Head Start Collaboration Project
Comprehensive Infant/Toddler Services

With increasing numbers of infants and toddlers receiving care outside the home, there is considerable interest in New York State in ensuring that the care provided is of the highest quality possible. The Collaboration Project has continued to support regional groups across the state to develop strategies for establishing a comprehensive system of services for infants and toddlers. This has included:

• Providing support to the New York State Association for the Education of Young Children and others to develop and launch the Infant/Toddler Care and Education credential.
• Working with the New York State Child Care Coordinating Council to organize two statewide infant/toddler conferences.
• Providing funding to reimburse meeting costs and other expenses for seven regional infant/toddler groups for the last four years to support community efforts to build systems of comprehensive infant and toddler services modeled after Early Head Start. Activities have included the development of a series of video-conference training sessions in the central region, establishing an infant/toddler mental health coalition in the capital district, supporting the Zero-to-Three Network in New York City, and developing an infant/toddler resource directory in western New York.
• Producing two DVDs on building community collaborations in a joint project with NYS Child Care Coordinating Council and New York Network, the state's not for profit video production department.
  
  • The first, taped from a live 60 minute broadcast, highlighted a successful cross-systems early education and intervention initiative in Chemung County, New York. The broadcast reached over 200 persons in 17 locations across New York State, including representatives of child care programs, colleges and universities, social services, early intervention services, child care resource and referral programs, Early Head Start programs and others interested in quality care for infants and toddlers. Facilitators and participants were provided support documents, including the "Collaborator's Tool Kit" developed by NYS Child Care Coordinating Council and Collaboration Project staff, and asked to explore ways to stimulate or strengthen the integration of service delivery for community programs that reach infants, toddlers and their families.
  • A second video conference to be released in summer 2008 will focus on using data effectively to design, develop and evaluate services to infants, toddlers and their families.