Issue #36                                                         September 5, 2017
 Alternative Payment Programs (APPs)  do so much more than supporting families with support and access to child care.  From border-to-border, APPs support each county with a menu of services that have evolved to meet the very unique needs of vulnerable families and populations. Therefore, to better support our field and decision makers with information about agencies and their services, each month CAPPA will be featuring an agency highlighting the contracts and programs delivered.  
If you would like to be featured please email us by   clicking here!  
September 2017 Featured Agency of the Month!
Central Valley Children's Services Network
Central Valley Children's Services Network (CSN) is the premier source for child care resource and referral services in Fresno County. For over 40 years, CSN has proudly provided early support services for parents; child care providers and children that help meet our mission of "Improving the quality of care for all children of the Central Valley." At CSN we understand that quality child care goes beyond meeting the licensing requirements; it enhances the social, emotional, intellectual, physical, linguistics, and creative development of a child. CSN considers children to be our most precious resource; deserving of the most optimal care possible.  We want parents with child care needs to be informed about what quality child care is and the programs that we provide aim to help!
 
C SN w as i n it i a l l y c r e a t e d i n 1976 as F.I.N.D. C are (Families In Need of Day Care); a child care resource and referral program administered by the Fresno County Community Council.  In the early 80's the council recognized that families needed services aside from child care referrals.  Funding was provided to offer the Subsidized Child Care Program which assists families in paying for child care and the Child Care Food Program, a support for providers through partial reimbursement for healthy meals served in their care. In 1983-1984 these programs were consolidated under the umbrella name Children's Services Network; incorporated as a private non-profit and designated as Central Valley Children's Services Network; Fresno County's Child Care Resource and Referral Agency. Today CSN houses 8 programs  to help ens u r t h at ch i l d r en a r g i v en  t h e op ti m al  c a r needed for a happy, healthy future . Additional programs at CSN include: Resource and Toy Lending Library containing over 8,000 toys, books, learning kits etc. available for check-out by families and providers free of charge; Child Care Initiative Project, a recruitment and training program for individuals interested in becoming licensed child care providers;  Quality Improvement Support Team on-going support for child care providers through trainings on best practices and assessment tools; Parent Outreach, an advocacy program that encourages parent groups to meet identify issues and develop action plans to ensure children receive affordable quality care; and Family Connections Program, an opportunity for children ages 0-5 to receive developmentally appropriate school readiness experiences through home visitation. At CSN we like to say, "If it's related to child care, we can help!"
*Big thanks to Ofelia Gonzalez and Marco Jimenez for the submission
Quick Links


Introducing CAPPA's 2017-18 Board of Directors
CAPPA is excited to announce to the field, our 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

Trudy Adair- Verbais
Santa Barbara County Education Office

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

EESD/CDE, DSS & CCLD Updates
August 11, 2017
Subject: Revised Family Fee Schedule 
July 26, 2017
July 21, 2017
July 12, 2017
July 12, 2017
Manual Letter EAS 17-05 includes revisions to the CalWORKs regulations as a result of the repeal of the Maximum Family Grant (MFG) rule.  These amended regulations are effective June 19, 2017.
Manual Letter EAS 17-06 includes revisions to the CalWORKs regulations regarding eligibility for pregnant women.  These amended regulations are effective July 1, 2017.
July 6, 2017

S ubject: State Median Income(Initial Certification) 
Subject: Graduated Phase-Out (Recertification) 
Subject: Updated Income Rankings
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!


Teacher Assistant
International Institute of Los Angeles

Child Development Inc. is Hiring! See the Recruitment Flyer 
Here.
Announcements
Running Dynamic Parent Meetings - strategies for increasing parent participation  


CAPPA Member Benefit
CAPPA Members can save up to 32% on shipping
UPS is pleased to help members save time and money through special services and shipping discounts. We put the power of logistics to work for you every day by providing speed, outstanding reliability and technology tools so you can focus on your business - not your shipping.

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!
Highlights of 4Cs of Alameda County's programs and services featuring 4Cs' families, child care providers, staff, and supporters.

If you have news to share or an event you want added to CAPPA's website Calendar, 
Support Our Field & Communications
Become a 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 HERE.
 
The Children's Foundation is a non-profit organization (501(c)3), Taxpayer Identification Number is 
03-0521444. Your generous donation is tax deductible.
Call for Action
We are happy to report that CAPPA sponsored bill AB 1106 a bill which permits the Superintendent of Public Instruction to create a contracting process to permit Alternative Payment Programs to expend their yearly allocated monies over 36 months,  passed out of Senate Appropriations this past Friday! It is on it's way to the Senate floor and we are asking for YOUR support. 


By filling out this form and clicking "SIGN", your information, along with the AB 1106 support letter, will be automatically emailed to all CA Senate members.
On Tuesday, May 23rd, both the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Subcommittee 1 on Education and the Assembly Budget Subcommittee 2 on Education Finance will be closing out recommendations for the funding of child care and early education issues.
 
We urge you to take action now by signing on to support the following identified budget priorities: 
  1. Support the Governor's May Revision to reinstate the promised early care and education investments from the Budget Act of 2016. 
  2. Support updating the State Median Income (SMI) threshold for families entering the subsidized child care system to 70% of the current SMI. For the past ten years, the maximum income level for families receiving subsidized care has remained "frozen" at 70% of the 2007 SMI. The minimum wage continues to increase, yet families receiving an extra 50 cents an hour risk losing their child care.
  3. Support the Legislative Women's Caucus request to increase funding for the General Child Care and Alternative Payment programs by $500 million to ensure flexible child care spaces are available to enhance and preserve parent choice in our mixed delivery system.
  4. Support removing the hold harmless provision included in Governor Brown's 2017-18 May Revision.  BACKGROUND: The Governor's 2017-18 May Revision proposed to raise provider rates up to the 75 percentile of the 2016 Market Rate Survey.  The Revision also proposes to implement a hold harmless clause for counties in which child care provider rates did not go up in the 2016 RMR to have rates 12 months from implementation to lower rates than providers are currently paid.  Unfortunately, the hold harmless provision expires January 1, 2019. 
We believe that if the above actions are taken, then we are closer to being able to serve more families.  We further believe that the families that we support will have a greater likelihood of achieving self-sufficiency and stability if able to income off at a higher level.  Finally, we believe in removal of the hold harmless language as all child care and early education providers in our state must be lifted up together, not some at the expense of others. 
By filling out this form and clicking "SIGN", your information, along with the budget priorities letter, will automatically be emailed to the Senate and Assembly Budget Subcommittees on Education. 
What's Happening
California 
 
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE:
This past Friday was the deadline for all bills to pass out of fiscal and policy committees. From September 5 - 15, only Floor sessions will meet. This Friday, September 8th is the last day for bills to be amended on the floor. 
Bills of interest to the field that are still active in the process:
  • AB 273 (Aguiar- Curry) - Child care services: eligibility. This bill would include in the area relating to need, as a requirement that may be satisfied for purposes of eligibility, that the family needs the child care services because the parents are engaged in an educational program for English as a second language learners or to attain a high school diploma or general educational development certificate. 
  • AB 603 (Quirk- Silva) - This bill would require the California Department of Education to provide to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature cost estimates and system analysis for alternative payment programs to develop an electronic timesheet process for the monthly attendance record or invoices, as provided. The bill would require on or before January 1, 2019, an alternative payment program to establish a program of electronic banking for payments made to licensed or license-exempt child care providers that have a contract with that alternative payment program, as provided. This bill would require APPs provide written and/or electronic notice to a child care provider of any changes to service.
  • AB 1106 (Weber)  -   This bill will allow allocated monies to support working families with child care, to be distributed over a longer period of time.  Additionally, the proposal will allow active military personnel to not have their basic housing allowance considered as part of their income when they apply for a child care subsidy.  (CAPPA sponsored bill)  
  • AB 1250 (Jones - Sawyer) - Counties: contracts for personal services. *CAPPA has elevated this bill as a high priority bill.  This bill would establish specific standards for the use of personal service contracts by counties including, but not limited to: requiring the county   to clearly demonstrate that the proposed contract will result in actual overall costs savings to the county   and also to show that the contract does not cause the displacement of county  or city  workers, require the to conduct an audit of contracts for personal services in excess of $100,000 annually to determine whether cost savings have been realized and would require the contractor to reimburse the county for the cost of the audit. The bill also would impose additional disclosure requirements for contracts exceeding $100,000 annually.   Click HERE to read CAPPA's letter of opposition.  
Below are links to other organizations that are tracking legislation that may be of interest to you.  
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 also will be noting legislative hearings of interest to our field.  To track and/or review legislation or to create your own tracking list,  click here.
 
To access the Senate Daily Files,  click here.
To access the Assembly Daily Files,  click here.
To watch live coverage of the Assembly and Senate click here.

Click here to see the upcoming calendar of legislative deadlines and other field meetings.  CAPPA is offering to host a field calendar to help us all better coordinate our conferences, trainings, and meetings.  If you would like to add to the calendar, email CAPPA. 


Learn What Federal Budget Cuts Could Mean for Your Congressional District


The Trump Administration and leaders in Congress have proposed deep cuts to various critical services and systems. If enacted, these cuts would harm millions of individuals and would be particularly damaging for certain populations, such as older adults, people with disabilities, and families struggling to make ends meet. Especially troubling is the fact that these spending reductions are being put forth alongside a set of tax cuts that would overwhelmingly benefit the wealthy and large corporations.

As Congress prepares to go back into session early next month and confront a number of key budget decisions, it is important to underscore what is at stake. With this goal in mind, the California Budget & Policy Center has created a set of 53 Fact Sheets - one for every congressional district in the state - that highlights the potential impact of proposed federal spending cuts, in terms of people served or levels of support. These new publications include figures on:
  • CalFresh food assistance participation
  • Rental assistance receipt
  • Medi-Cal enrollment
  • CalWORKs participation
  • Supplemental Security Income/State Supplementary Payment (SSI/SSP) receipt
  • Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) receipt
  • Supporting Effective Instruction (SEI) state grants
  • 21st Century Community Learning Centers grants

Federal

Mapping California's Child Care Deserts
by: Rasheed Malik and Katie Hamm
Choosing a child care program is a complex decision for families. Factors such as cost, location, operating schedule, and personal preferences influence child care choices. A rich body of research documents the high cost of child care and the barrier that cost presents for most families, but supply issues are not as well-understood. This report analyzes the locations of licensed child care providers in 22 states, including California, and found that a staggering one-half of all Americans live in what is known as a "child care desert," with rural, Latino, and Native populations disproportionately impacted. 
California has the largest share of residents living in a child care desert at 62 percent. However, 69 percent of California's Hispanic/Latino population lives in a child care desert. Child care supply is especially low in California's rural areas, where 64 percent of residents live in areas without enough licensed child care providers. CAP finds that child care deserts are associated with fewer mothers in the workforce. In California, the maternal labor force participation rate in child care deserts is 2.9 percentage points lower than it is in neighborhoods with adequate licensed child care. 


New Resources From the National Center on Early Childhood Quality Assurance
The National Center on Early Childhood Quality Assurance (ECQA Center) is pleased to announce the release of new and updated resources that support states and territories in the implementation of Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) requirements. These and other resources are available on the  ECQA Center Web page .
 
Program Standards
National Program Standards Crosswalk Tool
The Head Start Program Performance Standards1 and Child Care and Development Fund Regulations, both issued in 2016, are now included in the National Program Standards Crosswalk Tool. The Crosswalk Tool is designed to help states and territories that are developing and aligning program standards for licensing, quality rating and improvement systems (QRIS), and prekindergarten programs to search and compare the content of several sets of national standards (e.g., Head Start, accreditation, Caring for Our Children).
 
Child Care Licensing 
Developing and Revising Child Care Licensing Requirements
Having clearly written, research-based, measurable licensing requirements is the first step in protecting children from health and safety risks and in promoting quality care. Licensing requirements-supported by monitoring, enforcement, and technical assistance (TA)-provide protection through prevention and reduce risks to the health, safety, and well-being of children in care. This new document presents steps for developing and revising child care licensing requirements
based on several states' successful practices.

Designing Family-Friendly Consumer Education on Child Care
This new brief provides research-based information to support state and territory agency staff members as they design and implement family-friendly consumer education websites and other resources , such as QRIS programs. Consumer education efforts are undergoing revisions in response to provisions in the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 20143 and CCDF regulations. The brief provides information that will allow state leaders to understand the general applicability of research findings while acknowledging that multiple approaches are needed to address families' diverse needs.

High Priority


Early Education and Support Division
Subject: Revised Family Fee Schedule
Number: 17-11
Date: August 2017
Expires: Until Rescinded
Authority: California Education Code sections 8263, 8263.1, 8273, 8273.1, and 8447(b)(1), (c) and (f)
Attention: Executive Directors and Program Directors of Child Development Programs

The purpose of this Management Bulletin (MB) is to notify contractors of the Revised Family Fee Schedule and other changes impacting the assessment of the family fees as required by Assembly Bill (AB) 99, enacted by the Budget Act of 2017. The Revised Family Fee Schedule is effective July 1, 2017, and can be downloaded at   http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/cd/ci/documents/famfeeschedjuly2017.xls.

This MB rescinds MB 12-05 and MB 14-03a.


NOTE:  Early Education and Support Division (EESD) Consultants are available to provide assistance and answer questions about early education and support, and are assigned by region. Find the county in the list below to identify the assigned EESD Consultant to contact. Click here to find yours.
Joint Annual Conference 2017
Joint logo
Joint Annual Conference 2017 
October 18-20, 2017

Registration is Now Open!
Register Online 
For more conference information and to see the Preliminary Workshop Program, Click Here.


Conference Sponsorship or exhibitor opportunities are still available!
Hotel Reservations:
Our room block at the DoubleTree is sold out. If you are still in need of a room, please email  Danielle.
ALL NEW! 2017 Early Learning & Child Care Webinar Series 

Build or Add to Your Center 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 your staff on the most requested child care topics for 2017 at an affordable price in an incredibly convenient format. 
Click Here  to see more details and to register for the all new 2017 series.
September 2017 Webinar:
Running Dynamic Parent Meetings - strategies for increasing parent participation 
Developing a partnership and fostering collaboration between parents and child care providers can lead to a more consistent home/care environment for a child. By approaching parent meetings in a systematic manner, a caregiver can work to facilitate an effective flow of communication between parent and caregiver. Increasing parent participation in the process can lead to better outcomes for children while ensuring that a parent's voice is heard and empowered throughout the process.

The 2010- 2016 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.
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 that you would like added to CAPPA's website calendar, let us know!