MARATHON COUNTY CHILD DEVELOPMENT AGENCY, INC. 720 Grant Street • Wausau, WI 54403 • 715-845-2947 • www.mccdahs.org

OUR MISSION:To make a positive difference in the lives of the children and families we serve.In striving to achieve our mission, we will:

Provide a safe, secure, and nurturing learning environment

Create partnerships with families and community resource agencies

Recruit, develop and maintain a staff that is dedicated to promoting excellence

BOARD OF DIRECTORS:Officers & DirectorsPresident • Kathleen Czech Vice President • Peter RotterSec’t/Treasurer • Mary Litzenberger Nell Anderson Renee ScheelRon Lippi, Ph.D. Sandy SuprakMarcy Rau Ngee Xiong

POLICY COUNCILPresident • Amy JaegerVice President • Angela Bordeau Secretary • Kate KippTreasurer • Tami EnquistStacy Lopez Jennifer BiermanJosh Lopez Bill Moffat Michelle Steffers

Executive DirectorCatherine E. Howe Thwaits

HEAD START PROGRAM CENTERS:Barrington Center 616 Grant Street • Wausau • 715-848-0716Center Director • Terese BaierStoddard Center 5200 Camp Philips Rd • Schofield • 715-573-3698Center Director • Sue VanderLoopMosinee Center607 13th Street • Mosinee • 715-693-4003 Center Director • Sandy Stolze

PROGRAM INFORMATIONMarathon County Child Development Agency Inc.

Head Start (MCCDA) is a state and federally funded program in operation since 1966. MCCDA’s purpose has always been to recruit low income children and their families who are at significant risk of later problems in school and in life and to ensure that these children go to school ready to learn, and have a high likelihood of success in life and school. The Board of Directors and staff are committed to helping low-income preschool aged children, their families, and communities overcome the effects of poverty. Our center-based model provides each child with an appropriate learning environment led by licensed preschool teachers. The centers expose children to varied experiences which stimulate each child’s social, intellectual, physical, and emotional growth and development. In addition to providing educational services to children and their parents, MCCDA Head Start also strives to strengthen families and the communities they reside within by providing or linking families to local resources. These include resources for health, dental and nutritional services, social services, mental health services, services for children with disabilities, and opportunities for parent governance and involvement.

PARENT AND FAMILY PARTNERSHIPSTowards the goal of establishing partnerships with the parents and

families we serve as part of our process of preparing children for kindergarten, our Head Start program staff create a climate of mutual respect through their genuine acceptance of each family with their own strengths and needs for support. Staff members seek to promote and sustain a supportive partnership with the goal of strengthening the family in order to ensure the healthy development and well-being of their children. The staff and families build reciprocal relationships in which staff members work WITH the families, not FOR the families to build on their individual family strengths and overcome their challenges. Key strategies our program uses to help establish and maintain good relationships with children's parents and families include using caring, open and positive communication and assuring that as early childhood professionals, our program wants to be a partner in providing the best possible experience and opportunities for their child. Our Head Start program believes every parent wants the best for their children. Our program staff listens objectively without criticizing or judging as they accept and respect each family as unique and individual with strengths and challenges. The Head Start program allows the family to make their own decisions and choices while providing information, resources and options to support the process. Members of our program staff respect and accept each family's decisions whether they personally agree with the decisions or not.

FINANCIAL REPORTS April 1, 2010 through March 31, 2011

We received funding during this fiscal year from the federal government to serve 199 Head Start children from April 1, 2010 through March 31, 2011. Federal USDA funds, through the State of Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, provided funding for our child nutrition program providing healthy breakfast, lunch, and snacks. The State of Wisconsin funded 9 additional Head Start children with a Head Start Supplemental Funding grant. We also received funds through the

Wausau and Mosinee School District 4K contracts with our agency.

**Figures in the above charts are audited totals from Hawkins, Ash, Baptie, & Company, LLP; Certified Public

Accountants

Results of Outside Review and Audits:This fiscal year’s audit, by Hawkins, Ash, Baptie & Company, LLP indicated: • Agency managed federal, state, local, private funds well. • The results of tests disclosed no instance of noncompliance or other matters that are required to be reported under Government Auditing Standards• Marathon County Child Development Agency, Inc. complied, in all material respects, with the requirements applicable to financial audits contained in Government Auditing Standards; OMB Circular A-133, Audits of States, Local Government, and Non-Profit Organizations, and State Single Audit Guidelines issued by the Wisconsin Department of Administration and applicable to its major federal and state programs for the year ended March 31, 2011.

Our most recent federal onsite triennial review was conducted in April of 2010 under the auspice of the Department of Health & Human Services, Office of Head Start. Our Head Start program meets both Federal DHHS Standards and State of WI Child Care Licensing Regulations and thus has a high level of accountability and integrity. The program has a full federal review every three years, a state licensing renewal review every other year and self-assesses every year. The program is dedicated to continue to evaluate and improve programming and delivery of services to ensure a dynamic and high quality approach to meeting the needs of the most at-risk of Marathon County’s preschool children.

Revenues (**Audited)04/01/10—03/31/11

Budget04/01/11 – 03/31/12

Federal Head Start Grant

$1,416,585 $1,422,824

Wausau School District 4K Contract

$203,496 $168,313Mosinee School District 4K Contract

$19,800 $19,300

USDA Child Nutrition

$111,888 $112,000

ARRA COLA $6,977 $0WI State Head Start Supplemental

$51,975 $46,200

Other $100 $0In-Kind Contributions

$355,067 $361,306

Total Revenues $2,165,888

$2,129,943

Head Start 2010-11Program Enrollment by the Numbers:

Total Enrollment: 241 Total Funded: 208 Average Monthly Enrollment: 100%

Average Daily Attendance: 89%Of the Children Enrolled:

Enrollment with Disability: • 13.69% enrolled with IEP

• 3% IEP for Visual Impairment• 6% IEP for Developmental Delay• 91% IEP for Speech/language

Enrollment by Ethnicity:• 86% Non-Hispanic origin• 14% Hispanic originEnrollment by Primary Language:• 67% English• 26% Hmong• 7% Spanish

Percentage of Potential Eligible Children in Community Served: • Wausau School District – approx. 29% served• DCE School District – approx. 29% served• Mosinee School District – approx. 41% served

Of the Children Enrolled:• 100% had health insurance (at end of year)• 100% had a medical home (at end of year)• 100% were up-to-date with immunizations• 85% were up-to-date with health services• 98% had a dental home• 93% had a dental exam in the last year• 23% needed professional dental treatment• 96% received needed dental treatment• 5% needed mental health referral• 62% received needed mental health services

Total enrollment of families: 218 Family structure• 50% are single-parent families• 50% are two-parent families

Services• 55% needed emergency/crisis intervention

• 87% received at least 1 referral or family service (housing, food resources, medical referral, parenting education)• 77% received parenting education• 20% received mental health services• 5% families experienced homelessness• 28% received adult education services

• 57% provided volunteer services to program

Unfortunately we could not serve all who requested programming!Children are admitted based on need on a prioritized scale. We ended the 2010-2011 program year with 80 children on our Head Start waiting list.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS FOR 2010-11Perceptions of the Collaborating Partners of MCCDA – Head Start ProgramTwenty-three (23) of our community partners in Marathon County were asked to rate their perception of the current health and human services system in the community in Spring of 2011. Due to the large number of perceptions, each perception-specific score was averaged. Rating scale is as follows:6=Always 5= Usually 4= Sometimes 3= Rarely 2= Never 1= Don’t know

The perception of the health and social services system yielded some reassuring findings. Agencies make children and families a high priority, services are easily accessible, and children and families receive adequate services as needed in Marathon County. Furthermore, negative perceptions had a lower average score. These included the notion that duplication of services is a problem, agencies are in conflict with one another, and agencies have conflicting rules and eligibility requirements.We are grateful for and thank the many community partners who support our program….we could not provide high quality services without them!

MCCDA Staff Fast Facts During the 2010-2011 program year, MCCDA’s Head Start Program employed 45 full and part time staff members. Ten (22%) of these staff members

were either current or past Head Start parents and seven (16%) of these staff members were proficient

in a language other than English. All of our lead teachers have a Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood Education (ECE). Our assistant teachers are enrolled in an Associate’s Degree program in ECE.

Congratulationsto our Staff Members on Achieving these Anniversary Milestones in 2010-11:5 Years of ServiceKarla EdelburgLourdes Alvarez

10 Years of Service

Kao HerHeidi Ernst

Perceptions AverageChildren and families receive adequate services as needed 4.30Programs reach all children and families who need them 3.78Services are easily accessible to families 4.43Services for children and families are well coordinated 4.00Agencies share information and resources 4.17Referrals are shared between agencies 4.17Interagency meetings occur 4.04There is joint planning among agencies 3.80There is problem solving among agencies to fill gaps in services 3.91Agencies make children and families a very high priority 4.78Agencies are in conflict with one another 3.00Agencies have conflicting rules and eligibility requirements 3.00Duplication of services is a problem 2.96Children and families face barriers to obtaining services 3.48Providers have adequate information about policy and program changes 3.39

Choua Lor