Board of Early Education and Care Motion 2008

Board of Early Education and Care Motion 2008-

Approval of Budget and Guidelines for the Award of Fiscal Year 2009 Early Childhood Resource Center Contracts

Pursuant to M.G.L. c. 15D, § 3, the Board of Early Education and Care (“Board”) is responsible for overseeing the administration of a high-quality system of public and private early education and care, including providing consumer education and access to early education and care resources.

The Department of Early Education and Care (“Department”) provides funding to establish and maintain Early Childhood Resource Centers (ECRCs) throughout the Commonwealth. The ECRCs were originally created in 1992 by the Department of Education to address the early childhood field’s need for access to a variety of educational resources and materials. The ECRCs house and make available a variety of resources, including professional early education books, parenting books, children’s books, curriculum and curriculum kits, assessment kits, puppets, and videos/DVDs to parents and members of the early childhood community. ECRCs also offer trainings on topics that promote young children’s healthy development.

For fiscal year 2009, the Department is seeking to contract with six public libraries that have full membership in an automated resource sharing network (e.g., C/W MARS, Minuteman, MVLC, NOBLE, MBLN, OCLN, CLAMS, SAILS) to serve as ECRC sites in order to:

 Coordinate and broaden statewide access and dissemination of early childhood resources;

 Increase access to resources for all parents, schools, programs and EEC funded entities – MFN, PCHP, Reach Out and Read, CPC, and CCR&Rs;

 Gain greater visibility of materials and parenting information – both written and web - to appropriate services for child/parent/family access; and

 Promote early literacy for families through library membership and connection.

Since 2001, each ECRC site has received $10,000 in funding. For fiscal year 2009 (July 1, 2008-June 30, 2009), the Department is proposing to award a contract of $10,000 to each of six public libraries selected as an ECRC, with an option to renew in fiscal years 2010 (July 1, 2009- June 30, 2010) and 2011 (July 1, 2010-June 30, 2011). If the Department chooses to renew the initial contracts, it anticipates awarding $10,000 to each of the ECRCs annually for each of the two succeeding fiscal years, subject to appropriation.

MOVED: that the Board approves the Department’s budget and guidelines, as described above and in the May 13, 2008 Board Presentation, for the award of Early Childhood Resource Center contracts in fiscal year 2009. 51 Sleeper Street, 4th Floor, Boston, MA 02210 Phone: 617-988-6600 • Fax: 617-988-2451 • [email protected] www.eec.state.ma.us