Issue #5                                          January 29, 2018
"Children Learning, Parents Earning, Communities Growing"
Register Today for an Entire Year's Worth of Training!

 
All New Early Learning & Child Care Webinar Series for 2018!
Build or Add to your 
Resource Library!
This is Your Opportunity  to Receive Professional  Development in a Format  Convenient to You. 
CAPPA Children's Foundation, in partnership with MCT  Technology, brings you an ALL NEW Series of trainings, all for one low price per center or program location. 
 View the webinar series and be connected without ever leaving your location. This is a fabulous opportunity to train staff, providers and the community on the most requested child care topics for 2018 at an affordable price in an incredibly convenient format. 

Click Here  to see more details, topics and to  register for the all new 2018 series.

The 2010- 2017 series' are still available for purchase. Purchase the 2010, 2011 and 2012 webinar CDs for 50% off!!  For more information or to view past topics,  Click Here.
Quick Links
CAPPA's
2017-18 Board of Directors
President
Rick Richardson
 Child Development Associates

Vice President
Karen Marlatt
Valley Oak Children's Services

Treasurer
Beth Chiaro
Child Care Resource Center 

Secretary
LaVera Smith
Supportive Services Fresno

Past President
Martin Castro
Mexican American Opportunity Foundation
Public Policy Co-Chair
Jeffrey Moreira
Crystal Stairs, Inc.

Public Policy Co-Chair
Phillip Warner
Children's Council San Francisco 

Members-at-Large
Tina Barna
Choices for Children

Abby Shull
YMCA Childcare Resource Service 
 
Amanda Al Fartosi
KinderCare Education

Jeanne Fridolfs
Community Resources for Children
 
Mike Michelon
Siskiyou Child Care Council

Marco Jimenez
Central Valley Children's Services Network

Jasmine Tijerino
San Mateo 4Cs

Michelle Graham
Children's Resource & Referral of Santa Barbara County

Joie Owen
Glenn County Office of Education

Denyne Micheletti Colburn
CAPPA CEO
EESD/CDE, DSS & CCLD Updates
January 25, 2018
A manual letter (
EAS-18-03
) containing amendments to the California Department of Social Services' Eligibility and Assistance Manual has been uploaded onto the Department's website.   
January 24, 2018
The California Department of Social Services has scheduled a public hearing for March 14, 2018, to receive testimony on the CalWORKs Income or Household Composition Reporting, ORD No. 0717-18, regulations package.  Details can be found by clicking Here.
January 20, 2018
A manuel letter containing revisions CDSS' Eligibility and Assistance Standards Manual has been uploaded onto the Departments' website. Click here
 for more information.
January 12, 2018
CDSS has scheduled a public hearing for February 28, 2018, to receive testimony on the "CalWORKs Program: Subsidized Employment, Approved Career Pathways and Post-Aid Services" regulations package.
Click Here  for more information.  
December 29, 2017
ALL COUNTY LETTER (ACL) 17-125.  Guidance exempts benefits and related allowances received from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for education, training, vocation or rehabilitation from consideration as income when determining CalWORKs eligibility and calculating grant amounts for veterans, dependents of veterans and spouses, under specified circumstances.
Job Openings

Is Your Organization Hiring?
Post your job announcement here for thousands to see!
There is no charge for CAPPA members.
Non-members will be charged a fee of $75.
Please email us your posting!
UC Berkeley
Solano Family & Children's Services 
North Coast Opportunities-Lake County
Children's Council of San Francisco
Child Care Coordinating Council, Inc. of San Mateo County

Crystal Stairs, Inc
International Institute Los Angeles

Go Kids, Inc., Gilroy

Teacher Assistant
International Institute of Los Angeles

Child Development Inc. is Hiring! See the Recruitment Flyer  Here.
Announcements
NEW! All new AP branding templates  from CAPPA's Branding Committee are now available for CAPPA members. 

NEW!
Curriculum Development for Early Childhood Education 


CAPPA Member Benefit
Constant Contact helps small businesses do more business! CAPPA members have access to Constant Contact email marketing system at up to 25% off.
Send emails, run promotions, and get feedback, all from one easy-to-use account. Email marketing can help you build stronger relationships with your clients, so they keep coming back. Need help? Constant Contact's award-winning coaches are just a phone call away to make sure you succeed. 

AmazonSmile is a simple and automatic way for you to support CAPPA every time you shop.  When you shop at  smile.amazon.com , you'll find the exact same low prices, vast selection and convenient shopping experience as Amazon.com, with the added bonus that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to CAPPA. 
If interested, you can also sign up for an Amazon Business account for free. This is similar to a Prime account and will give you free 2-day shipping. You can learn more  Here.
Please let us know if you have any questions. Thank you for your support! 
Field Happenings!

The CAPPA Board has made it a priority to support our field with a coordinated calendar to note upcoming statewide conferences, federal conferences of relevance, CDE and DSS stakeholder meetings and legislative and budget deadlines and hearings. 
  • Click here to see the calendar.
  • If you have news to share or an event you want added to CAPPA's website Calendar, email us!
CAPPA Monday Morning Update Partner






Our Monday Morning Update supports our Early Learning & Child Care field with timely information about what is going on in California and nationally; as well as dates to be aware and upcoming events. 

Our weekly (50 times per year) Monday morning distribution is to more than 4,000 federal and state local agencies, resource and referrals, contractors, legislators and their staffs', centers, parents, providers, state departments and advocates.  

To help support the continuation of this resource and or advertise in the Monday Morning Update, click  HERE. 

You can also make a donation to CAPPA and CAPPA Children's Foundation
The Children's Foundation is a non-profit organization (501(c)3), Taxpayer Identification Number is 
03-0521444. Your generous donation is tax deductible.
What's Happening
California 
Governor Brown Delivers 2018 State of the State Address
Last Thursday, Governor Jerry Brown delivered his final State of the State address, highlighting his goals for the year.  Governor Brown highlighted five key issues: climate change, infrastructure investment, health care, education, and criminal justice.  Click here to read the text.

State Legislation 
This week, California Assembly and Senate floor sessions will convene on Monday and Thursday. 

To date, for the 2017-18 Legislative Session, the California State Assembly has introduced 1,924 Assembly Bills (including 207 new ones in 2018) and the State Senate has introduced 937 Senate Bills (including 120 in 2018). 
 
Click here   to see all of the legislation that has been identified to be of interest to our field. You can find fact sheets and sample letter templates when available. On this page, CAPPA will also note legislative hearings of interest to our field.  To track and/or review legislation or to create your own tracking list,  click here.  

Bills of interest to the child care and early education field are as follows:
  • AB 1883 (Weber) Child care and development services: military families: alternative payment programs.   *CAPPA sponsored bill.  This bill would clarify that military basic allowance for housing (BAH) of a person who is on state or federal active duty, active duty for special work, or Active Guard and Reserve duty in the military not be considered income for purposes of determining child care eligibility.  This change is consistent with the IRS that also lists BAH as one of the tax-exempt military allowances not considered as earned income when determining eligibility for the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), Head Start and other assistance programs.  
  • AB 605 (Mullin) Day care center: birth to first grade license option - This bill would create a single integrated license for child care centers thus reducing vacancies and enabling the current system to serve more children.  BACKGROUND:  In the 1970s, California led the nation in creating a licensing system for community care facilities, and pioneered recognition of the special needs of infants and toddlers with a license distinct from that of preschool-age care. While the standard of care in California statute remains appropriate, the bifurcation of early care licensing in California into two separate licenses is unnecessary and problematic. California is one of only two states in the country which employ a separate infant-toddler license, and family child care providers are not subject to the dual-license requirement.  
  • AB-1754 (McCarty) Pre-K for All Act of 2018 -  Pre-K for All Act of 2018.  The intent of this bill is to to ensure a fair start to all low-income children by providing quality early care and education for all low-income children whose families wish to enroll them in early care and education programs.
  • SB-837 Transitional kindergarten: enrollment for 4-year-olds - Essentially, this bill is seeking to expand enrollment in Transitional Kindergarten to younger 4-year-olds.This bill would require progressively younger 4-year-old pupils to be admitted to a transitional kindergarten program maintained by a school district or charter school, as provided, until, in the 2022-23 school year and each school year thereafter, the bill would require all 4-year-old pupils to be admitted to a transitional kindergarten program maintained by a school district or charter school. The bill would authorize, from the 2015-16 school year to the 2021-22 school year, inclusive, a 4-year-old child who is not required to be admitted to a transitional kindergarten program to be admitted to a transitional kindergarten program, as provided. 
Upcoming dates of importance in regards to 2-year bills/bills introduced in 2017:
  • All of these bills have to be out of their house of origin by January 31st.  
For child care and early education, our need and our ask is quite simple... 

WHAT DO WE WANT...CHILD CARE SLOTS!!!
WHEN DO WE WANT THEM...NOW!!!
  • Parents need access to 24 hour/7 days per week affordable child care options that meet the demands of full time employment.
  • Children need stable and enriching child care settings to attain greater educational outcomes.
  • Child care providers and teachers need to be reimbursed livable rates that value their profession and economic contributions.
  • Employers need a reliable workforce.
CAPPA's priorities will be:
  1. To increase the number of and access to subsidized child care slots to address a huge unmet need for working families - 
    In 2015, an estimated 1.5 million children from birth through age 12 were eligible for care, according to a Budget Center analysis of federal survey data. In California's Alternative Payment voucher program and General Child Care there are fewer than 33,000 child care slots allocated to support working poor families. 
  2. Building   workforce  capacity of providers with livable rates that are at least comparable to the minimum wage
    The fact is that infant and toddler care is an extremely low profit area.  For a child care provider, costs are high when factoring in housing, supplies, insurance and labor.  State law requires that child care center providers maintain a ratio of one staff member for every four children under 18 months and one staff member to every six children who are under 18 months to three years.  The ratio is one staff member to every 12 children for preschool aged three and four.
    In California, the state's minimum wage is increased to $11.00 per hour beginning January 1, 2018.  Infant/toddler full time child care rates vary from region to region, but average $9.16 an hour in a child care center, $5.70 an hour in a family child care home, and $3.99 in a family, friend and neighbor licensed-exempt care.  
  3. To v alue all child care and early education providers and centers with rates that recognize the value of their contributions to children, while meeting the financial requirements of operating small businesses as state and local minimum wage increases
Click here to read CAPPA Policy Principles & Goals: Partnering in 2017-18.   To help support a coordinated ask from our field, CAPPA will contribute to the development of talking papers, sign on communications, and more.   The more coordinated we are in our asks and priorities, the better the outcomes for families and children.

State Budget Update
will be available to CAPPA Members and subscribers only.  On this new and improved webpage, CAPPA will begin hosting enhanced budget information and strategic communications.  Annual subscriptions will be available to non-members for $50/year. 

On Wednesday, January 10, Governor Brown released his Click here to read the summary and here  for detail.

FOR MORE DETAILED INFORMATION ON THE BUDGET, VISIT OR SUBSCRIBE TO OUR BUDGET WEBPAGE.

From the Our Partners
California Budget & Policy Center: Our Analysis of Governor's Proposed Budget
On January 10, Governor Jerry Brown released a proposed 2018-19 budget that prioritizes building up reserves amid deep uncertainty about looming federal budget proposals, the impacts of the recently enacted federal tax bill, and future economic conditions. The Governor forecasts revenues that are $4.2 billion higher (over a three-year "budget window" from 2016-17 to 2018-19) than previously projected in the 2017-18 budget enacted last June, driven largely by continued economic growth. The Governor's budget assumes no changes to current federal policies and funding levels and is not yet able to account for the potential impacts of the Republican tax bill passed in late December.
Webinar: Eligibility, Certification, Recertification and Notice of Action
Last Thursday, CDE/EESD supported our field with a webinar on Eligibility, Certification, Recertification and Notice of Action.  Click here to see the slides.
Federal
Federal Government Shutdown- 
Last Monday, the Federal Government reopened after a short 3-day shut down. Senate Democrats agreed to short term spending bill that would keep the government funded until February 8th, after promises that compromise would over DACA would ultimately be reached.
As negotiations continue between Senate Democrats, Republicans, and the Administration, it is still unclear whether a permanent solution and spending bill will be passed.
For Contractors who would like more information on how a Federal shutdown would affect CDE programs, CAPPA encourages you to directly contact your fiscal analyst for information specific to your programs and contract types. 


The sad fact is that families across the United States are struggling to afford high-quality child care and child care teachers are having trouble taking care of their own families. Meanwhile, Congress rammed through a tax bill that provides massive giveaways for corporations but little to no relief for families facing these high costs. And there is still no movement on raising wages for the people who do this work. We need a real solution.

Poor kids do not have a voice in Washington-only you can force Congress to do the right thing.

This is a classic political trick: Congress funded CHIP to appease voters, but slashed the budget for the community health centers where CHIP recipients actually get their health care. Unless Congress acts soon, these clinics-which serve low-income and rural Americans-may be forced to close.

Tell Congress to keep community health centers open.

They can congratulate themselves all they want, but partial, temporary funding for CHIP is not going to do enough to protect children's health when tens of millions of Americans find their primary health care centers shuttered or hobbled.  Click here to sign.

FREE WEBINAR:  Strategies for Building and Financing the Supply of High Quality Early Learning Webinar Series: Webinar 2 Identifying, Mapping and Alleviating Child Care Deserts
You are invited to attend the second webinar in the series on Strategies for Building and Financing the Supply of High Quality Early Learning to be held on February 13th at 2 pm ET. This webinar will focus on 
Identifying, Mapping and Alleviating Child Care Deserts.

What are child care deserts? How do we recognize them and what communities do they impact? Through data-driven analysis, the scope of child care undersupply is coming into focus. Participants will hear findings from two research organizations that are charting the child care desert landscape. This workshop will feature an interactive demonstration, how-to tips, strategies for using desert maps to drive advocacy, and a discussion about child care in Latino communities-which are frequently child care deserts. Input will be shared from leaders in states that have successfully alleviated their own child care deserts.    Click here to register.

SNAP Linked to Better Health and Lower Health Care Costs
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is associated with better health and lower health care costs, according to a growing body of evidence that we summarize in a new paper.

Food insecurity - i.e., lack of access to enough food at any point during the year - is linked to a number of negative health outcomes, such as increased risk of chronic health conditions, and higher health care costs.

By providing income to enable households to better afford food, which reduces the stress of food insecurity and frees up money to spend on their health, SNAP may offer participants a path to better health.


Just the Facts: The CalWORKs Program.
  • CalWORKs is a key component of California's safety net for low-income families. 
    Established in 1998, the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program provides cash assistance to very low-income families with few assets. Most eligible parents must make progress toward finding and keeping a job or face loss of their grant; children remain eligible regardless of their parents' program status. As of 2017, the vast majority (81.4%) of CalWORKs recipients are children. CalWORKs is jointly funded by federal, state, and county governments.
  • The federal block grant results in choices and constraints. 
    Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) allocates federal funding through block grants, which give states latitude in spending.
    In 2016-17, California used 65% ($2.43 billion) of its TANF funding for CalWORKs, along with $2.78 billion from state and county sources; the remaining 35% was used for other purposes, including $926 million for Cal Grants financial aid to college students. But block grants do not increase when more families qualify for assistance, and federal funding has remained flat-or declined, in inflation-adjusted terms-since TANF was enacted in 1996. During and after the 2007-09 recession, state lawmakers cut cash grants and trimmed work requirements to manage increased need. In 2013, policymakers revamped work requirements and increased funding for related work services; some of the cuts to grants were also reversed.
  • CalWORKs is among the state's most effective anti-poverty programs. 
    The California Poverty Measure (CPM) estimates that, in the absence of CalWORKs, 439,200 more Californians (225,000 adults and 214,200 children) would be in poverty and 186,400 more would be in deep poverty (91,600 adults and 94,900 children). These estimates include both CalWORKs recipients and family members who share resources. One of the goals of CalWORKs is to reduce child poverty;  its statewide impact-a 2.3 percentage point reduction-ranks third among large-scale safety net programs. CalFresh food assistance and the federal EITC each mitigate child poverty by 4 percentage points-and each provides more total benefits than CalWORKs. CalWORKs tends to lower poverty more in inland areas and less in coastal counties.
Of Interest
Upcoming Events 
SAVE THE DATE! 
In partnership with CDE, we will be providing training to address our field's top requested needs.  
DATE:  April 5, 2018
WHERE:  The Village Conference Center; 
Pomona Unified School District 
TIME:  9:30 am - 2:30 pm

Workshops to include Provider Payments, Review Guide and Results from the Federal Review.

Registration will be available this week!
Register Here

 Join Us in Advocating for Our State's Youngest Learners!
We are excited to have Senator Connie M. Leyva and Kristin Shumacher, Budget Analyst for the California Budget Policy Center, join us for the annual Early Learning Advocacy Day on March 1, in Sacramento, California. 

This all-day event will bring together early learning advocates from across California to "Seize the Moment for California's Youngest Children" and brief state legislators on why high-quality early learning programs are an essential investment for California and the nation.

Take the opportunity to:
  • Participate in small-group visits with state legislators
  • Learn about innovation in early learning taking place throughout California
  • Meet and network with other early learning advocates
ELAD Meeting Location: California District Attorneys Association, Sacramento, CA


Find your state legislator  HERE.  You will need this information to register for the event.