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Interview with public health and early education expert Donalda Dodson

by | May 15, 2017 | Chronic Absence, Community Engagement, Dual Language Learners, Featured Programs, Parents and Families, Research and Evaluation

Interview with public health and early education expert Donalda DodsonDonalda Dodson, MPH, RN, will receive the Richard C. Alexander Award at the Make It Your Business Luncheon on Thursday, May 18. Ms. Dodson is a pioneer in public health who has dedicated over 40 years to strengthening the health of pregnant women, young children, and families throughout Oregon. She works at the nexus of early learning and public health as the executive director of the Oregon Child Development Coalition, where she oversees the innovative Migrant and Seasonal Head Start program among eight other services. Ms. Dodson sat down to talk with Children’s Institute staff to talk about the intersection of early learning and public health, Migrant and Seasonal Head Start, and her definition of equity.

Note: This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

CI: What inspired you to pursue a career in public health?
Dodson: I have always loved babies and children. When I was a teenager I wanted to have twelve children. Knowing that I could not have twelve children I went into maternal and child health instead. I liked the one-on-one care in nursing, but public health really intrigued me because you could serve 20,000 families or 200,000 families. And, maternal and child care is where it all starts. Good, positive prenatal care, healthy babies; if you start there, then you are going to get a better outcome. Public health is rewarding, preventive, and anticipatory. Public health has been my career for 40 years or so.

CI: Migrant and Seasonal Head Start is an important program many people have never heard of. Can you tell us about it?
Dodson: Migrant and Seasonal Head Start serves the specific needs of children whose parents work in migrant and seasonal agricultural labor. In the migrant program, these are families who travel from state to state throughout the year for work. The idea first was to keep kids out of the fields, but with Head Start you can have a defined curriculum in a nurturing learning environment for young children and keep them safe. We serve children six weeks to five years old and some kids are in the program ten hours a day. The migrant population tends to be here for harvest, so sometimes our buses are on the road at 3:30 in the morning to get kids to our centers by 5:00 a.m. They may be with us from 5:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. It takes a lot for a family to put their small child in our custody.

CI: How do you engage with families who move so often for work?
Dodson: Head Start is two generational, it is about kids and families. These parents will come out of the fields and go to parent meetings and educational sessions, they go to parenting classes, they are just eager to learn and they are eager to support their children. About 50 percent of our families have one or more people who are not documented. Most of our children are documented, but a parent or parents might not be. Because of the restrictions on travel there is a lot of fear and we are seeing some changes in our population. Instead of entire families traveling back and forth to the U.S., children and maybe one parent will stay here while the other parent travels back to their home country because they value the educational experience so much and they know it is hard for their children to keep changing schools. Some families wait until the end of the school year before they start their migration.

We have families who pick cherries in California, Oregon, and Washington. And then they pick apples starting in Washington and go back down picking the other way. Families will call us and tell us they’re coming, “Please don’t give away my spot.” Some families have been coming for several years and the systems and connections we created help keep them informed.

The families are so engaging. Their stories, the things they struggle with. When you think what they do in order to be successful for their children. Agricultural labor is very skilled. It’s not easy work and if you want to make a living out of it, you have to be skilled.

I’ve seen such growth in parents so they understand the system and the resources that are available so they can access those resources and what they can be doing to assist their kids. All that dialogue taking place and the parents absorb it, learn and develop leadership skills. By the time their kids transition to kindergarten, so many parents are ready to take leadership positions in the school as well. It’s very powerful. I’ve seen parents come into a policy council meeting and they are very quiet and timid and they don’t know what’s going on. And two years later, they’re taking minutes and they are the ones that are representing other parents at a national meeting.

CI: How are early education and public health connected in your work?
Dodson: Well in maternal and child health, you are working with pregnant women, children, and families. In early learning, you’re often working with pregnant women, children, and families, so there is a natural connection. The first three years is about growth and development and being aware of what that is and helping parents be aware of what growth and development looks like for young children and stressing the importance of early learning. That’s the same with health. Whether in classroom or clinic setting, it is about healthy development. It’s a great merger for me. In public health and early education, we bring people together to address important issues that have wide-ranging effects on communities. We try to make sure families have the resources and information they need to make informed decisions so they can be successful. If your tummy is growling or you have an abscessed tooth, you cannot concentrate enough to learn. Early education and health are inextricably tied, they just go together.

CI: What can we do to better serve kids who have the greatest needs?
Dodson: Well, the minute you said that, It’s equity. To me, its understanding what equity is. We have to give the most vulnerable children more so they can have the same foundation and get to a place of equality with their peers. Giving everybody the same thing when there is a specific need to be addressed isn’t a solution. Let’s take our migrant children; if they don’t have quality, nurturing learning environments because they have been traveling all the time, we need to make education accessible to them. Give them more in their early years so when they get to school, they can do their best and have an equitable education. Maybe you need assistance with food so you can have good nutrition. Maybe you need assistance with housing. No matter how hard they work, some people don’t make enough money to find and keep affordable housing. I think we need to address the needs of young children and families who need support. We need to listen to them. Many of these families are very resourceful, but they don’t have access and may need some help. I learned this lesson a long time ago when I was working with a family. The mother was working full time, the father was working full time, they had two children and they were still at poverty level. They were working eight and ten hours a day. It wasn’t that they weren’t trying. We need to make sure basic needs are met so all kids get a great start in life.

We hope to see you at Thursday’s Make It Your Business Luncheon where you can hear more from Donalda Dodson and our keynote speaker, Professor Sean Reardon. He’ll discuss the research that led him to become a strong advocate for investing in early childhood education.

Action Alert: Stop the Budget Cuts to Children’s Education and Health

Action Alert: Stop the Budget Cuts to Children’s Education and Health

by | Apr 24, 2017 | Action Alerts, News

Stop the Budget Cuts to Children’s Education and Health

On Monday, April 17, the co-chairs of the state budget writing committee (Ways and Means) released a proposed budget that puts kids at risk. Reductions include:

  • 20 percent cut to Early Learning Hubs and Kindergarten Partnership Fund, $5.3 million cut.
  • 10 percent cut to Healthy Families Oregon of $2.5 million, a reduction of 250 children served.
  • 10 percent cut to Preschool Promise of $3.6 million, a reduction of 130 children served.
  • $20 million cut to Employment Related Day Care, a reduction of 1,000 families served.

Call Your Legislators

Call your state legislators today. Find your state legislator here.

You can use this script to call or email your legislators:

Hello. I am (legislator’s name) constituent. Please maintain full funding for early childhood programs and services that help keep Oregon’s young children healthy and prepares them for school.

I support (choose programs of interest to you): Preschool Promise, Healthy Families Oregon, the Kindergarten Partnership Fund, Early Learning Hubs, Employment Related Day Care and Culturally Specific Early Learning.

We need to find sustainable budget solutions that honor Oregon’s values, not squander our most vulnerable children’s potential.

Thank you.

Read the Proposed Reduction Lists and Response from Early Childhood Advocates

Read the Ways and Means Co-Chairs’ 2017-2019 Target Reduction Lists.

Read the letter early childhood advocates wrote to the Ways and Means Co-Chairs to express their concerns about the proposed reductions to early childhood programs.

Action Alert: Stop the Budget Cuts to Children’s Education and Health

Action Alert: Save the Affordable Care Act

by | Mar 21, 2017 | Action Alerts, News

The U.S. House of Representatives will vote on Thursday, March 23, 2017 to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and to replace it with the American Health Care Act (AHCA). AHCA will lead to 14 million Americans losing their health care next year and another 10 million people will lose their health care coverage by 2026.

Rural communities in Oregon will be hardest hit by the proposed Affordable Care Act repeal. A larger share of residents in rural Oregon rely on subsidized health coverage for medical and dental care. Currently, 67 percent of current federal funding received by Oregon is from Medicaid. This equates to $11.2 billion in our current two-year state budget cycle, a sum larger than the size of Oregon’s agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting industries combined.

Representative Greg Walden (R) who represents most of rural Oregon is opposed to the Affordable Care Act.

Contact Representative Walden to let him know you want to save the ACA. Here’s how:

  • Deliver postcards to Representative Walden’s district office in Medford by Thursday, March 23 at 9:00 a.m. 14 N. Central Ave., Suite 112, Medford, OR 97501
  • Call Representative Walden’s Offices in Oregon and Washington, D.C.

Sample messages can be found here.

Bend: (541) 389-4408; Fax: (541) 389-4452
La Grande: (541) 624-2400
Medford: (541) 776-4646; Fax: (541) 779-0204
Washington, D.C.: (202) 225-6730; Fax: (202) 225-5774

 Sample Tweets

These sample Tweets can be used to raise awareness about the benefits of the Affordable Care Act and what Oregonians will lose if the ACA is repealed.

Please use hashtags #Oregon4ACA and #SaveACA for your Tweets. You can post a Tweet or direct your Tweets to Rep. Greg Walden @repgregwalden, or Speaker Paul Ryan @SpeakerRyan. Some Tweets may need to be shortened to fit the 140-character limit if sent to either representative.

ACA and Children

98 percent of kids and 95 percent of all #Oregonians have health care coverage thanks to the #ACA

406,000 children in #Oregon rely on Medicaid and Healthy Kids (CHIP) for healthcare.

55 percent of children under 18 in Rep. Walden’s district are covered by Medicaid.

Because of #ACA kids with asthma, cancer, or disabilities can’t be excluded from coverage due to pre-existing condition.

Every child has a right to healthcare.

Universal access is not the same as universal coverage. #ACA #SaveACA

Without #ACA, millions of children and their families will lose access to affordable medical and dental care.

Thanks to #ACA, insurance companies can’t impose lifetime benefit limits for children who have special health care needs.

ACA and Oregon

Under the #ACA and #Medicaid expansion, Oregon’s uninsured rate dropped from 17 percent to 5 percent.

More than 155,000 #Oregonians have signed up for health insurance through the Marketplace as of Jan. 31, 2017.

More than 106,000 #Oregonians have qualified for tax credits that make health premiums more affordable.

Under #ACA, #Oregon extended Oregon Health Plan coverage to approximately 400,000 Oregonians who lacked health insurance

Today, OHP covers more than 1 in 4 Oregonians, including 4 in 10 residents in some rural parts of the state.

#ACA has allowed the state to expand coverage to low-income Oregonians into a higher quality system that contains costs.

The nonprofit Economic Policy Institute estimates #Oregon would lose a total of 42,000 jobs if the #ACA is repealed.

55 percent of children under 18, and 29 percent of all residents in Rep. Walden’s district are covered by Medicaid.

The #ACA cut the rate of uninsured people in Rep. Walden’s district by more than 50 percent.

Most of the Tweets come from these source documents:

http://www.95percentoregon.com/uploads/9/9/2/6/99265876/fact-sheet.pdf

http://ccf.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/OregonMedicaidCHIP.pdf

http://www.ocpp.org/2017/03/17/iss20170315-gop-health-plan-impact-oregon-walden/

Learn more about the Affordable Care Act and the impacts of replacing the landmark law with the American Health Care Act.

House GOP Plan Threatens Nearly One Million Oregonians Relying on the Oregon Health Plan

Medicaid Restructuring and Nonelderly Adults with Disabilities

Take Your Legislator to Preschool Days

by | Feb 21, 2017 | Featured Programs, Oregon Policy, Preschool, Preschool Landscape

Take Your Legislator to Preschool DaysChildren’s Institute invited state legislators to visit preschools in their districts to see the benefits of early learning first-hand. Legislators visited a wide variety of preschool classrooms where three and four year-olds were learning the pre-academic and social-emotional skills essential for kindergarten readiness.

Despite several bouts of severe weather, six Oregon State Representatives attended preschool tours in December 2016 and January 2017: Cliff Bentz (Ontario and Vale), Jodi Hack (Salem), Cedric Hayden (Yoncalla), Alissa Keny-Guyer (Portland), Sheri Malstrom (Beaverton), and Barbara Smith Warner (Portland).

Preschool Visit Highlights

For some families, preschool’s impact extends beyond the child. While visiting a Somali language-focused preschool classroom operated by Mount Hood Community College and CAIRO Academy in East Portland, a mother who had never attended school asked Representative Barbara Smith Warner where she could learn to read. “I see how much my son has learned and I want to learn, too,” she said.

At the preschool visit at Waverly Elementary School in Albany, principal Anne Griffith operates two half-day preschool classrooms for 30 kids and provides them with free transportation. In a school where 25 percent of students are English Language Learners, 30 percent have an Individualized Education Program (IEP), and 85 percent qualify for free or reduced lunch, there is a tremendous need for high-quality early education.“In an ideal world, I would love to offer services on the birth-to-five continuum,” she said. Preschool is already making a difference in the lives of children in the community. “People who see him now can’t believe he’s the same kid,” a mother said of her young son who attends preschool at Waverly.

Kelly Poe, Eastern Oregon Community Based Service Hub Director, works to coordinate early education and early childhood development services in the far eastern part of the state. Her Early Learning Hub stretches the entire state — from the Washington border to the north, the California border to the south, and the Idaho border to the east. Poe, Oregon State Representative Cliff Bentz, and Children’s Institute staff took a 30-mile drive in snowy, 12-degree weather to visit preschool classrooms in Ontario and Vale. “We are somewhat isolated out here and at the state level it may be hard to understand the complexity of our needs,” she said on the trip. “It is a challenge coordinating services, but we get it done. Our kids need quality preschool and there are providers doing great work.”

Poe also credited Bentz with his unwavering support for early education. “We take care of each other. Representative Bentz has helped us solve problems and navigate the system.” She stressed the need for more educational opportunities in Eastern Oregon to train early childhood educators and to provide professional development for current providers. Travel to Portland or Salem for trainings or meetings can cost up to $1,000 (airline flight, rental car, hotel) and take over a day in travel time each direction.

Increasing Access to Preschool

Only 25 percent of low-income children in Oregon have access to preschool. Oregon Head Start Pre-Kindergarten and Preschool Promise serve kids in rural and urban Oregon who would not otherwise have access to high-quality early learning.

The state is facing a $1.8 billion dollar budget deficit, but Oregon must preserve and protect the early childhood programs and services that produce long-term positive outcomes for children. Children’s Institute will continue to advocate for the programs and services necessary to prepare the greatest number of children for kindergarten readiness.

To learn more about Children’s Institute’s legislative priorities for the 2017-2019 legislative session, click here. Stay tuned for more highlights and notes from preschool visits throughout the year.

 

Re-imagining Education Panel Discussion Recap

by | Feb 21, 2017 | Benefits of Preschool, Early Works, Featured Programs, Parents and Families, School Readiness

Re-imagining Education Panel Discussion RecapOn Wednesday, February 15, renowned early education scholar and advocate Ruby Takanishi sat down for a panel discussion with three Oregon educators at the forefront of integrating comprehensive early learning into public school settings. In a panel discussion moderated by Children’s Institute President and CEO Swati Adarkar, Takanishi talked with Beaverton School District Superintendent Don Grotting, Earl Boyles Principal Ericka Guynes, and Earl Boyles preschool teacher Andreina Velasco about the lessons learned from the innovative Early Works initiative at Earl Boyles Elementary School in Southeast Portland.

Panelists in photo from left to right: Andreina Velasco, Don Grotting, Ruby Takanishi, Swati Adarkar (moderator), and Ericka Guynes.

Early Works, a learning lab model that demonstrates best practices for integrating high-quality early education and wrap around services in elementary schools, is highlighted in Takanishi new book, First Things First! Creating the New American Primary School. Takanishi argues primary school would be more effective if it began with early learning at age three followed by compulsory full-day kindergarten at age five. All teachers (preschool to 12th grade) would have the same foundational professional degree with appropriate specialized education as necessary.

For Takanishi, the continued societal inequality which manifests itself in disparities appearing as early as two years-old, there is a grave and urgent need to transform primary education. In First Things First! Creating the New American Primary School, she writes, “Talent is universally distributed. Opportunity to develop that talent, sadly, is not.” During the panel discussion, Takanishi said, “I was bothered by the very serious inequalities in the early learning arena. Low-income children’s access to early learning is severely restrained and programs for low-income kids are of lesser quality than those for more affluent kids. This is a civil rights and a human rights issue.” Combined with emerging scientific knowledge about the astonishing rate and breadth of young children’s brain development from birth to age five, the need to transform primary education has become even more urgent.

Earl Boyles Elementary School is tackling inequality and nurturing the unlimited potential of young children by creating a high-quality early learning environment with wraparound services. Former David Douglas School District Superintendent Don Grotting calls this burgeoning practice of integrating early learning into the K-12 system, “a no brainer.” “It would be ideal when a child is born for someone from the local school to go visit the family to congratulate them and welcome them to the school community,” he said. The emphasis on parent engagement and involvement in Early Works allows preschool teacher Andreina Velasco to develop authentic and sustainable relationships with parents and children. Home visits with families are an essential strategy for understanding and addressing challenges a child may bring to the classroom, from trauma and hunger to housing instability. Velasco told her fellow panel participants, “higher education needs to rethink how teachers are educated and prepared. Not only should we learn to work with other teachers, but with social workers and home visitors as well. Most teachers don’t have the time or the training to know what is happening for a child outside of the classroom. The classroom is envisioned as an island disconnected from the community.”

A feature of the new American primary school central to Ruby Takanishi’s thesis and practiced at Earl Boyles is consistent, dynamic leadership. The Professional Learning Community (PLC) created by Earl Boyles Principal Ericka Guynes prioritizes home visiting for preschool teachers and professional development with K-5 teachers. Guynes has also had to grapple with district-wide budget shortfalls while embarking on an initiative that would transform her school. “Early education teachers teach kids at the most critical time of children’s brain development,” Guynes said. “We know that is true, but how do we convince everyone or get them on the same page when we have to make cuts in some areas, and we’re building a brand new preschool wing at the same time?” The lessons learned from Earl Boyles four years into Early Works can provide a framework to replicate the initiative in school districts throughout Oregon and across the nation.

For the 50 people in attendance from the fields of education, philanthropy, and public policy, the panel discussion married theory and practice to reveal the challenges and opportunities inherent in re-imagining primary education. Takanishi closed the evening with a poignant reminder of what is at stake: “We can do better. We must do better. The facts are clear. Our future is tied to the future of children in public schools.”

*Note: Thank you to New America for providing copies of First Things First! Creating the New American Primary School and to Aaron Lowenberg, New America Program Associate for event support.

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