Alabama Partnership for Children

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Alabama Partnership for Children
Every Alabama child will have the opportunity to
succeed in life
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History of Alabamas Plan

• Former Governor Siegelman appointed the Early
  Learning Commission (ELC) in November of 2000
• The ELC was charged with creating a blueprint for
  Alabamas youngest children
• Ten of Alabamas top business leaders worked on
  this report with a task force of 65 people for
  over 5 months

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Early Learning Commission Report Overview

• The ELC Report was presented to former Governor
  Siegelman in July 2001
• Contained 45 recommendations in five subsections
• Parenting Early Care Education
• Health Organization of Services
• Public Awareness

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Recommendations

• Establish the Alabama Partnership for Children
  (APC) for 0-5 concerns
• Prioritize and implement recommendations of the
  ELC with the greatest impact
• -- Support and resources for parents and
• -- High quality early care and education

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The APC is

• A state non-profit created in 2001 as a
  public-private partnership
• The umbrella organization for children from Birth
  to Five in Alabama
• Modeled after the North Carolina Partnership for
  Children which houses the Smart Start initiative

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The APC is

• Governed by a board of directors appointed by the
  Governor, House Speaker, and Senate Pro Tempore
• State agency heads also serve as ex-officio board
  members, and advisory committees guide specific
  projects
• Kidstuff is the all encompassing identity and
  trademark for all projects of the Alabama
  Partnership for Children 

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Vision Every Alabama Child will have the
opportunity to succeed in lifeMission To
work in partnership with other public and private
entities to maintain an effective state and local
system of resources and support that enables
parents, families, and others who care for young
children to ensure that they are healthy,
protected, nurtured, and offered every
opportunity to succeed in life.
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• State of Alabamas Children
• How Well Are We Doing?

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Kids Count Data Book

• From the 2003 Kids Count Data Book
• Alabama ranks
• 49th in infant mortality
• 48th in overall child well-being
• 47th in percent low birthweight babies
• 44th in percent of children in poverty
• and teen birth rate

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State of Alabamas Children

• Child death rate is 11th in the nation
• 22 live below poverty level - 9 in extreme
  poverty
• 30 from single parent homes, live in
  neighborhoods with high poverty and high rates of
  high school dropouts

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Alabamas Youngest

• In 2003, Child magazine ranks Alabama 50th among
  states in best states for babies
• A recent report released by VOICES shows that
  while 85 of a childs brain development occurs
  by age three, less than 1 of public investments
  on education and development have occurred by
  that time (Early Learning Left Out, VOICES for
  Americas Children)

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Early Care and Education The Need

• Only 17 of Alabamas children whose parents are
  employed are cared for by a parent
• 53 of Alabamas children under 5 are in child
  care programs. Thats the highest percentage in
  the nation
• Child care for working families is their largest
  expense after housing and food, and only 12 of
  eligible families receive subsidy
• The Urban Institute

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. . .And The Opportunity

• Children from higher income families in Alabama
  are more likely to be in center-based care than
  children nationwide
• Almost 1/3 of Alabamas low-earning working
  families spend 20 of their income on child care
• The average annual cost of child care is 3,672
  (compared to cost of public college tuition of
  2,833 per year)

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Current APC Programs

• Early Care and Education - Improving the quality
  and availability of early learning opportunities
  and activities for young children and developing
  and retaining a trained and well-educated early
  childhood workforce
• T.E.A.C.H. Teacher Education Compensation
  Helps, a scholarship and support program for
  teachers in early care and education

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T.E.A.C.H. Alabama
Taking classes has made my job easier. I feel
more competent and confident in my work with the
children and their families. I feel all
providers will greatly benefit from their
classes, T.E.A.C.H. Recipient

• Provides tuition, travel expense, release time,
  and bonuses/incentives upon completion
• Since 2002, over 360 scholarships have been
  awarded to teachers serving over 4,000 children
  in 70 of Alabama counties (major funding from AL
  DHR CCDF funds)
• Turnover rate for participants is 9

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Current Programs

• Parent Resources Ensuring broad access to
  information for parents, emphasizing what young
  children need to grow into healthy, successful
  adults
• Kidstuff Parenting Kit, a comprehensive resource
  packet delivered to parents of newborns
• Goal to reach parents of all 60,000 newborns
• Delivered through Medicaid, birthing hospitals,
  and Early Intervention
• Over 30,000 Kits delivered throughout 52 Alabama
  counties

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Kidstuff Parenting Kit

• Kit Contents
• The Alabama Guide for Families
• Childs First Book and Early Literacy Information
• First Year Calendar
• Video Parenting Right From the Start
• Congratulatory Card

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Programs in Development

• Kidstuff Partnerships Local partnerships for
  0-5 (16 counties) received small planning grants
• Public awareness and community education
  regarding the importance of the first years of
  life unified message and effective delivery
  system
• System planning and development coordination
  that will result in a comprehensive system of
  early care and education and effective use of
  federal, state, local, and private funding

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Public Awareness

• Our goal is to build public understanding and
  will for increased attention to and investment
  in the most critical years of development
• A statewide group of stakeholders is working on a
  coordinated campaign, providing for a consistent
  message and many state and local messengers

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Early Learning Commission Three Years Later--
Progress and Opportunities

• During difficult financial times and with
  on-going transition at the state level, progress
  has been made, yet there is much work to be done
• History repeats itself. . . Opportunity does
  not We have only one opportunity to impact the
  lives of children when there is greatest
  potential for impact from Birth to Five

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A. Organization of Services

• Strategies 1, 2 All child care programs merged
  into Child Day Care Partnership possible merger
  of OSR, HS, and child care under consideration
• Strategy 3, 6 State and corporate structure for
  Birth to Five partnerships (APC, Kidstuff, CPC)
• Strategy 10 Match Task Force for CCDF funding
  will access all funds available in 2004

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• Strategy 5 Systems Mapping to identify all
  resources, access, gaps, etc. involved over 60
  agencies and will continue through HCCA
  Comprehensive Systems Development
• Strategy 8 DCAs www.AlabamaKids.org and
• APCs www.KidstuffAlabama.org

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Opportunities. . .

• Strategy 4 Employ an external business
  management team to conduct a comprehensive audit
  of business practices
• Strategies 7 and 11 Develop universal client
  service and needs assessment forms
• Strategy 9 Create a web-accessible database on
  childcare facilities. Funding proposals have
  been submitted by the APC

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B. Early Care Education

• Strategies 1, 5, 6, 8 DHR has addressed all in
  some degree
• Strategies 2, 3, 4, 12 T.E.A.C.H. Alabama and
  APC proposals for a statewide system, WAGES
  funding needed
• Strategies 7, 9, 10, 11 Proposals by APC to
  implement a child care rating system. DCA
  expanded to 70 Pre-kindergarten sites in 2002

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Opportunities

• Continue to expand T.E.A.C.H. and implementation
  of a comprehensive statewide professional
  development system
• Funding needed for implementation of a child care
  rating system that includes resources needed to
  encourage and enable progression toward higher
  levels of quality

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C. Health

• Strategy 1 Guarantee that every child has
  access to health insurance and a medical home --
  currently 91 coverage!
• Strategy 4, 10, 11 APC Kidstuff Parenting Kit
  is a well-developed project through which over
  30,000 kits have been delivered in 52 counties
• Strategy 12, 13 Alabama Campaign to Prevent
  Teen Pregnancy, Alabama Dept. of Public Health

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Opportunities

• Continue to emphasize prenatal health concerns
  and impact on child health
• Enhance early detection and referrals for special
  needs and developmental delays
• Maintain Medicaid incentives for providers to
  serve our most at-risk children

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D. Parenting

• Strategy 1 APC, VOICES, Success by Six, and
  others are working to develop a statewide
  campaign, and parents will be a primary target
• Strategy 2 Develop a Kidstuff Parenting
  Resource Kit APC project
• Strategy 3 Develop a comprehensive program for
  delivery of services to parents at the local
  level through the Local Policy Councils and
  through the Local Partnerships for Children

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Opportunities

• Strategy 4 Special needs of teenage parents
  (Strategy to reduce the rate of teen pregnancy is
  included in health)
• Strategy 5 Increase child restraint and seat
  belt usage rates (Information included in
  Parenting Kit, greater coordination of efforts
  needed)

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E. Public Awareness

• Strategy 1, 4 The APCs website at
  www.KidstuffAlabama.org and regular Kidstuff
  Update (electronic newsletter)
• Strategy 2 APC public awareness is on-going,
  and in 2003 the APC brought the states advocates
  and stakeholders together to develop a
  coordinated, intensive public awareness campaign
  on the general benefits of investment in children
  during the most important critical years from
  birth to age five. Funding is being sought to
  launch the program.

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Opportunities

• Strategy 3 Create a cooperative advertising
  program with vendors and other commercial
  providers
• Utilize partners ongoing efforts by providing
  consistent talking points, templates, and other
  materials

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Childrens Challenges Our Opportunities
The only substance known to man from which a
productive adult can be made is the human child.
. . Unknown
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Investment in Alabamas Future

• Early childhood development programs are rarely
  portrayed as economic development initiatives,
  and we think that is a mistake.
• Well-focused investments in early childhood
  development yield high public as well as private
  returns.
• Early Childhood Development Economic
  Development With a High Public Return, By Art
  Rolnick, Director of Research and Rob Grunewald,
  Economic Analyst, Federal Reserve Bank of
  Minneapolis

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• Policy makers must identify the educational
  investments that yield the highest public
  returns. Here the literature is clear Dollars
  invested in ECD yield extraordinary public
  returns, resulting in better working public
  schools, more educated workers and less crime.
  (Rolnick, continued).
• The business community supports high-quality
  early childhood education programs because they
  lead to improved education results, a world-class
  work force, a healthier society, and ultimately a
  stronger economy. -- Joseph M. Tucci, the
  Business Round Table, President and CEO
  of EMC Corporation

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• From Americas Child Care Crisis A Crime
  Prevention Tragedy, Fight Crime Invest in
  Kids, 2000.
• Rutgers University economist Steven Barnett
  estimates that the cost to society of failing to
  provide at least two years of quality early
  childhood care and education to low-income
  children is approximately 100,000 per child.
• We need to start fighting crime in the high
  chair, not the electric chair. Police Chief
  George Sweat, Winston-Salem North Carolina.

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Return on Investment
About 82 of all Americans in prison are high
school dropouts. It cost about 20,000 a year to
house a prisoner. In comparison, a year of
high-quality preschool cost about 4,800 and has
been shown to decrease the rate of arrest during
the teenage years by 40. The Committee
For Economic Development, 1991 (According to
the Montgomery Advertiser June 2003 The cost
for Alabama to house a female prisoner in
Louisiana is 8,310.25 per year per prisoner).
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Alabama Partnership for Children

• Gail B. Piggott Executive Director
• Aretha Bracy Parenting Kit Director
• Michele Smith Public Awareness Director
• Holly Murray T.E.A.C.H. Director
• Charlotte Pelz T.E.A.C.H. Counselor
• Melinda Bourgeois Adm. Assistant

1401 I-85 Parkway, Suite A (off Carmichael
Rd.) Montgomery, AL 36106 1-866-711-4025 (For
Zero to Five) [phone] www.KidstuffAlabama.o
rg