Bi-Monthly Newsletter - February 2021

Nebraska Early Childhood Strategic Plan Goal 3:

Collaboration—Communities coordinate a locally

designed mixed-delivery system that provides

continuous care and meets the needs of families.

This month's newsletter continues to focus on Nebraska's Early Childhood Strategic Plan by

examining Goal 3 and the organizations who align well with it.

Goal 3 focuses on supporting local community leaders, early childhood providers, and school

personnel to build relationships and their capacity to coordinate local resources for families and

their children.

The strategic plan calls for developing a statewide infrastructure to help support coalition

building within and across Nebraska’s communities. Utilizing Nebraska’s existing models of

collaboration and coordination, organizations in the statewide early childhood system will work

together to define how each can best support greater capacity in local systems and provide

resources for communities to design and implement their own early childhood coordination

plans. As each community, or group of communities in a region, creates more coordinated and

integrated early childhood care and education systems, they will do so by building on the

strengths and resources that are locally available to meet families’ needs. When community

leaders identify gaps in their local system, they may turn to other communities or to state-level

organizations to seek information or resources to begin to fill those gaps. Ultimately, the more

coordination and alignment at the state and community levels, the easier it will be for families

to access the services they need for their child’s healthy development.

Preschool Development Grant

Renewal Application--Year 2

The team at the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) is working with the PDG

Project Management Team on finalizing the Continuation Application for Year 2 of the three-

year Preschool Development Grant (PDG). This was made possible thanks to the ongoing

successful efforts funded by the PDG Renewal Grant. This application is an opportunity to

showcase the accomplishments of the 24 PDG projects over the past year and highlight the

upcoming activities for Year 2.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many of the projects in PDG were slightly delayed in their

hiring processes as well as in implementation. However, the expertise of the PDG project leads

and the ongoing collaboration with the Nebraska Leadership Team, partners, and stakeholders

allowed for steadfast movement forward.

Many of the PDG projects leaders responded and creatively adapted to meet the needs of the

children, families, and providers they served through virtual assessments, trainings, and

guidance. DHHS is looking forward to continued advancements in meeting the goals of the

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Preschool Development Grant. Please continue to follow the PDG Newsletter for updates on

progress and achievements.

Strategic Plan Update

The Nebraska Early Childhood Strategic Plan is designed to create a more integrated system of

early childhood services for children and their families so that families can access quality early

care and education as well as other essential services to help their young children thrive.

Success in building an integrated early care and education system that provides quality care to

each child depends on coordination of community-level and statewide resources, requiring

strong relationships and effective communication among stakeholders representing all sectors

of the system.

One of the values that guides the strategic planning process is “Community Leadership and

Collaboration.” Each community across Nebraska has a unique set of characteristics, strengths,

and challenges. Community members and leaders are the experts in what is happening in and

what will work for their people.

As stakeholder engagement continues in 2021, the team looks forward to talking with

community leaders, including families and early childhood educators, to identify strategies and

action plans that support the needs of children and families. Through these conversations,

Nebraska communities will ensure that their priorities for improving access to quality early

childhood services are reflected in the strategic plan.

In the end, creating an effective early childhood system is a shared responsibility. Everyone

(parents, early childhood professionals, schools, businesses, community leaders, state agencies,

nonprofit organizations, and elected officials) has a vested interest in supporting the healthy

development and learning of each child. Working together, a comprehensive strategic plan will

be created that represents the diverse voices in communities across the state and provides

Nebraska with shared goals and priorities for action.

See the Nebraska Early Childhood Strategic Plan and other supporting materials.

For questions about the Strategic Plan contact Susan Sarver.

Needs Assessment

Update

The Needs Assessment team is working to

capture additional data about the needs and

concerns of Nebraska's most

underrepresented and underserved families.

Currently, the groundwork is being laid to

train facilitators to conduct a series of family

focus groups. Partners have identified from

community organizations to support

identifying, recruiting, and facilitating focus

groups with vulnerable families across

Nebraska. Although delayed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic, the team is elated to be

working with our community partners on this

collaborative approach and coordinated effort

to better understand families' perspectives

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