Providing leadership for the assessment, development and sustainability of quality
early care and education and school age extended learning options in Santa Cruz County.

The Role of Committees

The Santa Cruz County Child Care Planning Council operates a number of working committees focused on a variety of topics related to child care. Committees are comprised both of Council members as well as at large members of the community. You may view committee goals, meeting dates and special projects by clicking on a committee below.

View an archive of 2005-2006 Committees.

2006 - 2007 Committees

Click on a link below to skip directly to the committee you wish to view:
Afterschool Programs Consortium
Early Care and Education Conference Planning Committee
Executive/Membership Committee
Policy and Local Planning Committee
Subsidized Programs Consortium
Workforce Development Committee

Afterschool Programs Consortium

Meeting Times and Location:
Second Tuesday of Every Other Month from 8:30 to 10:00 AM at the County Office of Education:
(2007 "on" months: January, March, May, NO JULY MTG, August, October, December)

Committee Members:
Sonia Deetz
Jean Gardner
Barbara Griffin (Chair)
Scott Haines
Veronica Lopez-Duran
Damian Maldonado
Diane Oyler
Mark Rogers
Reyna Ruiz
Nicole Young

Statement of Purpose:

The objective of the Santa Cruz County Afterschool Programs Consortium is to provide a forum
for the identification of challenges, needs, solutions and best practices in the Afterschool arena.
Supporting the sustainability of programs through seeking and retaining federal, state and local
resources and enhancing the quality of afterschool programs through providing needed
professional development opportunities to staff is of critical importance to us. We invite all
afterschool programs to join and become an active member.

2006-2007 Committee Goals:

  1. Increase awareness of CCPC members, parents and community partners
    regarding afterschool programs (types of programs, need for programs).
  2. Promote sustainability of afterschool programs.
  3. Strengthen collaborative relationships between parents, districts, schools, state
    consultants and aftershool providers.
  4. Build and maintain a highly skilled and stable workforce (especially bilingual and
    bicultural) in afterschool programs.

Special Projects:

Resources:

Harvard Family Research Project Newsletter on Out of School Time

 

Early Care and Education Conference Planning Committee

Planning for the 2007 CCAEYC Early Care and Education Conference is underway!
The conference will be held on Saturday, May 12th at Cabrillo College (Aptos Campus).

Meeting Times and Location:
Third Thursday of Each Month from 3:00 to 5:00 PM at the County Office of Education

Committee Members:
Janine Canada (co-coordinator)
Maria Castro
Sandy Davie
Irene Freiberg
Jean Gallegher-Heil
Karen Hamman
M ichele Mosher (Chair and co-coordinator)

Committee Goals:

  1. Determine available funding and recruit and hire a coordinator. 
  2. Create working definition of quality to guide the conference planning.
  3. Produce a conference in spring on theme of “what is quality care?” Collaborate with other agencies such as the CA Mentor Program, PACE, CCAEYC, CDRC, First 5, CPIN, New Teacher Project, CA Kindergarten Project (?) and others to develop trainings for the conference.  Potential connection with First 5 literacy program.  Conference to include a teacher track and a director track.  Assess the feedback from past workshops in determining topics/trainers for this year. 
  4. Throughout the year, focus on topic of bridging preschool and kindergarten: 
    1. Ask CCPC members about existing connections between their programs and kindergarten. 
    2. Prior to conference, plan and facilitate guided tours of preschools and kindergarten classrooms.
  5. Hold a training for presenters (train the trainer model).

Special Projects: none at this time

Resources: none at this time

 

Executive/Membership Committee

Meeting Times and Location:
First Friday of Each Month, 8:30 to 10:30 AM at the County Office of Education

Committee Members:
Wilma Gold (Chair)
Sandy Davie (Co-vice Chair)
Tricia Pastor (Co-vice Chair)

Committee Goals:

  1. To support all the work of the Council and Committees as well as act as the Membership committee.
  2. To update the County Master Plan for Early Care and Education and Schoolage Services.

Special Projects:
This year the Executive Committee is leading the charge in updating the County Master Plan for Early Care and Education and Schoolage Services, which is a 5-year plan.

View a summary of the current plan.
Updates will be posted here periodically as the review process advances.

Resources: none at this time

 

Policy and Local Planning Committee

Meeting Times and Location:
Third Tuesday of Each Month from 3:00 to 4:30 PM at the County Office of Education.

Committee Members:
Naomi Brauner (Co-Chair)
Larry Drury
Alison Endert
Elaine Henning
Jim Hopper
Carole Mulford
Wesley Van Camp
Ann Wise

Committee Goals:

  1. Participate in and provide assistance for the following activities: the annual Bay Area
    Legislative Forum, local forums as needed, annual presentations to elected officials
    (including the Board of Supervisors and the County Superintendent of Schools/County
    Board of Education), regular attendance at annual local legislative breakfasts put on by
    the County of Santa Cruz and the cities of Santa Cruz and Watsonville.
  2. In accordance with CDD guidelines, conduct and submit an annual update of the Child
    Care Expansion Priorities for Santa Cruz County.
  3. Meet with elected officials and key stakeholders to provide education/information on
    issues related to state and local child care policy including general plan and zoning issues
    as needed.
  4. Monitor, track and advocate on local and state policy issues via public outreach
    campaigns, letters to elected officials and other means.

Special Projects:

Resources:

 

Subsidized Programs Consortium

Meeting Times and Location:
First Wednesday of Every Other Month from 9:00 to 11:00 AM at the County Office of Education.
(2007 "on" months: February, April, June, August, October, December)

Currently Participating Consortium Members:
Larry Drury
Wilma Gold
Barbara Griffin
Elaine Henning
Erika Ismerio
Kathy Mello
Marilyn Moore
Ellen Ortiz (Co-Chair)
Diane Oyler (Co-Chair)
Tricia Pastor-Cross
Jody Pemberton

Committee Goals:

  1. Maintain a working group to provide technical assistance to subsidized programs, geared
    to retaining funding.
  2. Offer mentoring support to administrators new to state and federal contracts, including
    assistance on implementing & continuing to meet funding requirements.
  3. Coordinate optimized use of funded slots.
  4. Advocate for adequate, reasonable funding and requirements.
  5. Invite our assigned CDE Child Development Division consultant (and contract analysts
    from other State agencies) to join our consortium, and provide training as necessary. Develop a strong working relationship and good communication with these consultants
    and analysts, especially as concerns new funding opportunities.
  6. Serve in an advisory capacity to the countywide Centralized Eligibility List
    administrative agency.
  7. Educate the Planning Council and greater child care community on eligibility
    requirements for state and federal subsidized programs, and how the subsidies are
    allocated throughout the county (e.g. various program and contract types such as CCTR,
    Migrant Head Start, Stage 2, contracted through our member agencies)
  8. Inform Planning Council and greater child care community about how subsidized
    programs provide support and build alliances for families (e.g. parent involvement, parent
    coops, training, ESL, parent education). [Suggestion to hold parent fair]
  9. Explore ways to maximize federal and state funding to support more families’ access to
    care (e.g. investigate model programs). Specifically, investigate and disseminate
    information regarding critical infant child care issues (e.g. affordability, quality, location
    and staffing).
  10. Provide an overview to CCPC and the child care community of the various systems
    where prek and child care programs have strong articulation with kinder and elementary
    programs. Showcase model programs with strong transition/bridging methods.

Special Projects: none at this time

Resources: none at this time

 

Workforce Development Committee

Meeting Times and Location:
First Monday of Each Month from 1:00-3:00 PM at the County Office of Education.

Committee Members:
Maria Castro
Elizabeth Chavez
Julie Olsen Edwards (Chair)

Committee Goals:

  1. Create stronger collaboration for effective workforce development
    • Finalize and distribute grid of all providers of professional preparation in the county Develop and distribute a county wide professional development advising document
      Strengthen and advertise master calendar of all professional preparation available in the county – ask Diane Oyler
    • Engage in dialogue all participants in supporting the Early Childhood workforce: e.g. Cabrillo, Bethany, San Jose and Monterey Bay Universities, SJSU, Pacific Oaks, CDRC, CalWorks/Fast Track, Community Care Licensing, Food and Nutrition, First Five, Mentor Teacher Project, Unions (SEIU, CFT, etc.), PACE, CPIN, CCAEYC
    • Proactively respond to emergent workforce shifts (i.e. plant closures, program expansion and  closure, natural disasters, etc.) by collaborating with community organizations regarding training and advising options.
    • Participate in local and state public initiatives and policy advocacy that relate to early care and education. 
  2. Increase effectiveness of workforce preparation
    • Increase participation in workforce prep. by encouraging better outreach to providers of all settings and ages served.
    • Develop clear incentives to encourage those who rarely participate
      • Encourage parents to ask for records of training completed
      • Identify and target outreach to providers who rarely participate in trainings
    • Produce a document on “effective workshop presentation” (e.g. training of trainers)
    • Work with the community collaborative (see II E) to create a focus on quality-care issues: (e.g. quality rating sheets for those who observe programs; brochure on the differences between professional requirements for different segments of field, etc.).
    • Encourage an increase in professional development opportunities in key content areas: Afterschool care, inclusion of children with special needs, infant/toddler care, family resource and referral skills, bilingual development, developmentally appropriate learning and learning standards
  3. Foster the understanding of and commitment to developing strong family/early childhood alliances in all work relating to young children.
    • Develop and distribute a position statement on the importance of such an alliance
    • Encourage workshops/courses on development of alliance skills

Special Projects:

The Workforce Development Committee is currently working with Nancy K. Brown to facilitate a Workforce Advisors Collaborative designed to bring together the ECE workforce advising sector to develop a consistent and streamlined Professional Development Planning Document. The document will be posted here when complete.

In 2005-2006, the Workforce Development Committee Composed a position statement addressing challenges and solutions of the Early Care and Education workforce.

Resources: none at this time