Location of Meeting: Virtual (GoToMeeting – available for one month)
In Attendance:
Board:
Rebecca Compton Dr. Day Care
Joseph Tomchak Boys & Girls Club Newport
Haley Paige Coggeshall Club/Haven Middletown
Lori Viner Children’s Workshop
Amy Vogel Dr. Day Care
Guests & Members:
Lisa Furtado Therapeutic Child Care Services
Rick McAuliffe Mayforth Group
Marisa Gallagher Connecting for Children and Families in Woonsocket
Rebecca Madden Acorn Academy
Heidi Nordmann East Bay Community Action Program Head Start
Susan Racette Kindermotion and Dance
Linda Laliberte East Bay Community Action Program Head Start
Natalie and Sydney BGCNRI
Denise Greene West End Community Center
(members attending after meeting began were not recorded)
Meeting Agenda:
Welcome and introductions
Grant updates: Joe Tomchak
Guest speaker: Lisa Furtado, Therapeutic Child Care Services (TCCS) Program Director
Sharing information on the TCCS program. TCCS is a Kids Connect program that is regulated by the Executive Office of Health and Human Services in Rhode Island. The TCCS program provides strategies and interventions to support children enrolled in the TCCS program.
Guest speaker: Rick McAuliffe, Mayforth Group
Legislative updates
Member questions & discussion
Next meeting: June 24, 2024
Meeting Notes:
- Haley started the meeting at 1:03 pm
- Members introduced themselves.
- Joe: update on grant, Maria gave her notice. Met with BGClub staff who will be taking over the grant. Reach out to Martin DeCosta (mdecosta@epbgc.org) or LeeAnne DeCarlo (ldecarlo@epbgc.org) if you want to be part of 2nd cohort. They will be your liaison. They may not be long term, they may be hiring someone to take over that role.
- If interested in 2nd cohort (School Age) there are still 3 spots open. Reach out to Joe or Rebecca and we will help coordinate.
- Lisa Furtado: TCCS is an inclusion program run by Executive Office of Health & Human Services (EOHHS). We have internal and external sites. 3 Behavior Specialists and Clinicians on site to write treatment plans and do an inclusion program inside ANY child care center in state of RI.
- Center gets in contact with Lisa (school age or early childhood), who determines the need and gets approval from EOHHS.
- Reviews things like is there a safe space for child to learn self-regulation skills. Follow your policies and procedures.
- Service children who are able to be in a 4:1 or 2:1 ratio while in your center. If child needs 1:1 or medical 1:1, not able to service in an inclusive program.
- 75% of the population typically developing, 25% in the TCCS program.
- There is reimbursement attached. It does not cost the site to be TCCS. We pay you, so you have the funds to pay for the extra staff person. The TIS is hired by your company/your employee. TCCS gives supervision to the staff in the classroom and to the TIS. Provide training to all direct service staff in the classroom. Will train all the staff who work in that classroom.
- Reimbursement rates are much higher than they used to be. The ratio is DHS ratio + 1.
- TCCS has worked in collaboration with child care programs since the beginning of the TCCS program, around 20 years ago.
- The training are monthly, over zoom, and are approved by DHS / C-ELP.
- Questions:
- Haley – safe space – in the classroom or outside? Lisa: in the classroom, to help teach children to leave an environment if needed, self-regulation.
- Joe – comment: have done it in the past but the reimbursement was difficult. Opportunities to have additional support for children who struggle. More individualized attention, extra staff paid for, trainings – really helpful. How does reimbursement work? Lisa – right now, to be eligible for the program, must have state health care/state medical insurance. Working on passing a Bill to expand services.
- Can reach Lisa at lfurtado@tccsri.com or learn more at www.tccsri.com
- Rick McAuliffe legislative update:
- Busy part of the year. General Assembly is trying to pass state budget by July 1st. Finishing the fiscal year.
- CCAP eligible children has gone down.
- Big issues – the Washington bridge, housing/affordable housing, nursing homes.
- Working to raise DHS rates. Increase eligibility. Met with the Speaker, will be about $35 million. Working with all the advocates (Kids Count, BOCA, Boys & Girls Club, YMCA, etc.).
- RI has the lowest federal poverty line in New England. Trying to move from 200% to 260%. Looking for a rate increase to at least 5%. Should add about 6 to 9 million dollars. There is a bonus in the Bill for infant care. There is an option to be reimbursed more often, not just once/month.
- Working on the fingerprint bill, to cover the cost of fingerprinting for child care staff.
- About 4 weeks left. Budget should be coming out in about 2 weeks.
- Should be more money for staff to have their child care subsidized.
- Joe – any talk about retention bonuses? Rick – yes, but what hurts us is that the bonuses were federal dollars.
- Lori – any initiatives or progress on increasing revenue? Tax rates or tax caps? Rick – this was on the agenda in early 2020, but quieted down. Will probably see more discussion now that federal dollars have lessened.
- BGCNRI – eligibility for DHS rates a bigger priority? Rick – very concerned that a whole population of people will lose eligibility. Linda – are CCAP # down because we have less capacity / seats lost or because of people not using it? Rick – combination of lack of staff and lack of spots. Still trying to figure out why people aren’t working – why is the child not in child care?
- Wrap up in July – thank all of you for supporting child care. Thank you for the work you do.
- Haley – any member questions, who would you like to hear from?
- Haley ended the meeting at 1:44pm.
Next meetings:
June 24, 2024
Skipping July & August
September 23, 2024
October 28, 2024
November 25, 2024
Skipping December
Minutes submitted by Rebecca Compton