Approved Minutes — original pdf

Approved Minutes

EARLY CHILDHOOD COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES MAY 8, 2024 EARLY CHILDHOOD COUNCIL REGULAR MEETING MINUTES WEDNESDAY, MAY 8, 2024 The Early Childhood Council convened in a regular meeting on Wednesday, May 8, 2024, at City Hall, Board & Commission Room #1101, 301 West Second Street in Austin, Texas. Chair McHorse called the Early Childhood Council Meeting to order at 9:02 a.m. Board Members in Attendance: Chair McHorse, Vice Chair Hamilton, and Members Hedrick, McIllwain, Menard, Navarro, and Vargas Board Members in Attendance Remotely: Members Green-Otero, McCollum, and Schennum Staff in Attendance: Caitlin Oliver, Donna Sundstrom, Cindy Gamez, Rachel Farley, and Alejandra Mireles PUBLIC COMMUNICATION: GENERAL The first five speakers to register prior to the meeting being called to order will each be allowed a three- minute allotment to address their concerns regarding items not posted on the agenda. Yael Lawson provided Workforce Solutions (WFS) Capital Area Child Care Department updates. In order to align child care resources with current goals and meet the market and child care demands, WFS has cut three child care positions within the organization. WFS has posted for two new positions, including a senior director position related to early childhood and quality engagement that will be community-focused, as well as a contract manager position to oversee quality improvement projects. Until those positions are filled, Lawson and one other staff member are overseeing the work of the child care department. Laura Olson of Go Austin/Vamos Austin (GAVA) provided public comment on item 10 to endorse the strategies in the white paper by the Children’s Funding Project Workgroup. Olson asked that the ECC endorse the white paper and also expressed concern that the white paper does not  EARLY CHILDHOOD COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES acknowledge the groups and people that have contributed to those strategies, including family- based child care providers, parent leaders, BIPOC grassroots organizations, and others. Olson also believes that the “Building Quality & Capacity” strategies are missing Family, Friend, and Neighbor (FFN) child care. Olson expressed a hope that when these strategies are implemented that they seek equity and that the work is informed by people with lived experience. MAY 8, 2024 Approve the minutes of the Early Childhood Council Regular Meeting on April 16, 2024 The minutes from the meeting on 4/16/2024 were approved on Member Hedrick’s motion and Member Menard’s second, on a 7-0 vote. There were two abstentions from Members McIllwain and Vargas. APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1. 2. STAFF BRIEFINGS Updates from Caitlin Oliver, Austin Public Health (APH), regarding the family-based child care home tour and updates from related early childhood groups Caitlin Oliver, staff liaison, gave the following updates: ECC members are required to complete the sexual harassment awareness training module by May 10th to avoid any issues with their eligibility to serve on the ECC. Member Gordon requested the staff liaison share the following summary about the Tour of Homes organized by the Family-Based Child Care Workgroup of the Success By 6 Coalition: “Roughly 40 child care providers and community members visited four Family- Based Child Care providers on Saturday, April 20th. We were welcomed into the homes of Tamitha Blackmon, Tabathie Lofters, Loretta Johnson, and Jemie Vaughn. All four centers are 4-star rated by Texas Rising Star. Each Child Care Provider shed light on the unique ways in which they can provide extremely high-quality care and shared practices with one another. Needs that were discussed for future discussion/agenda items include, 1) additional pay (and subsidy reimbursement) for extended and overnight care; 2) additional learning opportunities like this one (most tour members were other providers, shuttle buses were provided by APH); and 3) resources and training.” 3. Updates from Cindy Gamez, APH, regarding the transition of some child care work from APH to the Economic Development Department (EDD) Cindy Gamez gave the following update: As part of a Citywide effort to address the importance of affordable and reliable child care for working families in our community, the decision was made to move key responsibilities related to increasing access to high-quality child care and child care quality improvement planning efforts from Austin Public Health (APH) to the Economic Development  EARLY CHILDHOOD COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES MAY 8, 2024 Department (EDD). This transition is part of a restructure within EDD to coordinate planning and policy considerations for workforce development and child care under the same department. As you know, child care is a key support necessary for working families, - and workforce development, including development of the child care workforce, is critical to this effort. Therefore, to help lead this work, effective May 5th, Cindy Gamez and Drew Ballard, our ARPA Grants Coordinator, have now moved to the Economic Development Department. Because access to high quality early care and education is also key to healthy child development and thriving families (as a social determinant of health), early childhood public health programming will remain at APH. This includes trainings, webinars, and communications with child care programs and schools on public health issues, emergency preparedness, and climate change and health. It also includes outreach and education efforts focused on families with young children. APH will remain fully engaged in Success by Six efforts and will retain work related to Early Head Start, Head Start programs and PreK classrooms. Lastly, APH will continue to staff the Early Childhood Council Boards and Commissions meetings. Rachel Farley and Caitlin Oliver will continue to lead this work at APH, and APH has posted for an additional early childhood program coordinator position. The City remains committed to addressing critical gaps in child care within our community. This transition serves to bolster this commitment. DISCUSSION ITEMS 4. Presentation from Colin Swanson, Executive Director of Mainspring Schools, regarding the services Mainspring plans to provide with the APH Early Childhood RFP funding Colin Swanson, Executive Director of Mainspring Schools, provided information on the Mainspring Quality Improvement Program the school plans to implement using the social service contract funding they were awarded by Austin Public Health. Their annual staff survey indicated a need to invest in professional development and to create internal leadership track. Mainspring plans to use $68,000 for teacher professional development. Their goal is that three teachers become Trust Based Relational Intervention (TBRI) practitioners, 10 teachers receive conscious discipline training, and all staff receive anti- racism training. Mainspring believes that this program will improve the quality of teaching, by making it more trauma-informed, and that it will also improve the quality-of- life for families and staff. They also hope that the program will reduce staff turnover. 5. Presentation by Dr. Choquette Hamilton on the new Success By 6 Coalition (SX6) strategic plan Member Hamilton and Barbara Grant Boneta, SX6 Coalition Director, shared a preview of the SX6 strategic plan. Two big changes to the strategic plan include that 1) each pillar in  EARLY CHILDHOOD COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES MAY 8, 2024 the new plan includes a universal goal statement and a target goal statement that addresses disparities, and 2) the plan includes a glossary of terms. The rollout of the new plan will likely begin on May 17th and continue into fall 2024, with a final report being released as early as August. Dr. Hamilton and Grant Boneta asked ECC members for feedback on two terms in the glossary—affordable child care and high-quality child care. For the affordability definition, members discussed that affordability definitions often include a percentage of the family’s income and/or whether a program accepts child care scholarships. Members suggested that the high-quality definition include a caveat that there are programs that may be operating at high quality but for whatever reason have been assessed or have decided not to receive that designation. Another suggestion was that the high-quality definition be split into two definitions- “high-quality” and “on the path to high-quality.” Members also suggested that the glossary avoid using additional jargon and that Spanish speakers review the Spanish translation of the glossary. Discuss the federal poverty limit and livability in Austin ECC members discussed whether the income cap that City of Austin social service contracts have for client eligibility are too low. Member Hedrick shared that he reached out to Council Member Alison Alter’s office and learned that a City unit is reviewing the standard income caps and client eligibility requirements that are put in City contracts. Discuss federal funding for small businesses ECC members discussed the Biden administration’s potential funding opportunities for child care small businesses. Cindy Gamez, of the Economic Development Department (EDD), shared that EDD is aware of that announcement and are watching for when information about the funding opportunities are released. Discuss items to take to the Joint Inclusion Committee ECC members discussed presenting the updated Success by 6 Coalition strategic plan to the Joint Inclusion Committee (JIC), as well as sharing with the JIC information about some Austin Public Health Early Childhood team work and staff moving to the Economic Development Department. Members also suggested that the JIC discuss the income caps in City of Austin contracts. DISCUSSION AND ACTION ITEMS Discussion and vote to approve Quality-of-Life (QoL) Study Workgroup membership Member McCollum moved to approve SX6 Coalition staff; Aletha Huston; Raul Alvarez; Johanna Hosking Pulido; Arlene Cruz; and Kim Houston as community members of the ECC QoL Study Workgroup through May 2025. Member Navarro provided a second, and the motion passed unanimously on a 10-0 vote. Member Green-Otero joined the meeting at 9:40 a.m. 6. 7. 8. 9.  EARLY CHILDHOOD COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES MAY 8, 2024 Chair McHorse and Members McCollum, Hedrick, and Vargas plan to continue to serve on the QoL Study Workgroup. If members would like to invite additional community members to join the workgroup, those community members would need to be approved at future ECC meetings. Once City Council approves the study vendor, the workgroup and the vendor will begin meeting and the workgroup will provide regular updates to the ECC. Approve a recommendation that the City of Austin endorse the strategies outlined in the white paper by the Children’s Funding Project Workgroup ECC members discussed Laura Olson’s public comment. Chair McHorse shared that the white paper from the Children’s Funding Project Workgroup omitted to mention that a significant amount of the paper was informed by the work done under the Success by 6 Coalition’s Quality Care & Education pillar, including work done by the Family-Based Child Care Workgroup and the annual Family-Based Child Care conference. When a community advisory board is appointed to oversee implementation of the strategies proposed in the white paper, the intent is that the board represents community voice. Action was not needed on this item. ECC members passed this recommendation at the April regular meeting. WORKING GROUP UPDATES 10. 11. Updates from the Budget Workgroup about the budget workshop on May 7, 2024, with City departments and other boards & commissions on the Joint Inclusion Committee Member Hedrick provided a summary of the budget workshop. He attended Zoom breakout rooms with City departments to discuss the ECC FY 2025 budget recommendations. He suggested that next year this budget workshop should be longer and that it should be held before budget recommendations are due, to allow boards & commissions to coordinate recommendations. If the ECC begins discussing the budget recommendations in January, the Joint Inclusion Committee will have more time to review and consider overlap between all the recommendations from the many boards & commissions. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS Members listed the following future agenda items: • Discussion regarding the transition of child care work from APH to EDD • Presentations from the APH early childhood social service contract grantees Chair McHorse adjourned the meeting at 10:22 a.m., without objection. The minutes were approved unanimously at the June 12, 2024, meeting on Member Navarro’s motion and Member Hedrick’s second, on an 11-0 vote.