A Data Dilemma Amanda Willey, our Divine Data Diva! Winter 2016. In an effort to decrease the number of “empty cells” in some of our data, another little contest was held to guess the number of empties out of 4,437 possible cells where the data is needed. The clues were that it was a prime number, and if it were a year, it would have begun on a Thursday. Amanda Willey, Crete Teacher and Family Advocate, deciphered this dilemma. She was deemed the Divine Data Dilemma Diva for her determination, decisiveness, and detective skills! Since that contest, empty cells decreased by 88% a month later and two months later there were no blank cells! This contributes greatly to tracking and monitoring by Service Component Officers by being able to instantly find which Family Advocate is connected with each child and family on a daily or weekly basis. Thank you Amanda for your dedication!
The Sad, Sorry Subsidy Situation Alicia Dirks Solves it! Fall 2016. Staff were asked to take a quick break from the busy beginning of the school year to help solve a sad, sorry subsidy situation. They were asked the percentage of eligible families who actually received childcare subsidy and approximately how many federal dollars are not returned back to Nebraska because of this. Alicia Dirks, Staff Resource Manager, was the closet to the answers: 12% of eligible families actually received childcare subsidy, and over the years millions of federal dollars are not returned back to Nebraska. By having BVCA staff work to sign up families who are eligible, federal dollars mean not only a break to the family’s budget, but also increased payments to childcare providers and more stability for the communities’ work force. Thank you Alicia for your sluething into this matter and supporting staff and families with childcare subsidy sign up!
A Moment for March Madness! Penny Thompson — Victorious! Spring 2017. The March Madness Data Contest was about Head Start Birth to Five’s Strategic Planning Goal: Develop and strengthen relationships among families, staff, and communities. One of the Action Steps is: Each site will have staff present to or actively participate in at least 2 community groups promoting the purpose of our program annually. Now to do the math, our 8 sites, plus the Management Team as a “site” means we should have promoted our purpose at 18 meetings and/or presentations. Staff have been trained to document these in ChildPlus so we can track more accurately. They were asked as of Tuesday, February 28, 2017, how many meetings and how many presentations have been documented this school year. A tie-breaker question was also asked: Which site documented the most presentations? Penny Thompson, Saline Supervisor, was the closest to the correct answers of 45 meetings and 16 presentations as of 2/28/17. The tie-breaker answer was the Seward Site, which includes Seward Head Start and Seward Sixpence, with 9 presentations documented! As of writing this report, the data contest reminded/inspired people to add more, so to date (3/14/17) there are now 54 meetings and 17 presentations! Congratulations Penny, and way to go Head Start Birth to Five staff on getting the word out there on how Head Start is helping people and changing lives!
Storm shelter being constructed.
Region VII Head Start Sand BoxTM | Summer 2017
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