All but One Contract Have Been Signed and Returned

June/July 2016

Paulette Karolczak, Director

Grants for FY17

The ECI Lakes Region Board voted to provide grants to the Best Care for Better Babies Programs in all four counties, the KIDS Program, the Hand in Hand Program, Preschool Scholarships and the I-Smile Program and Child Care Nurse Consultant (CCNC) Program through MATURA.

In July, the ECI LR Director was informed that MATURA will no longer be serving out four counties after October 1, 2016. The ECI LR Board chose to continue contracting with MATURA for the CCNC position through September 30, but the I-Smile program will no longer be offered.

Contracts

All but one contract have been signed and returned.

Finances

All bills were turned in by July 27. Carryover looks to be approximately $34,070 with $7,938 of FY17 money left from I-Smile to be reallocated.

The FY17 budget without carryover has been submitted and accepted by the state ECI. The state ECI money for our 4 county region is down $1,771 while our carryover is down $45,001from FY16.

Legislative Update

The Legislative meeting on Friday, June 10th for our local legislators went over very well! Many thanks to St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Milford for the room; attending Board Members; Linda Swanson, Board member, who put out fabulous appetizers and helped to organize the event; the ECI LR funded program staff, who shared stories of the struggles and successes of our young families and especially the families who attended and/or opened their door to a visit by a legislator! A special thank you to our local legislators who attended: Representative Megan Jones (Dickinson & Clay), Senator David Johnson (Osceola, Dickinson, Clay), Representative John Wills (Osceola, Dickinson) and Senator Randy Feenstra (O’Brien).

Best Care for Better Babies

I attended the public presentations for all four programs. Anne Plagge from the Iowa Department of Public Health presented Family Support Accreditation plaques to each program. It was great to see the Best Care Directors and staff receive attention and praise for all of their hard work and be recognized for the important work they do for our youngest families!

DAISEY

This new Family Support Database system has replaced REDCap and went live as of July 18, 2016. Our KIDS and Best Care programs, which do in-home counseling and parent education, are required to use this system for tracking data for the state. Holly will oversee the technical side of this system for our ECI area, but both her and I have attended a couple webinar trainings. Each of our above stated programs have also had their Directors attend a training to ensure a smooth transition. We are in high hopes that good data reports will come out of this new system!

Preschool Scholarships

Preschool applications continue to roll in. We have been keeping a cost planning spreadsheet to monitor the number of applicants we can accept. Due to a reduced budget this year, preschool scholarship money has been significantly reduced. The ECI LR Board has chosen to limit monthly payments per student from $150 to $125 with the hope of allowing more families some assistance.

Friends of Foster Care

This small fund of $1,510.51 left over from the combined DCAT/ECI Board days has continued to help children in foster care. During June and July, three youth in foster care have benefitted from swim lessons, baseball, wrestling camp and basketball camp. It has been said that these opportunities really help the children’s social skills and confidence! The fund is now at $404.41and will dissolve once the money is spent.

Community Groups

Community Partnerships for Protecting Children (CPPC) – This group has $16,000 to use for prevention projects throughout the four county area in FY17. The group will use the money for mini-grants, Parent Education, Transportation issues, Training, Community Based Family Team Meetings and operational supplies.

Information shared: KIDS program has switched agencies to UDMO and is looking for a Clay/Dickinson worker. Hand in Hand is limited to one staff at this time. Spencer Atlas has space in their building’s lower level and is brainstorming effective ways to use it. ISU Extension plans to offer a workshop to help workers assist families with financial issues.Cherish Center continues to offer the Parent Connect groups and is starting a new program called “Glimmer of Light” for mothers who have lost a child. Seasons shared that the Autumn Center will open in August and their camp has been going well. Also the Nurturing Parent program will start again August 4th. The Auto Assistance committee is hoping to expand the car donation program to Iowa Lakes Community College this fall.

Trainings

I attended an ACES (Adverse Childhood Experiences) Facilitator training on June 30th. This training allows me to share the ACES curriculum with those in the community. Please feel free to call if you know of a group interested in hearing about how childhood trauma has lasting effects on a person’s adult life and how we as a community can help people be resilient. We can prevent trauma from having a generational effect!

Additional

I stopped in at Hope Haven in Spirit Lake to learn more about their Respite opportunities. A good discussion with Tiffany Thomas resulted in opening some more doors and inviting Hope Haven to join our collaborative CPPC meetings. I had also earlier passed along the Time Out Nursery information to her co-worker, Scott Witte, in Spencer and they were excited to hear about this opportunity for their clients as well.

Holly and I continue to meet monthly for workdays. This has been very valuable for brainstorming and sharing strategies for moving forward.

Respectfully Submitted,

Paulette Karolczak, ECI LR Director