CONTACT:
LaToya Foster (EOM) (202) 727-5011; [email protected]
Briant Coleman (OSSE) (202) 604-5283; [email protected]

Today, Mayor Muriel Bowser, DC State Superintendent of Education Hanseul Kang and Deputy Mayor for Education Jennie Niles officially launched the District of Columbia’s Early Learning Quality Improvement Network (QIN). Funded by a grant from the US Department of Health and Human Services, and partially funded with local resources, the Early Learning QIN highlights the District’s efforts to provide high-quality early learning education and health services for the District’s infants, toddlers and families. The announcement, held at United Planning Organization-Frederick Douglass in Southeast, is the first in a week of policy announcements leading up to Mayor Bowser’s first State of the District of Address.

“This public-private partnership will help ensure that our youngest and most vulnerable community is provided every opportunity to succeed in life as we continue our efforts to create a stable pathway to the middle class,” said Mayor Bowser. “Through the Early Learning Quality Improvement Network, we will provide comprehensive support services that enhance the physical, social, emotional and intellectual development of our children so they are fully prepared to enter kindergarten.”

The DC Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) selected United Planning Organization, CentroNia, and Mary’s Center through a competitive process to serve as Hubs in the Early Learning QIN. The Hubs are responsible for ensuring the selected child development centers and homes meet Early Head Start standards. The Hubs will support 14 child development centers in Wards 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8. Additionally, the Hubs will support 10 to 12 child development homes in Wards 1 and 4.

Hubs are responsible for providing child care partners with job-embedded professional learning and coaching; guaranteed full payment for a negotiated number of subsidy slots at the gold rate when program maintains overall 85% monthly enrollment; assistance with recruitment to fill vacancies; support with transitions to pre-k; and priority in District degree and scholarship programs and financial incentives for teachers. 

“The Early Learning QIN is our first step in a multi-year effort to build a neighborhood-based quality improvement system that expands early learning opportunities for our infants and toddlers and improve the quality of their care,” said Kang. “We will measure the impact QIN has on the District’s broader goals of ensuring children are ready for school, improving infant and toddler development and learning, and preparing children for the transition into pre-kindergarten.”

In addition to OSSE, other District agency partners – DC Department of Human Services, DC Department of Behavioral Health, DC Department of Health, DC Child and Family Services Agency, and the DC Department of Health Care Finance – will support the provision of comprehensive services for children and families, including mental health consultation, family engagement and support, health and nutrition, and early intervention services.

Network Hubs:

• United Planning Organization
• CentroNia
• Mary’s Center

Licensed Child Development Center Partners:

• Edward Mazique Developing Families Center
• Edward Mazique Parent Child Center
• Community Educational Research Group
• Christian Tabernacle CDC
• Board of Childcare
• Big Mamas Children’s Center
• GAP Inc. Community Child Development Center
• Jubilee Jumpstart
• Lt. Joseph P. Kennedy Institute
• Love and Care CDC
• Loving Care Day Nursery
• Bell Teen Parent & Child Development Center
• The Kennedy Institute
• Southeast Children’s Fund

For more information, please visit osse.dc.gov.