Transcript Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R)

Child Care Resource and
Referral (CCR&R)
FY ‘13 Contract Renewal
Discussion
1
History of CCR&Rs in Massachusetts

In the 1970s Massachusetts was one of the first states to
develop information and referral services to support
working families needing to find child care for their
children. They tracked supply and demand data and
worked with both the child care providers and the state
to improve quality and access for all families.

Throughout those early years and into the mid-1990s, the
core child care resource and referral services were:
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Consumer education including information and referral,
Training and technical assistance for providers,
Resource development,
Data collection and analyses, and
Policy and advocacy.
Source: The CAYL Institute Child Care Resource and Referral Study Circle Project May 2011
2
History of CCR&Rs in Massachusetts
In the 1980s, two major changes took place that
impacted the child care resource and referral field in
Massachusetts:
 First: The state merged CCR&Rs with Voucher
Management Agencies (VMAs).
 Second: Employer-supported resource and
referral services expanded across the country via
Work Family Directions.
Both were a mixed blessing for the CCR&Rs. Many
benefited from the contract dollars with
corporations and served a wide array of working
families. Simultaneously, voucher management
began to shift the role of the CCR&Rs by expanding
their focus to serving primarily the lowest
income families and managing vouchers.
Source: The CAYL Institute Child Care Resource and Referral Study Circle Project May 2011
3
History of CCR&Rs in Massachusetts

In the mid-1990s:
 With the passing of welfare reform at both at
the state and then federal levels, the CCR&Rs
voucher management role expanded,
becoming almost their sole focus.
 Simultaneously, Work Family Directions pulled
back many of the contracts that had once
provided private funding to the agencies,
making the agencies’ resources very tight for
supporting moderate income working families.

In 2009 CCR&RRs lost $ in 9c funding cuts.
Source:The CAYL Institute Child Care Resource and Referral Study Circle Project May 2011
4
CCR&Rs Today

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5
In 2009, the CCR&R contract was put
out to bid resulting in the three-year
contracts that began on 7/1/10.
As a result of the bid, the number of
CCR&Rs decreased from 14 to 11.
A new contracting structure was put in
place with contract for 3 levels:
 Level 1: Voucher Management
 Level 2: Information and Referral
 Level 3: State-wide consumer
information
CCR&Rs Today
The breakdown in levels of service offered is the
following:
6

3 CCR&Rs offer Level One only (Voucher Management)
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2 CCR&Rs offer only Level Two (Information and Referral)
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6 CCR&Rs offer Level One and Two combined

2 CCR&Rs also offer Level 3 (Enhanced Consumer
Education.)
Overlap with other EEC Funding:
Of the 11 CCR&Rs:
 2 Are the Lead CFCE Grantee
• 2 Subcontract with a local CFCE
 3 are the lead EPS grantee
• 6 are members of the EPS Network
Team in their region (2 have
subcontracts.)
 0 are affiliated with a parent agency
that also receives the EC Mental
Health grant.
7
FY 11 ARRA Funding
8

In FY 11 CCR&Rs received $561K in ARRA
funding to support:
 the transition to their new contracts,
 Implementation of efficiencies, and
 enrolling children in ARRA funded initiatives.

CCR&Rs used these funds:
 To fund 22 FTEs to fill gaps in staffing,
 Pay for overtime to handle ARRA intake,
 For the addition of new telephone lines,
updated websites and scheduling software.

With the termination of these funds many
CCR&Rs have returned to lower staff levels.
CCR&R
9
10
11
Contract Requirements include:
Level One: Subsidy Management:
 Voucher Management: Determine family
eligibility for entry and renewal of services
per EEC Subsidy Policy.
 Family Support: Meet with families to
begin/renew child care subsidy.
 Collaboration: with other agencies to
support enrollment/continuation of eligible
services.
 Documentation/recording required:
 Billing and Provider Reimbursement
 Provider Monitoring
12
CCR&Rs and Voucher Management:
CCR&R Statewide New Voucher Placement and
Reassessments*
16,000
14,000
14,269
1,567
9,924
10,000
8,171
8,000
6,000
11,328
11,227
12,000
1,265
8,232
1,594
7,886
9,052
1,193
7,439
965
890
12,702
7,921 7,793
769
711
9,258
665
666
9,695
703
8,731
6,906
6,638
6,921
6,549
7,152
9,178
6,290
756
7,141
8,386
8,593
8,992
10,225
8,213
5,534
2,000
0
CCR&R Statewide Reassessment - Start Placement
CCR&R Statewide New Voucher Placement
CCR&R Statewide Grand Total
*These numbers represent the volume of new (blue) and reassessed (red) vouchers written state-wide
each month. These numbers do not capture no-show appointments or appointments held for vouchers
not written due to insufficient documentation. Source: CCIMS
13
964
652
10,516
4,000
1,103
CCR&Rs and Voucher Management:
CCR&R New Voucher Placement by Child Care Account:
September 2010 – October 2011
1,800
1,600
1,594
1,567
113
Number of New Voucher Placement
95
1,400
1,200
1,265
1,193
0
444
231
721
1,000
965
1
288
529
890
0
800
266
483
1,103
0
155
769
0
30
600
652
0
40
666
0
36
711
0
66
3
66
703
0
49
1,023
400
0
755
663
623
480
5
9/1/2010
756
0
43
244
713
701
948
746
200
0
10/1/2010
5
11/1/2010
1
12/1/2010
DSS
1
1/1/2011
1
2/1/2011
DTA
737
2
3/1/2011
612
0
4/1/2011
Income Eligible
629
1
5/1/2011
644
1
6/1/2011
ARRA
Standard Deviation: DSS: 2 ; DTA: 136; Income Eligible: 221; ARRA: 66 Grand Total: 318
Avg. = Average (9/10 – 10/11)
*September 2009 New Voucher Placement number was 1,736
*October 2009 New Voucher Placement number was 982
Source: CCIMS
14
665
34 980
595
1
7/1/2011
Grand Total
654
0
8/1/2011
0
9/1/2011
0
10/1/2011
1
Avg 9/1010/11
Information and Referral Services
Level One: For subsidized families,
Level Two: all families
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Respond to inquiries regarding options for early
education and care services.
Needs assessment:
 Act as a resource for identifying family needs,
determining appropriate community resources and
referring families to the appropriate services.
Information and referral service provision, allowed
options for implementation:
 Web-based,
 State-wide telephone coverage,
 Face-to-face Services,
 Partnerships with other agencies (TANF, DTA, DCF,
DPH/EI.)
 Other: Brochures, flyers, booklets, faxes, yellow
pages, radio, tv, web videos, etc.
Contract Requirements include:
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Level Three: Enhanced Consumer
Education. Provide innovative
communication models for state-wide
dissemination of relevant info to families
regarding early education and care, its
importance for their children and their
role as their children’s first educators.
FY ‘11 CCR&R Contract Performance Data
Number of outpost locations: 29
 Number of families that received a Level Two
referral: 16, 244
 Ave number of appointments held per week
during traditional hours: 1,333
 Ave wait time to get an appointment: 1 week
 Number of languages other than English
spoken by CCR&R staff: 17
 Number of families that received an
Orientation to in-home/relative care: 821
 Ave Caseload per voucher counselor: 676
 Percent NACCRA Quality Assured 60%
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FY’12 First Quarter Reports:
Activity
FY 12
Plan
FY12
Actual
Balance
Outpost Locations
29
29
On target
Goal for average wait time
4 days
5 days
Over target by average of 1
day
Number of families to receive a
referral
10,809
2,360
22% of goal met in first
quarter
Ave Caseload per voucher Counselor
795
868
Above target by average of
84 cases
Total new voucher agreements to be
signed
458
125
27% of target met in first
quarter
Number families to receive inhome/relative orientation
746
192
26% of target met in first
quarter
Total number of families to receive a
level
18 2 referral
16,510
2,820
17% of target met in first
quarter
FY12 First Quarter Report, Level 3:
Resources Made Available: Number of
Items
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CCR&R website
Tweets sent
Facebook posts
Events listed
Resources distributed
(newsletters & brochures)
Parent resources accessed
Webinars
Training videos
Resource links
Provider resources accessed
Webinars
Training clips
Resource links
http://machildcareresour
cesonline.org/
Number of
Individuals
Reached
113,062 visitors
17
54
83
9
6,175
5,570
49,875
4
6
32
2,147
5
7
24
2,214
National Association of Child Care Resource
and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA)
20

In November 2011, EEC contracted with NACCRA to build
upon the CAYL report and EEC’s Strategic Plan to develop a
plan for the improvement of CCR&R services in
Massachusetts.

The PROCESS underway includes:
 Oct: Reviewed documents provided by EEC (CAYL
Study, EEC Race to the Top submission, Head Start
Survey Report, etc)
 Nov: Focus groups held with parents, providers,
CCR&R staff, MASS 211, MADCA
 Reviewed CCR&R best practice nation wide
 Nov. /Early Dec. – Draft findings and initial
recommendations to EEC
 Presentation to EEC Board 12/13/11
 Final report to EEC Jan 2012.
NACCRRA Plan for Massachusetts
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Initial findings to date:
 CCR&R agencies in Massachusetts do not meet
national definition for service delivery and best
practice standards for CCR&R,
 Recruitment, training, professional development
and oversight of child care providers is
fragmented,
 No standard definitions and measurable
outcomes for services offered,
 Voucher Management is labor intensive, paper
laden and vulnerable to fraud,
 Massachusetts is lagging behind in the use of
technology in all areas of service delivery,
 Access to family services for ALL families is
confusing and disjointed,
NACCRRA Plan for Massachusetts
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Preliminary Recommendations
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Adopt NACCRRA’s definition of CCR&R:
• An organization whose stated purpose includes delivery of
information-based services to families, child care
providers and the community.
• Organizations that provide services to only one of the
target areas, but are part of a formal system of
organizations that together provide all of the services to
meet the definition of a CCR&R.
• The core services include at a minimum:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
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Supporting all families;
Active operation of referral and consumer education services;
Supporting professional development;
Increasing the availability, affordability and quality of child care;
Supporting development of policies on family and children’s issues;
Generating additional resources;
Maintaining a high quality comprehensive database for the effective
delivery of core services.
Currently, CCR&Rs in MA perform some, but not all of these
functions.
NACCRA Plan for Massachusetts
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Preliminary Recommendations
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Adopt a managing network model through a
competitive bid process. The selected agency
should be centrally located, have the capacity to
manage multiple projects, manage statewide data
bases and use technology such as social media. It
must also have a solid governance structure that
does not include agencies or personnel with a clear
conflict of interest.
Consolidate all information and referral activities
for all families through a single statewide call
center and web-site.
Ensure selected agency becomes Quality Assured
State Child
Care
Administrator
CCR&R
Managing
Network
Office
Region
al/local
CCR&R
office
Region
al/local
CCR&R
office
Region
al/local
CCR&R
office
Region
al/local
CCR&R
office
Regional/Local CCR&R
Office Functions:
-Training
-Provider Support Services
-Provider Database
-QRIS Implementation:
-on-site technical assistance
Managing Network Office
Functions:
-Primary Liaison with State ECE
-Manage and distribute CCR&R funding
for the State Child Care Administrator
-Determine the range of services local
CCR&Rs should provide
-Develop and carry out contracts
-Consolidate all information and referral
activities
-Track CCR&Rs’ performance through
evaluation and quality assurance
activities – single statewide call center
and web-site
-Manage subsidy administration
-All agencies must be Quality Assured
Region
al/local
CCR&R
office
Region
al/local
CCR&R
office
NACCRRA Plan for Massachusetts
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Preliminary Recommendations

Create a single state-wide, web-based database of
all early care and education programs including
child care, pre-k and Head Start programs.

Adopt a web-based subsidy management system
that allows both parent and child care providers to
input and update data on-line and allows them to
track the status of their applications and other
relevant information.

Establish a single web-based training and technical
assistance tracking system that shares data with
the state professional registry and allows for
transfer of training within the state.
NACCRRA Plan for Massachusetts
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Next steps:

Draft report and briefing to EEC for
first review by Dec 23.

EEC to review draft report and
provide comments to NACCRRA by
Dec 29.

Final report to EEC for Jan Board
meeting by Jan 5.
Meanwhile, Changes are Underway:
Within their current contract, CCR&Rs have
agreed to:
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Become NACCRA Quality Assured. All Level 2 CCR&Rs
are currently in the Self-Study process.
Support role-out of the voucher management pilot and
subsequent expansion.
Increase their role in informing families and programs
about the value of the QRIS.
Increase Level 3 outputs.
Update and streamline the process for monitoring
voucher providers.
Enhance use of technology as possible with current
funding.
Collaborate with MASS211 in delivery of information and
referral services.
Develop a state-wide Advisory with broad
representation.
Contract Renewal/Rebid Issues for
Consideration:
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If implementation of NACCRRA recommendations
represent a substantial change to current CCR&R
contracts, rebidding may be required.
If rebid, EEC will need to purchase a redefined level of
service and consider the CCR&R relationship to other
grants.
Geography and integration with other funding sources will
need consideration.
The impact on families and their needed access to subsidy
must be kept in mind as any transition to a new system
unfolds.
EEC may consider roll-out of changes in stages.
A process for informing and gathering feedback from the
field will be developed.