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About
ELP
In 2001, The United Way of New York City launched the Early
Learning Project (ELP), funded by the US Department of Health
and Human Services/Child Care Bureau. In partnership with
Agenda for Children Tomorrow (ACT), Child Care Inc, and Citizen’s
Committee for Children, the United Way is working to create
a more integrated and coordinated early care and education
system for New York City’s children and families. The
ELP is focused on the following goals:
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Increase the number of comprehensive and
full-day/full-year programs which combine a variety of funding
streams such as Head Start, public and private child care,
Universal Prekindergarten, Early Intervention, and pre-school
special education.
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Improve parent access to early learning
information and resources in their communities.
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Ensure cross-agency planning and coordination
and the City level to maximize resources and improve service
delivery.
To achieve these goals, the partnership is conducting the
following activities:
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Collecting and disseminating information
on blended funding/collaborative program models.
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Providing grants and technical assistance
to programs to develop and implement similar program designs.
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Working with government agencies, including
the Administration for Children’s Services, Department
of Education, Human Resources Administration and Department
of Health and Mental Hygiene to identify and remove barriers
to blended funding and comprehensive programming.
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Creating parent information access points
in the two target communities.
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Convening the Early Learning Council, a
forum for dialogue, planning and action among representatives
of city agencies, nonprofit organizations, philanthropy
and child care programs and providers.
Parent
Access Points and ACT's Role
The Parent Access component of the NYC Early Learning Project
is being facilitated by the Agenda for Children Tomorrow (ACT).
The goal is to create community-based Parent Information Access
Points to ensure that families know about the resources available
in their community and where to turn for information on child
care, early learning and child development. Based on leadership
and willingness by local providers to be actively engaged
in the process, readiness of the communities, including capacity,
scope of existing resources to build upon, and coordination
potential, as well as the existence of related activities,
history of successful collaboration and need, both Washington
Heights/Inwood and Bushwick
have been selected as the first two communities to establish
Parent Access Points. Toward this effort, ACT and its local
partners have worked to highlight and understand the needs
of parents in Washington Heights/Inwood in Upper Manhattan
and Bushwick in Brooklyn, specifically:
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where families go to get information,
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how and where they prefer to
receive information, and
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ways to improve parent access
to early learning information and resources at the community
level.
Role
of the Local Design Team
Local Design Teams in each community have been developed to
inform the conceptualization and implementation of the neighborhood-specific
Parent Access Points. Representatives on the Teams include:
Parents
Early Intervention Program Specialists
Faith Based Institutions and Church Personnel
Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies
Hospitals- private doctors and pediatricians
Library personnel
Health Department
Community Board Members
Early Childhood Coalition members
Local community based organizations and service providers
The objectives of the Local Design Team are to:
1. Validate findings from Parent Dialogue
conducted by ACT and the NYC Early Learning Project.
2. Inform the group of other potential key
issues confronting parents in your community.
3. Determine to what extent the access point
will be a portal or the point of information itself, and/or
to what extent it will be both.
4. Think through and plan options to meet
objectives of Phase 1 (Concept Formation) of the project as
well as subsequent phases (Design and Implementation).
5. Develop governance and management structure
for the project.
Pictures from Parent Access Point Meetings
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Bushwick
Parent Access Point
Graduation Class and Trainers
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Bushwick
Parent Access Point
ACT staff, ACE Integration Head Start Staff and parents
(center: Amy Griffin-Maldonado,
Interim Parent Coordinator)
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Washington Heights/Inwood Parent Access
Point
Graduation Class and Trainers
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Lenore Peay, Director,
Ft. George Community Enrichment Center
Co-Chair, Washington Heights/Inwood Local Design Team
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Dr. Frieda Spivack, Director, Hospital
Clinic Home Center Chairperson, Bushwick Child Care
Network and Northern Bushwick Child Care Network
Co-Chair, Bushwick Local Design Team
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