Intergovernmental Committee

123 Madison Street Village of Oak Park Oak Park, Illinois 60302 www.oak-park.us Meeting Minutes Intergovernmental Committee Wednesday, October 26, 2022 7:00 PM Remote Virtual Meeting IGA Governing Bodies – Early Childhood Education 1. Call To Order Village President Vicki Scaman called the Meeting to order at 7:02 P.M. 2. Roll Call Present from Early Childhood Education IGA Governing Bodies: Jung Kim, Holly Spurlock, Dr. Ushma Shah, Dr. Gregory Johnson, Vicki Scaman, Lucia Robinson Present from Collaboration for Early Childhood (CEC): Whitney Brooks, Laura Crawford, Shannon Ellison, Azucena Galvez, Wendy Giardina, Sophie Grimes, Lisa Jarvis, Tiffany Kelly, John Mayes, Mary Quest, Julie Stevens, Becki Streit Present from D97: Anna Colaner, Gina Harris, Patrick King Present from Village of Oak Park: Kevin Jackson, Christina Waters Present from Easterseals: Michelle Howell 3. Public Comment There were no public comments. 4. Approval of Agenda Ms. Robinson moved to approve the October 26, 2022 Agenda as presented; seconded by Ms. Kim. A voice vote resulted in motion carried. 5. Approval of Minutes ID 22-363 Motion to Approve Minutes from February 23, 2022 Meetings of the IGA Governing Bodies - Early Childhood Education Ms. Robinson moved to approve the Minutes of the February 23, 2022 meeting as presented; seconded by Ms. Kim. A voice vote resulted in motion carried. Village of Oak Park Page 1 Printed on 2/23/2023 Intergovernmental Committee Meeting Minutes October 26, 2022 6. Special Report ID 22-361 Special Report: Report to the IGA Governing Board - Report on Contract for Early Childhood Services - Administrative Report from Fiscal Agent District 97 - Planning for Tri-Board Meeting on December 7, 2022 CEC Interim Executive Director Laura Crawford gave a presentation framed by two key points: 90% of a person’s brain is fully developed before they even enter kindergarten; and developing children need a strong community of caring and support. CEC builds connections for our community to support young children, brings partners together towards a common goal of ensuring children have what they need to thrive through the lens of collective impact-a place-based approach to achieving strong outcomes for communities, recognizing the unique strengths, opportunities, and challenges in each place. It will take everyone to do the work and CEC brings voices to the table. Ms. Crawford shared a video from CMM Social Change in Australia to provide an overview of collective impact. She introduced CEC staff and CEC’s four program service areas: early learning; health and development; family engagement; and community engagement. CEC Director of Programs and Contracts Shannon Ellison presented an overview of previous year highlights. The 19th annual symposium theme was Moving from Surviving to Thriving. CEC offers professional development opportunities and convenes directors and family child care roundtables with early learning professionals. CEC’s Early Childhood Resource Directory contains contacts and resources for 65 early childhood programs in Oak Park, River Forest, and Forest Park. CEC distributed 3,000 Directories and 1,276 web visitors accessed it online. CEC works with the publicly funded pre-school committee who developed a digital pre-screening form to help connect children to programs. CEC arranged a regular meeting with Oak Park Health Department (OPHD) so directors and providers could get their COVID-19 questions answered and get guidance and protocols from OPHD. CEC provided vision and hearing screening services to 33 early learning center-based programs. CEC performed 1,060 vision screenings, 1,063 hearing screenings, and made 25 vision referrals. CEC’s developmental Village of Oak Park Page 2 Printed on 2/23/2023 Intergovernmental Committee Meeting Minutes October 26, 2022 screenings project screened 1,774 children, of which 1,754 were ASQ3s and 1,540 were ASQSE2s. 1,520 children completed both the ASQ3 and the ASQSE2. CEC is expanding screening efforts to include screening for social determinants of health through the help of a CATCH grant from the American Academy of Pediatrics. A pediatrician on CEC’s health and development committee will lead the Community Connect project and use the developmental screening project network to incorporate the environmental screening questionnaire to allow CEC to connect families in need with resources. CEC offered physician’s network virtual events on addressing early childhood health challenges and family-provided perspectives of early intervention services through telehealth. CEC offered an early childhood healthy development screening day in partnership with the Park District of Oak Park, Infant Welfare Society Children's Clinic, and OPHD. CEC distributed 103 baby bundles with goodies and resources for new and expecting parents. CEC offers new and prenatal moms groups and infant massage classes offered by Easterseals. CEC’s Parenting Resource Program offered 20 parenting workshops with many community partners. CEC offers a Ready for K text messaging program to provide information to families on how to ready their children for kindergarten. They partnered with Welcome to Fatherhood to offer men's groups for fathers and father figures and a Parenting Resource Program monthly newsletter and activity bags. La Familia Primero hosted parent circles and parent leadership training and family events to connect families to local resources at more than 30 community events. CEC’s Chicago Parent Program offers four cohorts of a 12-week parenting workshop series. CEC partnered with Easterseals Day Nursery, Future Leaders Learning Center, Oak Leyden Developmental Services, and a private practice. In spring 2021, CEC launched a dedicated coordinated intake role. In the first full year, CEC’s intake coordinator connected with 256 people who spoke 11 languages, of which 158 were referred for free preschool and early learning program openings, 29 were referred to home visiting services, 55 were referred to the Early Childhood Resource Directory, 38 were referred for early intervention or early childhood special education services, and 16 received baby bundles. Village of Oak Park Page 3 Printed on 2/23/2023 Intergovernmental Committee Meeting Minutes October 26, 2022 CEC connects people with Housing Forward, the Child Care Assistance Program through IDHS, parent workshops, Chicago Public Schools. Michelle Howell, program manager for Easterseals, described the evidence-based home visiting curriculum Parents as Teachers. Easterseals works with families until their child starts kindergarten, which was extended during COVID-19. Families are paired with trained parent educators who offer individualized support. Easterseals also makes counseling referrals. Easterseals worked with 60 families and 79 children last year and enrolls any child under age five and provides referrals for older children. Easterseals’ retention rate last year was 90%, which considers families who had to leave the program due to scheduling. Enrollments were the highest in four years. Easterseals offers virtual services which account for 10% of visits. CEC Communications Coordinator Sophie Grimes presented on community engagement. Last year CEC published 43 blog posts. CEC has 4,000+ active email subscribers and many newsletters, including early learning, family focused, general monthly, and physicians network. CEC had 17,000 new visitors to their website, a 9,000 increase from the previous year. CEC Community Engagement Coordinator Wendy Giardina presented on the CEC’s engaging community activities. CEC opened an additional space at 171 South Park Avenue in October 2021. CEC thanked early childhood professionals with 350 Dunkin gift cards. CEC celebrated its 20th anniversary on April 30 at the Nineteenth Century Club. 170 board members, staff, early childhood educators, and community partners celebrated their accomplishments. CEC honored 50 early childhood professionals, founders, intergovernmental partners, D97, D200, and the Village. The 19 individual and 30 business sponsors enabled CEC to offer 50 free tickets to attendees. CEC launched their volunteer corps CC's Crew, who stuffed baby bundles, planned the birthday bash, updated the Directory, and helped at the symposium and drive-in movie. 64 parents requested a letter from Santa for their children. CEC partnered with coffee shops to provide letter templates. Please spread the word to anyone who might like to receive a letter. CEC Board Chair Becki Streit thanked the IGA Board for its support. CEC staff have filled key positions, kept on track with community events, and Village of Oak Park Page 4 Printed on 2/23/2023 Intergovernmental Committee Meeting Minutes October 26, 2022 managed grants. Ms. Streit acknowledged Ms. Crawford for her leadership as Interim ED. CEC considered pausing the strategic planning process while searching for an ED but because the plan was from 2009 and already paused due to COVID-19, CEC believed it was right to continue the work and weave those two processes together. On November 7 the Board and the Council will meet to approve a final version of the strategic plan. CEC will collect additional information from stakeholders and partners to help identify specific goals for each pillar of work. CEC will share a detailed version of the plan at the December Tri-Board meeting. The search committee is working with Kittleman and Associates and CEC hopes to name a new ED by the end of February. CEC will share the Board's plan in more detail at a future date. 7. Financial Report ID 22-362 Financial Report - Collaboration Financials July to Sept FY23 - Collaboration Financials End of Year (EOY) FY22 - Admin Report from IGA Fiscal Agent - D97 (9-30-22) Ms. Crawford said CEC concluded their audit, which will be voted on November 7 and then copies will be distributed. Revenue was 100% and expenses were 94% of their budgeted amounts. We're in a strong financial position. We expect to bill the IGA for all six payments this fiscal year. Financial statements are in the meeting packet, sent to the Board quarterly, and posted online. Patrick King is senior director of finance at D97 and the administrative district for IGA which oversees the bank accounts to track contributions from D97, D200, the Village, and an administrative reserve. Mr. King shared a brief summary report of July 1 through September 30. The administrative reserve account is at $329K. Everything is on track for the six draw requests in FY23. D97 has a balance of $235K, D200 has $199K, and the Village has $173K. D97 contributes 39%, D200 contributes 34%, and the Village contributes 27%, which are reflected in those balances. Mr. King will invoice the governing bodies by November 15 for the January IGA contribution. Ms. Crawford said the goal of the December 7 Tri-Board meeting is to bring the three boards together in person at OPRF and learn about the Village of Oak Park Page 5 Printed on 2/23/2023 Intergovernmental Committee Meeting Minutes October 26, 2022 state of early childhood in our community. We are leaning toward having a panel discussion to think about how the community has supported young children with a focus on stories. We need to identify people who might be willing to share their stories. Dr. Shah suggested thinking about the intersection of early childhood and investments in multilingual learning and elevating the idea of validating home, culture, and language. Ms. Crawford agreed that is something CEC will be able to work on. She suggested presenting the stories without a PowerPoint or other visual. Other suggestions can be sent to lcrawford@collabforkids.org. Ms. Crawford shared a quote from local pediatrician Gina Harris: “Babies, toddlers, and young children encourage our instincts to connect with them and thus to each other. They remind us of the power of relationships to endure difficult times and feel joy in good times.” 8. Adjournment Ms. Robinson moved to Adjourn; seconded by Ms. Kim. A voice vote resulted in motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 8:10 P.M., Wednesday, October 26, 2022. Respectfully submitted, Deputy Clerk Hansen, Village of Oak Park Village of Oak Park Page 6 Printed on 2/23/2023