Linking Early Childhood and Refugee Resettlement Networks March 25, 2014

Welcome Federal Program Structure and Funding Flow Child Care Landscape Federal Programs: U.S. Administration for Children and Families  Office of Child Care  Office of Refugee Resettlement  Office of Head Start Intersection of Refugee Resettlement and Early Childhood National Resources and How to Connect Building Partnerships Between the Early Childhood and Refugee Resettlement Communities Next Steps Questions and Answers Agenda

Flor Philips, Project Director, Child Care Aware United States Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families: Shannon Rudisill, Director, Office of Child Care Eskinder Negash, Director, Office of Refugee Resettlement Welcome!

Presenters Paula Bendl Smith, Child Care Program Specialist, OCC Mariestella Fischer, Special Assistant to Director of ORR Ericka Medalen, Program Director, Idaho Department of Health and Welfare Jacqueline Rose, Director of ORR Child Care Microenterprise Project

ACF Program Funding Flow

Regulations differ in every state and in some cases county Federal Child Care and Development Fund ( CCDF) gives broad authority to State to determine eligibility, make rules; asks states to assure safe and healthy child care and quality improvement goals CCR&Rs Resources Child Care Landscape

Question

Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) OCC Vision  More children in low-income families able to access high quality care CCDF Purpose  Assists low-income working families obtain child care so they can work or attend training/education  Improves quality of child care and promotes coordination among early childhood development and afterschool programs CCDF Law  Child Care and Development Block Grant Act (CCDBG) of 1990  Section 418 of Social Security Act Office of Child Care

Who Benefits from CCDF… Children from birth until age 13 in vulnerable families have access to child care settings that meet their needs Parents in eligible low-income families who are working or in training receive help paying for child care at a provider of their choice. Child care providers receive reimbursement for serving low- income families. Child care providers receive supports from States and Territories to improve quality of care. Office of Child Care

CCDF Overview Grantees. 50 States, DC, Territories, and 260 Tribal entities. Funding. Jointly financed by Federal and State governments. CCDF program combined federal funding for FY2012 – 5.2 billion. Flexibility. CCDF provides flexibility to States, Territories, and Tribes in establishing polices that support families’ access to child care through subsidies. Coordination. CCDF allows States, Territories, and Tribes to serve families through a single, integrated child care subsidy program under the rules of CCDBG Act. States coordinate CCDF with Head Start, pre- kindergarten and other early childhood programs. Office of Child Care

CCDF Grantee Flexibility Eligibility. States, Territories, and Tribes set policy on how often to re-determine a family’s subsidy eligibility, and income level for eligibility. Co-payment. Most families who receive child care assistance are required to pay co-payments. States can waive copays for families below poverty. Payment Rates. Subsidized payment rates and parent fees must be established in a way that allows families equal access to all types of care. Quality Investments. Partnerships can be established to improve quality through: increased access to professional development; aligned standards; expanded supply; and provision of comprehensive services. Office of Child Care

Question

Office of Refugee Resettlement Who are Refugees?

Office of Refugee Resettlement

ORR Refugee Program Caseload Projections for FY2014 Office of Refugee Resettlement

FY2013 Top 4 Refugee Countries of Origin Office of Refugee Resettlement

Plus, Mayors; Governors; local City Councils; public schools systems; Human Services offices; members of the business community; health care workers, and volunteers. Several affinity groups (ARHC, SCORR, RCUSA, etc.) 50 SRCs plus approx. 40 SRHCs Several hundred CBOs 350 affiliated resettlement agencies 9 national voluntary agencies ORR’s “Village” Office of Refugee Resettlement

◦ Refugees are eligible for most of the same mainstream benefits as U.S. citizens. TANF Medicaid/SCHIP SNAP/Nutritional Assist./School Lunch SSI Child Care/Head Start

ORR State-Administered Services: Each State has a State Refugee Coordinator (SRC) and often a State Refugee Health Coordinator (SRHC). Refugee Cash Assistance (RCA) & Refugee Medical Assistance (RMA) for up to 8 mos. from date of arrival/eligibility through the State Refugee office Additional Social Services up to 5 yrs. Office of Refugee Resettlement

Employment ServicesEnglish as a Second LanguageOrientationTransportationInterpretation and TranslationSkills / Vocational TrainingHealth-related Services State-Administered Social Services ◦ Refugees are eligible for social services for the first five years after arrival in the U.S. Culturally/Linguistically appropriate services include: Office of Refugee Resettlement

ORR Providers and Funding by State Office of Refugee Resettlement

ORR Home-Based Child Care  Project: Using a strengths-based approach, it provides business opportunities to primarily refugee women by focusing on child care mentoring programs Through the grant, mentors (grantees) can help refugees establish local agreement/contracts to qualify for State/County child care reimbursement as service providers Other beneficiaries include refugee families needing culturally/linguistically appropriate child care services.  Launch: September 30, 2011 – 13 grantees  Current Grantee Total is 30 ($5.4million)  Integration/ Collaboration Grantees are accessing state/local resources for parents with low-income or limited resources. ORR /ACF’s Early Childhood Development Programs are collaborating to increase access to local resources, networks, partnership/mentorship systems for refugee child care providers

ORR Refugee School Impact Grants (RSIG) ◦ Amount of Grant $15 million ◦ Number of grantees 37 ◦ States sub-grant to schools and resettlement agencies ◦ Children served: 5-up to 18 yrs of age; approximately 60,000 Office of Refugee Resettlement

Question

To promote the school readiness of low income children by enhancing their cognitive, social and emotional development – and support families as the primary educators of their children Purpose of Head Start & Early Head Start Office of Head Start

FederalLocal There are over 1,000,000 children ages birth to 5 and pregnant women served in Head Start in all 50 states, territories and Tribes

© 2012 Child Care Aware ® of America ‹#› Connection to State Systems is through Head Start Collaboration Directors

Making the Connection Between Head Start and Refugee Families-ECLKC Resources

families.html Office of Head Start

Intersection of Early Childhood and Refugee Resettlement

CCDF State Policies to Support High Quality, Continuous Care For Refugee Children – Continuity of Care establish longer periods between redeterminations and prioritizing services continue eligibility during changes in family circumstance, like job search and tiered eligibility to allow for wage growth

Coordinate between agencies to increase stability of services, such as by aligning eligibility periods with other early education programs (e.g., Head Start) or sharing information about other benefit programs that may benefit refugee families. Review policies and strategies to jointly identify and target vulnerable refugee children for placement in high-quality child care. Embed these strategies and others, as appropriate, in quality rating and improvement systems. CCDF State Policies to Support High Quality, Continuous Care For Refugee Children – Continuity of Care

Child Care Aware® Tools Parent Resources –Free child care search –State by State Map –Stay at home or return to work –Publications Provider Resources –Getting Started –Business Plan –Training –Program Planning Linking Early Childhood and Refugee Resettlement Networks - Resource List National Resources

Building Partnerships between the Early Childhood & Refugee Resettlement Communities State Administrator’s Experience Erica Medalen Program Manager Idaho Department of Health and Welfare

ORR Grantee Working With Child Care Community Key Partnerships for Implementation and Sustainability of the Project Resettlement Agency Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) Agency Family Child Care (FCC) Providers Cohort of Refugee Women Participants Building Partnerships between the Early Childhood & Refugee Resettlement Communities

ACF Encourages Local and State Child Care and Refugee Networks - Enter into formal agreements, such as Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs), with local and state early childhood agencies, after-school programs, and child care resource and referral agencies (CCR&Rs) to:  Help refugee families find and use high quality early learning and afterschool services.  Help child care providers better serve refugee children and families with culturally and linguistically responsive services.

 Establish a referral process between resettlement agencies and the child care subsidy program access.  Share health, safety, consumer education, early childhood learning and brain development, and high- quality child care resources.  Develop information and cross-training on the culture and language of refugee populations with Early Head Start, Head Start, child care, Pre-K, CCR&Rs, early childhood education providers and child care subsidy staff. Refugee Child Care Providers, Families and Networks Partner with ECE. Actions May Include:

 Translate culturally and linguistically appropriate licensing and quality improvement program information for outreach, and T&TA, for refugee consumers and service providers within state and local child care.  Encourage refugees to become child care providers, particularly in areas with large resettled communities. Refugee Child Care Providers, Families and Networks Partner with ECE. Actions May Include:

Ask – Are All ECE and Refugee Resettlement Partners Included?  initiatives, discussions, events, agendas, or meetings with partners,  strategic plans and other agency communication,  public engagement, listservs, and outreach efforts,  relevant boards, committees, events, and councils.

Questions?

Office of Child Care ◦ Office of Refugee Resettlement ◦ Office of Head Start ◦ Child Care Aware ® ◦ OCC or ORR Regional Program Managers (see Information Memorandum for contacts) Contact Information

Image References Slide 13: Courtesy of: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Slide 14: Courtesy of: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Slide 18: Courtesy of: Institute for Social and Economic Development Slide 22: Courtesy of: Institute for Social and Economic Development Slide 30: Courtesy of: Ethiopian Community Development Council Slide 34: Courtesy of: Institute for Social and Economic Development