Letter from the Executive Director

Welcome to 2024! I hope you all had a restful holiday season and kicked off the new year by taking care of yourselves. I am eager to get things rolling this year as FHSA has many of exciting things happening.
 
Did you know that FHSA turns 25 this year? This anniversary marks a significant milestone in serving, unifying, and empowering the statewide voice of Head Start/Early Head Start programs in Florida.  Our professional development committee is working on creating an annual conference you won't want to miss on October 1-4, 2024, at the DoubleTree by Hilton at the Entrance to Universal Orlando.  We will also host our award ceremony during this year's annual conference. Nominations are being accepted through June 3, 2024. Click here to nominate your employees, parents, alums, volunteers, and community partners for these prestigious awards. 

FHSA will be working on updating its Corporate Partners and Sponsorships for 2024. This program provides an exclusive opportunity for companies to collaborate with Florida's Head Start early care and education community! We will launch this program soon, so watch your inboxes for more details. 

In Fellowship, 

Wanda Minick
Executive Director 
FHSA

Monday, January 15, marks the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 
Project Head Start was conceived during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Unfortunately, today, we continue to struggle to create equitable access and opportunity that Dr. King advocated for us all.  

In honor of MLK Day, we hope you take the time to reflect upon his work and the connection between Dr. King's dream and the work you do each day to carry out Head Start's promise and continue to move Head Start forward so this program remains intact for the future generations of children and families that need us.  

Here are some books you may want to read honoring Dr. King's work and legacy. 

• I Have a Dream
• It Starts with Me
• Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop 
• My Uncle Martin's Big Heart

The Office of Head Start hosted a webinar on December 15, 2023, answering questions they received relating to the NPRM and some areas where clarification has been requested. Click here for the "Supporting the Head Start Workforce and Consistent Quality Programming" webinar. 

Comments are being solicited until January 19, 2024. The Administration of Children and Families will review all comments received and issue a Final Rule sometime in 2024. At this time over 300 comments have been submitted.  

Visit the ECLKC dedicated webpage that includes summaries of the proposed changes to the HSPPS, providing clarifying and promotional information and resources. Remember, the current HSPPS remains in effect until a final rule is published.

The statement reiterates expectations for inclusive early childhood settings and updates recommendations for state and local agencies implementing Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) programs, Head Start, child care, home visiting, preschool, and public schools to increase inclusive early learning opportunities for all children.

Additionally, the statement includes evidence-based models and exemplars of inclusion and resources for programs and others to support high-quality, individualized programming and inclusion of children with disabilities in early childhood programs. 

"The responsibility to ensure that young children with disabilities and their families are included in high-quality early childhood programs is a shared one. Government, at all levels, early childhood systems, and schools must work together to support parents with their kids," said Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra." 

"Over 61 million adults in the U.S. have a disability, and nearly one out of every six children are estimated to have a developmental delay. The Departments' shared vision is to build a culture of inclusion for individuals with disabilities beginning at birth, continuing in early childhood programs and schools, and into communities and workplaces.

The Administration for Children and Families released a Program Instructions (PI) ACF-PI-OHS-24-01 on Tuesday, January 9, 2024, notifying recipients of the submission requirements for Federal Financial Report Standard Form (SF)-425 for expenditures to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Payment Management System (PMS) and SF-428 for tangible personal.  

HHS has adopted 2 CFR §200.344 for the closeout of federal awards. As such, the liquidation period for closeout is now no later than 120 calendar days after the end of the period of performance (i.e., project period). This only applies to the closeout of the project, not budget periods within the project. The frequency of report submission is updated with details identified below. 

This PI supersedes ACF-PI-HS-17-04. Click here to read the PI in its entirety. 

Today is the deadline to register for your chance to sit for Tennessee State University SSCBT credential. 

This is a collaborative project between FHSA and the Florida Head Start Collaboration Office. The Family Service Credential, SSCBT (Social Services Competency-Based Training Program) modules I -II will kick off on January 29 - February 2, 2024. Module III will occur March 25-27, 2024. All registrants must commit to the entire training to receive an industry-recognized Social Services certification from Tennessee State University.  

The Tennessee State University Social Services Competency-Based Training Program aligns with the Head Start Program Performance Standards 1302.91(e)(7) for Staff and Supervisors who work with families and addresses the core skills necessary for working in various family support and community services settings.  

The training will be held at the Jesse Ball DuPont Center in Jacksonville, Florida. The registration deadline is today, January 12, 2024. 

Last year, the Florida Legislature appropriated over $68.9 million to support services for fathers, create a public awareness campaign related to responsible fatherhood, and provide evidence-based parenting education to meet the individual needs of the fathers. This initiative aligns directly with the work you do at Head Start.  

A new funding opportunity has opened for 2024. The Request for Applications can be found at this link. This funding opportunity is available to apply through April 19, 2024. 

To learn more, please visit the Father First website. 

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., January 11, 2024 – Episcopal Children’s Services (ECS), a leader in early childhood education in North and Central Florida, is pleased to welcome Dr. Natalya Bannister Roby as the new Chief Executive Officer, effective January 16, 2024. ECS is a leader in early childhood education, serving thousands of children and their families throughout the state of Florida. With a budget of $100M+, the agency offers early childhood education and holistic family services, including Head Start and Early Head Start programs, while also delivering School Readiness and Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten services to the community.   Click here to read press release in its entirety. 

FHSA is a proud sponsor of Children's Week Florida™, the statewide event uniting early care and education partners to create a larger-than-life visual inside the Capitol Rotunda. The Celebration of the Hands display is constructed from thousands of beautiful hand artwork from young children, youth, teens, teachers, parents, legislators, families, and advocates across the state. This incredible and unique piece of art serves as a daily reminder to all Capitol visitors that our children's future rests in our hands. We hope our Head Start and Early Head Start programs will join the celebration by contributing beautiful hand artwork. 

Download 2024 Celebration of the
Hands Tips and Instruction Sheet

NHSA's final version of their comments to the NPRM will be released Friday afternoon for review and sign-on. To amplify their message, NHSA is seeking as many sign-on as possible.  They are asking all state/regional Head Start Associations and individual programs to sign on. 

NHSA has drafted a separate letter for Head Start/Early Head Start parents and caregiver. Please share this link with your parents and policy council members and encourage them to sign -on. 

Join the National Head Start Association (NHSA) for their 51st Annual Conference on April 15-18, 2024, in Portland, Oregon. The event will boast hundreds of sessions, special events, celebrations, entertainment, and networking opportunities with Head Start colleagues from across the county.  

Interested in sharing your Head Start knowledge with your colleagues? Consider submitting an abstract. The deadline to apply is January 12, 2024. 

Click the link below to see what legislation NHSA is tracking. 

HB 541 - Safety of Child Care Facilitates, Rep. Williams
Requires law enforcement agencies to notify child care facilities of certain incidents at nearby schools. 

SB 1562 - Safety of Child Care Facilities, Sen. Powell
Requiring certain law enforcement agencies to notify child care facilities of certain incidents at nearby schools, etc.

HB 1353 - Early Learning, Rep. Snyder
Revises provisions relating to early learning coalitions & specified early learning programs. 

SB 1026 - Early Learning, Sen. Grall
Revising requirements for prekindergarten instructors; prohibiting private prekindergarten provider and public school curricula from using a coordinated screening and progress monitoring program or other specified methods for direct student instruction; revising the percentage of funds an early learning coalition may retain and expend; providing that certain Voluntary Prekindergarten Education Program students are eligible to receive instructional support in early literacy skills through a specified program, etc. 

HB 929 - School Readiness Program, Rep. Trabulsy

Revises definition of term "economically disadvantaged" for purposes of school readiness program; & revises provisions relating to school readiness program, early learning coalitions, & DOE 

SB 916, School Readiness Program. Sen. Calatayud (CO-SPONSORS) Perry
Revising requirements for the sliding fee scale for families receiving school readiness program services to include a new method to calculate parent copayments at the time of eligibility determination and annually thereafter, regardless of the number of children; revising requirements for the data elements that must be collected and reported by the Department of Education; revising the method for determining the annual allocation for the school readiness program; deleting a provision relating to certain expenditures from the Gold Seal Quality Care Program allocation, etc. 

HB 635 - Child Care and Early Learning Providers, Rep. McFarland
Revises positions related to tax credits for corporations providing or paying for child care; licensing standards for child care facilities; child care personnel; minimum standards; child care regulation; & large family child care homes. 

SB 820 - Child Care and Early Learning Providers, Sen. Grall 
Providing an exemption for public and private preschools from specified special assessments levied by a municipality; defining the term “preschool”; authorizing the use of credits against certain taxes beginning on a specified date; providing a limitation on such credits; requiring repayment of tax credits under certain conditions and using a specified formula; revising licensing standards for all licensed child care facilities and minimum standards and training requirements for child care personnel, etc. 

HB 847 - School Readiness Program, Rep. Bartleman (CO-SPONSORS) Woodson
Revises criteria for child to receive priority for participation in school readiness program; provides eligibility requirements for school readiness program provider to receive specified funding. 

SB 1400, School Readiness, Sen. Jones

Revising the criteria for a child to receive priority for participation in the school readiness program; providing requirements for a school readiness program provider to be eligible to receive specified funding, etc.

Upcoming Events

January: 

15, FHSA office closed in observance of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday 

22-24, NHSA Winter Leadership Institute

25, FSU 10 Components of Quality Child Care 

25, The National Head Start Fellowship Program Informational Webinar

29- 02, FHSA SSCBT Training Class 

30- 31, REGION IV OHS: CLASS PreK Observation (Reliability) Training

Member Information

Change of address, email or any information? You will need to login to your profile in our organization.

Important Links

• FHSA Career Center
• Calendar of Events
• Call for Volunteers
• FHSA Online Store

The National CACFP Sponsors Association is now accepting scholarship applications for the 2024 National Child Nutrition Conference
(NCNC) which is being held April 22nd – 26th in Orlando, FL. The scholarship application is available at cacfp.org/scholarships. 

Thirty scholarships will be awarded: Seven to attend the conference in-person, and eight to attend virtually. In-person scholarships will include
conference registration, four (4) nights’ lodging at the conference hotel, and up to $450.00 toward transportation costs.

Applications close on January 16, 2024. For questions, please email [email protected].

The Florida Association of Communication Action will host their 44th Annual Training Conference on May 15- 17, 2024, in Orlando, FL. 

Their theme is Back to the Future: Keeping the Community Action Promise Alive. 

They are seeking training proposals with a Head Start and Early Head Start focus.  The deadline to submit is January 15, 2024.