TKW Consulting

Dear MLFCCA Association Leaders and Friends,

Some of you may know that there has been an internal Department of Human Services decision to discontinue funding to non-direct care (which includes family child care associations) through service development grants. I have been in close communication with Ofelia Lopez at Department of Human Services to convince her to rescind this decision. Family child care associations are direct care and there is a long list as to how this could negatively impact professional development for child care providers and the children in their care. Ofelia has been open to revisiting the decision. She needs data and contact from you ASAP.

Please call and email Ofelia Lopez and Deb Swenson-Klatt with the number of members of your organizations and the number of providers you have trained as a family child care association for as far back as you have data. Let her know that you are part of the statewide system and a member of MLFCCA. The contact information is below. They want to hear directly from you to determine the number of providers and children this decision will impact. I have attached some talking points for you to use if you like. MLFCCA will be sending a formal letter shortly. Please share this with your members and associates. Ask them to call and write as well.

Ofelia Lopez 651-431-3866 ofelia.lopez@state.mn.us
Deb Swenson-Klatt 651-431-3862 deb.swenson-klatt@state.mn.us

Please act now. I think it would also be helpful to send your communication to Ann McCully, executive director of the Minnesota Child Care Resource and Referral Network at 651-290-9785 annm@mnchildcare.org and Fred Fuhrman of DHS at 651-431-3865 fred.fuhrman@state.mn.us.

Please feel free to send this request to any neighborhood groups, friends or providers you know. Thank-you for helping to preserve the family provider and their associations.

MLFCCA

• Discontinuing funding to family child care associations will result in providers receiving less, not more professional development and training hours.
• In Minnesota, there is a longstanding history of grassroots licensed family child care providers, who through volunteer efforts, establish and maintain local area provider associations. Family child care associations have no staff, office space or admin costs. Funding them is funding direct care providers.
• For years, these innovative and self-supporting groups have met the local needs of licensed family child care providers by offering close to home training or even in-home trainings, peer mentoring and avenues of critical support and networking. Some provide additional supports such as new provider training and support, professional conferences and collaborations with local early childhood learning institutions.
• Discontinuing association funding is placing another barrier to accessing professional development. Barriers to application include English language issues, writing skills, lack of time and understanding in the complicated application process. Although there has been some attempt to offer clinics and training to help providers, they are too little, too late. For this reason, many of the state's 11,000+ providers rely on their local area provider groups and county associations to write grants and offer the supplemental training and support programs within their local groups.
• For provider groups without non-profit status, the annual service grant is the only funding option available to them.
• Countless family child care providers only receive professional development from their associations, food programs, and neighborhood groups; they will stop accessing more than the minimum required hours if this funding is stopped.
• Countless family child care providers look to their associations and neighborhood groups to write grants for their professional development. They will not write them as individuals.
• The CCR&R delivery system has only recently begun offering one 8 hour series training for family child care providers and this training has only been offered in one town in Minnesota. Family associations have offered a quality 16 hour series trainings (Essential Elements©) statewide, in fact, nationally, for many years.
• Do not take a step backward in raising standards for children. Rescind the decision to discontinue funding to family child care associations.

// posted by Tammy Wachter @ 5:11 PM