Updates and News

• May 17, 2012: The Florida Family Child Care Home Association's Annual Conference will be held June 19-24, 2012 in Clearwater Beach, FL.  The State Advisory Council (SAC) has approved to provide scholarships for Family Child Care Home Providers for a one-day "Saturday Special" on June 23, 2012.  The scholarship oppotunity will cover the cost of the one day Saturday registration ($55 for members and $75 for non-members). The Deadline for submitting the application is June 1, 2012. Download application here.
• May 11, 2012: Join The Dranoff Foundation & The Adrienne Arsht Center for PIANO SLAM 4 on May 24.  Piano Slam 4 will feature a Classical Hip Hop mash up featuring Student Poets from across the County with Piano Duo Van Veen, DJ Brimstone 127 & the Thomas Armour Youth Ballet, read more.
• May 8, 2012: Tuesday, May 15, 2012 is the deadline to submit the 2012-2013 School Readiness Provider Contract. If the contract is not received by the May 15 deadline, your School Readiness payments will stop on July 1, 2012. The Provider Contract may be submitted electronically using the Provider Portal.
• May 8, 2012: Join the ELC and the Healthy Start Coalition for the Family Summer Kick Off Event, June 9 at the Miami-Dade County Fair Expo Center, read more.
• May 4, 2012: Read the latest issue of the ELC News Alert.
• May 2, 2012: Please join Wesley House and ELC Monroe staff for the quarterly provider meeting to include important programmatic updates. Click here to preview the agenda. Registration deadline is May 15th.  Please RSVP to Laurie Dunn at 305- 809-5000.
• April 28, 2012: The ELC has two positions available on our Board of Directors for Provider Representatives. They are Representative of programs for children with disabilities under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and Representative of faith-based child care providers. Interested applicants should visit our website and complete an application. The deadline for submissions is May 21, 2012. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Leeana Pena, Board Liaison, at 305-646-7220 or lpena@elcmdm.org.
• April 23, 2012: The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) announced Florida’s unemployment rate continues to see a steady decline, dropping down to 9.0 in March 2012 – the lowest since January 2009, Read more.
• April 17, 2012: The Department of Education will be hosting a Rule Development Workshop via webinar on Friday, April 27, 2012 from 3:00 – 5:00 p.m., E.S.T. They will be discussing two important rules to be developed: VPK Curriculum Approval Process and the VPK Staff Development Plan for Providers on Probation. Click here for more details. Documents needed: DRAFT Curriculum Approval Specifications 2012, DOE-approved Staff Development Plan form for VPK Providers on Probation FINAL and DRAFT VPK Curriculum Approval Policies and Procedures 2012.
  
• April 12, 2012: A change is coming! ELIS will soon be here. The Early Learning Information System (ELIS) will be a centralized technology system that will provide critical information to early learning parents, partners, and providers. Read more about this change.
• April 12, 2012: May is designated as Transition to Kindergarten month! Kindergarten registration has begun, so be sure to register early. A quality transition to kindergarten process-values the role of families, teachers, administrators and most importantly the child. Read more in the latest issue of Parent Link.
• April 11, 2012: Read the latest issue of the ELC News Alert.
• April 10, 2012: Read the letter to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, urging them to support the Child Care Development Block Grant.
• April 10, 2012: Florida remains a paradox when it comes to public preschool education. The Sunshine State is now first in the nation for providing 4-year-olds with access to its Voluntary Pre-K Program, a distinction tempered by other factors, says a landmark national report capping 10 years of research, read more from the most recent NIEER press release.
• April 9, 2012: Visit the 6th Annual All Kids Included Family Arts Festival on Saturday, May 5, 2012, read more.
• April 4, 2012: The Early Learning Coalition of Miami-Dade/Monroe can help your program obtain what many consider the Gold Standard in accreditation through the National Association for the Accreditation of Young Children (NAEYC)! Read more.
• April 3, 2012: Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) Program Serving Miami-Dade for 27 years! Research Update: HIPPY home visiting program effective for Latino families, read more.
• April 2, 2012: The Office of Child Care is pleased to announce that Let’s Move! Child Care (LMCC) is featured today on “The Family Room,” the Administration for Children and Families’ (ACF) new blog. ACF Deputy Assistant Secretary Linda Smith discusses LMCC goals and success stories and encourages everyone in the child care community to get involved in supporting a lifetime of healthy habits for all children. Read the entire blog here and make sure to bookmark “The Family Room.” For more information about LMCC, visit the Let’s Move! Child Care site.  
• March 15, 2012: Local 10's Jen Herrera joined the Early Learning Coalition for a reading of "Green Eggs and Ham" to celebrate Dr. Seuss' 108th birthday. The children of Sierra Norword Calvary Child Development Center read along with Jen in their very own hats.
• March 14, 2012: Congratulations to our Senior Vice President & Chief Programs Officer, Blythe K. Robinson! She has been selected by Legacy Magazine as one of South Florida's 50 Most Powerful Black Professionals of 2012. We are so proud to have her as part of our team. Congratulations!
• March 14, 2012: Read the latest issue of the ELC News Alert.
• March 9, 2012: VPK Provider Readiness Rates Released - The Florida Department of Education has mailed the readiness rate letters to VPK providers.  A total of 2,125 providers around the state received a letter notifying them that they did not meet the readiness rate for the 2010-11 program year, read more.
• March 9, 2012: Nutrition is not a chore. At least, it shouldn't be. Keeping your family healthy can be as fun as planting your own vegetable patch, riding bikes in the park or creating a meal together. This month we are offering you tips to make nutrition part of your everyday life. Small changes can make huge differences. All it takes is a little push in the right direction, read more in the latest issue of Parent Link.
• March 1, 2012: We must get word to legislators NOW: when making changes to Florida's early learning system, the right choice is language in SB 1974 and to oppose any amendments to this bill that will hurt Florida's children. Read more!
• March 1, 2012: Effective April 1, 2012, all fingerprints submitted for background screening must be completed using LiveScan.  The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) will no longer accept or process fingerprint cards.  This is due to a change in Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) policy.  For additional information, please go to the Department of Children and Families (DCF) Background Screening Office site or callat 305-377-5063 or 305-377-7681. You can also view a PDF about the LiveScan process on their website.
• February 29, 2012: Bills would "dismantle" early learning programs, advocates say, read more.
• February 29, 2012: In all the debate over education, one fact stands undisputed: Children who go off to their first year of school unprepared are likely to struggle throughout their school careers and life, always lagging behind those who got a proper start, read more
• February 27, 2012: On Thursday, the Senate overwhelmingly approved its $70.7 billion budget. The House's $69.2 billion spending plan was passed several weeks ago. With only two weeks remaining in the regularly scheduled legislative session, and both chambers having passed their budgets, legislators now prepare for the conference process where the differences in both budgets will be negotiated. It is expected that conference committees will begin meeting next week. read more.
• February 27, 2012: Be on guard. The future of early learning in Florida is at stake. The Legislature is moving toward a close. We must insist on quality because only real quality leads to children really being ready to succeed, read more.
• February 22, 2012: High-quality child care is one of our most effective tools in preparing our youngest children for school while keeping parents working. Yet proposed bills now moving through the Florida Legislature could erode the focus on high-quality early education, read more.
• February 21, 2012: As a candidate for governor in 1998, I proposed moving Florida’s foster care system to a community-based model in response to the tragedies of children being abandoned, neglected and abused in record numbers. My belief was if business and community leaders would view these precious children as their own, there would be a more innovative response, read more from former FL Governor Jeb Bush.
• February 21, 2012: Everywhere I turn these days, people are getting the message of early learning and growing readers. It is encouraging, read more from the Children's Movement.
• February 21, 2012: Jeb Bush: Education 'the leading indicator of a successful life' read more from Naples News.
• February 17, 2012: On Wednesday, the Senate Budget Committee passed a proposed 2012-2013 state budget totaling $70.7 billion, about $1.5 billion larger than the $69.2 billion House version, which the full chamber has already passed, read more form the United Way's Legislative Link.
• February 16, 2012: Florida’s Office of Early Learning is holding a Rules Workshop tomorrow, Friday, February 17, 2012 from 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM (EST). During this time the office will workshop five rules including Rule 6M-4.720 Child Screening (Workshop)and Rule 6M-4.730 Child Assessment (Workshop). To access the upcoming rule development workshop, please see the WebEx log in information at the bottom of this email. If you have not attended a WEBEX webinar recently, please log on 20-25 minutes early to allow time for the downloading of required software. We ask that you submit a comment/appearance card if you wish to make a comment during the workshop. Comment cards and an agenda can be found on our website at http://www.floridaearlylearning.com/EarlyLearning/
  OEL_Program_ProposedRulesNotices.html.
• February 16, 2012: The Pre-K Debates: What the Research Says About Teacher Quality, read more.
• February 13, 2012: Read the latest issues of the ELC News Alert!
• February 10, 2012: As we celebrate Black History Month, we wanted to share some of her children's book titles and encourage you to check one out at your local library or bookstore, read more for the February issue of Parent Link.
• February 10. 2012: It is critical for the early learning community to remain committed to protecting the interests of Florida's families.  Continue to reach out to your Senators and Representatives about the proposals that diminish quality and accountability.  Florida's families are counting on you. Read the latest issue of the Florida Children's Services Council - Capital Connection.
• February 10, 2012: If you knew that 90% of the intellectual capacities of your child’s brain would be developed before he or she ever entered a kindergarten classroom, wouldn’t you then take those first five years and high-quality early learning more seriously? Read more.
• February 8, 2012: The Consumer Confidence Index Report indicates that the consumer confidence among Floridians surged in January, up seven points to 77, read more.
• February 7, 2012: Miami-Dade County is seeking Requests of Expressions of Interest (REOI) from qualified parties to provide Head Start/Early Head Start (HS/EHS) Program service, read more.
  
• February 6, 2012: About 30 years ago, an experiment began in Chapel Hill, N.C., in which poor children were randomized into either regular "day care" in the community or into a model early-education program with learning games, teachers educated in early childhood development, weekly home visits to engage parents and oversight from the university. The results were remarkable, read more.
• February 6, 2012: Once the word got out that the Boys Girls Clubs had been left in a $6,000 summer lunch-money lurch by the Monroe County School District, the locals came calling, read more.
• February 3, 2012: Click here for information on the train-the- trainer course for Beyond Centers and Circle Time.
• February 3, 2012: Current legislation, in effect, takes the early learning out of our early learning system and instead reduces it to programs that simply warehouse children while their Parents work. These bills, if passed, would impair the state’s ability to ensure children are learning by eliminating accountability for school readiness providers and proper assessment read more from the Miami Herald.
• February 2, 2012: Read this Q & A session taken from a recent Florida Association for the Education of Young Children (FLAEYC) and DCF Child Care Program Office (CCPO) conference call. It contains several Frequently Asked Questions that may be beneficial to providers.
• February 1, 2012: The US Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Community Services will host an ASSET Summit on February 26, 2012 at the Phicol Williams Community Center in Florida City form 12 noon to 4:00 pm, click here to register.
• February 1, 2012: Need help Filing a tax return this year? Our partners from Legal Services of Greater Miami share some great tips and options on how to file your taxes. Download guide.

To read previous news and updates, click here.