Over one thousand Head Start members from California and beyond converged on Long Beach for CHSA's annual winter conference.  Thanks to Long Beach Head Start as Host, Planning Committee members and many other volunteers for a very successful event.

Presentations for many of the sessions are available on the CHSA website at:  2010 Conference Materials

 

Collaborations-Partnerships:

The SBO Manager participated in the Head Start State Collaboration Advisory Meeting in February which was focused on updating the Collaboration Office's annual priorities.  As part of the process, the needs from the SBO Annual TTA Plan and impact on collaborations were considered.
 
The SBO will participate in the First Five Conference to be held on March 9th and 10th entitled "Investments in Early Learning: Making an Impact."  Along with Head Start grantees and Head Start Collaborative partners, SBO staff will facilitate and participate in two panel discussions, "Importance of Engaging Families" and "Positive Impact of Comprehensive Early Learning Programs on Child's Health".  In addition to the upcoming panel activities, the SBO supported First Five in identifying and connecting with potential panelists from the Head Start community.
 
The SBO continues to support the rollout of the California CSEFEL as part of the statewide leadership team.  The first Training of Trainer events are scheduled to begin this month in Northern and Southern California and will be attended by SBO and GPSSs staff (along with selected grantee and statewide ECE staff).  The TTA staff will be available following this rollout to provide and support CSEFEL training throughout the State.
 
SBO and GPSSs staff, along with SEEDS TTA staff, will facilitate the "Working Together - Developing Local Agreements to Serve Children with Special Needs" video conference developed by the California Inclusion Committee.  The first video conference is scheduled March 16, 2010 and will be will be streamed from CDE to approximately nine County Offices of Education throughout California.  The goal of this training is to support Head Start programs in developing interagency agreements with their local LEAS.
 
The SBO staff is supporting CHSA in developing the agenda and identifying workshop presenters for the upcoming CHSA Spring Health Institute scheduled for April.  This Institute will include an EHS track and training strands focused on oral health and developing community partners.
 
SBO Staff continues to participate in the ELQIS sub-committees either in person or via the web.  The SBO will work with the Head Start Collaboration Office to review the proposal for ECE professional development opportunities in California to ensure these changes support achieving Head Start staff qualification requirements.
 
SBO Staff is collaborating with the CA Screening Initiative's sub-committee for Young Children's Mental Health Day on May 9th.  The staff will be working with EHS/HS programs and their community partners focusing on the awareness of Mental Health for young children.
 
As the result of several ongoing partnerships to address emergency preparedness, the SBO is supporting efforts to establish a state-wide workgroup which will discuss emergency preparedness specific to child care settings in California.

 

 

Resources for Head Start/ Early Head Start programs:

Training Events:

• In February, the SBO held three workshops at the CHSA Conference to support new and expanding EHS programs.  Topics included:  "Common Compliance Pitfalls", "Integrating EHS Into the Existing Agency," and "Learning from Programs Who Have Walked This Road Before."  Many EHS programs attended this event.
• The SBO staff supported the delivery of the Region IX EHS Orientation, provided by the Federal staff.  The orientation was offered to new EHS grantees in Region IX (CA and AZ).
• The SBO is continuing to provide training opportunities for new Early Head Start staff.  SBO staff will offer three EHS Modules over the next few months.  New EHS grantees have been invited to attend the first EHS Module entitled: "Start Up and Critical Tasks" which is scheduled for three sessions in March and April.  One session will occur in Northern California and two in Southern California.

 

Other Resources:

The SBO continues to post resources on the STG Listserv.  SBO staff also works with grantees to provide phone and email support upon request from and in partnership with the GPSSs. 

 

The SBO staff - upon request - provides training for local clusters of grantees and/ or grantee and partners (two or more) on all aspects of service delivery and system development.
 
Requests for Cluster Trainings to meet Head Start and Early Head Start training needs can be directed to:
            Jennifer Senechal, CA SBO Manager:     jennifer.senechal@stginternational.com