Family Friend and Neighbor care gets attention

The Minnesota Department of Human Services has announced the recipients of a grant program for Family Friend and Neighbor (FFN) providers. DHS recieved $750,000 from the legislature in 2007 after Ready 4 K and our allies worked to show legislators the important role this type of care is to families. Minnesota is the first state in the US to put resources into FFN care and it has caused quite a buzz in the early childhood community.

One of the grant recipients, the Northland Foundation (based in Duluth) had this news feature in the local media.

The majority of children in Minnesota spend part of their time in FFN care during the day: whether it is a grandparent, next door neighbor, or nanny. FFN care is especially important in greater Minnesota where there are few programs and child care centers available for young families. It is exciting to see more attention and resources devoted to this area.

Why we do what we do

Reading a new report from the Partnership for America's Economic Success, Using Tax Credits to Promote High Quality Early Care and Education Services, I was particularly struck by the opening paragraph of the introduction:

America's long-term economic success depends on ensuring that children -- the next generation of citizens -- succeed in school and life (Heckman & Masterov, 2004). Advances in neuroscience underscore that young children learn from the earliest moments of life, and that learning is especially rapid in their first five years. The accumulated evidence from evaluations of high quality early education programs tells us children in those programs advance in intellectual, social and emotional competence in the short term, do better academically (in both reading and math) and socially in school, and generally live more productive lives as adults than children who have no preschool education or who have poor early educational experiences (Shore, 1997; Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000; Brown & Scott-Little, 2003; Rolnick & Grunewald, 2003; Lynch, 2004; Gilliam & Zigler, 2004; Barnett & Ackerman, 2006).

The report goes on to explore the possibilities of using tax credits linked to quality standards to promote and finance quality early care and education opportunities. (View full report here.) To me, this introductory paragraph seems a great summary of the different aspects of why we work for quality early learning experiences for children; brain development, social and emotional development, future academic performance, and economic stability (both for the individual and the community). What do you think? How would you state your reasons for working on behalf of early care and education?

Early Childhood Research Collaborative

On Friday and Saturday the Early Childhood Research Collaborative, a joint effort of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis and the University of Minnesota, held a conference on early childhood development, Critical Issues in Cost Effectiveness in Children's First Decade.

Minnesota Public Radio aired a story covering the event. Slides of the presentations from the workshops are available on the event website.

Early Childhood editorial in the Strib

Check out the StarTribune editorial Turning Child Care into Preschool published in Tuesday's paper. The editorial outlines some of the innovative projects going on around the state through the Minnesota Early Learning Foundation (MELF), as well as other state investments. 

One of our challenges is to show the legislature the big picture of how early childhood programming works for families. The legislature needs to see a broad system of early childhood care and education and to put resources into funding the whole system, not just bits and pieces for a few kids here or there. As Ready 4 K moves forward, one of our tasks is to simply show how this system works in Minnesota and how it can be improved.

What do you think? What do you see as important components of an early childhood system in Minnesota?

Exciting innovation in the Northland!

I returned Wednesday from a great little jaunt up to Grand Rapids. In case you're wondering, there's about two inches of snow on the ground, just enough to make everything winter-y beautiful! I was up there with other Ready 4 K staff to visit the Invest Early program. Invest Early works to provide a complete early childhood experience for children 0-5 and their families in Itasca County, Minnesota. Invest Early combines Head Start, School Readiness and child care into one streamlined program. Core services of the program are infant/toddler classrooms, preschool classrooms, parent education and health services. There are other services based on the needs of the family; including Adult Basic Ed, transportation, and wrap-around child care.

To me, one of the best things about Invest Early (aside from providing quality early learning for the community's youngest citizens) is the simple, stream-lined application form. This application is great because it makes things so easy for the families. They don't have to worry about filling out multiple, long, complicated forms. Then, the staff from Invest Early assess the applications and decide if the child will be designated as Head Start or School Readiness. Sometimes, families don't even know how their child is designated.

Invest Early is a great example of what Ready 4 K proposed in the 2007 legislative session as Early Childhood Community Hubs, part of our E-12 Linkages Bill. The goal is to have a simple, coordinated systems for families. Invest Early would not be possible without the support of the Blandin Foundation. The investment per child is significant, but Blandin is hoping to show that this early investment will make a difference in the Itasca area over the long-term. Blandin is working with Wilder Research on a longitudinal study of the program.

It was very exciting to talk with the leaders of the Invest Early program. One thing they stressed, though, is that this kind of collaboration does take a lot of time and a lot of trust among all the players. The good news is that it works!

To finish off the trip, we attended the Grand Rapids Thunderhawks versus the Cloquet-Esko-Carlton Lumberjacks boys high school hockey game. The teams tied 2-2 after a very exciting match-up (my first live hockey experience in Minnesota).

Happy Thanksgiving!

I have to admit, Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of year. I love the warm light of candles, the smells and of course the food. I also love taking time to remember gratitude in my life. One of the wonderful things about holidays is remembering traditions from the past and establishing new ones. Check out this article by former Ready 4 K staff member Vicki Thrasher Cronin on being intentional about holiday traditions.

Crafts and projects are always a staple of the holiday season. Click here for a cute Thanksgiving turkey craft.

Have a wonderful holiday!

Pre-K programs... not just in schools

As I referenced in my post about the Growth & Justice education summit late last week, reported rates coming from the summit of Minnesota 4 year olds in Pre-K programs don't tell the entire story. The summit reported that Minnesota ranks 36th when it comes to 4 year olds accessing Pre-K. Ann Kaner-Roth, executive director of Child Care WORKS, wrote a letter to the editor printed in the StarTribune today. Child Care WORKS is a close partner and ally with Ready 4 K.

Parents of preschoolers might have been surprised by recent articles indicating that fewer than 2 percent of 4-year-olds in Minnesota access pre-kindergarten programs. This statistic is confusing in that it refers specifically to publicly sponsored school-based pre-kindergarten programs.

In fact, according to Wilder Research, 69 percent of preschool-age children in Minnesota are enrolled in licensed early care and education settings, although a tiny portion of those are publicly sponsored school-based programs. Read more...

It is true that Minnesota needs to do more to invest in early education. Ready 4 K believes the investment needs to be done in a way where parents can choose the right setting for their child, including community-based settings and family home care. To say that access Pre-K only happens in publicly funded school settings is limiting.