Agenda Item No.: VIII
Regular Meeting: 01-25-17
M E M O R A N D U M
TO: First 5 Lake County Commission
FROM: Carla Ritz, Executive Director
DATE: January 18, 2017
SUBJECT: Executive Director’s Report
DIRECTOR’S COMMENTS – My first day as the new Executive Director for First 5 Lake County was January 12. I am honored to have been entrusted with the role and the responsibilities involved and I eagerly look forward to the work ahead. I want to officially thank Denise Pomeroy, Jessica Hamner, Jessie Wiser and Vicki Hays for the diligent work they have done to keep First 5 Lake up and running in the absence of a director for the past several months and for their ongoing patience and assistance in helping me to settle in to my new role.
FEDERAL LEVEL – Nothing to report.
STATE LEVEL – The California Budget Project (http://calbudgetcenter.org/) released a report in December finding that 1.2 million (or 6 out of 7) children who qualify for child care subsidies in CA do not receive services. The report also found that state child care spending continues below pre-recession levels. This is the first report in a multiphase effort to study the unmet need of childcare services across CA.
STATE FIRST 5 COMMISSION – In response to the 2015 report from the Institute of Medicine and National Research Council, First 5 CA and the CDE released an implementation plan in November entitled, “Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8.” The five-year plan is intended to serve as a roadmap for implementing a fully developed and articulated statewide system of certification, preparation and support for California’s early childhood professionals. Details can be found at http://twb8-ca.net/.
FIRST 5 ASSOCIATION – I will be attending the Association’s 2017 Advocacy Day at the State Capitol on January 30-31. There will be an opportunity to meet with legislators and network with fellow First 5 leadership at this event. All First 5 Commissioners are invited to attend.
GRANT ACTIVITY UPDATES: (These are highlights, and not intended to convey the full scope of the work being accomplished by each grantee.)
AmeriCorps – In Q1 and Q2 AmeriCorps expanded an afterschool program for kindergarten and transitional kindergarten students bringing lessons on literacy and social-emotional skill development to seven sites (one hour/week). They are also coordinating with The Hero Project to offer “AmeriCorps Parent Talks,” a series of workshops on communication (e.g. the developmental importance of talking to infants, and bonding and communicating values with children while volunteering).
Easter Seals – The transportation grant funded 16 trips providing access to healthcare for children 0-5 and their parents in the last quarter. An additional eight trips were funded for those 6-20 years of age. Destinations included UCSF, CHO, Sonoma County, Napa and Ukiah. The Healthline received 53 calls, including 19 new callers and 34 repeat callers. Easter Seals staff continue to be the go-to resource for Ages and Stages screenings, and attendance at both centers remained at or above the totals from the same period last year.
The Hero Project – The Q2 challenge theme was Eat Together/Nutrition and 47 families accepted the challenge to eat a family meal together at least three times per week with 12 completing it. An AmeriCorps staff member conducted seven parent engagement workshops during the past quarter, but due to low interest this will not be continued. The Project has determined that the use of a spokesmodel family in advertising is not a cost effective use of resources and they will discontinue the practice (cost savings of $10K/yr).
Imagination Library – In Q2, 228 new preschool students were enrolled in the program. Time and attention has been given to reviewing collected data, improving data collection methods, and correcting inconsistencies. Training on the program was provided at a preschool staff development meeting and AmeriCorps staff members were given clear direction on enrolling all LCOE preschoolers.
IMPACT/QRIS – The coach for this program was hired in Q2 and has been trained on the CLASS tool which will be used to assess provider interactions with children. Colleen Campbell and I discussed the outstanding administrative items which need to be addressed in order for the project to move forward. By the time the commissioners meet we will have completed the Annual Performance Report Survey required for the release of funds from the State and contracts will be drafted for the remainder of the work to be completed by LCOE. I will also be meeting with First 5 Mendocino ED, Roseanne Ibarra, on January 23 and attending the IMPACT Region 1 Hub meeting on January 25 to come up to speed on this grant and its requirements.
KEDP – Cathy Ferron will give a presentation at the Commissioner’s meeting.
Nurturing Families – In Q2, seven new facilitators completed training, one community parent and child class was completed at Lakeport Elementary, a monthly newsletter (Owl Thoughts) was initiated, a special needs and health impaired course began at Creativity School, connections were made with 983 individuals (via classes, activities, support sites, home visits and/or community events), and all Healthy Start and HUB sites provided NF support, information and referrals during office visits.
Oral Health – So far this school year, 1,640 kindergarten and school age children have been screened, 142 families have received assistance with health insurance applications, 224 preschool children received lessons in oral health or nutrition, and 29 parents have participated in oral health lessons and the dental pledge. Several preschools are behind in receiving oral health lessons and dental screenings have not yet begun in preschools, but challenges are being addressed and all screenings are scheduled and should be completed by the end of the third quarter.
St. Helena Hospital Family Health Center – Transportation – In Q2, the Center issued $880 in gas vouchers for high risk OB patients’ travel to/from Santa Rosa, Ukiah and UCSF, and $100 in bus passes for travel to/from OB education classes. The recent loss of a local OB doctor caused some of his patients to need to travel to the Center for treatment and the bus passes helped to insure their ongoing prenatal care.
ADMINISTRATION
Financial Statements – Due to my January 12 start date, financial statements will be presented at the February Commissioner’s meeting.
Q3 Transition Plan – Below is my plan for coming up to speed as the new executive director in the next three months. Suggestions from the Commissioners on additional tasks/meetings/connections to include are welcomed.
· January 12-31
o Attend County of Lake HR and Department of Health Services orientations
o Attend IMPACT Regional Hub meeting in Ukiah
o Attend First 5 Association Advocacy Day in Sacramento
o Attend QRIS meeting at LCOE (monthly)
o Attend LCCPC meeting
o Meet with Roseanne Ibarra, ED of First 5 Mendocino
o Complete the IMPACT Annual Performance Report survey
o Review and revise budget and draft contracts for the remaining IMPACT work
o Respond to First 5 CA re: pending requirements for Small Population County Augmentation Funding
o Weekly meetings with Denise Pomeroy at DHS (ongoing)
· February 1-28
o Meet with former ED, Tom Jordan
o Meet with directors from each program funded by First 5 Lake County
o Review financials and create new accounting coding system
o Calculate money saved on ED vacancy and explore options for reallocation
o Review audit and strategic plan
o Clean and reorganize First 5 office space
o Review legal code for First 5 Lake
o Review Brown Act and pursue training
o Attend local and regional meetings as appropriate (ongoing)
· March 1-31
o Visit programs in action
o Create an ED operations manual
o Visit another Region 1 First 5 program (Sonoma?)
o Meet with commissioners individually (as desired)
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