CNY Partnership meeting, Childcare Solutions, QSNY, OCFS, IT MH,

5/11/26  1:00pm

Childcare Solutions/QUALITYstarsNY collaboration meeting

Attendees:  Jessica, Tasha, Kristy, Kris, Lesley, Tracey

FAMILY CHILDCARE NETWORK-

• Nicole Calazo-Cruz is overseeing this.  She has a cohort of family providers that she has been working with.

• They meet as a group on Saturday mornings, to network and have become a very tight knit group.

• Jess suggested including her in our meetings.

• It may be beneficial for QIS to attend a Saturday morning session.

CCQI-

• The rollout of this program in Cayuga Co. Was supposed to be a condensed version of what has been offered, previously in Onondaga Co, however Childcare Solutions only received a fraction of the funding.

• Cayuga County's model included a Needs Assessment that identify material needs, curriculum and PD.

• No visits or coaching was provided due to lack of funding.

• Because of lack of funding, this initiative was not sustainable in Cayuga Co.

TAMMY BEAN- Unfortunately, Tammy no longer works for Childcare Solutions. Any ITA or coaching requests can be made through Kristy or Tasha, as part of Infant Toddler Mental Health.  They can determine the best approach based on the needs of the program.

CDA-

• In person CDA class is currently underway and registration is closed.

• Kris will be leading a live virtual class, beginning 6/3/26, ending in September.  The 1st two weeks, class will be held on Wednesday from 6-9.  Week 3 through the remainder of the class will be held on Wednesdays and Thursdays, at the same time.

• May 20th is the cutoff to register.

• Kris submitted this course for Aspire approval in April and is still waiting for approval. Kris did reach out to Aspire and shared that she can back date the training as long as she has the participants Aspire ID numbers.  

• Both Lesley and I shared that we have several staff members that would be interested, but we are unsure of how to proceed, because the Aspire event ID number is required to request Quality Scholars funding.  

ASPIRE-

• Kris and Kristy shared their concerns with the length of time the approval process is taking. Kristy mentioned that all of the previous PD sessions that had been offered through Childcare Solutions had never been entered into Aspire.  They have been working to submit them.

• The PD team has left some availability on their calendar, as many programs look to have PD for staff in August.  We discussed the need to have these discussions with programs now, given the length of time required for Aspire course approval.

• When program leaders are working with QIS to create PD sessions through Childcare Solutions, they must be specific about their objective.  If the training is meant to fulfill one of our 5 training standards, then the content should align and the course should be tagged with the QUALITYstarsNY standard.   If the intention of the PD is to address other needs (ex, social emotional, etc.) then we shouldn't be asking Childcare Solutions to adjust their goals/objectives to align with one of the 5 QUALITYstarsNY standards, unless the specifically covers that area. QIS should be aware of this and communicate this with program leaders.

SPANISH TRAINING-

• Rosie, the Healthcare Specialist is now able to provide training in Spanish.  As of now, these are the trainings she is able to provide-

  • MAT, 1st Aid, CPR.  First class is being offered July 11th from 8:30-3:30.

  • Food and Nutrition

  • Cleanliness

  • Health and Safety

• Kristy shared that since this has been made available, no one has requested it.  Rosie will continue to add course offerings.  QIS should be aware of this so programs can take advantage of it.

Next meeting:

• Monday, 7/13/26 at 12:00 at Childcare Solutions.

• Lesley has asked if she can join this meeting going forward, as it aligns with the work she is doing with programs as well.