The number of homeless children enrolled in Head Start and Early Head Start has increased by 40 percent since 2008, according to data recently released from the Office of Head Start. In California, the number has increased by 55 percent.

There are more than 40,000 homeless children attending Head Start programs across the country.  U.S. Senator Murray (D-WA) recently sent a Dear Colleague letter to all of the members of the Senate, in an effort to raise their awareness of this issue.

Homelessness by State Analysis

Senator Murray Dear Colleague Letter

Interagency Agreement Webinar II is scheduled for May 23 to help facilitate interagency planning to meet the needs of children with disabilities   (save the date flyer).  It is designed to pull together Head Start staff and local school district staff who manage disability services.  The event will include a video link at five sites around the state and will feature a state level overview, presentation of model programs and time for managers in local counties to meet and plan together.  Local conversations will be facilitated by SEEDS and Head Start TTA Center Consultants.

This promises to be a great opportunity to further local collaboration around disabilities.  For further information, please contact Mike Zito at mzito@cde.ca.gov. 

National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day is May 3rd - a chance to increase awareness of the importance positive mental health has on a child's development.

Below are resources to help spread the word about Awareness Day and children's mental health: 

• Share information about early childhood mental health resources: http://projectabcla.org/resources/materials.php to download materials for professionals and families.
• Reproduce the My Feelings Activity Book for early care and education classrooms and create opportunities to read the book with children. 
  http://projectabcla.org/resources/materials.php
• Share the Children Thrive Best handout with parents - http://caheadstart.org/MHMessage-4.pdf
• Learn more about childhood trauma's impact on childhood development and pass it on to observe National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day: http://1.usa.gov/faK4p1 
•  NIMH is sponsoring a video-cast panel of children's mental health researchers and experts to discuss the science of children's mental health. Click here  to learn more.

The Resource Center for Family-Focused Practice and the California Department of Social Services are offering a free webinar:  Trauma in Early Childhood: What do we know? What can we do?

This presentation focuses on the hope that new clinical interventions and research offer; although there is a wound, it can be healed. 

Date and time:  

Tuesday, May 3, 2011  

 10-11:30 a.m.

Click here to Enroll! 

For additional questions, contact the Resource Center for Family-Focused Practice at (530) 757-8643 and ask to speak to Jason Bowman, jbowman@ucde.ucdavis.edu   

The California Department of Social Services has just issued a bulletin regarding developing partnerships with Head Start and CA State Preschool to support CalWORKs families. 

This is the product of significant work among many people and we encourage you to review it:  http://www.cdss.ca.gov/lettersnotices/entres/getinfo/acin/2011/I-21_11.pdf.  The memo itself is five pages and there are also explanatory slides.

Interested in learning more about implementing  CSEFEL in your program? Come hear from San Diego County sites and programs implementing CSEFEL in their programs!

May 16 in San Ysidro

Applications available online through May 6, 2011 http://csefelleadershipsummit.eventbrite.com

This summit focuses on how to build capacity, increase sustainability, and use data to guide decision-making based on the implementation of the Teaching Pyramid from the Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning (CSEFEL). This special event is designed for representatives from interested programs to come together and share ideas while hearing about the latest ideas for implementation of CSEFEL in California. Administrators who are interested in exploring CSEFEL are welcome to attend and bring staff as able.

Visit link and read page 2 for information on what qualifies as an implementing program - http://caheadstart.org/CACSEFELImplementationOverview.pdf

A public hearing for the proposed Child Care and Development Fund State Plan (October 1, 2011 to September 30, 2013) has been scheduled as follows:

 Monday, May 16, 2011

 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. 

 California Department of Education

1430 N Street, Room 1101

Sacramento, CA 95814-5901

Additional information is available on the California Department of Education Web site along with a draft version of the state plan at http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/cd/re/stateplan.asp

FoodSource, a CHSA partner, offers resources 

that many HeadStart programs have found to be valuable.   This is a free program that sources food and supplies and has demonstrated savings for California Head Start programs of 10-35%. 

How it works: FoodSource has arrangements with food wholesalers and distribution companies across the country and works to negotiate the lowest possible costs for groceries, paper goods and cleaning supplies.  In addition to cost savings, FoodSource offers free nutrition reporting, menu planning and budget reporting. 

There is no cost to join FoodSource Plus. To request a free, no-obligation savings analysis, complete a brief questionnaire at www.foodsourceplus.com or contact Kelly Fargo at 805-705-2003 or kfargo@foodsourceplus.com.