Suffolk Early Childhood Development Commission Meetings

Date: June 02, 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 May 2021 Commission Meeting Members Present Members Absent Mark Furlo Gail Harrison Marie Baker Bonnie Maki Saniyyah T. Manigault Shawna LoMonaco Tamie Rittenhouse Lori White Gin Staylor Dr. Okema Branch Megan Mulvey Henry Dixon Carol Wilson Guest- Melvin Bradshaw Visitors I. Welcome–Tamie Rittenhouse called the meeting to order. A quorum was present. II. Review Minutes-The commission reviewed the minutes from May 05, 2020. Marie Baker 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 14 unlicensed. The increase is due to the addition of Joyful Care Academy and a home provider obtaining licensure. A decrease in home providers accepting subsidy was noted. B. Ready Rosie: 1815 registered users. There has been no change in numbers and stats on active users remains unclear. C. Staffing Assistance – Child care locations with current employment openings have been added to the Job List posted by the Department of Economic Development at Yessuffolk.com D. Provider Appreciation Day – 27 locations participated, receiving a Kaplan item of choice and staff cupcakes or two Kaplan items. Two thank you cards were shared with the commission. E. Fingerprinting - Finger Printing will cost $57. It is not known when VDSS will stop covering these costs. F. Library Transition – ECDC office will move to library during the last week in June. The office will be located at Morgan Memorial library. G. LENA – A discussion regarding the LENA Grow program for child care centers took place. Shawna will invite Barb Lito to ECDC’s July meeting to share more information and answer additional questions from the commission. H. CLASS - Motion to approve funding for deposit & materials for an in-person CLASS Fundamental training in order to train any provider up to $14,000 by June 30th by Mark Furlo and seconded by Tamie Rittenhouse. Motion carries. III. Other Business: A. Finance Report: Shawna LoMonaco shared the most up to date budget and remaining funds. IV. New Business: A. Virtual Conference Opportunity: Tammie and Lori shared information about the Prevent Child Abuse America Virtual Conference. Nadine Burke Harris will provide  virtual training on ACES through Prevent Child Abuse America. Motion made by Lori White and seconded by Carol Wilson to approve funding for 5 or more members of ECDC to attend the training in August with remaining funds. B. Proposed FY22: - funds will not be provided to SPS this year. $5000 will be moved to provider training. Pursuing LENA would come from provider training funds. Motion made by Mark to approve the budget with the amendment of $5000 to be moved from SPS to be put towards provider training. Okema seconded. All in favor. Motion carried. V. Adjourn Our next meeting will be July 07, 2021