Earlier this week, the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth (NAEHCY) released two new resources that help align early childhood programs that serve children experiencing homelessness. Specifically, these resource will help educators, service providers, and advocates understand the changes due to ESSA, new Head Start Performance Standards and new Child Care Regulations.
NAEHCY is offering two new tools in order to help these new rules reach the children and families for whom they were intended for. Please find a summary of each tool below.
- Aligning Early Childhood Programs to Serve Children Experiencing Homelessness. A chart comparing preschool, Head Start, and child care policies for children experiencing homelessness. Organized by topic area, this chart compares effective dates; funding levels; definitions; eligibility; eligibility determinations; outreach and identification; enrollment; continuity/stability; transportation; collaborations; referrals; and family engagement. This publication was written in collaboration with the Office of Early Childhood Development at the Administration for Children and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
- The Early Care and Education Infrastructure in My Community Grid and Resource List. This grid provides a list of key public early childhood programs and provides space for users to record information about local programs, including the name and contact information for accessing the program and services. The Resource List contains a comprehensive, annotated list of public early childhood programs and links to the programs’ websites, with state contacts who can help identify and access local programs.
For more resources from NAEHCY, visit http://naehcy.org/