Resources & News

Courses, Webinars & Workshops

Hosted by External Partners

Children Under Stress: Preventing ACES and Supporting Childhood Well-Being
Tue, Aug 23, 2022 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM CDT
Register here

Promoting Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy- Virtual Workshop
September 19 @ 10:30 am – September 22 @ 2:30 pm CT
Register here

Illinois Association for the Education of Young Children Conference
October 13-15, 2022
The Growing Futures Conference will take place in person October 13-15, 2022, in Springfield, IL. 

Hosted by Start Early Professional Learning Network

Ages and Stages SE
Beginning August 24, Registration is at www.startearly.org/PLN

Home Visitor Reflective Practice Groups
June-August flyer with dates for the Home Visitor Reflective Practice Groups. We continue to offer these in English and Spanish. For June, we will be reflecting on father and father figure engagement.Home Visitor Reflective Practice Groups June-August 2022; Grupos de práctica reflexiva para visitantes a domicilio junio-agosto

Resources to Expand Your Knowledge

Community & Family Resources

Governor Pritzker Launches Illinois Cares for Kids Statewide Enrollment Campaign “I Got Love / ¡Siento Amor!”
Governor JB Pritzker announced the launch of “I Got Love / ¡Siento Amor!”, the statewide enrollment campaign for childcare and early education services, featuring Illinois artists, musicians, and production partners. More information on programs is available at www.illinoiscaresforkids.org/

Illinois Family Relief Plan Takes Effect; School Supply Tax Savings August 5-14
On July 1, 2022, the Illinois Family Relief Plan went into effect to provide relief on grocery tax, gas tax, and property taxes. For additional information, taxpayers may visit IDOR’s website. Taxpayer representatives can also provide assistance at 1- 800-732-8866 or 217-782-3336.

Affordable Connectivity Program
The Region 5 Office of Child Care has announced that the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) is now open. The ACP is a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) program to help low-income households pay for internet service and connected devices. Eligible households can enroll in the ACP through an approved provider or by visiting one of two simple and easy-to-use websites: ACPBenefit.org or GetInternet.gov.

Keep Medicaid Coverage
The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) is preparing for the end of the Federal Covid-19 Public Health Emergency. They will need to send out paperwork and are asking Medicaid customers to update their mailing address if it has changed. Families can update their address with Illinois Medicaid by calling 877-805-5312 from 7:45 am to 4:30 pm or visit the website.

Programs & Staff Resources

• Black Maternal Health Resources: EverThrive Illinois has developed online resources. Some are geared towards the Chicago area, but many are universal.
• Trauma-informed resources on supporting immigrant children and families who have experienced or fear family separation or other immigration trauma.Resources for Providers an Caregivers_Traumatic Separation and Immigrant Families
• Strategies to Support and Engage Families Virtually  Staff can use this resource from the Early Childhood Learning & Knowledge Center, to build on their existing knowledge, expertise, and resources for developing positive and goal-oriented relationships with families.
• Virtual Home Visiting Training Modules and Supervisor’s Toolkit: Rapid Response has created 6 training modules that provide foundational knowledge and best practice principles for delivering virtual home visiting services. This series was designed to support home visitors in all aspects of their work. Click below for descriptions on each module.
  • Virtual Home Visiting 101: Service Delivery Overview 
  • Virtual Home Visiting 102: Preparing Yourself and Families 
  • Virtual Home Visiting 103: Engaging Families 
  • Virtual Home Visiting 104: Facilitating Parent-Child Connections 
  • Virtual Home Visiting 105: Screening and Assessment
  • Virtual Home Visiting 106: Supporting the Whole Family
• What is the Supervisor’s Toolkit? Spanish Version. This is a robust and interactive PDF that includes information for supervisors about providing home visiting services virtually.
• Engaging Families in Virtual Home Visiting: Perspectives from the Field. This Data in Action Brief from the National Home Visiting Resource Center examines chat messages from a selected group of webinars hosted by the Rapid Response-Virtual Home Visiting collaborative (RR-VHV) to explore the following questions:
  • What are emerging challenges and solutions to recruiting and enrolling families in home visiting?
  • What are emerging challenges and solutions to families participating in home visiting?
  • What are emerging challenges and solutions to families maintaining skills gained through home visiting?

• Research Report on Family’s Experiences of Virtual Home Visiting: A team of researchers, supported by Perigee Fund and The Ford Family Foundation, interviewed providers and families in seven communities around the country about their experience participating in early childhood programs as they shifted to technology-based services. The providers listened to parent needs and responded with creative solutions for keeping families engaged.
• The Black Infant and Toddler Equity Project: Practitioners can use a new resource to inform service provision for Black families with infants and toddlers that draws on cultural assets and uses a strengths-based perspective. Check out a series of resources focused on the development and well-being of Black families, infants, and toddlers here
• Family Voices Launches Anti-Racism Toolkit: A toolkit website designed to support the important work of dismantling racism in health care. The website offers concrete tools designed to support organizations and individuals to become more culturally competent and responsive by building meaningful, equitable engagement with Black children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN) and their families.

Research Opportunities

General Information

• ISBE updated materials: For ISBE PI funded programs: ISBE has some updated Quality Assurance forms, including the PICC and CQIP. They can be found here .
• New “988” National Dialing Code for Crisis and Suicide Lifeline
  Earlier this month the US launched “988” to access the National Crisis and Suicide Prevention Lifeline. The Lifeline is a national network of over 200 local, independent crisis centers equipped to help people in mental health-related distress or experiencing a suicidal crisis via call, chat, or text. The Lifeline provides free and confidential support to people in suicidal crisis or mental health-related distress 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, across the U.S.
• Promise Neighborhoods Program Funding Opportunity
  In late June, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) announced a new round of funding available for the Promise Neighborhoods Program, which works to significantly improve the academic and developmental outcomes of children living in the most distressed communities of the United States. This is a critical opportunity to ensure that the needs of young children are included. Applications for this new round of federal funding are due on Oct. 7, and ED plans to make awards of between $4M-$6M to communities across the country.
• Early Intervention Extended Services (EI/ES): Effective January 2022, children with birthdays between May 1 and August 31 can continue to receive Early Intervention services past their third birthday. If a child meets the criteria, families will be offered the option to continue with Early Intervention services until the beginning of the next school year.
• Governor’s Office of Early Childhood Development e-Newsletter: Interested in checking out the e-newsletter from the Governor’s Office of Early Childhood Development? Click here to register to receive the e-newsletter or briefings in the future.