Program Priority Recommendations.

 

The New Hanover County Partnership envisions every child entering school with the health, family support and early education necessary to succeed.  Consistent with this vision, the Planning and Oversight Committee has developed five Key Priorities to give guidance in the creation of new or additional Smart Start programs.  Also, as the NHCPFC has opportunity to expand current programming through additional grants, or private fund development, the key priorities should guide decisions.   

 

 

1.         Social and Emotional Developmental Support.

 

·         The community lacks adequate intervention and prevention services for young children who may have behavioral or emotional issues.  Such services must include the child’s family and any other caregivers.  It would be preferable for these services to be “on-site” –at child care or in homes.

 

·         Teachers of young children need additional support in dealing with behavioral or emotional issues.  The expansion of current intervention services is an option, as is the expansion of the “Second Step” program.

 

·         The identification process for children with special needs is lengthy.  Ways to support the Child Developmental Services Agency in the diagnostic process should be identified

 

 

2.         Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R).

 

• The county lacks high quality child care resource and referral services.  Among other problems, this situation causes major problems for both employers and employees.   Many issues identified by the Board of Directors are related to this problem in our community.  There is not a central location (phone line) for parents to find information about child care, parenting, child development or other community resources. 

 

• Child care providers do not have the advantage of a high quality referral service to enhance their businesses.  The NHCPFC currently services as a clearinghouse for information for providers and the primary source for required trainings, but does not have access to the data related to enrollment or referrals questions from families. 

 

 

3.         Kindergarten Transition.

 

• The closest possible collaboration must be maintained with the public school system to ensure that Partnership-funded programs are fully effective in preparing New Hanover’s children to succeed in school.

 

• The community needs a unified message related to kindergarten preparedness, screenings, expectations, and the process of connecting with individual schools.  Families and child care providers should be included in any transition planning.
• The Partnership’s Board has no higher responsibility than to provide the most thorough criteria possible to insure that Smart Start monies are invested in programs that have a measurable positive impact on preparing young children for school.

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•   The correctness of this position was made clear by language in the 2002 Smart Start legislation stating, “… in consultation with the Department of Public Instruction and the North Carolina Partnership for Children, Inc., the Department of Health and Human Services shall develop and implement policies and procedures to ensure that local partnerships that allocate funds to child care providers receiving State and federal child care funds plan and coordinate with their local education agencies the following: Selection of preschool curriculum with measurable outcomes; Kindergarten transition activities; and Other activities needed to ensure that children transitioning from child care settings to kindergarten enter school ready to succeed.”

• North Carolina was one of the first states to adopt an official definition of school readiness as anything other than a prescribed date by which a child must turn five to enter public kindergarten. The State has noted that in evaluating the condition of children as they enter school, children’s development and learning in five areas are often closely linked.  Development in one area can and often does affects development in another.   The five are:

 

Health and Physical.

 

Social and Emotional Development.

 

Approaches Toward Learning.

 

Language Development and Communication.

                                                           

Cognition and General Knowledge.

 

●    Simply put, the State has a readiness definition.  The New Hanover Partnership has a mission to ensure that children enter school healthy and ready to succeed.  It logically follows that the Partnership must make every effort to incorporate and build upon that definition and related performance standards in its decision-making processes.  More accurate and measurable means must be developed to determine whether projects funded by the Partnership are really contributing to ensuring that children do, in fact, start school healthy and ready to succeed. 

 

 

4.         Public Awareness.

 

• The NHCPFC should continue to develop strategies to help the public better understand what Smart Start and the Partnership do.  The Board should include a person with media connections, if possible.  The messages should be based on the Outreach Plan as submitted to NCPC.  Outreach must include family and business friendly materials. 

 

• The NHCPFC should work to promote business friendly practices through Chamber and other connections.  A high-quality child care resource and referral would directly impact this.

 

• The Partnership must do more to emphasize the connection between the importance of quality child care now and an economically viable NewHanoverCounty in the years ahead.  Messages must be developed and effectively delivered that “sell” the Partnership’s programs from a business perspective.  

 

 

5.         Collaboration.

 

• The NHCPFC should act as the lead organization and advocate for early childhood, family and child care provider services not only within New Hanover, but in surrounding counties.   Regional services should be considered in program development whenever possible to coordinate with other regional projects, serve families and children that cross county lines for work or child care, to generate additional funding or conserve scarce funding.

 

 

Governance Priority Recommendations.

 

 

1.         Updating Board and Committee Member Job Descriptions. 

 

Too many Board members are not clear as to their specific responsibilities and the division of responsibilities between the Board and executive Committee and the Board and the staff.  Results of the Board survey suggest that these descriptions be reviewed and in some cases clarified, particularly as to the time required for Board service and the responsibility of Board members to review all materials they receive.

 

 

2.         Establishing Mentoring Program for New Board Members.

 

The complexity of issues with which the Partnership deals makes it difficult for new Board members to understand issues that are being discussed and hence to be able to meaningfully participate in discussions and cast intelligent votes.  To address this problem, it is recommended that each new member coming on the Board be assigned a long-standing Board member who will act as a mentor for the first year of service.  The mentor would assume the assignment of talking with the new member a few days before each Board session and providing background on the issues on the agenda and answering questions or providing clarification.   

 

 

3.         Reformatting of Some Program and Financial Materials for Board Consideration.

 

Nothing that the Partnership does is more important than insuring that its Board members understand the issues on which they are being asked to vote.  It is critical that Board members have time to appropriately review materials and fully consider issues that come before them for action.  The survey rankings indicated that too many Board members do not feel comfortable on these points, and it is recommended that sufficient time be set aside as soon as possible at an upcoming Board meeting to fully discuss this matter and how it can strengthened.   With the Partnership going to quarterly Board meeting, it is essential that members be given background materials and other information beforehand and that they come prepared to discuss the issues at hand.

 

 

4.         Greater Private Sector Participation.

 

The Executive Committee should look at the composition of every committee, task force and other entity of the agency and insure that there is active participation by the business community on more than a token basis.  Developing messages that “sell” the Partnership’s programs from a business perspective should help implement this effort.

 

 

5.         Expansion of Financial Oversight

           

In response to the Sarbanes- Oxley legislation, and in preparation for further directives to non-profits based on this legislation, the New Hanover County Partnership should establish the resources to pay for an audit by a private accounting firm for the years not audited by the Office of the North Carolina State Auditor.  The Board must ensure that the Finance Committee membership contains financial expertise and that reports are made at least annually by non-staff persons involved with the Partnership finances, such as an North Carolina Partnership Financial Consultant or the MAC Accountant.