Montgomery County Council Committee Meetings on Nov. 7, 2024
For Immediate Release: Wednesday, November 6, 2024
Committees will receive updates on services to end and prevent homeless and briefings about early childhood education studies and initiatives
The Health and Human Services (HHS) Committee will meet on Thursday, Nov. 7 at 9:30 a.m. to receive an update on services provided through the Department of Health and Human Services’ (DHHS) Services to End and Prevent Homelessness (SEPH).
The members of the HHS Committee include Chair Gabe Albornoz and Councilmembers Dawn Luedtke and Laurie-Anne Sayles.
The joint Education and Culture (EC) and HHS Committee will meet at 1:30 p.m. to receive briefings on childcare supply and demand and cost of quality care studies. In addition, the committee will receive an update on County early care and education initiatives.
The members of the EC Committee include Chair Will Jawando and Councilmembers Albornoz and Kristin Mink.
The joint EC, HHS and Economic Development (ECON) Committee will meet at 3 p.m. to review early childhood education workforce development efforts.
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The members of the ECON Committee include Chair Natali Fani-González and Councilmembers Marilyn Balcombe, Evan Glass and Sayles.
More detail on each agenda item is provided below.
Shelter Capacity, Hypothermia, Security Services and Motel Sheltering
Update: The HHS Committee will receive an update from DHHS-SEPH representatives on shelter capacity, hypothermia, security services and motel sheltering. SEPH provides emergency assistance to help residents remained housed, administers rental subsidy programs and manages contracts and services for emergency shelter, transitional shelter and permanent supportive housing programs. The meeting is also expected to continue a discussion held on April 15 about the Montgomery Continuum of Care, which is a public-private partnership that coordinates programs to prevent and reduce homelessness in the County.
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Briefing: The joint EC and HHS Committee will receive briefings on childcare supply and demand and cost of quality care studies. In addition, the committee will receive updates on County early care and education initiatives.
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Reinvestment Fund representatives will conduct a briefing about the recently completed study, “Childcare in Montgomery County: Supply, Demand and Shortages.” The study provides an estimate of existing demand for childcare for children under five in the County. The Reinvestment Fund is a community development financial institution that works to ensure everyone has access to essential opportunities, affordable places to live, access to nutritious food and health care, schools where their children can flourish and strong, local businesses that support jobs. The committee also will receive a briefing from Brodsky Research and Consulting on the recently completed “Montgomery County Cost of Quality Child Care Study.” The study models childcare costs to provide insight into provider business models and factors that affect financial sustainability.
In addition, the Committee will receive an update on the Early Care and Education Initiative, which is a program to align efforts across public agencies and expand access to quality early childhood services to address the opportunity gap, support kindergarten readiness and set young children on a path of lifelong success. The Committee also will receive an update on the Working Parents Assistance Program, which provides income-based financial support for families using licensed childcare providers.
Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) representatives will provide an update on the early childhood education component of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future. The blueprint requires the expansion of publicly funded, high quality, full-day prekindergarten with 50 percent of eligible seats in community-based settings by fiscal year 2027. The Blueprint for Maryland’s Future was passed by the Maryland General Assembly in 2021 and will increase state funding for education over 10 years to help transform public education in Maryland into a world-class education system.
Review: The joint EC, HHS and ECON Committee will meet to discuss early childhood education workforce development efforts. The County faces significant challenges to growing and maintaining a highly qualified early childhood education workforce. These barriers include low pay and benefits, long work hours and limited career advancement. The meeting will include presentations about workforce development efforts at the Children’s Opportunity Alliance, Montgomery College, Montgomery Moving Forward, Montgomery County Public Schools and DHHS. The presentations will include an overview of workforce preparation offerings, scholarship support, childcare education, training, technical assistance, coaching, facility and quality improvement funds and programs offering subsidized tuition rates.
The Committee meeting schedule may change from time to time. View the current Council and Committee agendas, Council staff reports and additional information on items scheduled for Council review on the Council website .
Council and committee meetings are streamed live on the Council’s web page via YouTube and on Facebook Live and can be watched on County Cable Montgomery on Xfinity/RCN 6 HD 996/1056, Fios 30, and on the CCM live stream .
Release ID: 24-391
Media Contact: Sonya Healy 240-777-7926, Benjamin Sky Brandt 240-777-7884
For updates and link to press release, see here: http://www2.montgomerycountymd.gov/mcgportalapps/Press_Detail.aspx?Item_ID=46117