Wisconsin Early Childhood Collaborating Partners components include:
- Access to Health & Medical Home
- Early Care and Education
- Mental Health and Social Emotional Development
- Parent Education
- Family Support
Access to Health & Medical Home
Access to medical homes providing physical and child development services for all children in early childhood including special health care needs and assessment, intervention, and referral of children with developmental, behavioral and psychosocial problems.
Services for children from birth through first grade that support children's early learning, health, and development of social competence. Focus on childcare, Head Start, Early Head Start, 4K and 5K services to children with disabilities as well as children who are homeless or in poverty.
Mental Health and Social Emotional Development
Availability of services to promote healthy social emotional development, services to address the needs of children with mental health problems and service delivery pathways to facilitate entrance of at-risk children into appropriate child development and mental health delivery systems.
Parent education services that provide support to parents in their role as prime educators of their children.
Family support services that address the stressors impairing the ability of families to nurture and support the healthy development of their children.
Collaborating Partners includes:
- Endorsing Partners: State, regional, and local state departments, agencies, associations, or groups that have formally endorsed the WECCP vision and mission.
- Participating Partners: State, regional, and local state departments, agencies, associations, groups, and individuals that are committed to membership on WECCP state or regional teams, participate in events, and actively work toward the vision and mission.
- Interested Partners: State and local agencies, associations, groups and individuals that are not able to commit to endorsement or participation but are interested in the efforts and want to receive information through the state or regional list serve.
- State level: action team, steering committee, and overall state wide network;
- Regional level: action teams, team facilitators, and regional networks.
- Communication and networking systems include: state and regional action team meetings, networking conferences (video conferences/web casts), a Web site, state and region specific list serves and collaborative conferences; and a work plan with goals, objectives, and action steps.
- Jill Haglund, jill.haglund@dpi.wi.gov
- Loraine Lucinski, Loraine.Lucinski@dhs.wisconsin.gov
- Therese Ahlers, tahlers@wiaimh.org
- Teressa Pellett, teressa.pellett@ctf.state.wi.us
- Ann Stueck, Ann.Stueck@dhs.wisconsin.gov
- Linda Leonhart, Linda.Leonhart@dwd.state.wi.us
2. State Action Team: Roles and Membership
- Bringing state and local information, evidence-based research and best practices, and federal expectations/trends including mandates and priorities to participants of WECCP.
- Bringing information, experience and identification of statewide trends and issues to the Department Secretaries, State Superintendent, the Governors Office, Federal Partner Agencies and Statewide Organizations.
- Synthesizing local information, best practices, and recommendations from regional teams to inform state level priorities, policy and evidence-based practices.
- Supporting and promoting communities in the development of a collaborative approach to service delivery for young children and their families.
- Working in collaboration to align efforts, initiatives, grant programs and consistent child and family-centered policies across systems.
- Identifying and promoting evidence-based practice and new research literature that supports state and local programming.
Sharing information with their organizations and constituencies. The State Action Team utilizes a steering committee to guide direction, priorities, and work plans and is comprised of representatives of the state departments of Health and Family Service, Public Instruction, and Workforce Development and each of the early childhood components of mental health, parent education, family support, medical home, as well as care and education.
Roles of the Steering Committee are to:
- Act as identified "leaders" for the State Action Team
- Develop agendas for State Action Team meetings
- Oversee implementation of State level support mechanisms
- Share information within WECCP and among the State Action Team
- Assure communication and networking within the defined structure
- Oversee development and use of supporting materials
- Monitor and promote implementation of work plan
- Promote mechanism to enhance the effectiveness of the regional teams
Steering Committee members demonstrate state level commit to the structure by committing state staff time and designating programmatic responsibility for participation, direct funding, resource allocation, and other means to support implementation of work plans including:
- Maintaining communication and network structures
- Funding Community Collaboration Coaches to facilitate and support regional teams and networks
- Providing Mini-grants to each region to assist in the implementation of their efforts
State Action Team: Membership
The State Action Team is comprised of representatives from the areas of early care and education, health, mental health, parent education and family support. New representatives may be added as appropriate. The State Action Team currently includes representatives from the following agencies:
- Child Health Alliance of Wisconsin
- Child Care Resource and Referral Network
- Child Care Information Center
- Children's Service Society of Wisconsin
- Children's Trust Fund
- Community Action Program (CAP)
- Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council (GLITC)
- Parents Plus of Wisconsin
- Regional Action Teams
- The Registry
- UW Extension
- UW System
- Waisman Center Professional Development Project
- WI Association of Nonpublic Schools
- WI Child Care Improvement Project
- WI Council on Children and Families
- WI Early Childhood Association
- WI Education Association Council
- WI Head Start State Collaboration Office
- WI Head Start Association
- WI Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Association
- WI Technical College System
- WI Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Association
- WI Dept. of Health and Family Services: Birth to 3 Program
- WI Dept. of Health and Family Services: Child Care Licensing
- WI Dept. of Health and Family Services: Maternal Child Health
- WI Dept. of Health and Family Services: Maternal Child Health
- WI Dept. of Health and Family Services: Children with Special Health Care Needs State Programs
- WI Dept. of Public Instruction: Early Childhood
- WI Dept. of Public Instruction: Early Childhood Special Education
- WI Dept. of Workforce Development: Child Care Section
3. Regional Action Team: Roles and Membership
The WECCP Regional networks include anyone in the specific regions participating in regional level action team meetings, on committees addressing regional work plan activities, attending network events and/or receiving information through list serves. Roles of the Regional Teams include:
- Bringing State Action Team information and support to represented programs, stakeholders, constituencies, and networks.
- Bringing information, best practices, and recommendations to State Action Team.
- Identifying tasks and implementing actions in conjunction with State Action Team
- Planning and implementing Mini-grant priorities.
- Providing a forum for regional communication.
The Regional Action Teams utilize Regional Action Team Facilitators to provide facilitation for the regional action team and network, guide direction, priorities, and work plans and is comprised of a Community Collaboration Coach and CESA Early Childhood Coordinator in each region. Roles of the Regional Action Team Facilitators are to:
- assure representative of component areas
- convene Regional Action Team meetings and develop agendas
- host and/or facilitate network meetings/conferences (video/web cast)
- guide direction and priorities through work plans
- oversee mini-grant implementation
- assure regional representation at State Action Team meetings
- The designated facilitators will be supported by state level commitment for providing financial support to activities in the region and will be the direct line of communication with the State Level Steering Committee.
Regional Action Teams Membership
The Regional Action Teams are comprised of representatives from the areas of early care and education, health, mental health, parent education and family support and include representatives from the following agencies:
- Birth to 3 RESource Training and Technical Assistance
- CESA Early Childhood Coordinator/Program Support Teacher
- Child Care Resource and Referral
- Children's Trust Fund Family Resource Centers
- Regional Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs Center
- DHS Regional Day Care Licensing
- DHS Regional Public Health Offices
Head Start Programs Based on regional networks, representatives from other agencies, programs, or efforts may be part of the Regional Team including:
- Local Early Childhood Councils
- Higher Education (UW and Technical Colleges; Private Colleges/Universities)
- PI 34 Licensing Resource and Support Centers
- WI Native American Tribes
- University Extension Agents
- WI State Parent and Educator Initiative (WSPEI)
WECA Affiliates Regional Committees: Each Regional Network Team determines the committees needed based on self-identification and strategic planning processes.
- Jill Haglund, jill.haglund@dpi.wi.gov
- Kath McGurk, kathy.McGurk@dwd.state.wi.us
- Linda Tuchman, tuchman@waisman.wisc.edu
- Jeanette Paulson, jpaulson@wecanaeyc.org
Healthy Children
- Loraine Lucinski, Loraine.Lucinski@dhs.wisconsin.gov
- Linda Tuchman, tuchman@waisman.wisc.edu
- Dana Romary, Dana.Romary@dhfs.wisconsin.gov
Supporting Families
- Jennifer Jones, jennifer.jones@wisconsin.gov
WECCS Plan (pdf)
Governor's Early Care and Education Advisory Council (ECAC)
Mission
Wisconsin communities, agencies, associations, and state government will work together as a system of high quality comprehensive early childhood services for every child and family who wants to access them.
Vision
All children in Wisconsin will receive the necessary services and family supports to attain their optimal developmental potential during the critical early years from birth through age five.