East Baton Rouge Parish Commitment to Early Childhood Development

Baton Rouge, LA - May 15, 2024 - Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome announced today that the City-Parish Division of Human Development & Services (DHDS), on behalf of the Head Start Program, has applied this week for an expansion grant that, if approved will facilitate the launch of the East Baton Rouge Parish's first-ever Diverse Delivery program in early childhood education. This initiative approved by the Metropolitan Council in early April 2024 will forge robust new partnerships, creating a public-private delivery model in collaboration with respected educational organizations such as the East Baton Rouge Parish Public School System Ready Start Network, LSU Early Childhood Education Institute, YMCA, local childcare providers, and other faith-based and community organizations.

"Our goal is to deliver comprehensive family support services, including parenting and prenatal education, as well as high-quality early childcare developmental services for children from birth to age five," Mayor Broome said. "Head Start will work diligently to enhance the coordination of community services for children with disabilities, ensuring that all children receive the support they need to thrive."

Through this new program partnership, EBR's Head Start program aims to:

• Foster collaboration and leverage community resources to minimize service duplication and maximize the impact of available resources.
• Expand our offerings to include before- and after-school care and holiday care to help parents when it matters.
• Leverage funding effectively by accepting childcare assistance along with other programs so that we may assist more families in need.
• Have children in the best possible situation to enter kindergarten ready to begin learning.

This new model will further ensure that children meet school readiness goals by strengthening the Mayor's Office's partnership with EBR Public School System. This collaboration will enhance communication and accountability, enabling seamless data sharing and fostering continuous improvement in child outcomes from birth to age five.

"We are excited about the potential of this program to transform early childhood education in our community and look forward to working with our partners to make this vision a reality," said DHDS Director Vernadine Mabry.

The federal Administration for Children and Families, Office of Head Start (OHS), awards funding to the EBR Head Start Program. As the grantor, OHS recognizes the challenges created by the pandemic for Head Start grant recipients that continue to have lingering impacts on program operations, including, but not limited to, staff shortages and under-enrollment throughout our nation. With the encouragement of OHS, the EBR Head Start Program has applied to restructure its program to raise Head Start teacher pay to be more comparative with EBRPSS teacher salaries, to support children fully in preparing them for kindergarten, and to partner with strong local community organizations.

"Our vision is clear. We aim to lead and oversee the implementation of measures that will achieve this goal, making a lasting impact on the lives of our children and the future of our community," said Mayor Broome.

During the past eight years, Mayor Broome's administration has remained committed to achieving innovative goals through public-private partnerships, particularly in childhood education.

• In this calendar year alone, the EBR Head Start Program has achieved compliance from the Office of Head Start federal monitoring review and LDOE State licensing.
• During this school year 2023/2024, all City-Parish Head Start facilities were assessed using the CLASS tool and all exceeded the federal threshold in all domains, Emotional Support, Classroom Organization, and Instructional Support.
• The Mayor's Office engages in an ongoing partnership with Baton Rouge Community College (BRCC) to enhance teacher credentials. This collaboration aims to equip our educators with the skills and knowledge necessary to provide the highest quality of education to our children.
• The Mayor's Office has forged a new collaboration with LSU's Early Childhood Education Institute. This partnership will bring cutting-edge research and best practices into our classrooms, ensuring our children benefit from the latest advancements in early childhood education. This will begin for the upcoming 2024/2025 school year.
• This year's introduction to the Diverse Delivery method of education will strengthen continued partnerships with the East Baton Rouge Early Childhood Community Network (EBR ECCN), EBR Ready Start Network, and Quality Childcare Providers. This approach is allowing EBR to now offer a variety of educational experiences tailored to meet the diverse needs of our children and families.

Mayor Broome thanked the Baton Rouge Area Foundation for their continued commitment to improvement in early childhood education and will join BRAF tomorrow evening in an event that will look at the needs of early childhood in East Baton Rouge Parish and ahead to more successful public-private partnerships that will invest in our most important treasure: our children.

"We believe these strategic partnerships and our commitment to high standards will create a robust foundation for our children's future success. By working together, we can ensure that every child has access to the quality early education they deserve, setting them on a path to lifelong learning and achievement," said Mayor Broome.

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