Department: Purchasing
Department Head/Elected Official: DeWight Dopslauf
Regular or Supplemental RCA: Regular RCA
Type of Request: Contract - Amendment
Project ID (if applicable): 230095
Vendor/Entity Legal Name (if applicable): Children At Risk
MWDBE Contracted Goal (if applicable): N/A
MWDBE Current Participation (if applicable): N/A
Justification for 0% MWDBE Participation Goal: 0% - Specialized, Technical, or Unique in Nature
Request Summary (Agenda Caption):
title
Request by the Office of the Purchasing Agent that the County Judge execute an amendment to an agreement with Children At Risk in the decreased amount of $1,893,849 to adjust the budget and update the Federal Award Identification Table for early learning quality network for Harris County for the period of October 10, 2023 - November 30, 2026 (230095), Justification for 0% MWDBE Participation Goal: 0% - Specialized, Technical, or Unique in Nature.
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Background and Discussion:
On March 11, 2021, the American Rescue Plan of 2021 (ARPA) was signed into law.? Harris County Commissioners Court set goals for ARPA funding including providing educational opportunities to mitigate pandemic impacts.??
Research from Children at Risk indicates that approximately 25% of all child care facilities closed statewide during the height of the pandemic and 20% of all available child care capacity was lost. Communities of color were the most impacted by COVID-19 related closures. These communities experienced twice the rate of child care disruptions and centers within these communities were twice as likely to close. In addition to the number of closures of programs overall, programs seeking to reopen, including school-based programs, struggle to hire qualified staff to support young children because of the pandemic.
Harris County's response to this information is to pilot the Early Learning Quality Network, a community-driven network approach to supporting quality improvement in early learning settin...
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