Early Childhood Coalition of the Greater Helena Area s1

Early Childhood Coalition of the Greater Helena Area November 14, 2016 Meeting Agenda 3:45-5:00 p.m. at Ray Bjork Learning Center, Room 6 (1600 8th Avenue) ecchelena.org @eccgreaterhelena

Facilitator: Lanessa Littrell Notes: Trina Filan Snacks: Cake!

3:45 Introductions/Announcements/Updates  Intermountain now has a child psychiatrist and a parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT) therapist on staff  Brandi Thomas of Child Care Connections is getting her training calendar together for January. Please contact her if you have any training ideas: [email protected]  Florence Crittenton has a new rapid rehousing program called REACH – for 18-24 year olds who are pregnant or parenting (women and men); there are 4 housing units available in the program; 3 are left.  Maria Goebel is a dedicated volunteer for the Christmas Giving Tree – her personal goal is to put new books into children’s hands. Each child who visited the Tree last year got 3 books. What can we do this year? Applications to participate in the program are being taken now.  Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies held an advocacy call for all statewide BBAC coalitions (the ECC is one of these) on 11/15 to help people understand the Governor’s budget and to get a feel for the important issues on the early education, prevention, and intervention front in the coming legislative session.  Safe Care slots are available at AWARE and FloCrit – no insurance is needed.

3:55 Featured Focus I: Farewell to Peggy and Patty and Mary Jane Featured Focus II: Wendy Studt, Part B Infant/Toddler Disability Services at State. Community- wide screening: moving forward together.

 Featured Focus I: Alas, kind words of thanks and reminiscence were not spoken by the crowd because the coordinator is not a very good hostess. Thank you to all those who jumped in to serve cake to the crowd.  Featured Focus II: Wendy Studt discussed Part C (of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act: http://ectacenter.org/partc/partc.asp) and its part in making Child Find programs work. Full notes can be found in the PowerPoint attached to these notes. o Points of particular interest: Fostering Partnerships link: http://opi.mt.gov/Programs/SpecialEd/Index.html?gpm=1_5 o As a community, to make local Child Find collaborations more effective and cost-efficient, we can find ways to engage in professional development (to take the burden off of one organization to provide all trainings) o We can engage in advocacy together – effective presentation of data, provable numbers, outcomes, and indicators will help us make a stronger case for our collective work . In advocacy, the family’s voice is critical o Dr. Decker from U of M is looking into doing a longitudinal study on the impact on families who are in Part C.

4:50 Committee Updates  Communication and Advocacy – Chelsea Segrest – There was an advocacy committee meeting on Thursday, 11/17 re: MAC collaboration, statewide ECC collaboration, and the Governor’s budget.  Early Care and Education – Brandi Thomas. This coming year is the 10th anniversary of the Week of the Young Child celebrations in Helena. We’re collaborating with MCTF on pinwheels and looking into other collaborations, as well. Next meeting: 12/14, 3:30-5:00, 901 N Benton.  Family Health and Support – Brie Oliver – Home Visiting Task Force – people have full case loads; they’re helping CFS refer families to the correct services.  Coordinator Report and Fiscal Oversight – Trina Filan – Access and Functional Needs Sub- committee/National Guard are looking to cooperate on trainings for parents on preparedness (“My Life in a Box”). ACEs folks (EMHA) are working on several projects, including a showing of “Resiliency,” training 10 ACE trainers, and doing another Community Café in March.

4:55 Next Meetings  December 7 – Leadership Team – Note Day change!  December 12 – ECC General Meeting – Featured Focus: Jaymie Sheldahl and Lanessa Littrell, Head Start Conference Report.  Facilitator: Trista Vonata  Snack-bringer: Peggy Hollow-Phelps

5:00 Adjourn

With the focus on the whole child, we promote community collaboration to network resources and streamline services in support of the health, safety, care and education for children ages 0 – 8 and their families in the greater Helena area.