Statewide Directives
The Iowa General Assembly formed the Child Development Coordinating Council (CDCC) in 1988 to promote child development services to young children and families at-risk. CDCC administers $4.6 million to establish quality child development programs in 57 sites, including Head Start, public schools, and nonprofit centers. Parent education and support programs have been established in 12 sites. The cross-agency council ensures the development, delivery, and promotion of high-quality, family-centered early childhood services for all of Iowa's children and families. The Iowa Day Care Advisory Committee has identified program and funding streams across agencies to enable subcommittees to make more informed policy decisions and has forged a much closer link between the agencies of education, health, and human services.
The State Human Investment Plan (SHIP) is one of several initiatives to reduce long-term welfare dependency through family-centered services. The Early Childhood Special Education Councils are strengthening community and regional interagency collaboration through the regional early intervention councils. The goal is to reduce duplication of services, identify gaps in services, and provide a formal link between health, education, and human services and other agencies. The Family Strategies Work Group composed of the State Directors of Education, Employment Services, Health, Economic Development and Human Services meets monthly to coordinate their efforts to increase and enhance the services available to Iowans and their communities through communication, cooperation and creativity. Their pledge encompasses review and elimination of barriers at either the state or local level. They work together to identify commonalties of program service areas from both state and federal resources and to implement demonstration projects that will expand and enhance services without increasing costs.
Legislation
Legislation establishing the Family Resource Center, HF 2467, was passed without appropriation in 1992 and amended again without appropriation in 1993. In 1988, SF 2192 established the Child Development Coordinating Council and initial funding ($1.2 million) for Child Development Programs; the state appropriation was increased ($4.6 million) to establish Parent Education and Support Programs in 1991. SF 223 required the public school districts in Iowa to form local early childhood advisory committees to survey the local communities and identify early childhood programs and barriers to providing programs. This legislation also mandated developmentally appropriate curriculum for children age four through third grade. The result was a collaborative effort by the Departments of Education in Iowa and Nebraska revising a document from the Ministry of Education in British Columbia. The two state departments, the Iowa Area Education Agencies, and the Head Start Collaboration Projects published The Primary Program: Growing and Learning in the Heartland, documenting the value of family and community partnerships to the health, education, and well-being of younger children.
Funding Sources
The typical funding sources used in Iowa are those that exist in many states, including: state funds, federal Child Care and Development Block Grant, Even Start, Head Start, Special Education, Part H, and Chapter I, and other local funding as well as grant programs. There is a strong movement to explore the concept of re-financing programs through merged funding streams.
Implications
State Policymakers
The ability exists to assist councils and committees by supporting legislation that enables their work and eliminates conflict between existing policies. Inclusionary language will support coordination of services rather than separation of services.
State-Level Agency Heads and Staff
Staff will be empowered to support effective program development and will see a decline in the layering of programs in independent agencies. Staff must be allowed adequate time to design new programs.
Communities and Families
The system will allow greater family responsibility and choice; provide easier access to programs; create a single line of support rather than fragmentation across agencies; improve consistency of service; increase family-centered support; and enhance family development and sustainable communities.
Constraints
This approach requires time to develop a coordinated plan and must overcome human insecurity, territorial attitudes due to funding restrictions, individualized funding streams, and existing guidelines that prevent coordination and collaboration.
Future
Increased focus on refinancing through existing funding sources or newly merged funding streams will allow for change at all levels. The convergence of these programs will build a broader base for services that can deal with multiple challenges.
Posted on March 23, 1995
URL: http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/envrnmnt/go/93-3io.htm