FIRST 5 KINGS COUNTY CHILDREN AND FAMILIES COMMISSION

Meeting Minutes

January 15, 2008

Commissioners Present:Bill Black; Perry Rickard, David Droker,Mary Anne Ford-Sherman, Peggy Montgomery, Joe Neves, and John Stankovich.

Commission staff present: Lisa Watson, Executive Director; Fabiola DeCaratachea, Technical Assistance Program Officer; Scott Waite, Grants & Contracts Program Officers; Ester Imperial, School Readiness Coordinator; John Michael Hice, Community Specialist; Vanessa Avila and Rosalba Cabral, Resource Specialists; and Anamaria Dominguez, Executive Secretary.

Consultants to the Commission:Kelly Marschall, Social Entrepreneurs, Inc., Rosaura Heredia, Independent Consultant.

County staff to the Commission: Kyle Sand, CountyCounsel.

Others present:Kathy Watts, Judy Newton, Diane Hall, Ynez Lopez, Kathy Cruz, Sindi Cardiel, Debbie Gibson.

Call to Order:Meeting was called to order at 4:05 by Chair Black. Roll call was taken.

Review and Modification of Agenda: No modification to agenda.

Public Comment:Judy Newton, from UCP thanked the Commissionfor the support received for the Parent and Me Program and made an invitation to visit the Lemoore site.

CONSENT CALENDAR:

2008-01-001 Approval of minutes:Minutes from December 4, 2007 Commission meeting were approved by motion made by Commissioner Montgomery, seconded by Commissioner Neves.

REGULAR AGENDA ITEMS:

Fiscal Report– Modifications to the FY07-08 budget are yet to be entered into the countyFinancial Management System (FMS). This update will occur after the modification/augmentation gets approved by the Board of Supervisors. Once approved by the Board, the budget will be modified in the countyFMS system. A copy of the modified budget is attached to the Executive Directors Report.

Executive Director -

  • Work continues in collaboration with Jeff Bailey of Online Data Management to complete the database development for data entry purposes. It is anticipated that the Commission will return data management back to grantees in July 2008.
  • The Palace will remain the site for the Multicultural Conference scheduled for September 19th and 20th. No commitments will be made until the Commission establishes the 2008-09 budget.
  • Tentative date for Next Stop Kindergarten event is March 13- 15th. Some school districts have already committed their participation.
  • Linkages to Learning is to be implemented in a phased in fashion due to the large scope of the project.
  • A modified Fiscal Report reflective of the budget modification/augmentation approved by the Commission was attached to ED’s report. This new format will be presented after the modifications show up in the FMS system.
  • The new healthcare reform bill, if passed as written could result in a possible loss of 12 to 20 million dollars per year to the Children and Families Trust Fund, of which 80% is absorbed by local commissions. ED Watson will keep the Commission informed on the status of this bill.
  • Commissioner’s Black and Rickard will meet with ED Watson to decide if the Commission will go back to hold meetings at the Board of Supervisors Chambers or if a change in the Bylaws is to be made to continue meeting at the First 5 site.

Program Officer’s Report –

  • Fabiola DeCaratachea – Ms. Caratachea started her report thanking Commissioner Neves for his participation as Santa Claus at the Holiday Learning Event held at the Lemoore Family Connection. Technical assistance has been provided to funded programs in areas that are relevant to their work.Staff is currently working on supporting group learning events like the “Bridges out of Poverty Training” that will discuss the issues that are hindering access to services at the FRC’s.
  • Scott Waite – Major projects completed are the 1st Quarter Report reviews, SOW and Budget modifications approval. Mr. Waite has been contacting other First 5 Commissions regarding their approach to funding for the CARES program. Mr. Waite has also been researching model documents from other organizations to complete the Grantee Handbook.

School Readiness Coordinator –

  • Ms. Imperial thanked First 5 staff for the support she has received from them in her transition into her new position. Attending meetings at different school sites has given her the opportunity to receive feedback from pre-school teachers and parents who are pleased with the Raising a Reader Program.Ms. Imperial is also working with the evaluation team to ensure the evaluation of this project is moving forward. She is currently working on the implementation of the Linkages to Learning Project focusing on Kindergarten transition.

Community Specialist’s Report –

  • A guest column on Health Family Resolutions is soon to appear in the Hanford Sentinel. First 5 advertising is already visible at the Hanford Mall. A contract with the Hanford Sentinel was recently renewed to continue advertising on the Kid’s Scoop Page. Development of the Website will be occurring over the next 45 days if the Commission approves the contract with Digital Attic, LLC.

DISCUSSION/ACTION ITEMS

2208-01-002 –Digital Attic Contract – After a long-term relationship with Over the Net for the redevelopment of the Commission website and a significant delay in completing a product that was simple in nature, Commission staff sought out the services of Digital Attic. A contract in the amount of $8,600 is being presented to the Commission for approval. Digital Attic will complete the following in a timeframe of 30-45 days:

  • Website construction
  • Sub-page development
  • Establishment of a user database system
  • Establish master calendar database system
  • Establishment of a document downloading system
  • Establish a “Contact Us” interactive fill in system which can export to excel,and possibly, an online registration page for Multicultural conference.

Funds for the cost of the contract will come from the contingencies line –item.

The contract was approved by motion made by Commissioner Droker, seconded by Commissioner Montgomery.

STUDY SESSIONS

Childcare needs throughout Kings County

The Commission was presented with the results of the 2006-2007 Evaluation that explored the effectiveness of the FamilyResourceCenter strategy. As a result, a number of findings and recommendations were provided for Commission consideration. Commission staff would like to receive additional direction from the Commission based on the results of such findings and recommendations in an attempt to prepare for the impact to our future year investments, strategy, or approach to best serving children 0-5 and their families through the FRC model of care.

The areas of consideration that require follow-up attention are as follows:

  1. Continued recognition of childcare as the number one concern of families with children 0-5
  2. Demographics being served by FRC’s support the assumption that the strategy is targeting low income populations.
  3. There continues to be barriers to accessing services through the FRC strategy.

In response to issue #1, and based upon direction given to staff regarding this issue, ED Watson has met with the Local Childcare Planning Council Coordinator and has previewed a draft of their soon to be released Childcare Needs Assessment. While the assessment is extremely descriptive of children within our target population, it does not include a critical gaps analysis which, in staff opinion, would be useful for informed decision making on the part of the commission. Additionally, there are other considerations which would be critical such as workforce supply, if an expansion of childcare/preschool was to be planned and/or considered.

Because of this, ED Watson has met with Ron Unruh, Professor at FresnoState, and consultant to the LPC to ask for a proposal that would build from and expand the scope of the LPC Needs Assessment. That proposal was presented for Commission consideration.

A lengthy discussion followed the presentation of the proposal. Commissioner Droker expressed his objection to the need for such needs assessment stating that his agency can provide the number of children who are eligible for subsidized childcare but unable to access it do to the lack of subsidies available. He stressed that he is able to provide the commission with the number of total children on the childcare subsidies waiting list grouped by city, age and zip code, however he synthesized his presentation by stating that there currently exists 1100 families on the waiting list throughout the county.

Commissioners Stankovich passed out a document that detailed the amount of center based care in the county and the amount of providers participating in the CARES program. Additionally, Commissioner Montgomery passed out childcare statistics that are supported with subsidies from HSA. Commissioner Droker provided childcare statistics from his agency as well. Copies were made and distributed to other Commissioners and Commission staff.

ED Watson explained that the idea of having a comprehensive assessment was to identify the field demands in order to make informed decisions. Commissioners by consensus disagreed with ED Watson and did not feel that a new study was necessary, and instructed ED Watson to synthesize and simplify the information that was already available to include the information disseminated at the meeting. ED Watson requested the assistance of Commissioner Stankovich and Commissioner Droker to complete this task, to which they agreed. The issue will be brought back to the Commission at the February Commission Meeting.

Demographics of clients being served by FRC’s –

As stated in the FRC Evaluation report, “the FRC’s target many of their services specifically to low income populations” (pg.18). This assumption is supported by the reality that to coordinate existing services with partner agencies, many of what exists are need based programs. While the FRC strategy was not originally intended to serve only low-income populations, it appears that by current design, it is improbable if not impossible for anything else to exist. The first question that staff is asking the Commission to answer is:

  1. Does the FRC Initiative need to be modified to reflect the emphasis on serving low-income populations.
  2. If the answer to this question is yes, staff will work to re-write the initiative and are prepared to share with the Commission the consequences of such action.
  3. If the answer to this question is no, because FRC’s are intended to support the health and development of all children 0-5, then a modification to the design needs to occur.

Staff have met with the FRC directors and staff to identify opportunities to expand the reach of their service population, and would like the Commission to consider a recommendation that has come out of such partnership. Commission staff would like the commission to invest in “Six Signature Services” at all FRC’s that are specifically designed to serve the interest of families of children 0-5. These services would include the following:

1-Parenting Education

2-Raising a Reader

3- Welcome to Parenthood

4- Art & Education

5- Physical Fitness

6- Baby Signs

First 5 will be the party negotiating contracts as this will both ensure uniform standard quality services as well as the most efficient and cost effective way of contracting with providers.

Commissioner Rickard liked the signature concept and expressed his disagreement with the concept that FRCs bedesignated as providers for low income families only, stating that the intent of the Initiative is to serve all children 0-5 and their families. Representatives from the Corcoran FRC talked about their desire to provide services and programs for higher income populations, as well as their efforts in seeking other funding to support services to all families and age ranges.

Commissioners requested further information in writing along with an estimation of cost. Commissioner Droker also asked for a schedule of activities at an FRC to see how it looks like, days and hours of operation.

future agenda items

  • UCLA 1st. Quarter (October-December) Status Report
  • 2007-2010 UCLA Evaluation Plan
  • Childcare needs throughout the County of Kings
  • Demographics of clients being served at FRCs and the implication to the FRC strategy
  • Evaluation discussion regarding continuing barriers to accessing services

COMMISSIONER COMMENTS

  • Commissioner Neves won’t be present at the February meeting.

ADJOURNMENT

Meeting was adjourned at 6:45p.m. to the next regularly scheduled meeting on February 5, 2007at 4:00 pm at the First 5 office located at 315 W. Lacey Blvd., Hanford, CA.

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