Financing and Marketing

One of the most challenging tasks of a director is securing funding to sustain a quality program. Our current economy and the state of our local government is threatening to make situations darker for families and providers. I'm keeping a watchful eye on the recent DHS proposed increase for parent copay portions. I know it will impact the Infant and Toddler program operated by my agency. This program is not a federally funded entity and depends solely on tuition. Approximately 80% of families enrolled at this center received Childcare Connection subsidy support. Of this number, approximately half will be impacted by the pending increase. I honestly believe that families will elect to stay at home and care for their children instead of paying for childcare, especially if they cannot afford the tuition. It's interesting to consider how this generation of grandparents (a large majority) are working well into retirement age. Back in the 80's and early 90's, grandparents were a strong resource for childcare. Although we do see grandparents taking on the role as caregiver, the norm is different today. More children are in childcare provided by family childcare providers or preschool centers.
I have experienced the process of grant writing, which can be highly rewarding. This is entirely true when you receive a letter in the form of a grant award announcement. It's like opening the winning envelope and finding the golden ticket (like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!). And then, there's the opposite - the "sorry to inform you" notice. It was a good try, but....no funding. I have learned a great deal from those experiences, especially for grants that provide feedback on application reviews. The reports I received provided honest reflection on areas that required improvement.
I'm currently working on my Head Start grant application. Head Start is in the process of changing the application procedure to be a five year grant period. As it is now, it's a three year process - year one is a comprehensive grant, and year two and three are refunding applications. Year one is large and extensive, hence the term "comprehensive". My team is conducting a Community Assessment to determine how our program is meeting the needs of families we serve. In my years as a director, I can finally see the connection between each planning element imbedded within the Head Start system. There is a method to the madness, and it makes perfect sense to me now. It took me a number of years to get it - and soon it may change. I remember that someone told me that there's one thing that's consistent with Head Start and that's "change". I think that's what I find so appealing about my role and our profession. It's so diverse and NEVER boring! Each day brings a new project, new discoveries - either about a child, a parent, a staff person, or myself. I enjoy meeting new challenges and discovering my own strength and resiliency. I celebrate the growth of my staff and of our program as a whole. We're preparing for our tri-annual review, so it's been extremely busy in my office. I'm counting the days for winter break!!!
When considering my program's operating budget, I always start with salaries and fringe first. The staff is the most important part of my planning. From this starting point, I plan the budget based on priority of items. Last of all are supplies and travel - these line items are always the first to be trimmed when I need to make adjustments. I consider myself fortunate because with federal Head Start, directors receive a set budget to work with. This is very different from private preschool providers that depend on enrollment and tuition income to sustain programs. My Kahi Kamalii Infant and Toddler program operates this way - this is the program I shared about earlier, that will be impacted by the DHS proposed increase. Without tuition assistance, I will need to reconsider the budget to determine if the program can sustain 6 staff or if I need to cut enrollment. This is not a decision I want to make, however one that I need to consider. This is when I'll consult with community partners and other adminstration within my agency to consider all other options without going to the last resort of cutting enrollment and paid positions for staff. I dread this decision...
One tricky part of budgeting is doing comparative analysis with past year financial spending reports to look for trends. No matter how well you plan, directors need to always have a sort of discretionary funds to use when emergencies arise. I'm currently dealing with a potential mold spore situation at one center. The air was just tested this past weekend and I'm awaiting the results. In the meantime, the situation is not serious, however I know the cost of the testing (575.00) and any cleaning or construction if found to be active mold will increase and tap into the budget. As a director, I accept the responsibility to move forward on this concern which was brought to my attention by the teacher. What would I do if no funds were available to support this unanticipated cost? Closing the program would impact families, and not having adequate funds would result in the program closing - either choice is difficult. Fortunately the budget is equipped to anticipate minor repair work for classroom facilities.
The chapter reading on Marketing was extremely interesting! I had never thought about marketing my program before, until I attended a workshop on marketing at UCLA at a Head Start Management Fellows program. This opened my eyes to see how we need to "sell" our program to promote education about the benefits offered to families and to the community. Early childhood has historically been a humble profession - it's not common for us to promote ourselves in competition. It took a shift in my own perception to recognize that we all need to market our programs for a variety of reasons - for grant writing, to negotiate funding, to educate legislature and government officials, to gain community support, and in all other relationship building situations. I plan to review the marketing plan presented in Figure 8.1 (Decker p.204) to implement in my program. Upon returning from UCLA I updated our website and worked on obtaining information from parents on what were the five most important factors about the Head Start program. Interesting fact - being a free program was not part of the top five. I truly believe that parents do not remain in the program because it's free for those that qualify - they remain because it is a good program for young children and families. I sincerely believe this to be true for the majority of parents.
The internal and external marketing strategies are excellent tools for programs to utilize! We do practice some of the suggestions offered, however there's many that I would love to try. This will be my focus for the next program year (2010-11), after my review is completed.
My Exchange reflection is on today's message (12/7/09) - Reflecting, Disengaging, Moving On. As I read the message, my thoughts went directly to my two beautiful grandsons - Kala and Ramsey, ages 5 and 3. My daughter and the boys father divorced shortly after Ramsey was born - broke my heart to watch this family go through such a fragile experience so early in their lives. It's amazing to observe the level resiliency of the boys in each different environment -with their mother (my daughter) and our family, and with their dad and his family. The fortunate blessing is that each separate family adores the boys and provide safe, nurturing, loving interactions on a consistent basis. Sometimes I sit back and observe their reactions, thinking to myself "I wonder what's going on in their minds?". The message written today is so true - I often watch them "becoming ready for the next interesting event to invite their participation". They create their own understanding of the situation, which is all they know. For this, I am grateful and appreciate the fact that children have this wonderful sense of flexibility.
To answer the comment posted - no...my centers do not have gardens, however that is a great suggestion - thank you! One center did attempt gardening and grew tomatoes and green beans. It's funny how children will eat what they grow, even if they don't usually eat them when offered at home!! Gotta love their sense of adventure!