Title
Presentation by Partnership for Children
Abstract
Action Requested:
Chatham County Board of Commissioners is invited to join the Chatham County Partnership for Children (CCPC) in our efforts to champion young children and to ensure quality early childhood education opportunities for all children and families in Chatham County. This will secure a solid future for our children and our community.
Chatham County Partnership for Children proposes that the Chatham County Board of Commissioners appoint an Early Childhood Task Force, staffed by the funding we are requesting, and led by one of its members. This Task Force would be charged with bringing together the knowledge leaders in business, development, and education in order to achieve the collective impact that is possible and necessary to move Chatham County’s Early Care and Education system to the level of quality that our children deserve. We are ready to delve into the magnitude of options for leading our community in truly supporting Early Childhood Education for All Children!
The Early Childhood Task Force will report back to the Board of Commissioners with two products: (1) a full assessment of the needs and resources of our early care and education system and (2) the formation of a sound foundation for a long range strategic plan to sustain and enhance our system of caring for and educating Chatham County’s youngest citizens.
Introduction and Background:
Chatham County Partnership for Children has served the county for over 20 years, administering public and private investments in Early Childhood Initiatives totaling over $15 million dollars. Child Care Networks, Inc. (CCN) has over 30 years of experience providing child care resource and referral services to Chatham and the surrounding region. Our organizations have collaborated closely to develop early childhood initiatives over the years including Smart Start, NC Pre-K, and most recently, Raising A Reader.
The collaborative relationship between Chatham County Partnership for Children and Child Care Networks began with the efforts to organize an application for Smart Start in 1992-93. Since then the two agencies have worked closely on numerous projects, programs, and community efforts. The most recent joint effort to launch Raising A Reader is an example of how our agencies work successfully to accomplish more than either could alone.
Our organizations share the vision that all young children in Chatham County should have access to high quality early education experiences and opportunities. Our shared work since the inception of Smart Start in 1994 demonstrates our commitment to the power of working together. Each of our organizations has made significant contributions over the years.
Our successful work together is evident in the following recent results:
• Chatham County has achieved high performing status on 12 of the 16 Smart Start Performance Measures. We are working diligently to reach the same level of performance on the other 4.
• The collaborative work between CCPC and CCN has been especially successful at improving the quality of child care placements available to our families: 84% of children in child care in Chatham County attend 4 & 5 star-rated child care facilities. Even more importantly, 93% of our subsidized children (low income) attend 4 & 5 star-rated facilities!
• Our premier family literacy program, Raising A Reader is evaluated using the national model rubric. The results of our first year of implementation of this program indicate statistically significant improvement on 9 of the 12 key outcome results indicators. The program served 308 children attending child care in 14 different sites across the county.
The work that we do is critically important to the future of Chatham County. Sustaining the impact of our success relies on achieving a more secure future for our organizations.
Discussion and Analysis:
The economic decline since 2008 has taken a toll on our financial situations. Budget cuts and redesign of our major funding streams have left both our organizations struggling to survive. We have recently approved a Plan of Merger, which we believe will result in greater stability and cost effectiveness that will sustain and expand our efforts for many years to come. We believe we will be “better together!”
Triangle Community Foundation has invested $30,000 in the future success of our joint venture through their Support for People Capacity Building Partnerships Program. Their generous investment will help us complete the initial tasks of the merger; mainly covering the legal & financial administrative matters. We are asking the Board of Commissioners to match this investment, providing the additional support we need to effectively merge our organizations and launch the proposed new effort of the Early Childhood Task Force.
Now is a pivotal time in our nation’s history. We have known for decades that the economics of child care and families with young children are fragile. We know that poverty is the greatest risk factor preventing healthy growth and development of young children. We know that child care providers are terribly underpaid because young families cannot afford the rising cost of child care in America.
On the bright side, we also know what works to increase protective factors for young children. There is much that we have done and can do.
The time to learn about our community, our child care and early education system, and the needs of our children is now. We have not had the capacity in recent years to compile and study the needs and resources of early care and education in Chatham County. The proposed Early Childhood Task Force will be a pivotal vessel for this new knowledge.
Budgetary Impact: $30,000
Recommendation:
Chatham County Board of Commissioners appoints an Early Childhood Task Force, staffed by Chatham County Partnership for Children with the funding award of $30,000, as detailed in the attached line item budget proposal. The Early Childhood Task Force shall be led by a County Commissioner Karen Howard. The Task Force is charged with bringing together the knowledge leaders in business, development, and education in order to move Chatham County’s Early Care and Education system to the level of quality to meet the demands of the future economic growth of our community and ensure an equitable system of early education for all children residing in Chatham County.