Suffolk Early Childhood Development Commission Meetings

Date: April 07, 2021 Time: 2:00 to 4:00pm Location: City of Suffolk Health & Human Services Building 135 Hall Ave Suffolk VA 23434 3RD Floor Conference Room April 2021 Commission Meeting Members Present Members Absent Mark Furlo Gail Harrison Saniyyah T. Manigault Marie Baker Carol Wilson Henry Dixon Bonnie Maki Shawna LoMonaco Tamie Rittenhouse Lori White Gin Staylor Dr. Okema Branch Guest- Melvin Bradshaw Visitors I. Welcome–Tamie Rittenhouse called the meeting to order. A quorum was present. Introductions and updates were done around the table. -Parks & Recs, Schools and DSS remained open during the pandemic. Parks have reopened. All summer camp locations will be open during the summer. Children Center reopened in summer. Offering virtual services. Shawna started as ECDC Coordinator 2 months ago. Henry’s family home daycare remained open during the pandemic. It was announced that the ECDC positions will hopefully transition to the library as of July 1st. The budget announcements will be done today. II. Review Minutes-The commission reviewed the minutes from March 04, 2020. Bonnie Maki made the motion to approve the minutes, Lori White seconded the motion. The vote to approve the minutes was unanimous. III. Coordinators Report: A. Child Care Numbers: Shawna LoMonaco reported there are currently 44 licensed child care locations and 15 unlicensed. B. Partnerships and Connections: Shawna LoMonaco provided an update of reestablished partnerships throughout the community. Minus 9 to 5, Obici, Va Quality, Children’s Harbor, Children’s Center, Suffolk Public Library, Parks and Rec, Ready Rosie, SPS Early Start, Child Care Aware are a few. Additionally, Shawna reached out to all child care locations via email and phone. C. Ready Rosie: Ready Rosie was renewed in February for $5500. Review of stats: 1812 users, 297 not connected to classrooms, Children’s Center are the only active users, created an ECDC classroom for at home providers in Ready Rosie, one new user since starting the Seeds to Sprouts program which promotes Ready Rosie D. Provider Needs Assessment: Shawna LoMonaco put together a needs assessment survey for providers and sent it via email and through phone calls. 15 providers completed the survey. 70% rated ECDC’s involvement as either great or good, with 7% not being familiar with ECDC at all. The greatest need expressed were access to training as well as PPE materials. Suggestion by Bonnie Mackie to attach the ECDC logo to the emails that go out for name recognition. Shawna will update the email logo. E. CPR/First Aid Training: One provider was able to complete the training since February. Mr. Dixon asked about ECDC possibly funding the background checks for family home daycares. The cost has not been established. Commission requesting that ECDC Coordinator explore the cost of this and bring back information next month. F. Week of the Young Child – Week of the Young Child and Child Abuse Prevention Month. Working with Healthy Families, DSS, Obici and Children’s Center on Child Abuse Prevention Committee. Coordinator has signs and pinwheels to be taken by ECDC members. ECDC has partnered with Suffolk  Public Library on the Week of the Young Child Initiative through the Seeds to Sprouts program ongoing April 1- April 30th. Flyer was shared with members. Drawing will be announced every day of the week of the young child of individuals who are actively interacting in the program as well as a grand prize at the end. Shawna to follow up with Mark Furlo to work on getting the Proclamation for the Week of the Young Child. G. VAAEYC Conference - Shawna attended the VAECY conference for this year. It was virtual and will be in Hampton next year. H. Farmer’s Market Initiative - Will be attending the Farmer’s market the first Saturday of each month to advertise ECDC and promote healthy lifestyles for children and families. I. ECDC Cares Pack - Put together an ECDC cares pack based on needs expressed by providers. Provided PPE to child care centers. 15 responses from day home providers. Centers were contacted this week. 4 have responded so far. J. Provider Vaccination Efforts - Helped some providers to get vaccination. Worked with Minus 9 to 5 helping to get information to providers to get information about the vaccine. Bonnie suggested working with Minus 9 to 5 to promote vaccine for children when it becomes available. Tami suggested add to ECDC website information sheet on how to access the vaccine and vaccine registration. III. Other Business: A. Finance Report: Shawna LoMonaco shared the most up to date budget. She explained there is a surplus of $41,153 to spend by the end of the fiscal year in June. Follow up with William to find out when is the drop dead date for encumbering ECDC funds. Commission wants to use $5000 of books for Catch’em Early initiative. The books can be ordered and shipped to Lori at Obici for storage for new born babies. Funds will be shifted from Kids Fest funds. Motion by Gin, second by Bonnie all in favor carried. Discussion regarding QRC code to be used to connect to Raising Readers? Dr. Branch explained LEAP is now referred to as Suffolk Public Schools Summer Series 2021 and will host the Suffolk Public Schools Academy for grades K-5 this summer. The name change was noted. B. Strategic Planning: Tamie provided a brief overview of ECDC’s last strategic planning efforts.  IV. New Business: A. PDG: A meeting is needed with Obici Foundation regarding the Preschool Development Grant (PDG) partnership. Tami, Shawna and Gin will attend to discuss to what degree ECDC can commit to assist providers in learning more about, accessing, and navigating the transition of new state mandates. B. Minus 9 to 5 The Basics: Motion made to support the basics was made by Bonnie and seconded by Carol, all in favor, motion carried. C. Provider Appreciation: Provider appreciation day is May 7th: discussed to provide an itemized list of gift choices for each child care center, gift bag and/or edible arrangement V. Adjourn Our next meeting will be May 05, 2021.