DC’s Early Learning Quality Improvement Network

OSSE provides funding to two agencies —United Planning Organization (UPO) and Easter Seals — to serve as hubs for 15 child development centers and 17 child development homes, which all together serve more than 400 children.1 Using the Early Head Start performance standards and research-based best practices, these hubs employ professionals who provide support to directors and educators who work in these child development centers and homes, the children who are enrolled in them, and their families. This support includes coaching and technical assistance for staff and comprehensive services for children and families, such as family engagement and support, health and nutrition, mental health, and early intervention.

When child development facilities are connected with resources, expertise, and opportunities, then parents, children, and teachers all benefit. For example:

• Children receive nurturing and responsive caregiving.
• Families have access to specialists who support them in achieving their personal, family, and career goals.
• Teachers receive coaching and support to advance their learning and improve their teaching practices.
• Parents feel comfortable being decision-makers and leaders in the program.

Children who are categorically eligible (based on Early / Head Start standards) for classrooms participating in this program are those whose families participate in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI), are experiencing homelessness or who are in foster care. The remainder of the enrollees are living at or below the Federal Poverty Guidelines, have been diagnosed with a disability, or are deemed to need additional support or resources.

In FY22, the Early Learning Quality Improvement Network received $4,648,412 across all funding sources (including a federal expansion grant), of which $2,136,745 were local dollars.

The Birth-to-Three Act calls for an expansion of the existing Quality Improvement Network. The law directs OSSE to lead an initiative to ensure the availability of infant and toddler child care that meets Early Head Start standards, first prioritizing families living in wards 7 and 8, as well as dual language learners living in concentrated poverty.