic
  Plan to develop a plan for the improvement of
  CCRR services in Massachusetts.
• The PROCESS underway includes
• Oct Reviewed documents provided by EEC (CAYL
  Study, EEC Race to the Top submission, Head Start
  Survey Report, etc)
• Nov Focus groups held with parents, providers,
  CCRR staff, MASS 211, MADCA
• Reviewed CCRR best practice nation wide
• Nov. /Early Dec. Draft findings and initial
  recommendations to EEC
• Presentation to EEC Board 12/13/11
• Final report to EEC Jan 2012.

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NACCRRA Plan for Massachusetts

• Initial findings to date
• CCRR agencies in Massachusetts do not meet
  national definition for service delivery and best
  practice standards for CCRR,
• Recruitment, training, professional development
  and oversight of child care providers is
  fragmented,
• No standard definitions and measurable outcomes
  for services offered,
• Voucher Management is labor intensive, paper
  laden and vulnerable to fraud,
• Massachusetts is lagging behind in the use of
  technology in all areas of service delivery,
• Access to family services for ALL families is
  confusing and disjointed,

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NACCRRA Plan for Massachusetts

• Preliminary Recommendations
• Adopt NACCRRAs definition of CCRR
• An organization whose stated purpose includes
  delivery of information-based services to
  families, child care providers and the community.
• Organizations that provide services to only one
  of the target areas, but are part of a formal
  system of organizations that together provide all
  of the services to meet the definition of a
  CCRR.
• The core services include at a minimum
• Supporting all families
• Active operation of referral and consumer
  education services
• Supporting professional development
• Increasing the availability, affordability and
  quality of child care
• Supporting development of policies on family and
  childrens issues
• Generating additional resources
• Maintaining a high quality comprehensive database
  for the effective delivery of core services.
• Currently, CCRRs in MA perform some, but not all
  of these functions.

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NACCRA Plan for Massachusetts

• Preliminary Recommendations
• Adopt a managing network model through a
  competitive bid process. The selected agency
  should be centrally located, have the capacity to
  manage multiple projects, manage statewide data
  bases and use technology such as social media.
  It must also have a solid governance structure
  that does not include agencies or personnel with
  a clear conflict of interest.
• Consolidate all information and referral
  activities for all families through a single
  statewide call center and web-site.
• Ensure selected agency becomes Quality Assured

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Managing Network Office Functions -Primary
Liaison with State ECE -Manage and distribute
CCRR funding for the State Child Care
Administrator -Determine the range of services
local CCRRs should provide -Develop and carry
out contracts -Consolidate all information and
referral activities -Track CCRRs performance
through evaluation and quality assurance
activities single statewide call center and
web-site -Manage subsidy administration -All
agencies must be Quality Assured
State Child Care Administrator
CCRR Managing Network Office
Regional/local CCRR office
Regional/local CCRR office
Regional/local CCRR office
Regional/local CCRR office
Regional/local CCRR office
Regional/local CCRR office
Regional/Local CCRR Office Functions -Training -
Provider Support Services -Provider
Database -QRIS Implementation -on-site technical
assistance
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NACCRRA Plan for Massachusetts

• Preliminary Recommendations
• Create a single state-wide, web-based database of
  all early care and education programs including
  child care, pre-k and Head Start programs.
• Adopt a web-based subsidy management system that
  allows both parent and child care providers to
  input and update data on-line and allows them to
  track the status of their applications and other
  relevant information.
• Establish a single web-based training and
  technical assistance tracking system that shares
  data with the state professional registry and
  allows for transfer of training within the state.

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NACCRRA Plan for Massachusetts

• Next steps
• Draft report and briefing to EEC for first review
  by Dec 23.
• EEC to review draft report and provide comments
  to NACCRRA by Dec 29.
• Final report to EEC for Jan Board meeting by Jan
  5.

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Meanwhile, Changes are Underway

• Within their current contract, CCRRs have agreed
  to
• Become NACCRA Quality Assured. All Level 2
  CCRRs are currently in the Self-Study process.
• Support role-out of the voucher management pilot
  and subsequent expansion.
• Increase their role in informing families and
  programs about the value of the QRIS.
• Increase Level 3 outputs.
• Update and streamline the process for monitoring
  voucher providers.
• Enhance use of technology as possible with
  current funding.
• Collaborate with MASS211 in delivery of
  information and referral services.
• Develop a state-wide Advisory with broad
  representation.

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Contract Renewal/Rebid Issues for Consideration

• If implementation of NACCRRA recommendations
  represent a substantial change to current CCRR
  contracts, rebidding may be required.
• If rebid, EEC will need to purchase a redefined
  level of service and consider the CCRR
  relationship to other grants.
• Geography and integration with other funding
  sources will need consideration.
• The impact on families and their needed access to
  subsidy must be kept in mind as any transition to
  a new system unfolds.
• EEC may consider roll-out of changes in stages.
• A process for informing and gathering feedback
  from the field will be developed.