THE HUMAN SERVICES DEPARTMENT AND THE COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS DIVISION RECOMMEND APPROVAL OF THE ABOVE MOTION.
This recommendation supports the Board’s Value of "Approaching human services collaboratively and compassionately, with special emphasis on the most vulnerable” and the Goal to “Effectively advocate for and acquire municipal, state and federal financial support to equitably address health and human services needs of the entire community, through a truly coordinated system of care” by providing Broward County residents' access to subsidized child care services for eligible children and those with special needs.
Retroactive approval is requested as the ELC notified the County on September 21, 2017 that it would assume direct administration and management of subsidized child care services, effective October 1, 2017 (Exhibit 1). This change requires the County enter into an agreement directly with the ELC to provide match funding. ELC has been provided with the County's standard form unit of service agreement and is in the process of receiving approval of its Board of Directors. Retroactive approval will ensure continuity of subsidized child care services to hundreds of low-income children, including special needs children.
In 2002 the State of Florida designated the ELC to administer the subsidized state child care system at the local level and develop an early learning plan for Broward County. This included the management and distribution of subsidized child care funds for the direct provision of child care services to low-income families. ELC initially subcontracted management of the subsidized child care system to Family Central, Inc. (FCI) and then later to Broward Regional Health Planning Council Inc. (BRHPC). Historical County funding and contractual information, as well as changes to prioritization resulting from 2013 legislation, is provided in Exhibit 3.
Broward County provides local dollar-for-dollar match to the Child Care Executive Partnership (CCEP) Fund which is part of the subsidized child care funding pool. Under CCEP, federal and state funding is “matched” with contributions from local governments and other groups to maximize child care services. This match results in additional funding for subsidized child care services. The County distributed matching funds via an agreement with the agency designated by the ELC to manage the subsidized child care system (Exhibit 3).
On November 22, 2017, the Purchasing Division approved a sole reasonable source designation memorandum for the ELC (Exhibit 2).
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