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Information

The Family Leadership Summit is an opportunity for parents of young children with special needs or health concerns who want to gain leadership skills and improve outcomes for other children and families facing similar concerns.

Come learn how to advocate for your children!

Who should attend the Family Leadership Summit: • Parents who currently serve on Interagency Early Intervention Committees (IEICs), IEIC subcommittees, or other advisory boards • Parents who are interested in serving in a leadership capacity Participants will: • Have an opportunity to network with other family leaders • Learn how to influence public policy and improve personal advocacy skills • Enhance leadership skills

Agenda 8:30-9:00     Registration & Continental Breakfast 9:00-9:30     Welcome and Introductions 9:30-10:15    Why Parent Leadership?, Judy Swett 10:15-10:30  Breakfast 10:30-11:45  Fostering the Leaders Among Us ———————Deb Neidfelt 11:45-12:45  Lunch and Networking 1:00-2:00     Grassroots Organizing 101, Kim Kang 2:00-2:45      Parent Panel 2:45-3:00      Action Plans, Evaluation & Close

Saturday, May 1, 2010
8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
At Pacer Center

You may register online or by phone:(952) 838-9000. Registration is required and must be received by April 15, 2010.

Accommodations will be available for parents traveling more than 70 miles one way. Local and regional IEICs are encouraged to financially support the attendance of one or two parent representatives.

For more information visit http://www.pacer.org/ec/summit/ or contact Judy Swett at 952-838-9000 or 800-537-2237.

Registration is required and must be received by April 15, 2010.

Space is limited, so please register early.

Sponsored by PACER’s Family Information and Resources Project. Funding for this workshop is made possible with a grant from the Minnesota Department of Education. The source of the funds is from federal awards, Special Education - Part B 619 and Part C.

This week at the Capitol, the House Early Childhood Committee released their omnibus bill. It was unveiled on Monday, testimony was taken Tuesday, and it was amended and voted out on Thursday. It includes the following provisions:

• • A one time cut of $7.5 million, accomplished by capturing the underspending in Basic Sliding Fee child care;
• • Re-purposing $500,000 of existing quality dollars at DHS for providers to use to get ready for a quality rating system;
• • Ensuring parents who receive child care assistance, and are under the age of 21 and in high school or pursuing a GED are eligible for CCAP for the full school year. This was a recommendation of the CCAP Simplification Task Force;
• • Several new duties were added to the Governor’s Early Childhood Advisory Council, including adding a representative of the Dept of Health, requiring the Council to make recommendations on screening and assessments, requiring the Council to create and implement school readiness report card, and creating a task force to develop recommendations by January 2011 for the creation of an Office of Early Learning;
• • Requiring that charter schools that provide early childhood screening must inform families that apply to the charter school about the availability of the program;
• • Clarifying who is eligible to participate in School Readiness programs.

The bill passed out of the committee and was re-referred to the full House Finance Committee, where it will be divided and the child care portions will be amended onto the Omnibus Health and Human Services bill, and the education provisions will be amended onto the Omnibus Education bill. We expect this to happen in the next couple weeks, after legislators return from Spring Break. The full bill can be read here.

The Senate has yet to release their Education and Human Services Budget.

Read our full mid-session report, which aligns Ready 4 K’s policy agenda with corresponding legislation.

Our bill tracker may also be a useful resource for you, and it has been updated to reflect action on the House Omnibus Early Childhood Bill. However, once we have omnibus bills from the Senate, we will no longer update the tracker and will focus our attention on tracking the omnibus bills and conference committee activity.

In federal news, the Health Care Reform Package that passed Congress this week includes $1.5 billion over five years for a new grant program for evidence-based home visiting services. Within the next six months, states will have to conduct a needs assessment, develop three-to-five year outcome benchmarks to measure improvements, and to choose program models that meet certain criteria as evidence-based models. The first $100 million in federal funds will be distributed before the end of the current federal fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, 2010. The Minnesota Department of Health has announced that it will be taking the lead in collaboration with the Departments of Human Services and Education to do the planning that will be required for Minnesota to prepare a grant application. There is still much to learn much about what will be required from states, and through our continual involvement with the Minnesota Coalition for Targeted Home Visiting, we will stay abreast of news and share what we learn with you.

Coming up @ the Capitol

Over the weekend, it is expected that the conference committee on the first budget balancing bill, which includes essentially everything except health & human services and education, will complete their work and each body will take up the bill on Monday, March 29.

The Legislature goes on a week-long break starting at the end of the day on Monday, March 29, returning Tuesday, April 6. So what does this mean? Your legislator will be back in their district for a full week, and should be expecting to hear from you, their constituents. So take a moment to call, write or find your legislator at the local café and tell them how important it is to hold early care and education harmless.

Have a good break, and we’ll see you next month!

Ready 4 K

Northland Foundation Presents Nationally Renowned Speaker

Anne Gearity on Making Young & At Risk Children a Priority

Dr. Gearity has a mental health practice with children, adolescents and adults; does community consultation and developed an innovative intervention model for very at risk young children presenting with aggressive behaviors in collaboration with the Washburn Center for Children. She specialize in development and risk/ how can we help young children manage adversity and keep growing.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010
6:30-8:30 PM
Edgewater Conference Center, Lake Superior Room, 2400 London Road, Duluth

FREE of charge, but space is limited.

CEUs are available for Duluth Public Schools and cooperating school districts. If you have questions, email or call the Northland Foundation.

Northland Foundation Presents Nationally Renowned Speaker

Michael Gurian on The Minds of Boys & Girls
Helping Our Children Do Their Best in School and Life

Bestselling author, international speaker, and co-founder of the Gurian Institute, Michael Gurian will explore the differences in girls’ and boys’ brains and how gender affects the way children behave and learn. He has pioneered efforts to bring neuro-biology and brain science into homes, schools, corporations, and public policy.

Monday, April 12, 2010,
6:30-8:30 PM
Inn on Lake Superior, Northern Lights Ballroom, Duluth

For parents, teachers, early childhood & youth development professionals, medical & mental health providers, and concerned adult community members

Free; no RSVP necessary
CEU’s are available for Duluth Public Schools & cooperating school districts

CONTACT:
Northland Foundation @ 218-723-4040 / 800-433-4045

• • Are you a parent of young children?
• • Do you struggle with questions like these:
• • What is sexuality?
• • When and how do I pursue this subject with my children?
• • Is it ever too soon or too late?
• • What is normal sexual development?
• • How do I handle specific questions, behaviors, and situations?
• • What about differing family values when it comes to beliefs, discipline, and guidance?

Please join us for an interactive forum where you can explore your role as the primary sexuality
educator of your children. Our small group will discuss parenting opportunities and challenges and
learn about typical developmental stages. The session will also help us understand signs that might
indicate that a child’s personal safety is being compromised, as well as give practical tips on how you
can talk with your children about sexual abuse.

Facilitated by:
Robbie Weisel, Parent-Child Programs Manager at Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota
Jolyn Techar, Education Groups Facilitator of Sexual Assault Program of Northern St. Louis County

Wednesday April 21st – 10 to 11 a.m.
Arrowhead Building (next to the Salvation Army)
505 12th Avenue West
Virginia, MN 55792

Please RSVP by April 16th – group size is limited to 10 participants.
218-749-4725 (ask/leave message for Jolyn)
(A second program will be offered if there is enough interest.)

Sponsored by:
Sexual Assault Program of Northern St. Louis County
Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota

• • Are you a professional who works with parents of young children?
• • Do the parents you work with struggle with questions like these:
• » » What is sexuality?
• » » When and how do we pursue this subject with children?
• » » Is it ever too soon or too late?
• » » What is normal sexual development?
• » » How do we handle specific questions, behaviors and situations?
• » » What about differing family values when it comes to beliefs, discipline, and guidance?

Please join us for a collaborative session on PASE (Parents Are Sexuality Educators) with:
Robbie Weisel, Parent-Child Programs Manager at Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota
Jolyn Techar, Education Groups Facilitator of Sexual Assault Program of Northern St. Louis County

Robbie and Jolyn will engage us in a conversation on helping parents and children navigate the lifelong
learning process around our human sexuality. The session will also help us understand signs that might
indicate that a child’s personal safety is being compromised, as well as give practical tips on how
parents can talk with their children about sexual abuse.

Wednesday April 21st – Noon to 1:30 p.m.
Arrowhead Building (next to the Salvation Army)
505 12th Avenue West
Virginia, MN 55792

Please RSVP by April 16th – group size is limited to 10 participants.
218-749-4725 (ask/leave message for Jolyn)
(A second program will be offered if there is enough interest.)

Sponsored by:
Sexual Assault Program of Northern St. Louis County
Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota

Mesabi Range Community Technical College, Auditorium, Virginia

Enjoy the performance of this children’s play: “The Mysterious Case of the Missing Ring,” written by Janie Downey Maxwell, directed by Kristi Sutton Ongalo. Performances on Saturday, March 27 at 1 and 3 pm, Sunday, March 28 at 1 pm only.

Admission: Children, students, senior citizens $3, adults $5.

Children have been undercounted in every census since the first one in 1790. Local communities rely on census information in planning for schools, child care, health, and other critical services. The Annie E. Casey Foundation is supporting the Census Bureau’s efforts to ensure that parents and child care providers count their babies and young children on their 2010 Census forms so all children can benefit tomorrow from community services.

• · Download the toolkit featuring Dora the Explorer, the popular children’s cartoon character, to help spread the word among colleagues, members, and friends.

• · Read the Casey report, Why Are Young Children Missed So Often in the Census?

• · Visit the KIDS COUNT data center to see how children are faring in your state or community.

Participants will learn: Practical techniques for effective educators; how to avoid power struggles and effective limits for all students; how to have more fun and laugh with your students.

Target Audience:  Paraprofessionals (special education, general education, Title One, substitutes)

April 17, 2010, Cost $15 (includes refreshments, materials & lunch)

9 am to 3 pm at the Northeast Service Cooperative, Mt. Iron, MN

Register on-line, click on the orange workshop registration tab.  Call Tasha Honkola at 748-7605 with questions.

From iCANN, the Interfaith Children’s Advocacy Network

The Governor proposes two reductions that impact families using the Basic Sliding Fee child care program. [Quality child care is key to early learning.]

• Reduced funding for Basic Sliding Fee program by five percent (a $4.6 million reduction). As a result of the reduced resources, the Basic Sliding Fee program would serve fewer low- and moderate-income families. This cut is in addition to the five percent reduction in reimbursement rates mentioned below. This would transfer $5 million of unspent Basic Sliding Fee reserves to the general fund. As a result of the Governor’s proposal, approximately 470 families will not get child care assistance.   
• The Governor also proposes to reduce reimbursement rates for child care assistance programs for low- and moderate-income families by five percent (a $1.9 million reduction).

In addition, the Governor proposes tightening income eligibility for child care assistance for families receiving disability payments, saving the state $116,000.

And in the higher education budget, the Governor also proposes cutting $500,000 in child care grants from the Office of Higher Education budget in FY 2010-11.These grants help low-income students pay for child care while attending classes.

Come to the iCANN/JRLC Day on the Hill, March 25, 2010

Visit iCANN!