Month: September 2020

Beyond Training

Head start servicesYou know what our high-quality trainings can do for your program, whether it be for your teaching staff, your family service workers or your Board of Directors and Policy Council.  We can also help you with our other services.  Your time is valuable, let us help you.

We offer the following services:

  • Grant Writing. We write your grant application. First, we collect information about your program. We then write the entirety of your grant application and tailor it to your program. We’ll highlight your strengths and include all the requirements necessary in the instructions.
  • Strategic Planning. Knowing where you are going is key to a program’s success. Our strategic planning services provide an opportunity to come together, as a team, and plan for the future.  We review your program’s mission and vision (or help you create them) as well as your guiding principles.  We work together to analyze your program’s strengths and challenges.  We work with you to create both long-term and short-term goals.
  • Annual Reports. Your Annual Report should capture the activities, experiences and accomplishments of your program. We will work with you to include all information required by the Head Start Performance Standards, as well any additional information which will highlight the successes of your program.  We will highlight your program’s mission, vision and core values.
  • Wage Comparability Studies. Being competitive when it comes to salaries and benefits is important. It ensures that you can hire, and retain, the best employees.  We review your program’s current salary and benefits structure, and then compare it data collected from comparable agencies.  We go beyond collecting the data. We analyze it and explain it using charts, graphs and narratives.  Armed with this information you can ensure that your program remains competitive.
  • Community Assessments. Your Community Assessment should do more for your program than fulfill a requirement; it should be a working document. It should be a resource when writing your Refunding Application, your Recompetition Grant Application, or when applying for other grants.  Our Community Assessments are custom designed to meet the specific needs of your program or agency, while meeting the requirements of the Head Start Performance Standards (and those of your CAP or other program regulations).  We also include information on Covid-19 and it’s impact on your program and the families that you serve.
  • Policy and Procedures Manuals. We can rewrite your Policy & Procedure Manual (PDM, Program Governance & all content areas) and turn it into a user-friendly document.  The Policy & Procedure Manual will be concise, with easy to find specific policies, and procedures and reflective of the Head Start Program Performance Standards.  We recommend that the order of the Policies & Procedures in the manual are reflective of the order of the Head Start Performance Standards.  We further recommend that your procedures are kept broad enough so that your program can accomplish them without having to change the policies. It also protects you so that, during a Review, you are never caught not following your own policies.

For more information on any of these services, or to request a sample, please contact susanwitek@hsessentials.com.

You’ve Reopened – Now What?

head start reopeningMany of our Head Start programs have reopened, with more planning to open soon.  The rules of the game have changed and very few have the playbook.   The concerns in the classroom are real:

  • With no hugs or high fives, and smiles hidden behind masks, how can we provide a learning environment that encourages emotional connections?
  • With all of the restrictions on distance and groupings, how can we remain flexible and student-focused?
  • Routines and transitions take so much more time now, how can we make the most of that time?
  • The tendency to say “no” or “stop” is real. Teachers are feeling that they are consistently redirecting children’s behaviors.  How can we frame this in a positive manner?
  • The staff is stressed; what can we do to support them?

All of Essential Elements’ trainings are now offered virtually. As Head Start professionals welcome children back to classrooms that look far different than anyone could have imagined just a year ago, we would like to help. In addition to the topics on our website, our trainers have been developing content that is relevant to the current issues Head Start professionals are experiencing as they reopen.

Below are our most requested topics from programs searching for ways to support staff as their programs reopen, as well as the issues families face while addressing the very real impact and consequences the pandemic and racial tension brought to our programs across the country.

  • Emotional Support to Foster Exploration and Learning during Covid-19
  • Remaining Student-Focused Despite the Increased Need for Structure
  • The Well-Oiled Machine – Classroom Organization
  • Managing Challenging Behaviors
  • Becoming Trauma Informed and Recognizing Secondary Trauma
  • Helping Children Feel Safe in Today’s Society-COVID 19 and Racism Becoming Trauma Informed – Responsive Caregiving
  • Linking the Classroom to Home
  • How to Have Hard Conversations with Families
  • Reflect, Renew & Reenergize: Why we Work with Head Start Families
  • Self-Care: Taking Care of Yourself in Order to Serve Children and Families

For more information, contact us.