Early Care & Education Program Collaboration Model Description

Agency/Home Name:	Illinois Action for Children
Contact Person:	Renee Deberry
Address:	1340 S. Damen, Chicago 60608
Phone:	312-823-1100
Email Address:	deberryr@actforchildren.org

1. Model (Please check only one. Complete separate forms for different collaboration models.)

	One Agency, Multiple Funders A single program or agency blends/braids funds and program requirements from multiple sources at a single site.
	Multiple Agencies Partner - Austin Child Care Providers Association Two or more agencies, which are separate legal entities, partner to serve children at a single site.
	Partnering with Family Child Care - Austin Child Care Providers Association A program or agency partners with family child care home providers.

2. Collaboration Type (Check all that apply to this collaboration model.)

	Child Care/Early Head Start
	Child Care/Head Start
	Child Care/PreK
	Child Care/Head Start/PreK
	Head Start/PreK

3. Partnership Initiated By

	Child Care
	Head Start/Early Head Start
	PreK
	Other (specify): CCR & R
	______________________________________________________

4. Demographics

	Urban
	Rural
	Suburban

5. Schedule

Hours per day:	PreK 3 hours/day; CC – full day, varies  PreK From 9 a.m.  To 12 p.m.
From:	_________
To:	_________
Days/Weeks per year:	PreK 4 days/week, school year; CC – full week/year
Holidays or other time “off” or closed:	Varies, but generally a week and a half around the Christmas & New Year’s holiday and 1-2 weeks in the summer
If this is an Early/Head Start collaboration, please indicate the program option & number of Early/Head start hours:	_________

6. Number of Children Served Full-Day/Year by Location, Setting & Age
Setting includes: Head Start/Early Head Start site; Child care center; Family child care homes; Public/private school system; Other (explain/describe)

Location	Setting	# Infants	# Toddlers	# Preschool
It Takes A Village CC Center, Chicago, Austin Community	CC center	10		20
First Start Child Care Academy, Chicago, Austin Community	CC center	10		20
Community Mennonite Child Care Center, Markham	CC center	20		40
Three other south suburban locations TBD		60		120

7. Total number of children served by organization

	0-150
	151-500
	501-2000
	2001-6000
	6001+

8. Total number of children served by partner’s organization (if applicable). Note: this means an early care & education partner with whom you are collaborating. Agencies that checked “One Agency, Multiple Funders” in question 1, page 1 of this survey will NOT complete this question.

	0-50
	51-150
	151-300
	301+

9. Funding used to support full-day/year services (Check all that apply.)

	Federal Early/Head Start
	State Early Childhood Block Grant from IL State Board of Education
	State Early Childhood Block Grant from School District (including Chicago Public Schools)
	State Child Care Assistance Program through contract with IL Dept. of Human Services
	State Child Care Assistance Program through local Child Care Resource & Referral Agency certificate program
	Parent Fees
	Other (Specify): ____________

10. Administration/Management (Check either yes, no or not applicable – NA – for each item.)

a. Does the collaboration have a legal written agreement/contract?	No	Yes	NA
b. Other than a contract, does the collaboration have a written partnership plan?	No	Yes	NA
c. Are there written monitoring/oversight procedures?	No	Yes	NA
d. Are there written procedures for communication among partners?	No	Yes	NA
e. Is there a written cost allocation plan/budget for the collaboration?	No	Yes	NA
f. Is there a written training/professional development plan?	No	Yes	NA
g. Do job descriptions reflect staff' collaboration responsibilities?	No	Yes	NA
h. Is there a shared computerized MIS system?	No	Yes	NA
i. Do the partners share business operations & equipment costs?	No	Yes	NA
j. Do the partners purchase transportation jointly?	No	Yes	NA
k. Is there a competitive written RFP process for partner selection?	No	Yes	NA
l. Is there an ongoing advisory group for the collaboration?	No	Yes	NA
m. Did the partnership develop out of a broad based community planning process?	No	Yes	NA
n. Are parents involved in the collaboration planning & evaluation processes?	No	Yes	NA
o. Does the collaboration have a written evaluation process?	No	Yes	NA
p. Has the agency had any audit findings in the past 3 years?	No	Yes	NA
q. When was the agency's last federal monitoring review?________
Were there any problems identified?	No	Yes	NA
r. When was the agency's last licensing visit?________________
Were any problems identified?	No	Yes	NA
s. When was the agency's last DHS monitoring visit?_____________
Were any problems identified?	No	Yes	NA

11. Has the collaboration had an impact on the partner’s internal practices with regard to (check yes or no for each item):

a. Parent Decision Making	No	Yes
b. Parent Education	No	Yes
c. Parent Involvement	No	Yes
d. Family Support Services	No	Yes
e. Staff Salaries	No	Yes
f. Employee Benefits	No	Yes
g. Management Practices/Structure	No	Yes
h. Staff Training/Professional Development	No	Yes

12. Program Services (Make 2 checks for each item – 1 to indicate which partner is primarily responsible for direct service delivery and the other to indicate which children receive that service – all or just the collaboration children.)

Services Provided	Partner Responsible for Direct Service Delivery				Children Receiving Services
a. Child education services	E/HS	CC	PreK	Other	All	Collab
b. Family support services	E/HS	CC	PreK	Other	All	Collab
c. Health services	E/HS	CC	PreK	Other	All	Collab
d. Mental health services	E/HS	CC	PreK	Other	All	Collab
e. Parent education/involvement	E/HS	CC	PreK	Other	All	Collab
f. Transportation services	E/HS	CC	PreK	Other	All	Collab
g. Nutrition services	E/HS	CC	PreK	Other	All	Collab
h. Transition services	E/HS	CC	PreK	Other	All	Collab
i. Disabilities services	E/HS	CC	PreK	Other	All	Collab
j. Parent home visits	E/HS	CC	PreK	Other	All	Collab
k. Sick child care	E/HS	CC	PreK	Other	All	Collab
l. Parent conferences	E/HS	CC	PreK	Other	All	Collab
m. Non-traditional hours service	E/HS	CC	PreK	Other	All	Collab

13. Primary objectives for beginning this collaboration (check all that apply)

	Enhance family health services
	Enhance the quality of children’s education services
	Expand services into new communities
	Extend service hours
	Improve & maximize staff training/professional development
	Link early care & education systems in the community
	Maximize funding and cost effectiveness
	Maximize use of facilities
	Offer increased service options
	Offer parents home visits
	Respond to parents’ changing needs
	Serve a wider age range of children
	Extend days of service
	Serve siblings in one program
	Provide more economically & culturally diverse programming
	Increase the number of children served
	Provide continuity of care
	Improve staff compensation packages

14. Collaboration Development & Management

a. When did the collaboration begin?	March 2005
b. Are regular written management reports required to support the collaboration? If yes, explain below.	No	Yes
c. Are there regular required meetings between collaboration partners? If yes, explain below.	No	Yes
d. Is there written documentation to support the content of meetings?	No	Yes
e. Does the program/collaboration have a written planning process that includes all partners?	No	Yes
f. Does the collaboration have a written decision making process?	No	Yes
g. Why did the collaboration begin? To address the early care and educational needs of the community, specifically those children cared for in licensed & license-exempt home care from low-income families who are at risk for academic failure.
h. How were partners selected? Based upon recommendations and later through an RFP process.
i. When there is a disagreement or conflict, how is it resolved with partners? Discussed.
j. When a decision has to be made about the collaboration, how is this done with partners? Discussed.
k. Explain how often reports & meetings are done/held: At least monthly, usually more often.

15. Program Components: Please answer the following questions about your collaboration program. Show in column 2 which partner is responsible for each program component. Check which children receive the program component in the last 2 columns - either all children in the classroom(s) or just the collaboration children.

		Responsible Partner	Children Receiving Services
a. Does the program use a standardized curriculum? If yes, which curriculum? Creative Curriculum	No Yes		All	Collab
b. Does the program do child screening? If yes, what instrument is used? ESI-R & Creative Curriculum’s Developmental Continuum   How often are screenings done? ESI-R (once for enrollment); Developmental Continuum threeX/year (beginning, middle, and end)	No Yes		All	Collab
c. Does the program do ongoing child assessment? If yes, what instrument is used? see above How often is assessment done? ____________________	No Yes		All	Collab
d. Does the program take field trips? If yes, how often? Monthly	No Yes		All	Collab
e. Does the program have family support staff/case managers? If yes, what is their caseload? ______________________ How often do they make home visits? _______________ How frequent are family contacts? ________________	No Yes		All	Collab
f. BRIEFLY describe your collaboration program’s social service delivery, if you have one, for example explain your crisis intervention and/or referral process(es): Not addressed.

Answer the following questions IN AS FEW WORDS as possible, still giving a picture of how your collaboration works. Use bullet point lists whenever possible.

16. List/describe any other program components included in the collaboration that are not described in items 12 and 15 (pages 3-4).

17. Please describe how budgeting and cost sharing among funding sources is done. How do you decide how costs will be shared? What are the financial arrangements between partners?

IL Action for Children receives the funding and subcontracts with partners in order to provide services

18. Please explain how your collaboration is staffed. Include classroom and support staff and tell how this is changed/different from your regular program. Who funds the staff’s salaries? Who supervises the staff and who employs them? What salaries and benefits are offered collaboration staff and is this different from other staff?

Project Managers at IL Action for Children (one for the Chicagoland area and one for the South Suburban Cook area) (funded through ECBG and other funds, supervised by Director of Early Learning Programs, also hired by Action for Children)

Teacher in each classroom (funded through ECBG and supervised by on-site directors)

Teacher assistant in each classroom (funded through ECBG and supervised by on-site directors).

19. Please tell about your written agreement, if you have one. Include: what the agreement covers (section titles); term (what the time period is); if finances are part of the agreement and how these were figured; etc.

Agreement is for fiscal year and contains standard subcontract language; budget and program work plan is attached and agreed upon by both parties

Finances are figured according the funds IL Action for Children receives and is based on the requested amount of the collaborating agency.

20. Please describe the training system for your collaboration. Include what kind of training is done, how costs are shared among funding sources and/or partners, and how it has changed since the collaboration began.

At the beginning of program implementation, the Project Manager trains the teaching staff & directors of the collaborating agencies on reporting, curriculum, etc.  There is on-going training and support.

Training is also provided by the funding agency, Chicago Public Schools, who administers the ECBG funds for the city.

21. Please give any other details about your collaboration that you believe are important, but not covered elsewhere.

This program has created a mentoring relationship between classroom teachers and family child care providers.  It has also noticeable strengthen the social and emotional skills of the children involved.

22. If you could start your collaboration over again, knowing what you know now, what would you do differently? Not addressed.

23. What advice do you have for agencies/homes starting new collaborations?

It’s crucial to obtain community buy-in and to incorporate community feedback.  We maintain close relationships with child care associations and others invested in early care and education within the communities.  It is an ongoing process of engaging them.

Copyright 2005 Collaboration Model Description. Template.
HS State Collab Office.10.05

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