Caring Communities for Young Children Tonya Russell Division of Child Care and Early Childhood Education/AR DHS March 25-26

Caring Communities for Young Children  Serving Rural Communities  Data  Partnerships  Technology

Caring Communities for Young Children  Data  Ability to understand the access and capacity of early childhood/child care services  # of Licensed/Registered/Informal Care either Center or Home  Home Visiting Services Available  Quality availability-state standards such as quality rating improvement system  Gaps-infant/toddler, quality, professional development

Caring Communities for Young Children  Partnerships  State level that support local efforts by  identifying specific barriers,  data driven,  Strength based/relationship driven, and  Solution oriented

Caring Communities for Young Children  Technology  Efficiency  On-line Applications  Billing  Communicating with Providers  Minimizing Fraud/Improper Payments  Child Assessment  Staff Development  Communication

Caring Communities for Young Children  What has worked in Arkansas?  Examples from State Funded Pre-K  Partners from across early childhood  Review of data-where are children being served and where are gaps  Establishing and encouraging a diverse early childhood delivery system including family child care  Success=Serving more pre-k children in quality early childhood settings