2.4 Lead Agency Outreach to Families Experiencing Homelessness, Families with Limited English Proficiency, and Persons with Disabilities

The Lead Agency must conduct outreach and provide services to families with limited English proficiency, families experiencing homelessness, and persons with disabilities. 2.4.1 Families with limited English proficiency and persons with disabilities: outreach and services a. Check the strategies the Lead Agency or partners utilize to conduct outreach and provide services to eligible families with limited English proficiency. Check all that apply. i. [x] Application in languages other than English (application and related documents, brochures, provider notices). ii. [x] Informational materials in languages other than English. iii. [ ] Website in languages other than English. iv. [x] Lead Agency accepts applications at local community-based locations. v. [x] Bilingual caseworkers or translators available. vi. [x] Bilingual outreach workers. vii. [x] Partnerships with community-based organizations. viii. [x] Collaboration with Head Start, Early Head Start, or Migrant and Seasonal Head Start. ix. [ ] Home visiting programs. x. [x] Other. Describe: The Lead Agency has a Rising Pre-K Summer Transition Program, funded in part by CCDF, that targets children who are age eligible for Pre-K the next school year and whose home language is Spanish. The program includes bilingual teachers and a strong family engagement component. Services and resources are provided to families in English and Spanish. In addition, Pre-K is launching a new family portal in January 2025 that will include the ability for families to choose their language to view and access the portal. The Lead Agency continues to recruit bilingual parents for the Family Peer Ambassador program. The Lead Agency also provides financial supports for bilingual individuals to obtain a degree or credential in early childhood education. The Lead Agency is also developing a plan to comprehensively review websites, resources, and forms to determine if these supports should be translated into other languages for families and providers. As part of its child care access, consumer education, and family outreach activities, the Lead Agency funds the toll-free 877ALLGAKIDS Call Center and participation in community events around the state to distribute information about accessing early education supports and provide referrals to high-quality child care. Several of the team members delivering these services are bilingual speakers who are able to assist families whose home language is Spanish. b. Check the strategies the Lead Agency or partners utilize to conduct outreach and provide services to eligible families with a person(s) with a disability. Check all that apply. i. [x] Applications and public informational materials available in braille and other communication formats for access by individuals with disabilities. ii. [x] Websites that are accessible (e.g., Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act). iii. [x] Caseworkers with specialized training/experience in working with individuals with disabilities. iv. [x] Ensuring accessibility of environments and activities for all children. v. [ ] Partnerships with State and local programs and associations focused on disability- related topics and issues. vi. [x] Partnerships with parent associations, support groups, and parent-to-parent support groups, including the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) federally funded Parent Training and Information Centers. vii. [x] Partnerships with State and local IDEA Part B, Section 619 and Part C providers and agencies. viii. [x] Availability and/or access to specialized services (e.g., mental health, behavioral specialists, therapists) to address the needs of all children. ix. [x] Other. Describe: The Lead Agency added a button to the DECAL and CAPS websites to the Resource and Referral Portal (FindHelp GA), which contains many resources for families with a person(s) with a disability, including but not limited to mental health and behavioral supports, disability supports, child development, early intervention, children with special needs, and caregiver supports. The Lead Agency operates the SEEDS Helpline for families and providers. The helpline provides resources and referrals to families of children with disabilities and assistance in identifying high quality child care. 2.4.2 Families experiencing homelessness: Outreach and technical assistance efforts a. Check, where applicable, the procedures used to conduct outreach for children experiencing homelessness and their families. i. [x] Lead Agency accepts applications at local community-based locations. ii. [x] Partnerships with community-based organizations. iii. [x] Partnering with homeless service providers, McKinney-Vento liaisons, and others who work with families experiencing homelessness to provide referrals to child care. iv. [x] Other. Describe: The Lead Agency and the Head Start State Collaboration Office are providing a series of trainings and ongoing technical assistance to community partners who support families and children experiencing homelessness to improve their knowledge of the early care and education programs, priorities, and the referral systems. The Lead Agency has also partnered with Our House, a nonprofit agency providing shelter and innovative services to the Atlanta homeless population, to develop and implement training for staff to enhance outreach efforts. The Lead Agency added a feature to the Contact Us form on the CAPS website to enable community programs supporting families who are homeless to communicate and expedite their subsidy applications. The Lead Agency understands that communication may be a challenge for families with limited access to technology, so this feature allows staff to work with the system on their behalf. The Lead Agency added a button to the DECAL and CAPS websites to the Resource and Referral Portal (FindHelp GA), which contains many resources for families experiencing homelessness including but not limited to Emergency Shelter, Temporary Housing, Help Find Housing, Help Pay for Housing. Families Experiencing Homelessness remains a Priority Group for the CAPS subsidy program, targeting specific challenges faced by families as defined by McKinney- Vento. In addition, the Lead Agency developed a series of visual aids specific to community partners in the Continuum of Care who serve families experiencing homelessness to explain the process for child care and subsidy assistance. b. The Lead Agency must provide training and technical assistance (TA) to providers and appropriate Lead Agency (or designated entity) staff on identifying and serving children and families experiencing homelessness. i. Describe the Lead Agency’s training and TA efforts for providers in identifying and serving children and their families experiencing homelessness. DECAL CAPS created a new functional area, CAPS Provider Relations that includes four teams, one of which is the Education and Outreach team which is responsible for developing and delivering training to child care providers. This team has built on the work undertaken in previous years and to refine training and resource materials, collaborates with experts in serving children and their families that experience homelessness. The Education and Outreach team has completed the ECKLC Head Start Training Modules ￿Supporting Children and Families Experiencing Homelessness￿ and has collaborated with Head Start and the Department of Education to create a training session for child care providers on the topic of identifying and supporting children and families experiencing homelessness. ii. Describe the Lead Agency’s training and TA efforts for Lead Agency (or designated entity) staff in identifying and serving children and their families experiencing homelessness. The Lead Agency’s CAPS program contains a stand-alone Quality Assurance and Training (QA&T) unit. This team conducts training for newly hired Lead Agency staff on CAPS policy and how the policy is implemented. Also, children experiencing homelessness are a priority group for the CAPS program, so training includes information on identifying and serving children and their families experiencing homelessness. All new CAPS staff are also required to complete the Head Start Early Childhood Learning & Knowledge Center (ECLCK) Training Modules ￿Supporting Children and Families Experiencing Homelessness￿ during their onboarding training to help them identify and serve children and families experiencing homelessness based on guidance from the McKinney-Vento Assistance Act. The QA&T unit also conducts weekly updates for new and existing staff, to provide added support and address all policy changes, policy clarifications and best practices, including children and families experiencing homelessness. Additionally, staff responsible for determining eligibility for initial determination and redetermination use interview scripts with guiding questions to help them identify children and their families experiencing homelessness. Interview scripts include questions staff are required to ask families to determine if they meet the McKinney-Vento definition of homelessness. Further, an internal Homelessness Committee meets regularly to coordinate efforts among the divisions in the Lead Agency to connect with and serve Georgia's homeless populations.