Preschool for All is Changing Lives and Transforming Early Learning in Multnomah County

by Melissa Navas | Jan 25, 2023 | Preschool, Policy Trends, Preschool Landscape

Shaquoya Richmond, Richmond Learning Academy

Shaquoya Richmond began serving three children at her Portland in-home child care facility, but didn’t know what she’d do as her waitlist grew.

Though she wanted to expand her Southeast Portland facility, the small business owner didn’t have the resources to do it on her own.

“My limitation was in knowledge,” Richmond said. “It wasn’t that I didn’t have the space, it was just that I didn’t know.”

Enter Multnomah County, which provided Richmond with mentors to guide her in required training and certification and money to turn her basement into a fully functional preschool with more classroom space and an additional bathroom. The additions allowed her to transition her preschool from her kitchen and living room to the basement.

Today, the Richmond Learning Academy is one of Multnomah County’s 36 providers in the inaugural year of Preschool for All, a program offering preschool slots to over 700 children ages 3 and 4 with free, culturally responsive preschool. Preschool for All prioritizes children who have the least access to early learning. This includes children from lower income families, those experiencing homelessness or living in or at risk of placement in foster care, and kids with developmental delays and disabilities. The program also prioritizes children who speak languages other than English and children of color.

Preschool for All first welcomed county children in fall 2022 after voters approved the November 2020 measure to expand early education to young children. The program is funded by a marginal personal income tax on the county’s highest income earners and has generated more than $187 million since its inception through June 2022.More than 1,100 families applied for the limited slots available in 2022. To meet the growing demand for the program, the county is applying a multipronged approach to support existing providers through mentorship, assist those who want to expand capacity, or bring entirely new providers online.

The county is also playing a role in growing the early childhood workforce. ECONorthwest, an economics consulting firm with offices in Portland, estimated the county will need 2,300 new teachers for Preschool for All and other preschool programs to reach universal preschool in Multnomah County.* The goal is for many of those teachers to have the cultural and linguistic backgrounds that match the families they’ll be serving.

The county plans to add at least 400 slots to the 2023-24 school year to reach its goal of 1,100.

Christine Treadwell & her daughter, Ramona

Ramona

Life changing for families

Halfway into the school year, parents and providers say Preschool for All is working. Children are developing key social emotional and problem-solving skills, literacy skills, and beginning to learn key concepts they’ll need for kindergarten. Preschoolers who are on early childhood special education plans also receive services in group settings, rather than at home. And parents, who often bear the brunt of costly child care, have more flexibility in their budgets and lives.

Parent Christine Treadwell learned of Preschool for All on a Facegroup group for free items. Once she learned how many slots were open, she didn’t think her 3-year-old daughter Ramona would be lucky enough to secure one. Months after she applied, she got the news she needed.

“It was pretty life changing,” Treadwell said.

The single mom of two daughters lives on food stamps and said the only child care she could afford was through Portland Parks & Recreation, where she could enroll Ramona for three days a week for two and a half hours each day. She met income qualifications and would pay $75 per month. Still, the limited hours of care only gave her time to do laundry or grocery shop. It wasn’t enough time to find a job with more consistent hours.

Now that Ramona is in Preschool for All five days a week for six and a half hours per day, Treadwell works at a coffee shop while her girls are at school. She’s able to earn money and then spend quality time with her daughters when they come home. She said she’s hoping to land an administrative role soon.

Karen Huggins, Friendly House

Karen Huggins, a Preschool for All teacher at Friendly House in Northwest Portland, said one of the huge benefits to families is their savings in child care costs.

“Providing child care is a huge burden on families,” Huggins said. “If you have that one or two years of support where those kids have a safe place to go while they’re at work – it is important.”

A growing ecosystem

As the county stands up a new program, it will take time to support a burgeoning local early learning ecosystem, said Leslee Barnes, director of Multnomah County’s Preschool & Early Learning Division.

“Preschool and early childhood had been neglected for decades,” Barnes said. “We had to meet providers first where they were at.”

Some teachers and providers say they’re watching how the program unfolds and have questions now about curriculum, development of a substitute teacher pool, payroll systems, and increases to teacher pay.

Angie Garcia, program director at Escuela Viva Community School, which supports development of English and Spanish skills, said providers will need to speak up about what’s working and what isn’t to help make Preschool for All as successful as possible.

“There’s no way they won’t be able to do this without a steep learning curve, and we all need to be willing to pitch in to make this program a success,” said Garcia, who advocates for universal preschool to provide early learning opportunities to all children, not just those who were underserved.

“I think that people are cheering us on,” Garcia said. “Because if we’re successful they can emulate that model in their county or part of the state.”

Richmond, who spent 13 years in the medical field, before venturing into early education said the investments, mentorship, and coaching support she receives from the county helps her create the kind of high quality care she would want for her own children.

“The program is new and we’re all learning together,” Richmond said. “With Preschool for All, there will be more high quality care. It will take away the stigma that is in child care homes because of the expectations they have for us as providers.”

As the program evolves and grows, Huggins said she is hopeful the program continues to be funded and that it will hire more qualified teachers as the program expands. She also wants people to notice the program’s contributions to communities.

“I hope it’s something that stays in place for a long time,” Huggins said. “I’m excited to see as the program continues to develop and progress if we are going to see more alignment with the public schools, so we see that the work we’re doing is getting kids ready for kindergarten.

Photo courtesy Richmond Learning Academy

A focus on social-emotional development

Since starting preschool in September, Treadwell already sees the changes in Ramona, who spent her toddler years during COVID in sparse contact with other children her age. Ramona spends more time talking and interacting with her diverse classmates, while also broadening her perspectives.

“When she went in, she was very quiet and didn’t know people’s names and played by herself,” Treadwell said. “Now, she’s giving hugs. Socially that’s awesome. She’s practicing talking more, and she’s coming home with fun science and animal behavior stuff and looking at the world with a different lens and perspective.”

Garcia said such social and emotional learning is a key component of preschool where a child develops emotional literacy. “They understand and can articulate when they are happy, sad, tired, hungry, frustrated.”

“If we can raise this next generation of children to know their value as an individual and as part of a community….if they are able to articulate what they think and feel, and equally hold space for what other people think and feel…if they are able to find common ground with others, they will be free to grow and develop in all the other important ways,” Garcia said. “And I can imagine no greater gift to give to our children and to one another.”

Additional information

The 2023-24 application will open in spring 2023. Learn more about Preschool for All in Multnomah County.

*This analysis was conducted in 2018 and was part of the Preschool for All Task Force Report released in 2019.

Lacey Hays on the Power of Parent Voice & Advocacy

by Rafael Otto | Jun 29, 2022 | Preschool, Parents and Families, Podcast

On this episode of the Early Link Podcast, host Rafael Otto speaks with Lacey Hays, a parent and advocate in Washington County here in Oregon. She’s currently co-chair for the Early Learning Washington County Steering Committee and a member of both the Preschool for All Technical Advisory Committee and the Organizing and Outreach Committee. All of that work is in support of establishing Preschool for All in Washington County.

Guest:

Lacey Hays has lived with her wife, eight-year-old son, and a menagerie of pets in Hillsboro, Oregon on the border of where the city meets the forest. For the past seven years she’s been a strong parent voice for equitable early childhood education and early childhood special education in Washington County and the state of Oregon, participating in and, at times, chairing committees dedicated to creating policies that work for parents and providers in our community. When she takes off her advocacy hat, she can be found editing manuscripts, writing hopeful science fiction stories, and exploring the vast and beautiful wild places of Oregon with her wonderful family.

Summary:

In this segment, Hays shares the story of her son and how he has helped drive her advocacy work. As an active parent advocate in Washington County, she details all of the work she is currently involved in and how she balances being a parent. Hays also speaks to the importance of parent voice in policy development and improving access to various parts of the early childhood system, such as early intervention, special education, and preschool. Because of Hays’ involvement with the implementation of Preschool for All (PFA) in Washington County, she also addresses the similarities and differences between Washington and Multnomah County’s PFA strategies, and what she hopes to achieve with it in the future.

Children's Institute · Lacey Hays on the Power of Parent Voice & Advocacy in Early Childhood

Transcript

[00:00:00] Rafael Otto: Hello everyone. This is the Early Link Podcast. I’m Rafael Otto. I appreciate you tuning in. You can catch us on 99.1 FM in the Portland Metro on Sundays at 4:30 pm or tune in at your convenience, wherever you find your podcasts, including iTunes, Spotify, and Amazon Music. And as always on our website @ childinst.org. You can visit us there and stay up to date by subscribing to our newsletter and podcasts. Today, I’m speaking with Lacey Hays, a parent and advocate in Washington County here in Oregon. She’s currently co-chair for the Early Learning Washington County Steering Committee and a member of both the Preschool for All Technical Advisory Committee and the Organizing and Outreach Committees. All of that work is in support of establishing Preschool for All in Washington county.

Lacey, it’s great to have you on the podcast today.

[00:00:51] Lacey Hays: Thank you for having me.

[00:00:53] Rafael Otto: Lacey, would you be willing to share the story of your son? Because in talking with you, it’s my understanding that… that has been a driver for what you’re doing these days as an advocate for young children. Would you mind sharing that story with us?

[00:01:06] Lacey Hays: Yeah, my son is the reason for all of this. He was born in 2013, just a normal childbirth. And for the first few months of his life seemed to be, or everyday typical baby, sleeping, crying, eating. And around sixteen months though, we started to notice that while he was walking and crawling and meeting other milestones, he still wasn’t speaking. So we weren’t getting “mama,” we weren’t getting pointing. So during his 16 month checkup, we talked to his doctor and she said, “Hey, I can send you guys over to early intervention, but if you guys wanted to wait just a month or two, just to see if he catches up, because it’s still a little early and he’s not outside the range of normal we can do that, too.”

We got the early intervention referral in and we decided we were going to wait before we actually called on it. At about 17 months, we were giving him a bath. We had these little foam letters that you can stick to the wall in the bathtub and we’d tell him the letter name. And so he picks up the “O” and he goes, “Ooh.” And I look at him and I’m like, “Well that’s just a coincidence. Babies make lots of noises.” So we stuck it to the wall and he picks up the “T” and he goes, “Te.” I’m like, “Okay, that’s getting kind of strange.” So I pick up the “E” and he goes, “Eh.” I’m like, “Okay.” I have a background in English education. It’s my degree. And one of the classes we’re required to take is language acquisition and immediately I was like, “Well, that’s very unusual, kind of backwards language acquisition. He can’t speak, but he’s reading letters. This is really unusual.” So we went to early intervention and we found out that he had a receptive and expressive language delay.

They also looked and said, “Does he ever stop moving?” He’s my only child. I said, “well, no, but he’s one. It’s not normal?” And they said, “Well, he’s moving a little bit more than you would expect for a, for a one-year-old, 12 months plus.” They thought that maybe he wasn’t slowing down long enough to focus on the environment around him to actually take in language.

[00:03:28] Rafael Otto: Okay.

[00:03:30] Lacey Hays: So we went on this adventure with early intervention. We started having home visits and they were wonderful. Our teacher, Amy, is still holds a really special place in our heart. And as we started exploring more over the next year. We realized that he could also read a little bit by the time he was two. He wouldn’t do it on cue, but he would just read something off of a sign every once in a while.

Please download the full transcript below.

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An Update on Preschool for All Multnomah County with Leslee Barnes

by Rafael Otto | Jun 13, 2022 | Preschool, Podcast

Guest

On this segment of The Early Link, we’re following up with Leslee Barnes, director of the Preschool and Early Learning Division at Multnomah County, who gives us an update on the implementation of Preschool for All (PFA) in Multnomah County. Barnes is a fourth-generation Oregonian who grew up in Northeast Portland, and a leading figure working alongside commissioner Jessica Vega Pederson, in the development of Preschool for All which was approved by voters in November 2020.

Summary

In our conversation with Leslee Barnes, she talks about the demands, challenges, successes, and surprises in the implementation of Preschool for All. She also discusses how culturally and linguistically diverse providers are supported in their participation, and ultimately whether PFA will help everyone involved. This includes the growing educational workforce, which would ideally reflect the diversity of families. The conversation then shifts to a discussion around facilities. Specifically, knowing that the lack of them was a roadblock in getting PFA off the ground and how they will be supported this time around. Barnes also covers the PFA rollout and how the upcoming ban on suspension and expulsion could potentially interrelate, plus how lessons learned at these early stages could inform statewide work and potential expansions to other counties.

Children's Institute · An Update on Preschool for All Multnomah County with Leslee Barnes

Transcript

[00:00:00] Rafael Otto: Hi everyone. This is the Early Link Podcast. I’m Rafael Otto. Thanks for tuning in each week. I hope you do on Sundays at 4:30 PM. We are broadcasting on 99.1 FM in the Portland Metro, you can find us streaming there as well. Or you can tune in at your convenience wherever you find your podcasts, including iTunes, Spotify, and Amazon Music, and as always on our website at childinst.org.

Today, I’m speaking with Leslee Barnes, director of the Preschool and Early Learning Division at Multnomah County. She is a fourth generation Oregonian who grew up in Northeast Portland and she has been a leading figure, working alongside others in the community, including Commissioner Jessica Vega Peterson in the development of Preschool for All which was approved by voters in November of 2020. Things have come a long way since then. And we’re looking to get an update and just talk about what Preschool for All looks like today.

Leslee, welcome to the podcast.

[00:00:58] Leslee Barnes: Thanks for having me. Good to be back and give you kind of what’s hot and happening right now in the world of Preschool for All.

[00:01:05] Rafael Otto: Yeah, it’s great to have you back on here. You know, this has been really like, a groundbreaking measure that was passed, with a tax to go along with it, to fund Preschool for All and the expansion of facilities and those kinds of things. Really not just in Oregon, but nationally, this is really kind of the first of its kind in the country structured in this way

So just give us an update as to where things are right now, as we’re beginning to roll out. I know there was the initial application process that rolled out recently. Where’re things at?

[00:01:38] Leslee Barnes: Well, yeah, so that application became live to the public back in April, and we got an astounding 1100 applications from families. We have about 675 slots so we’re in the midst of looking at those applications, sorting, matching. I mean, there’s a lot to think about when you’re thinking about what families want, what’s available right now in this leg of our implementation.

So that’s where we’re kind of at right now. I’m really hoping that, our initial thoughts that parents would get notification of their choice and ability to be matched in July. But we’re thinking that might come actually a little bit sooner. So, that’s where we’re at right now. So it’s pretty…

[00:02:17] Rafael Otto: So demand has been high.

[00:02:19] Leslee Barnes: Very high, very high, yes. But you know, not surprising, right? This has been something the community said they wanted it, needed it for a long time. So it’s aligned to what we had hoped would happen.

Please download the full transcript below.

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Preschool for All Ensures High-Quality Early Learning for Children in Multnomah County

by Rafael Otto | Dec 21, 2021 | Preschool, Child Care

Join us Sundays at 4:30pm for new episodes of The Early Link Podcast. Listen live at 99.1 FM in the heart of Portland – or online anywhere at PRP.fm

On this episode, host Rafael Otto speaks with Leslee Barnes, the director of the Preschool and Early Learning Division at Multnomah County. In that role, she is overseeing the Preschool for All initiative, a program approved by voters in November 2020 that will provide tuition-free, universal preschool for three- and four-year-olds in Multnomah County. The program is being funded by a personal income tax on high income earners and has received significant attention regionally and nationally as a progressive, upstream investment in children and families.

Guest:

A fourth-generation Oregonian who grew up in Northeast Portland, Leslee Barnes has deep roots. She attended Irvington Elementary, Harriet Tubman Middle School and then Grant High School. She went on to earn her bachelor’s degree from Warner Pacific University.

While Barnes would go on to build a career in early childhood education, her first job was as a nuclear chemical biological specialist for the United States Army. That was also when her first child was born, and her son was only 8 weeks old when she had to return to work.

In 1999, she founded Village Childcare LLC, a community-based organization that provides early learning and child care services in the Portland metro area. As a provider herself, she learned that child care is more than a service — it’s a business, and both parents and providers have unique needs.

Over the course of her 20-year career, she’s drawn on her experience as a provider to support other educators and entrepreneurs. Barnes’ leadership and work has also focused on racial justice and equity, including as the founding board chair of Black Child Development PDX.

Most recently, as a Spark improvement specialist for the State of Oregon, she helped early childhood programs launch a statewide program that raises the quality of child care. The program connects families to early learning and child care providers and offers coaching, professional development, and resources to providers.

As a participant in the Preschool for All Task Force process, she also shaped the initiative that residents approved in November 2020. The coalition of parents, education experts, nonprofit directors, elected officials, and business leaders met from September 2018 through July 2019. Under the leadership of Commissioner Jessica Vega Pederson, they created a vision for universal preschool in Multnomah County.

Summary:

Since Preschool for All passed last November, the podcast begins by discussing its history and Barnes’ connection to the initiative as a whole. The conversation then moves to what was learned throughout the legislation process, and the different degrees of involvement that helped ensure its passage. Following that, Barnes comments on how this initiative will impact future generations in a multitude of ways — from the children in the classrooms, to the communities themselves, and even educators in the workforce.

Barnes then notes the overall goals of Preschool for All and what is needed to realize the scope of the initiative, including developing the workforce and access to physical teaching facilities. Next, the conversation pivots to the Build Back Better plan, its anticipated passage, and its impact on the Oregon education system. Closing out, Barnes gives us a view of the future and how universal preschool will positively affect not only the state, but the country as well.

Additional Resources:

Multnomah County Preschool for All: Pathway to Success

Preschool for All Implementation Plan

Preschool for All Reports and Key Documents

Early Learning Multnomah (ELM)

Children's Institute · Preschool for All Ensures High-Quality Early Learning for Children in Multnomah County

Transcript

[00:00:00] Rafael Otto: This is the Early Link Podcast. I’m Rafael Otto. Thank you for listening. You can always catch us on 99.1 FM in the Portland Metro on Sundays at 4:30 PM, or tune in at your convenience, wherever you find your podcasts, including iTunes, Spotify, and Amazon Music. I’m speaking with Leslee Barnes today, the director of the Preschool and Early Learning Division at Multnomah County.

In that role, she is overseeing the Preschool for All Initiative, a program approved by voters in November of 2020. That will provide tuition free, universal preschool for three- and four- year-olds in Multnomah County. The program is being funded by a personal income tax on high income earners, and has received significant attention regionally and nationally as a progressive upstream investment in children and families.

Leslee, it’s great to have you here today.

[00:00:49] Leslee Barnes: Thanks for having me here this morning. I’m glad to be with you today.

[00:00:52] Rafael Otto: I know Preschool for All passed last November, you took on the leadership role for the county in April of this year. Talk about how you came to be connected to the effort to pass preschool for all. Let’s start there.

[00:01:06] Leslee Barnes: Sure. You know, my work in early learning spans almost 25 years and I was connected to the effort through my work at the CC & R’s. I was supporting family child care providers specifically around what was called Quality Rating and Improvement at the time. And I’ve done similar work in the community. And from the perspective of supporting providers, working at my own child care facility, working at other national chains and just a lot of the advocacy work I’d done on behalf of providers, they reached out to me and said, “Hey, would you like to be a part of one of our work groups to study, like, what are the things that we really need to think about when we’re thinking about high quality early learning for young children in Multnomah County?” So of course, you know, I raised my hand and jumped right in because it’s something that’s been lacking for a long time. And over the span of my career, I’ve really seen how our early learning system has really not supported families or providers.

So I knew I was the perfect person really to be there. Because I’ve got a lot of perspective on that -from a family- as a parent as well. So I brought all that to the table doing that work.

[00:02:11] Rafael Otto: Talk a little bit about the passage of Preschool For All. There was such a sort of ground swell of effort that went into the passage. Lots of parent and family engagement and voice as part of that process. Talk about what that was like.

[00:02:24] Leslee Barnes: I think that’s really groundbreaking, because a lot of times we see systems come in place and they don’t really ask the consumer, what do you really need? And what does this really look like? So to have families there to have the support of community, folks like myself, all the people that really work in the space from schools to private sector childcare, public sector, you know. All those partners had started to be at the table and really think about all the parts. And I feel like we have been siloed for a long time, and it gave us the opportunity to be in the room at the same time; to have a champion at the county in commissioner Vega Pederson. It really was this magical moment where we said, “You know, well, let’s do this right. And let’s not compromise. And let’s really think about equity at the heart of this.” I think that was also very unique in our efforts in really designing this to be successful.

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Earl Boyles’ Neighborhood Center Nurtures Community and Connection

by Celeste Yager-Kandle | Oct 11, 2021 | Preschool, Early Works, Health and Development

In 2010, Earl Boyles became the first site for Children’s Institute’s community-centered Early Works initiative, an approach to early learning and healthy development built on partnerships, innovation, and engaged families. From the beginning, the goal was to provide high-quality early learning opportunities for young children before they started kindergarten, alongside meaningful support for parents and families before and during elementary school.

Early Works also sought to enrich the school community by bringing together existing community resources through the Neighborhood Center, a full-service resource hub for children and their families, which is housed inside of the school.

Prior to Early Works, Earl Boyles was a designated SUN school. SUN, an acronym for Schools Uniting Neighborhoods, is an Multnomah County initiative focused mainly on providing wrap-around support for school-aged children. While SUN partners were a key part of developing the vision for the Neighborhood Center, the Early Works initiative specifically focuses on the needs of young children, birth to three. Working together, the partnership was able to reach a broader base of families with existing resources.

Today, building on the partnerships and services supported by Early Works and the SUN program, the Neighborhood Center works to connect families with services, ensuring that child health, development, and learning are connected to the school beginning at birth. SUN community school manager, Erika Hernandez, explained the Neighborhood Center’s approach to connect families with services, and how Early Works helps in facilitating partnerships.

“We have a very proactive relationship with our preschool and early learning partners. We want to start developing relationships with families before their kids start school, and to make the Neighborhood Center accessible,” explained Hernandez.

“Some of the babies in our play groups have older siblings at the school, too. So, it’s really about knowing the whole family, and without the playgroups or being an Early Works school, we might not see so much of that. This really gives us the chance to know the entire family,” she said.

During the initial implementation of Early Works going back a decade, a community needs assessment was a crucial first step in building a program that would provide families with what they needed, in their own words.

To do this, Children’s Institute partnered with researchers from Portland State University (PSU) to collect data and facilitate listening sessions. The results ultimately paved the way for the birth of the Neighborhood Center in 2015.

Beth Green, director of early childhood and family support research at PSU, was the lead researcher for the first community needs assessment. Green explained, “The Neighborhood Center came out of a recognition that high-quality early preschool helps children develop skills and it’s really necessary, but not sufficient, for ensuring long-term outcomes for kids.” She added, “If you really want to continue to support them academically, and socially-emotionally, you need to make sure their families’ basic needs are getting met.”

Now, the Neighborhood Center is a collective of parents, service providers, community organizations, early learning partners, and policy and advocacy groups, working together to support child development and nurture healthy, stable families. It offers resource connection for families seeking rent and utilities assistance, basic necessities, systems navigation, parent education opportunities, and access to community health workers.

Marina Merrill, director of research and strategy at Children’s Institute, reflected on how the school continues to support early childhood development by supporting families. “At Earl Boyles, we start at birth, knowing that families look to their neighborhood school for a range of support,” she said. “Creating a school as a hub with services beginning at birth helps create strong pathways to support children’s health and well-being. We know that engaging families and supporting their needs is also critical to ensure their children thrive.”

Because of Earl Boyles’ unique partnership with Children’s Institute, and being an Early Works site, the school has built a culture derived from the perspectives of families, and has the ability to respond directly to the community’s needs. And as the community continues to pivot in response to an evolving pandemic landscape, so too, does the Neighborhood Center.

The staff has continued to support children and families through direct services through what they call Care and Connect Team referrals, which include a food pantry, emergency food boxes, and housing and utility assistance.

Earl Boyles principal, Ericka Guynes, spoke to the ongoing impact that the Neighborhood Center has had on the school community, children and their families during the pandemic: “Even though we were not able to be in person, the case management and support continued. We were able to coordinate with our partners to continue to serve our community to support their needs.”

“The Earl Boyles Neighborhood Center has continued to support our community throughout this challenging time,” she said, “and it shows what a community school can look like when everyone pulls together to make sure kids and families thrive.”

Learn More about Early Works