Underenrollment action planning is well on its way for some Head Start/Early Head Start programs, and will be soon for many more. Whether responding to an underenrollment letter that has been received, or one expected soon, submitting a Change in Scope Request to the Office of Head Start (OHS) is one strategy programs might consider to mitigate underenrollent challenges and deal with an ongoing child care workforce staffing crisis.
Underenrollment is a longstanding issue faced by many Head Start/Early Head Start programs. It continues to present a major challenge for programs and is now coupled with an unprecedented child care staffing crisis. 2023 is the first year the Full Enrollment Initiative is being implemented since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and an estimated 225 grant recipients just received letters designating their program as chronically underenrolled.
In the United States, inflation is at an all-time high. This information probably doesn’t come as a surprise! During the summer of 2022, inflation reached 9.1%, the highest rate in four-decades. In this blog post, we explore inflation, how it affects families, and how programs serving children and families might use this data.
Foundations for Families’ monthly email Round Up provides a recap of the blog posts we published each month, lists opportunities to connect, and provides links to resources and information that are of interest to the early care and education community. It’s a one-stop shop for communication from our Talking Points, DRS Updates, and EHS-CCP blogs.
If you’re curious to know what our readers are most interested in, check out the list below. These are our top five blog posts based on views by Round Up readers.
The 2022 National Head Start Association (NHSA) Fall Leadership Institute took place September 19-22 in Washington, DC. It was a welcome opportunity to see colleagues in person, as the last couple years it has taken place virtually. One aspect of the conference that was particularly interesting from the funding perspective was Updates from the Office of Head Start. We learned about big picture and program-specific funding opportunities.
Promoting excellence in early childhood education to support families and strengthen communities.