Illinois Head Start State Collaboration

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Illinois Head Start State Collaboration

• What is it?
• Why should we do it?
• How do we do it?
• Together we can do what none of us could do alone
  

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Collaboration What is it?

• We must all hang together or assuredly, we shall
  all hang separately.
• --Benjamin Franklin
• _______________________________________________
• Collaboration is the most intense level of
  working together. It is a structure a process
  for creating CHANGE. A collaborative effort is
  driven by partners who agree to share
  information, activities, resources, influence,
  power decision-making authority to achieve
  common goals goals that no single partner or
  program could achieve by acting alone.
• From Community Partnerships Working Together, US
  DHHS

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Collaboration What?

• Working together toward a common vision
• Keeping the focus on the children families and
  quality services
• Asking answering Whats in it for me?
• Trying new ways
• Negotiating conflict and differences
• Communicating, committing, evaluating
• Giving up turf some control, but maintaining
  uniqueness strength
• Achieving greater results

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Collaboration What?

• It is because modern education is so seldom
  inspired by great hope that it so seldom achieves
  great results. The wish to preserve the past
  rather than the hope of creating the future
  dominates the minds of those who control the
  teaching of the young.
  --Bertrand Russell
• _______________________________________
• Hard work, pooling resources ( human)
• WORTH IT!

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Collaboration Why should we do it?

• Because fragmentation in the early care
  education community is a serious issue it
  causes
• turf-ism, unresolved conflict, lack of
  communication leadership, etc., etc.
  diminished
• services
• Because the
• children families
• deserve the best system
• we can offer them!

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Collaboration Why?

• Current early care education system
• PreK
• 
  Child Care
• Head Start Families???

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Collaboration Why?

• Additional services, e.g., full day/year, health,
  family support
• Continuity of care
• Cost effective
• Improved quality
• More flexibility
• Strengthened community

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Collaboration Why?

• Whats in it for me? Head Start
• Strategy for becoming fully enrolled reducing
  waiting list
• Meets ACF goal of collaboration/coordination
• Expanded services for families who need it, e.g.,
  full day/year
• Greater community understanding of Head Start
• Stronger community
• Good business sense
• Focus on the child family!!

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Collaboration Why?

• Whats in it for me? Child Care
• Additional curricular resources, materials,
  equipment
• Increased training staff development resources
• Greater customer service, e.g., health, dental,
  parent involvement
• Stronger community
• Good business sense
• Focus on the child family!!

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Collaboration Why?

• Whats in it for me? PreK
• Expanded services for families, e.g., full
  day/year, health, dental, greater parent
  involvement
• Engage earlier as partner with community in
  preparing children for school
• More children enter school ready
• Stronger community
• Good business sense
• Focus on the child family!!

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Collaboration Why?

• The Vision
• Community coordinates to determine what program
  is best suited each familys needs desires
• Child/family needs eligibility and parent
  choice drive collaboration
• What needs to happen in the community?
• 1. Community-wide child screenings
• 2. Good community assessment coordinated
  among programs
• where are children what is unserved
  population?
• 3. Children enrolled based on eligibility
  tiers

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Collaboration Why?
Level 3 PreK (at risk) Least Restrictive Level
2 Child Care (income/service) Level 1 Head
Start (income/age) Most Restrictive

• The Vision

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Collaboration How do we do it?

• Get Together Decide to act, select key
  players/partners, meet and set ground rules
• Build Trust/Ownership Common knowledge base
  about each other, shared vision, revise ground
  rules, ID planning resources
• Develop Plan Mission, environmental capacity
  assessment, goals strategies
• Take Action Written agreement, implement plan,
  monitor evaluate, revise
• At each stage, evaluate celebrate!!

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Collaboration How?

• Key Partners
• Head Start
• Child Care Centers Homes
• ECBG providers
• Child Care Resource Referral and Community
  Action Agencies
• Parents
• Others, by community

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Collaboration How?

• Key Plan Components
• Staffing
• Parent Participation
• Community Participation
• Program Components
• Regulations How bridged/implemented
• Funding Allocations/Budget
• Documentation
• Evaluation

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Collaboration How?

• Models
• A single program or agency blends/braids funds
  and program requirements from multiple sources at
  a single site.
• Two or more agencies, which are separate legal
  entities, partner to serve children at a single
  site.
• These collaborations generally include two
  types those that co-locate, or share only space,
  and those that actually share programming
  funding.
• A program or agency partners with family child
  care home providers.
•  Adapted from QUILT materials.

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Collaboration How?

• Working Together
• For information on specific models and contacts,
  visit the Illinois collaboration web site at
  www.ilearlychildhoodcollab.org

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Collaboration How?

• Operational Checklist
• Is a Written Agreement in place?
• Has the case management system record keeping
  been revised?
• Is there a system for access to needed records
  information?
• Are confidentiality protocols in place
  understood?
• Does the database include the collaboration?

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Collaboration How?

• Operational Checklist
• Does the collaboration team meet
• regularly?
• Are communication systems used effectively?
• Is conflict appropriately addressed?
• Have job descriptions been revised?
• Is there a collaboration manager with appropriate
  support/authority?
• Are we doing cross training?

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Collaboration How?

• Operational Checklist
• Have the goals been communi-
• cated effectively?
• Is the team regularly assessing progress on the
  plan?
• Is data being collected analyzed?
• Are team members following through?
• Is the community aware of the collaboration?
• Are you evaluating for outcomes?

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Collaboration How?

• Possible Resources
• Partners training and other funds
• Child Care Quality Funding
• Head Start State Collaboration Office
• Training/Technical Assistance Providers (BAH,
  StartNet, CCRR, etc.)

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Remember!!!

• Focus on children families!
• Every partner is valuable respect value each
  other!
• It is good business for us to work together!
• Hold to the vision!
• Honor agreements!
• Persist!!!
• Coach Dean Smith to Michael Jordan in his
  freshman year at UNC Michael, if you cant
  pass, you cant play.