Committee and Task Force Meeting Summaries  

Workforce and Professional Development Committee- June 27, 2014

At its June meeting, the Workforce and Professional Development Committee heard an update from Karen Welford about the project to develop Shared Cross-Sector Competencies in Early Childhood.  A subcommittee of the WPD Committee will review and revise the draft competencies.  Tessa McDonnell provided an update about the ongoing work of the six workgroups focused on different aspects of the Cross-Sector Professional Development System, following the NAEYC Blueprint.  The WPD Committee offered input and feedback for both projects.  A Task Force of the WPD Committee has been created to serve as the State Leadership Team for an early childhood technical assistance grant to promote positive developmental outcomes for young children with disabilities.

Policy Committee- July 7, 2014

Laura Milliken reported about her meeting with the Coos Coalition for Young Children and Families about creating a strong partnership with Spark NH.  There was a report on the Endowment for Health's early childhood advisory group.  Policy scan recommendations were discussed with the committee's consultant, Peggy Kieschnick, to name criteria for narrowing our policy choices once our facilitated discussion begins.  The list of documents that committee members should read and know was reviewed.  Members were invited to be part of the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) task force.  The statewide NH Educators' Summit will include the workshop "Children: The Bedrock of the Granite State."

Data Committee- July 7, 2014

The Data Committee was updated on the status of the Needs Assessment and was told that a draft of the Executive Summary of the report should be completed soon. The committee completed sorting the recommendations that were pulled from the report into Committee areas and plan to send these recommendations to the appropriate committee when the full report and executive summary have been completed. Finally, the committee reviewed the status of convening a Data Governance Advisory Committee at DHHS.

Communications and Public Awareness Committee- July 9, 2014

Meeting opened with a "heard on the street" exercise to share news about Spark NH.  The Pledge now has an auto-reply and Facebook share feature.  Lynn Davey's Presenter Guide draft was shared.  A Bedrock webinar/video will be produced in the coming months.  The group discussed The Raising of America: Early Childhood and the Future of Our Nation, a PBS documentary.  Lynn is reviewing it for messaging and how it relates to Spark NH.  Robert Putnam's upcoming book, Our Kids, will focus on early childhood development and may complement our work.  A new task force was created and is charged with drafting recommendations for how to use 2-1-1 to better publicize existing programs and services that serve our focus.

Executive Committee- July 8, 2014

The Executive Committee continues to discuss the sustainability of Spark NH, receive updates on Project LAUNCH and ECCS, and make sure that committees are on track with their work plans. The committee drafted an agenda for the August Council meeting, and brainstormed ideas for both the Council Retreat that is being held at the end of September, and for what should be included in the Annual Report to the Governor's office. Finally, they discussed the guidelines for what information needs to be "approved" by the Council, and were provided with more information on the upcoming DOE Educator's Summer Summit.

Quality Committee- July 15, 2014

In July, the Spark NH Quality committee looked at the graphic and design of the two Quality definition cards, one for families and one for providers. Minor changes will be made and disseminated to several groups for review and feedback. The Committee hopes to have these finalized in the next month or so and is working on a dissemination plan for these cards as well as other ways to disseminate the information. The committee will continue its work in August on reviewing the family and professional surveys regarding availability and access to resources to make recommendations to the Spark NH Policy committee.

Workforce and Professional Development Committee- July 25, 2014

The Workforce and Professional Development Committee identified some issues associated with the PORTAL.  We will reconvene the PORTAL subcommittee and meet with representatives from Spark NH to discuss next steps and ongoing support for the PORTAL.  We revisited the recommendations from the NH Higher Education Inventory conducted in July 2013 and identified recommendations to bring to the NH Higher Education Roundtable for follow up.  The Shared Professional Early Childhood Core Competencies (SPECC) subcommittee reported on progress toward revising and editing the competencies and received feedback from the WPD; the group will continue to work on revising the SPECCs. Tessa McDonnell reported on the progress of the workgroups for the Professional Development System project as well as her meetings with key decision makers to inform them about the project and build support.  Members of the WPD Committee are actively engaged in these workgroups and projects.  Our Committee meetings are well attended and very productive!

Policy Committee- August 4, 2014

Spark NH's policy scan consultant, Peggy Kieschnick, led a discussion of the narrowed-down grid containing ten policy recommendations in the areas of Good Health, Strong Families, and Positive Early Learning.  We discussed the pros and cons of prioritizing, criteria for selection, and policies in Good Health and Strong Families.  Next, we will continue Strong Families and finish Positive Early Learning policies.  Ellen Wheatley reported about the first meeting of the Task Force on the Child Care and Development Fund - it focused on changes in regulations.   There was a report on the NH Educators' Statewide Summit, which had an early childhood team funded by the NH Dept. of Education.

Data Committee- August 4, 2014

The Data Committee reviewed final edits of a Spark NH brief laying out the need for early childhood data integration in the state.  Peter Antal is working with a sub-committee to complete the Spark NH needs assessment and an executive summary to go with it.  The group hopes that the whole thing will be ready to release in September.  When it is released the committee will convene data stakeholders to discuss key early childhood indicators to use for assessment going forward. There has been no progress on early childhood data governance at this point.  The group discussed some data analysis by Family-Centered Early Supports and Services.

Family Partnership & Engagement Task Force- August 11, 2014

The Family Partnership and Engagement Taskforce continued talking about our 2014 Workplan.  We focused our attention on creating opportunities to get parent feedback more consistently. Family Resource Centers around the state were contacted for ask permission to use their parent groups as focus groups for Spark NH Policy Scan. We reached out to non-active members to re-engage them or to ask for other candidates to fill their spots at the table.  We also looked at the Quality Childhood Program fact cards for parents and made some suggestions.  We talked about how we could use this card to start some important conversations regarding families in NH. 

Executive Committee - August 12, 2014

Spark will be applying for a multi-year operating grant from Endowment for Health.  No new requests for project funds at this time but the Data Committee may have one in the future.  Several open council positions will be filled soon.  Erika Argersinger has agreed to Chair the Council if elected.  The Committee will work to find someone from the public sector for vice-chair.  Agenda for the August Council meeting and the retreat were discussed.  There's an opportunity for Spark NH to partner with Monadnock United Way on an Impact Monadnock proposal.  Updates on Coos Data Project and relationship with Coos County were discussed.  December Council meeting to be changed.       

Quality Committee- August 19, 2014

A small group of the Quality committee was able to meet in August. We reviewed feedback received from the Family Engagement Task Force on the Quality Definition "Family" card. A draft of both the "Family" and "Provider" cards will be disseminated to several provider or family groups for further feedback and final revisions will be made in September. We anticipate beginning our dissemination plan of the cards in October.  Next month we will continue to review our policy recommendations based on the early childhood programs and services survey and community café and the next steps for our committee. We invite new members to join us. Contact kbooth@dhhs.state..nh.us

Meetings are held at 2 Delta Drive in Concord NH unless otherwise noted.