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Building Connections resources: State case studies of early
childhood system building
The system building efforts of six states, including Colorado,
Iowa, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Vermont, are
profiled in a case study document and cross-state summary
matrix. These resources have been developed for the Building
Connections meeting in June 2006, and relate specifically
to state-community connections and governance issues.
Download
"State Case Studies of Early Childhood System Building"
Download
"Building Connections Cross-State Summary Matrix"
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Gerrit Westervelt joins Build Initiative as Executive Director
Gerrit Westervelt has been named executive director of the
Build Initiative. He served as president of Qualistar, a Denver-based
nonprofit organization working to create an early care and
education system in Colorado. Prior to joining Qualistar,
he spent nine years as director of state relations for the
Education Commission of the States. "Gerrit Westervelt
is an outstanding professional to lead this national effort
to help states remake the way they serve young children,"
said Barbara Reisman, chair of the Early Childhood Funders’
Collaborative and executive director of the Schumann Fund
for New Jersey.
To read the complete press release, click
here.
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Build Infant/Toddler meeting scheduled
for November 2006
Infant/Toddler issues will be discussed at a national meeting
in Chicago, November 15-17, 2006. The meeting will be co-hosted
by Build, CLASP and Zero To Three. For more information, please
continue to check this website.
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National Build Meeting planned for September
2006
The Build National Meeting will be held September 13-15 in
Baltimore, MD. For more information, please continue to check
this site.
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Building Connections meeting June 27-29, 2006
The Build Initiative and the Smart Start National Technical
Assistance Center are co-sponsoring a meeting called "Building
Connections" on June 27-29, 2006 in Minneapolis, MN.
The meeting will focus on the valuable role that communities
can play in building and managing an early childhood system
and the respective roles and relationships between state and
community planning and governance structures. State teams
will share lessons learned about building structures and relationships
at the state and community levels that contribute to system
building. To learn more about the topics that will be discussed
at the meeting, click here.
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Build Initiative to add new states
The Build Initiative currently supports five grantee states
and four learning partner states in building a coordinated
system of programs, policies, and services for children from
birth through age five. In 2006, Build will work solely in
states where there is a commitment of funding from private
foundations and/or other funding entities within the state
to support the early learning system building work. Build
is seeking to add two or three states that have funding partner(s)
to support their involvement by the end of the first quarter
of 2006. States should indicate their interest by December
9, and a rolling review process will be conducted through
the first quarter of 2006.
Download
the Request for Proposals
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Build national meeting held in September 2005
The 2005 national convening of Build Initiative states was
held on September 13 – 15, 2005 in Baltimore. Each Build
state brought a team of five to seven participants. The agenda
included large group presentations, concurrent cross-state
workshops, individualized state technical assistance, and
state team time. Plenary sessions focused on developing an
infant-toddler system; culture, language and poverty issues
in system building; and lessons from Georgia’s new Department
of Early Care and Learning. Workshop topics included state
solutions to financing challenges, compensation initiatives,
promotion of social emotional readiness, expansion of prekindergarten
programs, and development of political will in an election
year.
Click
here for agenda, meeting materials and related resources.
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Communications meeting takes place in September 2005
The Build Initiative and the Communications Consortium Media
Center (CCMC) held a communications meeting in September 2005
in conjunction with Build’s national convening. Each
Build state sent two participants. Attendees heard lessons
learned from CCMC’s Early Care and Education Collaborative.
States also worked on message creation and dissemination through
sessions on low budget communications,
e-advocacy, and online communications hubs.
Click
here for agenda, meeting materials and related resources.
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2005 conference calls held
Periodic conference calls for representatives of Build Initiative
states are an important part of the Learning Community. 2005
calls focused on a variety of topics of interest to state
leaders. A January call featured the national Born Learning
public awareness and engagement campaign. In March, a conference
call in honor of Irving Harris highlighted the work of community-based
doulas. An "Ask the Expert" call in May with Sharon
Lynn Kagan focused on early learning standards and assessment.
Louise Stoney moderated a July call on public and private
financing partnerships featuring North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
A conference call in August on integrating family, friend
and neighbor care into system building highlighted four Sparking
Connections sites in Build states. And a November call introduced
Build states to the new Kids Clips free clipping service.
Click
here for call summaries and support materials
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Born Learning campaign featured in conference call
A Build Learning Community conference call on the Born
Learning campaign was held on January 31, 2005. United
Way Success by 6, Civitas, and Families and Work Institute
are sponsoring the three-year public awareness and engagement
campaign to help parents, caregivers and communities provide
children with the high-quality learning experiences necessary
for school readiness. The conference call focused on the opportunities
available to states and communities interested in linking
their public will efforts with the national campaign.
Click
here for call summary and support materials
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Build/Sparking Connections meeting takes place in October
2004
Build joined the Sparking Connections initiative of Families
and Work Institute to host a learning community meeting in
Seattle on October 6 – 8, 2004. The meeting focused on
ideas, next steps, and advice for enhancing the quality of
family, friend and neighbor care. Participants outlined recommendations
and next steps, which will be summarized in a white paper.
Groups were formed to continue work on defining and measuring
quality, clarifying the definitions and language, and creating
messaging and defining policy needs. Build participants will
convene a conference call to further discuss how family, friend
and neighbor care can be better integrated into state system-building
efforts.
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Financing Learning Community caucus underway
One area of interest to Build states is that of financing
of early learning systems. In January 2005, Build co-sponsored
the Early Childhood Finance Learning Community meeting held
annually by the Smart Start National Technical Assistance
Center. This year’s sessions emphasized financing strategies
for comprehensive early childhood systems as well as the integration
of outcomes and standards into such systems. As part of the
finance forum, Build co-sponsored the development of a case
study on financing strategies in Illinois.
Topical conference calls are another part of
the Learning Community caucus on financing. A September 2004
call, held in conjunction with the Center for Law and Social
Policy, Trust for Early Education, and Smart Start National
TA Center, focused on the use of the school funding formula
for preschool programs. A December 2004 call, co-sponsored
with the Smart Start National Technical Assistance Center,
discussed the use of economic impact reports. For supporting
materials on financing, see www.earlychildhoodfinance.org.
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Governance Learning Community caucus active
The Build Initiative and the Smart Start National Technical
Assistance Center held a meeting on early childhood system
governance on August 2 – 4 in New Bern, North Carolina.
There were approximately 65 participants in teams of two to
four people from each of the fifteen Build and Smart Start
states. The agenda included an overview of governance, presentations
on various state models and approaches, discussion sessions
on key issues, and state-to-state consultations and peer feedback.
In December 2004, the Child and Family Policy Center released
the final version of the document on which the governance
meeting was based. Building an Early Learning System: The
ABCs of Planning and Governance Structures is available
online at www.finebynine.org
or by contacting CFPC at 515-280-9027. The Build Initiative
subsequently produced a policy brief based on the publication.
Download
the Build policy brief
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Conference calls focus on tiered strategies
Many Build states indicated an interest in tiered strategies,
including quality rating systems, tiered reimbursement, and
rated licensing. As a result, a conference call was held on
March 16, 2004 to feature work in two Build states: Oklahoma
and Pennsylvania. Each state described how they got started
working on tiered strategies, how the program actually functions,
and what they have learned from the process. A second conference
call on August 19, 2004 featured Judy Collins of the National
Child Care Information Center, who gave a national overview
of state tiered quality initiatives. A discussion session
on linking tiered quality strategies to the implementation
of prekindergarten programs was held during the Build Initiative’s
national meeting in September 2004.
Click
here for call summaries and support materials
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Ask the Expert calls launched
A series of "Ask the Expert" conference calls is
being held by the Build Initiative. Each call will offer the
opportunity for Build state representatives to ask questions
of an "expert" to whom they might not otherwise
have direct access. Calls will take place several times a
year and will feature one expert per call for an hour-long
discussion. The initial call in May 2004 featured Lee Schorr
of Harvard University, who described the Pathways Mapping
Initiative. A second call in November 2004 was a discussion
with Joan Lombardi, director of The Children’s Project.
Click
here for Ask the Expert call summaries and support materials
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Next Build national meeting set for September 2004
The 2004 national convening of Build states is scheduled for
September 20 – 22 at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago. Each
Build Initiative state will be invited to bring a team of
five to seven participants. A planning team of Build staff
and state representatives has begun discussing the format
and content of the national meeting.
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Build partnering with Sparking Connections on family, friend
and neighbor care
The Build Initiative has entered into a partnership with Sparking
Connections, an initiative of the Families and Work Institute
and the NRF Retail Work Life Forum to support family, friend,
and neighbor caregivers. A series of four conference calls
in January and February 2004 gave Sparking Connections sites
a chance to share their plans with each other. Sites came
together in March to develop evaluation plans, and a conference
on the topic is planned for October 2004. Four of the eight
Sparking Connections sites are in Build states. The evaluation
team is led by Mon Cochran, Director of the Early Childhood
Program at Cornell University.
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Meeting on governance planned for August 2004
The Build Initiative is partnering with the Smart Start National
Technical Assistance Center and the State Early Childhood
Policy Technical Assistance Network (SECPTAN) to focus on
statewide governance structures in early care and education.
Charles Bruner of SECPTAN is authoring a publication on current
models and considerations. After its release, a meeting on
governance will be held for representatives of interested
Build and Smart Start states. A team of staff and state representatives
is working to plan the governance meeting, which is scheduled
for August 2 – 4 in North Carolina.
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Cantigny conference on system-building held
The Build Initiative and the McCormick Tribune Foundation
recently sponsored a conference on Early Care and Education
System Building: Maintaining Momentum in a Time of Fiscal
Crisis. The June 11 – 13, 2003 conference was held
at Cantigny, Col. Robert R. McCormick’s former estate
in suburban Chicago. Forty-six state leaders and national
experts from more than 20 states were in attendance. Participants
discussed the work of system-building and explored the financing
and messaging strategies that best support it. Resources on
system-building, financing, and messaging may be found in
the Learning
Community section of this website. A publication will
be produced as a result of the conference.
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Financing workshop held in July
The Build Initiative and the State Early Childhood Policy
Technical Assistance Network sponsored a workshop on Financing
an Early Learning System: Strategies for the Short and Long
Haul. The workshop was held on July 16 – 18, 2003
in Minneapolis. It explored how to define the financing needs
for a comprehensive learning system and mobilize necessary
political support to secure the resources to at least make
a "down payment" on the system. It discussed what
can be achieved in tough fiscal times and what longer-range
opportunities exist for developing sustainable financing of
enhanced early learning systems. Participants in the workshop
included teams from the original Build states as well as representatives
from interested Build learning partner states and School Readiness
Indicators states.
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Seventy participants attend Build national convening
A national convening of states involved with the Build Initiative
was held on September 10 – 12, 2003 in Baltimore. Seventy
participants were in attendance. Teams were sent from each
of the Build states, including the learning partner states.
The convening offered opportunities to share with and learn
from resource people in other states and national experts.
Peer-to-peer learning was facilitated through cross-state
small group discussions on a variety of topics, large group
presentations, state team time, and Learning Community caucus
meetings.
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Build state plans submitted
The four original Build grantee states (Illinois, Minnesota,
New Jersey, and Ohio) submitted strategic plans to the Build
Initiative in mid-November 2002. Each state convened a team
of public and private stakeholders, including state agency
representatives, providers, and advocates, to develop their
plan. Recommendations resulting from the review process were
shared with each state. Videoconferences were held for states
to learn about each other's plans.
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Build Initiative evaluation underway
Evaluation of the Build Initiative is being coordinated by
Charles Bruner of the Child and Family Policy Center. Each
of the five grantee states has chosen an evaluator to provide
technical assistance in evaluation and to chronicle progress
through a case study. The evaluators assisted each state team
with gathering baseline information and developing benchmarks
related to their strategic plan. Each state evaluator completed
a first year case study. The case studies were compiled and
an overview of the Build Initiative's first year was written
by the Child and Family Policy Center.
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