Anchorage Assembly: ACCEE Fund Board Meeting 2026-07-15 Meeting Recording

Board meeting. We're going to go ahead and start with agenda— with roll call. Trevor Storrs. Here.

Jessica Simonson.

Branwyn Collier.

Kevin Berry. Here. Dale Wyven.

Here. Georgina Broke.

Mildred Parker. Here.

Jessie Nesit let me know she would be absent today.

Chuck Shaka. I'm here.

Okay. Fantastic. Well, we do have a quorum, so we will move forward.

Hopefully you all see the agenda, and our first thing on the agenda is actually finalizing the agenda. Was there any changes anybody wanted to recommend?

Hearing none, we'll move it forward, and the first thing is approval of our previous minutes. Uh, do I hear a motion?

Jessica, I can make a motion. Ah, thank you, Jessica. And let's, for the record, Vice Chair has joined us.

Also, thank you, Khalil. Any discussion?

Hearing none, we'll put it to a vote. Anybody object?

Hearing no objections, passes unanimous.

All right, let's get into the meat of the agenda. Let's talk about the '27 budget. So thank you again to everybody for a great conversation last month and going through and using the polling mechanism and starting to figure out what the potential is for the budget. One of the things I just want to share is kind of a little bit of the forethinking and what our plan will be related to it. And we kind of discussed this last meeting, but give me a little more detail, is we have not heard from the mayor's office what the plan is with the dollars that have been coming into— or not coming into, but being utilized for ASD and Best Beginning that were at one time covered by the alcohol tax.

We do know that the mayor has heard us. We've had a great conversation, and again, thank you to them and to you all for that participation. And through some conversations, they are looking at what does that look like and are they able to find other funding. So what we wanted to do is be proactive, so we will be drafting a letter, and today we're going to go through 2 scenarios. One is ASD and best beginnings remains within our budget and what that looks like and how does that play into the overall look.

But the budget we're gonna recommend is with ASD and best beginnings out. And we'll be looking at what that budget looks like as well. And we'll share from the information that y'all provided and what we're recommending or would draft, or we may have some questions for you all. So Christina will be drafting a letter. She actually already has.

I'll be going through it. We'll be recommending that the ASD and Best Beginnings returns either alcohol tax or additional money. And again, based off of what the purpose of this fund was created wasn't to backfill, but to add. And by keeping them in the budget, now that we do not really have any rollover dollars, is really backfill. However, we do recognize that we can make a recommendation.

It is not our final— we don't make the final decision what goes in that budget. That is the mayor, and then the mayor puts it before the assembly and they make final approvals. So we will then also hopefully save some time and energy in going, well, if this can't happen, this is what we recommend, and outlining what the impact of keeping ASD and Best Beginnings is in the budget and what we recommend related to that. So we don't have to then try to come back or have an emergency meeting that we've got those scenarios. Doesn't mean either one still may not work out.

We may still need to maybe have a conversation with the Mayor, or the Mayor might have a conversation with us, and we will make recommendations, but hopefully we're able to provide a clear path forward. And then once the Mayor's budget is released and we're aware of it, we then as a board will also decide what are steps forward and do we do some advocacy. And again, the mayor does recognize that we do have independency and what that looks like, and do we or don't we utilize that independence and having conversations. We will be having conversations with assembly members just again Talking about the budget, you all got an email from Christina on that, and also just bringing them further up to speed on the great work this committee or this board has been doing and talking about the impact in, in that larger view. And again, building that relationship so when the Assembly is either looking at the budget and also may have ideas or any pet projects or desires that they actually see from a larger scale the thought process that this board has gone through, the expertise that's on this board, and why we're making things recommended, and how any change that they may make, what are those impacts, and what does that look like for the larger, the larger picture and the future of the industry.

So if you haven't responded to Christina's email, this is a plug, please let her know., and when your availability and where you live, things of that nature, because we really want to connect the entire board as much as possible to the assembly, like we've been doing with the mayor. So with that said, Christina, can we bring up the budget that we worked on last meeting and where we're at? So that is with ASD and Best Beginnings, uh, inputted. And do I see Georgina? Did she join us?

Yes, Georgina is. Great. And Briana as well. Oh, thank you. Great.

So for the record, I just recognize that they have joined us. So we definitely have a quorum. So thank you all.

And do know, as I'm facilitating this via Teams, I don't always get to see everybody on the board. So please, if you have a question, raising your hand, I may not see it. Teams isn't always good, so do feel comfortable just coming off mute and just interrupting. So Christina, do you want us— because you can see this and it's clearer and you've been working on this— do you want to just walk through where we landed or where we're currently at? Yes, so we've got two tabs here that we can discuss.

As Trevor mentioned, we're going to be proposing two scenarios. So the first tab This scenario is inclusive of ASD and Best Beginnings. It's populated with the results of the Menti poll that we, that we went through last meeting. So we've got admin funds, child care worker subsidy, operational grants. I will highlight that we landed in that last Menti poll at, a 50/50 split.

So some thought that we should fund operational grants at 100% and no pilots and capitals, and then others felt like we should do 50/50. So right now, for purposes of this exercise, so far we just have operational grants in here. Got ASD funded for what will— it would take for January through June, and then the results of the poll for June through December. Best Beginnings, and then the Treasury. Please note for this scenario, we've got some work to do because we are over budget.

And then we have the next tab. Let's not go to that tab yet. Let's just stick with this. Thank you, Christina. So for purpose of conversation, just to remind folks, the admin, we dropped us down to from a 10%, I think, to like, was it 8, 9%?

Yep. Thank you.

Childcare worker subsidy, we kept it at their current ratio, which I think is at 75% subsidy. They cover the other 25%, and we went with projection of reaching a specific number, which I think was around between just over 100 folks, and we predicted or projected that's about 1.5. ASD, that was the amount through ASD that outlined to finish out the year, 'cause we need to, they can't just stop in January. So we are continuing that, but people did agree that the impact and the number they serve that it would be continual full funding at 100%. So that is $1 million because it's $2 million for the full year.

And then Best Beginnings, was that at 75%? That was at 50%. 50%, Thank you. And then Treasury, we don't control that. That is a set amount and that's what they take for collecting of the funds.

Now operational, we wrote in $24 million because that's what we had. Can we just delete that at the moment?

Please. So what you can see is we just have shy of $970,000.

So capital, or I should say operational grants, were at $2.4 million, and then pilot this year was just, was at one, how many, $1.1 million. Christina? 1.25. 1.25. So if we did 50/50, that's approximately, what is that?

450, It's about 460, it's probably about $480,000. Would if we did a 50/50 to operational and pilot. And this is what we have to discuss. How much do we want towards operational? How much towards pilot?

And based off of that also, do we want any other decrease? Also recognizing, yes, you could decrease admin more. There's a little room, but that— we're talking a couple, maybe $10,000 to $20,000 really doesn't make a difference. What we really have to decide is, is there a change in either ASD and/or the childcare worker subsidy? That is where the bulk of the dollars are currently going, and that's where we'd be able to increase it.

So if we put in approximately, if you put in $480,000, it's give or take, it's gonna be slightly over, That's what it would be. What I would love to hear is from board members. How do you feel about such a split with operation and pilot? And again, I just wanna mention, we've heard over and over again from our providers, at least those who join us and through surveys, that the operational have the greatest impact for the sector, the flexibility, and it just allows them to address their need and be very individual. And just want to hear, folks, how do you feel about either a split, is it still 50/50, do you want more, and do you feel like it needs to be increased more, and if so, what are you recommending?

So with that, I will take discussions. And I see Kevin, your hand is up. Go for it.

You're muted.

Hey, thanks, Trevor. I had a really good beginning there that I completely lost. I'm sorry. I think to kind of address what you were talking about before I get to that, I think as far as the ASD stuff, we should leave it in as fully funded, especially for the letter, because we're kind of coming up with the two extreme cases of no AST funding and full AST funding. And like you said, we don't make the final choice, so we're laying out the two most extreme cases and the assembly can do other stuff.

As far as the, the pilot versus operational funds, I think I was also— I was very much on board last meeting with focusing on the operational funds because we know that's like the most flexible funding and we've heard that's what folks like. But I think after talking with Christina and a lot of reflection, I do, I kind of like a 50/50 split. Because especially if we've got increased uncertainty in the future, if we can buy capital things, which I think of as one-time purchases, right, that make things better, that's maybe more effective if we can't actually do the operational grants in a consistent and reliable way. Like, if our funding is going to be more uncertain in the future because we are backfilling and we are, you know, doing other stuff and trying to fill other holes in the budget, I think it's, it's wise to think about, okay, are there one-time purchases we can help providers make that will create spots and make them more effective? And so I'm, I'm kind of okay with a 50/50 split, also knowing that, again, we're, we're not the final decision makers, so we're kind of We're saying, hey, both these things are valuable to me when I see that budget.

But I really appreciated that context, you put it that way. Like, in the end, they're going to do what they do, right? True, but hopefully we can influence them. Thank you, Kevin. I really appreciate that perspective.

Who would like to go next?

I had a clarification just in terms of the budget that we were looking at. It sounds like from the way you described in the introduction that we're talking about a path forward of saying here's our Plan A proposal and then our Plan B proposal. Is that fair? Yes, and this is really Plan B. If they keep ASD and/or best beginnings in, what does the budget then look like?

Okay, I just want to make sure that, yeah, we're talking about Plan—. The Plan B. Yes. Okay, I'm open to around a 50-50 split between those two categories for the— in that scenario. Can you remind us what those two sets of numbers are if it ends up being 50-50 in that, in that chart?

It's basically just shy of $480,000 would be the amount in each area.

And then Trevor, just for clarification, this year's budget with how much in each of those 2 categories? Uh, operations was $2.4 million, and that was actually an increase this year. And then the operational, uh, worked out to be in capital was $1.25 million.

So one of the questions that I started formulating as I've just been thinking about this is, so $480,000 is basically 20% of what was available. So we're actually decreasing things by 80% in that category. My question would be is, and I don't know if we can answer it, I know there's providers on, maybe they can, is Christina, do we know what, I can't remember what the average payout or operational grant that folks were getting? Because my question is, and let's say it was $2,000. Well, they're losing 80% of that.

So it would actually, if we just did math on the back of the napkin, if they used everything again, the same formula, they would lose 80%. So that would be $400, if I'm correct. 20% Of $2,000 would be $400.

Is it worth us— worth it to them to even apply and even get— like, what does $400 really buy, and is there any value in it, and the value to ask THREDD to do anything? Was that Jessica? Yeah, so from what I remember too, it was based on capacity. So, you know, if you had a large place with a higher license capacity, it was a larger average than if you had a smaller place and it was based on that number. So I don't know if Christina, you have those.

Yeah, I would say we're looking at between 800 $20,000 to up to $37,000.

The previous numbers, or would be the—. What were the previous numbers? So I'm highlighting Trevor's point. I had the same thoughts of cutting up the program 80%. Is that really— that's very much diluting the stretch of these funds when they go to the— when they're distributed amongst all the providers.

So we're losing the impact. Yeah. And remember, and how much does— and just curiosity, quick math, uh, how much did Thread get? Did they get a percentage or just a flat amount for their administrative side of things? I think it was 5%.

Okay, and that seemed reasonable because of the high amount but they're gonna have the same administrative, 5% probably won't cover it. So I'll just say they'll probably at least need 10%. And the question is, will this even be worth it to them and us finding somebody to give out that money? But that's approximately $50,000. So we're dropping it down to 4, it would be about $430,000.

Again, quick math on the back of the number. The question we also have to really try to figure out is, it's great to do it, but is there any value or is it actually, unfortunately, a waste of dollars versus a real investment? Jessica, I see your hand again.

I mean, just to bring another option to the table, you know, I do appreciate what Kevin said about buying capital things. And I wonder about the impact of, you know, cutting it so far. You know, maybe we go with a more drastic cut, like 60/40 or even 75/25. So that way, you know, there is more of a bulk in operational and there's just not as much opportunity this coming year for capital. Um, for right now, thank you, Jessica, for that perspective.

I think that in my opinion, I would rather fund operational as much as we can, even if that means maybe not having pilot or capital this year. And it's not that I don't see the benefit in the capital projects, but I also think there's maybe other funding that providers can look for in private partnerships. Other, I don't know. Entities that provide those fundings, whereas operational, I think, comes mostly from, from us, and they've really been appreciative of that, and it's helped them just really stay afloat. And yeah, I don't— I just don't think a 50/50 split would— it's just such little money going to the operational, it just kind of defeats the purpose, you know, the help that it's supposed to be given to providers.

So I'm leaning more towards that way for sure.

Thank you. And we don't get into the habit, sometimes we're used to voices, but because we can't always see who might be speaking at first, or if I don't call out the name, so especially those in the room, please just state who you are, that way it captures and everybody knows. But I do recognize Georgina's voice. Thanks. Okay.

Thank you.

Can I share, Trevor? Please, Chuck.

I mean, I— both of these do feel very important. I think, to be honest, even when operations was funded at the higher number, I had concern about how spread out it was. I mean, $800 to $30,000 is not nothing, but it's— it's not a transformational investment by any means. And that's always been my understanding of this fund was maybe transformation is not going to happen overnight, but at least like the guiding, what we were trying to do here was move towards a place where places could be sustainable and try out new things. And I'm also reflecting on, I mean, when I first started was the got added into our budget the money for the, uh, the daycare in Girdwood, which needed this massive capital investment, which had spent 40 years or something like that trying to find capital money to rebuild their building that was falling apart.

So, and in the back of my mind, like, yeah, we talk about how there's money out there, but it seems like what I've been seeing is that there's not money out there for big capital investments to make sure that daycares are safe and operational from a very tangible perspective. And so my big concern with doling out very small amounts of money to everyone are, one, we're not going to be making sure that centers and spaces can have that the money they need to make sure their, their places are safe places for kids. I also think it probably down the line will lead to a lot more earmark style of this budget as daycare centers are falling apart and there's assembly members or whoever else who see a building falling apart in their neighborhood and rightfully so say, here's money that we can go build this. And so, I, I mean, I've always said before, but I'm very much in the, the capital pilot camp, and I'm very open to how can we shift things so that it is really health and safety or generating new, new slots for people. Um, but yeah, I mean, I think even at the $960,000 mark, the operations feels like it's not a large enough pool to make a meaningful difference to providers, to any single provider.

And so, yeah, I'm going to vote in whatever way I can to keep capital and pilot alive so that we can make sure that buildings and bigger things can get that investment to have a longer-term impact.

Thank you, Chuck. Other board members? Mildred or Khalil or anybody. Love to hear.

I've been—. Or Brennan. Thank you, Trevor. Go ahead. I've just been trying to really wrap my mind around all of this and just reflect on the impact statements that I've heard from programs and from educators in the field of how the operational assistance really was a great impact to sustain them, also to help them to stay open, of course, and then also just to meet those day-to-day needs.

Our whole goal is, of course, to support programs where they are not closing. We do not need to see another program close, and so I just see the operational grant to be very important. So I'm leaning towards that piece being at a higher number than the capital and the pilot funding. I don't want us to lose focus on that, and I don't want us to totally like zero it out. Um, some— I would like to see some monies there, but the higher budget number for me is definitely that operational.

Thank you.

This is Brantley. Go for it. I just want to say that I think the operational funds, even at the higher number, may keep programs from closing, but they really just kind of kick the can. Like, it's only enough money to be like, okay, we don't have to close this month or in the next few months, but it doesn't really change the situation at all, which is why I lean towards the capital projects too, because I think it's just, just like Chuck said, it's just not enough money. And absolutely, like, I received the operational funds, and of course, when I'm doing the survey, I'm going to say, yes, these were helpful.

Yes, they kept me from closing. But it didn't change anything. You know, it just gave us a little bit more time, which is, I think, that like the impact isn't very long-term.

Thank you. That's very important to hear from a provider's perspective. And I'm assuming if, even if we did the full $980,000, I'm just figuring out the math.

That is only 40%, and I'm guessing— and I would love to hear from your perspective as a provider— yeah, didn't really make much of a change. Is it worth, if you got $30,000, that now you only got 40% of that, or let's say $32,000, because easy would be 40% is $8,000. Is that even of value to you? Or is it really like you'll say thank you, but it's kind of meaningless? Yeah, I mean, I could, I could say it's no value, right?

Obviously it is value how much it is. But, but yeah, I mean, it will feel like just a drop in the bucket of, okay, dig ourselves out of like this month's credit card debt or something. Yeah, nothing will change, right? The way I look at it is the same as like a donation. Like if I'm trying to raise $100,000 to cover a position or a program but I get a check for $1,000, yes, it's meaningful and I appreciate it, but if that's all I receive, it really doesn't allow me to do anything.

So appreciate that. Jessica, I see your hand back up. Go for it. And then I want to go back to any board member that hasn't shared yet.

Yeah, I just wanted to say that the programs that, you know, I've talked to or been a part of their budget, it's been like several years of passing budgets that end up in the negative and eat into the savings and the reserves. So I wouldn't want to make that operational too small. But I don't want to lose sight of the capital as well.

Khalil, anything that you want to add? Yeah, I'm in favor of keeping the pilot and capital as a significant portion. And I mean, I hear what you're saying about the risk of dilution, but I think there is a valuable role. I'm not aware of easy other sources that these places can get this type of funding. I wish it were there, but I'm not aware of major other sources.

Um, one thing I'm wondering is, and I know this is revisiting something from the poll, but it's kind of a strategic question in terms of how do we frame a Plan B with the Assembly. But where this Plan B has full funding for ASD, right, and it still has the Best Beginnings, and I guess I'm interested in revisiting that in terms of From what I'm hearing from everyone, it's a high priority, right, to balance operations and then to some degree the pilot and capital. So to me, those are higher value and higher payoff for the recipients than the, the book program. And I know it's not a huge amount, but, um, that's just a concern I wanted to share. And then I guess I wanted to hear from Trevor and Christina about, for Plan B, is it the right choice to just put in the full funding for for those, those two, and what's the thought process in terms of collaborating with the Assembly and advocacy?

Yeah, let's pull up the budget again so we can look at the numbers. And I appreciate you bringing up, because part of my question was, all right, it's $980,000. Do we increase what money, or $70,000, do we increase that I keep saying 980, sorry. So one, let's have that conversation. And this is where it gets tough.

And just to share with you, from a budgeting standpoint, yeah, it may feel good to have money in both buckets, but this is where we have to really dig deep and determine, is it of value? And what has greater value. And also thinking about operational, I just don't even know if the cost to implement it, if it's even of value to anybody to take these on, or we'd have to do that internally, things of that nature. So this is where the, as they say, the rubber hits the road in trying to make those decisions and looking at that. And so the plan will be that we share with the mayor, and we really don't do any advocacy until the mayor makes a decision and we see what they, they come up with.

And hopefully they go with finding other dollars for ASD and, and Best Beginnings and move— allow us to have our full amount to be able to do things, which we'll talk about. If they don't, our advocacy, and part of it is, is talking to the assembly members and sharing with them what's going on, reminding folks of the history of both the alcohol tax and of this and why they were formed and not doing the backfill and sharing our bigger view and understanding what is the implications of doing this backfill of these programs by shifting them over and how that plays out into the larger picture and do some, really, some advocacy. And I also know other organizations are looking at what do they have to advocate to also make sure that dollars are being true to what the voters wanted or what was being sold to the voters when implemented. And looking at that.

So, and just so you know, one of the things we will be suggesting is rather than just funding Best Beginnings, if they want to do early literacy, one of the things that we want them to start also looking at is not funding specific programs. ASD is a little different, but they could even maybe do that. But if they want early literacy, that they need to come out with a grant program for early literacy and then people apply versus it being a little inequitable that maybe Best Beginnings has got a good relationship with an assembly member and is able to use that and really making it open so all people that may be doing early literacy have equal access or opportunity, I should say, to applying for those dollars. And we'll be recommending that so we don't kind of earmark or specially fund fund programs but fund the work that we're hoping to see happen. So that will also be one of the recommendations.

So Khalil has asked, which I really love, is us coming back and looking at again administration. We dropped down to 9%. We did the child care work subsidy. Just so you know, we've reached out to the state asking them if they're looking at doing the child care work subsidy like we are because they've talked about it. We haven't heard back.

We don't know if that's going to get it. Christina, do you have more info? I have, well, slightly, but they are still working towards wanting to do the workforce subsidy but they're waiting on policy questions from the feds because it's a use of federal funds and so they have to make that work. And then I have a small update on that. They are—.

They have committed to doing startup grants, $500,000 a year for the next 3 years. And they're doing $500,000 a year for the next 3 years to offer telehealth benefits to programs. And then $500,000 for the next 3 years to continue free training. For child care and early education. Right, and Christina, from your past history also, so one, that's great.

So we don't know if they're going to do the child care work subsidy, so we're working off of they aren't. If they do, then we may come back and either decrease that or may not need it at all because they're providing that, so that may open up some dollars, but we can't count on that. And one of the things we've talked about is trying to not stop a program that— I don't want to say programs have become dependent on, but are a need for ongoing to keep the program going. Operational pilot can come and go because of that flexibility. Uh, operational Trevor, you mind if I ask a question?

Yes, please do. For Christina, we had talked briefly, I think at the end of last meeting, about an increase in state subsidies for programs. Can you share some context around that? Does that have any implications for the work we're doing here? I think it does.

So, so there was about $6 million that was added to the child childcare program office that they're distributing through the Childcare Grant Program. And I'm looking at Brianna, who can also share. Oh, it's already done. July was the last one. And there's no plan for— Nope, they just announced it's done.

Okay. It was a pilot. It's over. So regardless, so I just want to say that that program was similar to the operational grants. Because it was a monthly amount that was being distributed through that program for flexible use funds.

There were some categories, but they pretty much covered everything. Um, but it's interesting because they still have that funding ongoing, but how they are going to choose to implement that, I guess we are still waiting to find out. And I can do my best to get more updates for us, but it really would— I see that as still the way that they would distribute those funds through that child care grant program, whether it looks different than— this one was specifically infants and toddlers, then they had added school age, but that is still a vehicle in which they can distribute funds and will still need to distribute these funds. So I think it's worth keeping an eye on that. It is similar to the operational grants.

Great. I was going to ask that similar question, Chuck, so thank you for bringing that up. Khalil. Thanks. Are we voting on these kind of Plan A and Plan Bs today, today, or are we discussing to prepare to vote next month?

And then I had another question. The plan is getting more feedback and we will actually do a vote in August. And I will also work with Christine on the letter so folks see it, and I want your approval as a board that captures our conversation correctly and really get a vote to submit that. So it will be August. Okay, that sounds good.

Yeah, the goal for today is to have— if we could have a draft of both scenarios that is pretty solid from our perspective of a draft, but we will have a space between this meeting and next to collect input, public comment, any feedback that I can then gather and collect for us so that we can see that feedback when we make our final vote in August. So that's one of the things is we kind of want A and B done, and we're going to, by this week, put it out for public comment to get folks' feedback. So that can then be shared in August, any tweaks can be happened, and then a vote is made.

My other question— yeah, please. So just to put Christina on the spot, I feel like there's been several kind of overlapping concerns from board members kind of weighing the pros and cons. Different amounts in a couple of those categories. Did you have any thoughts or insights about balancing those pros and cons that we're kind of going through?

Mostly, I would say that the— we really are as a group split on operational grants and pilots and capitals. I hear Um, I think a few concerns for each are pros and cons. I would say with the operational grants is it seems to be the one that is most wanted by providers and the most flexible and feels consistent. But some of the cons around that is if we can't keep the amount consistent and we also aren't able to say far in advance when they will be receiving the funds and how much exactly they'll be receiving, then it's not really a stability strategy for them. Um, with pilots and capitals, I think some of the concerns with capitals is, you know, we can help a program make improvements, but that doesn't guarantee that they'll stay open.

And how do we ensure that we're really reaching those who need those funds the most, and some cons of looking like changes that we would make to that program and how that could look in the future. Pros of the Pilots in Capitals are really seeing the impact, the high-level impact that it's having maybe on— there's a less amount who are receiving these funds and this impact, but the difference it's making in their program is large. And it's increasing access, it's increasing quality, health and safety, but also it's kind of putting programs on a momentum of this continuous improvement. Like, now I got this, I started to make some of these changes. What else can we do?

Who else can I reach out to for funding? So I think that snowball effect is a really positive piece as well. I know that there were some concerns of revisiting, like, the startup funds. But it's nice to know, that's why one of the main reasons I wanted to give this update, that the state has already committed to doing that for the next 3 years.

Yeah, that's helpful to know for the state, and I think it will be helpful to know as they develop their plans, any other updates in the next month. I will say with the capitals, we, I've been meeting along with Carlos with every recipient of the capital funds, and through those conversations have really learned a lot of challenges and barriers and ways that we can help them be more successful. Some of those include the timeliness of when we get these funds out. Um, waiting till summer, it's impossible to get a contractor, and now if they can get a contractor, the budget, the cost is about double of what they had because people already have their work set up. So that's a challenge.

And wanting to make sure that projects are able to be completed. And if we are setting it up later and is the money not stretching as much, just kind of looking at that. So I will say, if we do, some of the thoughts that I had were if we are going to continue pilot and capital funds, how do we make that happen effective January 1st? Or does it make more sense to— if that's not possible to say, let's pause on pilots and capitals and do them in the next year so that they can have an actual full year of implementation and that lead-up time to getting their award. Like, we set them up for success.

So there, if we choose to keep pilots and capitals in the budget, and I think having a dedicated discussion on how to be most effective, like, what is our target audience for these? What exactly are we trying to accomplish? Do we look at those, make sure everyone's completed their project, or is there a little bit of money for those who need— didn't have enough time to spend their funds, or it didn't stretch as far, etc. So, Keeping that in mind, I think it's just important to have some of that context while we make these decisions now. And the health department did say for next year, pilots in Capital would be able to be on a normal schedule, right?

Like, I raised this in our debrief. It's that we are not— we can use an alternate method than what we've been using. But that means we have to identify the method, come up with the process. That doesn't guarantee that we can start January 1st. And I think as soon as the budget's final in October, if we know pilots and capitals are in there, our number one priority would be to set up, get that going, and make sure that we could successfully do that.

So, uh, just an interesting time, great conversation. We will definitely need conversations of what capital, if we do it. I think Chuck really brought up of like being intentional with those dollars, um, that's just not just general and specify what we're seeking and things of that nature. And then we will actually prep and get ready that if the budget is approved, that we're able to launch it pretty fast and be quicker than what we have been able to be. So there'll be some prep work that's done prior to that, things are lined up and not last minute.

So let's have a conversation and just look again, doing numbers. If we zeroed out, please, Best Beginnings, I would actually be comfortable with really having that conversation, but let's look at the number. We put a lot of money into our libraries. There are libraries in specific, I know everybody can't get there, but it's free. There's opportunities for early literacy in that way without having to pay for the books to arrive at home.

It does change maybe some access, but Again, things have— there has to be give and take. Nothing's going to be full. That just takes us up over $1 million. So other options that you have, because we can't touch Treasury, there's really no room in admin because we still need those dollars for the 2 staff members and you need some of that cushion, is having a conversation of do we— and we saw this data, it will change the number of classrooms and so forth. But if we brought down ASD down to 75% versus, um, 100, we would need to go back to the presentation.

I don't know if anybody remembers, but what that changes for the number of classrooms and kids that are served. And then we— um, great. And then one moment. And then we can also go, well, we're going to cap the child care worker subsidy that, yeah, we want it, but we're only going to be able to serve approximately 100 families versus 125, and we drop it down to 1.3 or something of that nature. So we do have some space, but again, I really encourage us to really be thinking about— this is again the hard decisions.

Don't try to fund everything so we feel good. Let's really think about the impact and what we're trying to do and what has the best return on investment, which may mean we just have to say no to something as much as we want it and go with the higher return on investment. And that's never easy to do, but that's what we're charged to do. Christina, do you wanna just share on that ASD thing? And then I will come to you, Jessica, with your hand up.

75% Funding would mean $750,000. That could fund 7 classrooms. 100%. And they're currently funding 8 or 9? 8.

Okay, so it changes by 1 classroom.

And a mental health coach as well. I'm just letting— reminding us that's in there for both 100% or 75%.

Okay, Jessica, I see your hand up.

I just had a question. I know that the contractor for the child care worker subsidies had a larger administrative cost. Obviously, it's a little bit more time burdensome than the operational dollars to get out, but we also considered that that would be— make sense because they were starting up those processes in the last year and a half. In the next year, have we considered lowering those administrative costs?

We haven't had that conversation. It's currently, as Christina said, it's 5%. I actually thought it was a fixed amount and not a percentage.

Can you confirm it was 5% and not a fixed rate?

I can— was higher. I don't have it now.

I have to pull up the contracts.

So give us a few minutes to do that if we could just continue. Okay.

And that is a potential and/or question could be, and we could ask staff because we're bringing Carlos, under us— no, is it Carlos? My apologies, I'm blanking on your name, Carlos. Is it Carlos?

No. Yes, Carlos. It is Carlos. I was trying to think, I have a Carlos that works for us in another way and I was getting folks confused. My apologies, Carlos.

Under us, do we have the capacity to maybe administer it ourselves and is there value in that? Is an internal question. So let's look at just for conversational, like if we dropped down to 75% for ASD, just so you see, can you change that million to 750?

Sorry, I was just making sure I let everyone in.

There you go. Okay, so it's just shy of $1.3 million that could then be available, which is about the same amount that we did capital this year., and I think there would be conversations when we would want to round capital and/or pilot, and do we do both or is it just going to be capital, um, and having that impact. Um, so these are the numbers. What I would like is, um, uh, we're going to kind of do— what I would like is somebody to propose something, and it's not a vote, an official vote. What we're going to do is like a straw vote meaning I want to see what people are recommending and people then raise— raising our hands and taking that straw poll vote.

So when Christine and I then get together and formulate this budget that we are then able to put it out to the— it is very much aligned with all what you feel as a good draft budget to put forward to the public for comment. And then we'll do the official vote, which is approval of those in August.

Does that make sense to everybody?

Can I always take silence as a yes?

Yes. So like right now what you see is we got 1.28, so I'd love folks to propose leave as is and put that 1.28 in X, or no, I want ASD as full and then the rest? Can someone make a proposal so we could— and I could do that if that's helpful, uh, and then we take a vote, and it's a straw poll vote. I can start. Please, Khalil.

Okay, so to slightly modify, I would propose the ASD June to December to go to 50%, actually, for discussion. Okay.

And then keep best beginnings at 0, and so then the difference should increase, right? Yeah, yeah, I'm getting there. Sorry.

Then I propose 50/50 for operational and pilot capital.

Okay, I kind of want to see what this looked like. Part of my concern, and the reason I'm mentioning this for discussion, is if we hand over a Plan B that's not that close to what the board wants, I think it makes it a lot easier for that to be pursued. And so I wanted to see what this looked like to see if this would be closer to what the board thinks is a reasonable Plan B. Because I support Trevor, what you said earlier about certain buckets coming from the alcohol tax or other sources, you know, because I think many of us are in favor of overall increasing the broader investment from the city into these types of programs. Programs even beyond the $5 or so million.

Okay, thank you. And recognize that, yeah, we have a difference of $862. We'll figure out those numbers later. So for a point of discussion, so what I would like to do is just a vote and just see where people land on this. And what we're going to do, if we can, And I don't know if we'll be able to see everybody.

If we can, what I would like is either a thumbs up, which is yeah, I approve this, a thumbs down, I disagree, or in the middle, like, uh, I'm not all the way there. And it gives us a sense of where people are landing. And now I see people, so if we can take a look, get a sense of this, 'cause I'm gonna go back to full view.

So, oh, don't get so technical, Christina. I think leaving it that amount that you had, a little leftover money is fine. Okay, it's so slow here. Sorry, the computer. Yeah, that's okay.

All right, so we'll vote. Wait, can you tell us again how, what the difference is from that money in the bucket and the 2026 bucket for the operational grants and the councils? Yeah, so the operational was $2.4 million. Okay. So this is, uh, $765,000 divided by— it is, uh, basically a decrease of just shy of 70% of what people got.

Okay, go back to full view of everyone, or stop, stop showing. Yeah, so I can see folks. Okay, great. Um, so again, thumbs up, thumbs down, or in the middle for board members. Uh, go for it.

And I think, uh, Kevin, if you're still on, if you can't do camera, if you can at least voice it.

And let's vote.

I'm a—. Yeah, same as you, Trevor. I think I'm more of a thumbs up if we have the context of saying like we don't want to reduce funding for ASD, that it should— like if we're very clear, it should come from a different source.

Okay, I can't see everybody. We'll just ask Mildred, where are you at? I'm just going to call on people. Yeah, it's too hard to watch. For me, it's thumbs down.

Okay, Jessica?

Sideways, same as you, Trevor. Khalil? Thumbs up. Okay, Chuck? Um, I'm like in the middle.

Like, if this was a compromise that came around, I think I would would be okay with it. But I, I think I'm still trying to figure out, based on last meeting, this meeting, I actually don't have a good sense of what the actual split on operations versus pilot and where the board is leaning. Like, I've been trying to go based on what people are saying, and I—. There's—. Seems like there's 3 people who are pretty strong pilot, 3 people who are pretty strong operations, and then 3 people I'm trying to like figure out where they land.

And so my My concern, I think, with jumping right to this is like, I don't know that we've kind of gone through the harder decisions before kind of coming to, to a compromise. Because if it is 6-3 in, in one direction either way around making hard decisions, right, about going all capital or all operations, like, I would rather know that, uh, before kind of splitting it. So I'm in the middle. Okay. Thanks.

Yeah, it's hard and it's just trying to— I guess I'm taking a temperature gauge is what this idea is. Brenwen? Thumbs down.

Georgina? Uh, thumbs in the middle. Okay, I captured everybody, right? Did I miss anybody?

Okay, all right, pull the budget back up. So there's a lot of middle, so I would love to hear from somebody to propose what would help you get that thumbs up, or even those who did thumbs down, what change do you want, or what do you want us to maybe take into account to figure out and be able to bring you— to figure out how we, um, where we land.

I'll kick it off. For me, what it comes down to is I'm fine. I'm feeling more comfortable with 75 ASD, just has a well-set-up system. High quality, very functional, and 50% really drops the impact. And it's in Title I schools, the highest rate.

I'd feel more comfortable with 75%. And the big question I have, which I think we need to do internally, is figure out where is splitting up operation capital even worth it? What does that really look like for return on investment? And/or looking at the data determining where the dollars go. And so I want to propose that we actually keep ASD at 75, and for purposes of— because we're not finalizing the conversation— the leftover dollars I want split between operational and pilot.

And what we're going to do is put this out, and I want to— we'll put this out for comments. I'm curious to hear from providers And what we will do is I'll work with Christina that when we put this out, that we actually generate some very specific questions for providers to help them gauge to us what will have the greatest impact or support to them. Is it capital or operation or both and why? And really get their feedback to help us look at the data and determine what that final budget looks like and get their, their perspective, but also buy-in, because that's who I need to hear from. And I loved when I was hearing from Brenwyn about, about her perception of it as a provider.

It was very powerful to me because they're living it and that's who we need to rely on. So that's what I would propose and it would get me to a thumbs up.

I agree with everything you just said, Trevor. Wow, you just pretty much said what I was thinking, that that would definitely make me feel more comfortable with the thumbs up. 75% For ASD. These are Title I schools, so I know that there's a need there. And then hearing from the field, if it's going to be more impactful for the operational grants or the pilot, I want to hear from the field.

Thank you. And when we generate those questions, we'll send them out to the board to share. So you can add if there's a question that you want to hear from providers, one, let us know now or let Christina know, or you can add them because we want to make sure that we're getting you the information that will help you make the best decision possible.

So let's stop sharing, and I've just built off of what Khalil added and go How do people feel about that? Is that a thumbs up, thumbs down, or in the middle?

Kevin, you raised your hand. Go for it. Oh, I was trying to say— trying to do the thumbs up thing, but I don't understand how Teams works. Found it now. OK.

So I'll give you a thumbs up as well. I got thumbs up. Khalil? I'm good with moving forward with that for the Plan B. Discussion.

We'll get to Plan A. Yep. Jessica?

Thanks. Mildred?

Thumbs up. Great. Chuck? Sounds good. Thank you.

Brendwyn? Fabulous. Georgina? Yeah, that's fine. All right, good.

Great discussion, and I know we're all struggling with this. This is the tough work, uh, it's never, uh, never easy. So thank you all for that. Uh, let's put back up the budget. Uh, we might not get to some of the other things, uh, but we do want to make sure we have room for public comment.

Uh, so this is without ASD and Best Beginnings. So, um, this is again admin at 9%.

Let's take, take out operational and pilot so they can just see the difference.

We still cap the child care workers at the 1.5 and of course Treasury. So if we don't do operational and pilot, well, sorry, so with What we were talking about before and taking out ASD, it's just shy of $3 million. And how would you like operational and pilot? And again, we will share this, and I think the questions that we ask of providers will help us make this final decision in August as well. But what I would suggest is we look at this and divide it up 50/50, just like we were doing in the other budget, as a draft, and then get the public's comment with those specific questions to make us go forward.

That's what I'm suggesting and would love to hear if people are comfortable with that. So 50/50, it's just approximately $1.5 million in each bucket, a little less, obviously. So how do people feel with that moving forward? The same as what we're doing in Plan B.

Trevor, question on that. If I'm remembering the last budget numbers right, which I know you've been reminding us of, I mean, wouldn't operational around Like, I guess, wouldn't piloting capital around $900,000 or $1 million and then putting $2 million in operations be a little bit closer to the last year?

Yes, that could be approached as well. Yeah, and just to remind, yeah, we actually started with, yeah, $1.25 So we did 1 million and 2 million. It drops each, but it's a little bit closer. I love that approach. It's a little proportional just for brainstorming.

Uh-huh.

Uh, I think that's great. How do people feel? I was just saying, they see me pressing the buttons. It's just really not translating. Sorry.

That's okay. We're hearing you.

How do people— I think that's great. Again, based off what Keel said— Khalil, I should say, said we'll make it $2 million, $1 million, and then we put it forward. How do people feel? And let me make this quicker. Does anybody oppose what's being suggested?

And again, it's just straw poll. We make a final decision in August. Okay, great.

I think we have what we're gonna put forward. I'll work with Christina. As we are working on other things, if there are specific questions that you would like around the budget to hear from providers or the public, so we're putting this out that you would like answered, please either put that in the chat or email Christina. And again, we will develop some quick questions. It will be quick and easy, and then we'll share that with you all to get your feedback, and then we'll put it out.

And this will be a fast turnaround because we need this done and put out with enough notice so people can give their comments, and we're reaching as many people as possible.

Christina, am I missing anything on budget? Nope. All right. Again, thank you all. Really rich conversation, and I hear the struggle in everybody's voice.

Hence why wouldn't it be nice if we at least had the $5 million and/or maybe $10 million, and we're going to work towards that as well. So, all right.

Uh, let me look here. I'm jumping to the agenda comment. So do we end at 11 o'clock or do we end at—. We end at 11. 11.

Okay. All right. In my head it was 10:30, so good. Um, let's jump into— we're not too far off then. Oh, that was really good.

All right, strategic plan updates. Christina.

Okay, okay.

Thank you. So I will just be providing a quarter 2 update.

And this one is focused a little less on the graphics since the system has been down, but just to ground everyone, our strategic plan is intended to move the ACE Fund forward towards its purpose of strategically investing and collaborating so children and families have access to sustainable, high-quality childcare and toward our 3-year vision of stronger, more sustainable sector.

So, high-level overview on our progress. We have completed and are on track at quarter 2 with our investment strategy. So, developing our budget, sharing information with the assembly.

Executive director transition has— is complete. We've got program goals and reporting requirements established and our data and evaluation committee established. Um, what we have underway is really refining in that data and evaluation committee to develop the evaluation metrics that are deeper than just the reporting requirements that we want to know from our programs. Uh, collecting baseline data, upping our communications and program summaries. So being able to share publicly on the website and through other opportunities with what our programs have accomplished in their first year and in this second year, and building partnerships across the sector.

So next, coming up next in the next quarter, we want to focus on continuing to develop a plan to get the community assessment work completed, or started, I should say, program evaluation, refining our programs based on data, and making sure our budget recommendations are informed by our strategic priorities.

So, 6 months in, I wanted to highlight for everyone how our plan, the strategic plan, is shifting the way we operate. It's focusing on being more intentional. We're building evaluation into the work instead of measuring after the fact. Our budget decisions are being tied back to our priorities. So this feels like a significant shift from reacting to, to opportunities towards making intentional investments.

And that's aware in the budget discussion we've been having earlier. We're building infrastructure, so we've got positions onboarded. We're looking at how to best use my position and Carlos's position to support the ACE Fund, data and evaluation work is underway. We're working towards the community assessment just to give us that stronger data to help our decision-making. So none of these maybe are particularly flashy, but they do create the foundation for better decisions over the next several years.

And then systems organization, just, um, again, based on today's conversation, instead of asking like, Should we fund this? We're looking at how does this move the system forward and what's having the greatest impact when we implement these programs.

So I wanted to use our update time today to do a little reflection from everyone. So I'd love to have participation and maybe go around and get a quick statement from everyone just in reflection. When we adopted this plan last fall, what were you hoping would be different one year later?

Anyone can jump in. I know I put mountains in there, but we don't have to think that big.

This is Trevor. I'll help kick it off. What I was hoping for was a clearer path forward of mapping the landscape and, uh, of, and direction on how we were going to start getting some key data to help really figure out not just the need, but what are the gaps in understanding the, the system. Um, and because I see many of our questions come up with that, uh, bubble up to that info. But we're not able to answer it.

So we struggle not just as a board, but as a community because of it, and really feel like we need to lean into it.

And I, I think to help us with this reflection, Then I have 2 questions total, and the next one is, as we enter the second half of the year, what would you really like to see us focus our energy on? Once we get past the budget discussion, which is a pretty large, heavy piece to get through, we have time in our agendas to really focus and just have other discussions. So, if it helps for you to think of these 2 questions together, do so, right? And, and then when you're giving your feedback, but really, what were you hoping to see at the end of the first year? And since we're halfway there, what do you want to see us focus on in the next month?

I, I think I would like to see a little more focus on collecting and processing data about the programs. I think we've done a good job. I think do more. So maybe focusing on that. I know we had like one meeting of the committee and then kind of drifted off.

So maybe starting that again, working on that.

That was Georgina, by the way. Thank you for leading that.

I would agree with Georgina. I think I'd like us to focus on evidence of effectiveness and data. And sort of structuring things too so that we've got metrics that are just getting collected every year kind of automatically, that we're not changing stuff year to year. We're kind of building for the long term.

Others? I agree that that data piece is— this is Brandon— that data piece is really important. I think a lot of these decisions might be easier for us if we had a better understanding of the, what's the field in general. Like, sometimes we're talking about, oh, providers, and we need to understand, like, sometimes we're talking about, we have a pool, like, a few really large providers that are huge nonprofit organizations, and then we have a bunch of home providers, and then we have some private businesses in the middle, but we don't really have an idea of what that mix is, at least I don't, and I don't know when we're thinking about the numbers of like, okay, how much is this and how much is that? And so having a better understanding of that as a board, I think, would help us.

I agree with what everyone has shared. Definitely elevating the data piece, diving more deeper in that information. More impact statements, what are the barriers. So gathering more data from those that have been recipients of the ACE funds and also those that have not, just to see like what were the barriers, what more support did you need to apply for these grants. So I would be very interested in that.

And as far as more energy, As we move forward, definitely more information, more marketing. I'm sorry, more marketing of what this board is doing, more marketing on when applications are released. Just a sense of who we are. I'm talking to lots of people and they're like, wait, what is that? What is that?

So I guess just more marketing. As far as energy in the future. Thank you.

Yeah, I would agree. I'm kind of hearing—. Go ahead.

No, you can go first. You sure? You're just like a voice from God. Yeah, I think around I think I'm thinking maybe hearing two different versions of data as well. One is like the program effectiveness or program impact, but I also heard some about like, like the field overall and having a clear understanding of where that is.

And I think I was hoping for potentially by this point, maybe more of an understanding of like, are there acute areas of crisis that could really, really benefit from a $5 million investment. And I mean, I think I've heard, right, like, oh, infant care is where like the real crisis is right now, or things like that. And so I think I was hoping for a bit more clarity around those driven by data and also talking to actual people, that sort of stuff. And then I think looking forward, what I'm hoping for I think everything that's already been said, and I'll just add one that maybe I hadn't heard said, which I think at the strategic planning retreat we did at the library, I think there was a lot of discussion about how an executive director could really help us and be like a leader in the field of bringing people together and kind of building beyond just the $5 million that we have. And so I'm excited to hear if there are conversations happening and kind of what is what does that look like more from a momentum perspective, collaboration perspective, like bringing people together perspective that can really make this go beyond the set amount of dollars that we have.

This is Jess.

I wanted to say I really like that piece that you talked about with the partnerships and the data that people were talking about. It also makes me think about, you know, the community assessment. I know smaller communities have done really good community assessments, and having that data on what our community needs, I feel like, would be helpful.

Thank you. Anybody else?

I think a priority for the coming, you know, months of work would be what Christina touched on earlier of getting the amounts out earlier in the year, like as early as possible, which I think we had wanted to do this year, but obviously there's pragmatic things and working with the city, but I think that should be a priority for the coming year, and I had hoped that would be in process. I think it's a good, good point from earlier.

Great, that is really helpful feedback. I think that, um, It's a good time midway into the year to collect some of that so that we can really focus our energies and prioritize moving forward how to best implement our strategic plan with where we are now. Next time I can bring more visual progress on the dashboard. Hoping that it's working, but today just the update to focus less on where we're checking boxes and more on whether the strategic plan is helping how we lead. From my perspective, it is, and just the feedback from today already gives me some great ideas on how to do that in a way that really meets what you're all looking for in the future.

So, yeah.

Great. Thanks, Christina.

Next on the agenda was I just wanted to talk about meeting logistics or structure.

More and more people are doing Zoom, meet, joining via Zoom. Some people are in the room, and when you have two mediums, so some people in the room, some people on Zoom, it's one, not just hard to facilitate but participate. And it would be helpful if we picked one. And I recognize with people's schedules and so forth and wanted to suggest to see if we as a board just wanted to meet via Zoom, because even our public, most of them join via Zoom. They don't come down and listen and so forth.

And set our meetings that way versus worrying about meeting rooms and so forth. And then what we can do is like any once a year at least we get together as a retreat, or maybe it's, uh, every few months, something of that nature. But wanted to talk to you all about moving us to be fully Zoomed, and then we'd be establishing intentional in-person meetings versus it being just our regular monthly meeting. How do people feel about that? Yes, when I started coming in person.

I personally, I focus better when I'm here in person. It's hard for me to focus online, especially if all the kids are around. So it's helpful for me to be here, but I understand where you're coming from. I will work on that if everyone wants to go online for sure.

Others? I'm always in person. I'm a diehard believer in in-person, but I recognize there's more board members online than there are in person. I guess I would say I think I have found it very helpful to even be able to like chat and connect with people on the walk out in a way that Like, I think people who have always been online, I don't know that I've ever had an individual conversation with, and I like, we just started chatting a little bit right before the meetings, after the meetings, not in a like official capacity in any way. But I do think that, I don't know, I guess I would advocate for more than once a year in person, and we are going to be moving to online, but I can make whatever whatever the will of the board is.

Okay, I'll be the online person who says that I prefer being in person as well. Um, just it's nice having the flexibility for days like today. I don't know if you can hear my kids in the background yelling. There's a Nerf gun war happening and I think somebody's losing. Um, I appreciate the flexibility for days like today where I can't make it in person, but all things equal I think in-person meetings are easier to focus on.

Right. Well, hopefully it's you that's losing, Kevin, and they're just pelting you with those Nerf pellets.

And I so want to be in the house right now and playing. It does make work more exciting.

Dodging the bullets while trying to type those papers. Exactly.

And just to be clear, like, I get, like, I'm a Zoom today because I'm in Nashville, not because I'm at home or in my office, and to be able to participate, and it allows me, and we don't want to, if we, we wouldn't lose Zoom, but I'm trying to also just find a way to either minimize, or how do we as a group, if we're going to be in person, how do we authentically make make sure we try to be there in person as much, and/or if that's not possible, do we need to change the time? Or again, I'm talking about looking at Zoom and maybe doing the intentional meets. So, and open to other ideas and what works maybe in other groups that you really like, you might want to share. Khalil, I saw you unmuted. Did you have something you want to share?

Nothing in particular. I mean, I try to come in person when I'm in when I'm available, and I'm also out of state on vacation.

So I like having the option that we currently have, but I understand that you have the burden of coordinating with everyone, so it's a little different. I appreciate if you need to change it.

I'm open either. I can— if we are really like wanting our board members to be in person, then let me know and I can make some adjustments. But if not, I'm good with online.

Okay. Has anybody not shared?

So maybe what I'm hearing, I actually like— Jessica, did you not share? And I just saw you on mute. I didn't share. I think I like both, but I do think it would be nice to make some intentional time, you know, like We had a board retreat and, you know, so that way we could kind of delve a little deeper and be intentional about being present and together in the same room. Okay.

What I'm hearing is, which touches me, is that we actually want to see each other and interact with each other. So that's always a good sign that we like each other at least. And there is great value. I find great value. I'm like you, Chuck.

When I show up, those conversations before and after, even when they're just personal conversation, it builds a relationship that allows us to then have those trusted and open conversations when they're tough conversations like we were just having around budget. So what, maybe what we need to do is do some like little bit of group agreements and we can draft something like we intentionally will Show up in person. Yeah, there's the times when I've got a sick kid and I have to be at home, but I still want to participate. So we have you get Zoom or we're traveling and thank you, Khalil, you're on vacation and you're taking time for this and I appreciate it. I'm here for work, so I just stepped aside because this is my role.

So having this as an option, I've just noticed that we lean towards it a little more and that we just need to lean the other way and try to be in person if we can, with the option of Zoom to allow that full participation, because it's very valuable. Because I also don't want to find us not having a quorum because everybody's traveling and then we don't have a meeting, right? So we can maybe draft a little agreements to start as a draft, and we can discuss those at next meeting and finalize so we all agree of how we're going to be showing up to our meetings and what that looks like. Does that sound good to everybody?

Okay, great. I just have one quick logistics piece for the next meeting in August. It does fall on the first day of school for ASD, and I think there are a few members who have some challenges with that being right at 9 AM and our meeting. So I'd like to put out there, maybe proposing if we could meet 10 to 12 that day, or even 9:30 might help, or if others want to give a different suggestion. Um, I don't think it's going to conflict with the whole morning, but I think there's a few who would like to do that first day of school drop-off piece.

Yeah. Um, so one, is somebody impacted by it? Does that make sure Chuck, okay, great. So, I'll probably be a little—. If it starts at normal time.

Great. Is anybody else impacted? I am, Christina. Okay, yeah, no, you're very essential as well. I see Jessica as well.

Is that raising your hand or saying you're impacted, Jessica?

Impacted. Thank you. Just wanted to make sure. Okay, so for those impacted, what is most helpful? Is it changing by a half hour or an hour?

Kindergarten, so I have no idea. I've got no information other than I need to bring my child at a certain time, and so I think probably 9:30 would be fine. I can't imagine they're going to keep us for longer than half an hour, but I have no clue either. Anybody else? Does just changing by half an hour work, or do you want that full hour just to cover things?

And then we'll check to see if that works for the board members. Since we decided in person, I would prefer an hour just travel time. That means getting back downtown. So, okay, from 10 AM. Does anybody have problems shifting this August meeting from 9 to 10.

And as I'm asking, I'm looking— what date is that meeting again? It's August 19th. And only focused on the voting for the budget too. It doesn't need to be a full 2-hour. Okay.

Okay.

Or we can take it offline if we can't get people on.

Solution. I'm able to— I can start later.

Does the going from 10 to 12 impact anybody?

Okay, we're missing one board member, correct? Are we? Yes, Jesse. Yeah, so, well, let's make sure that she knows. We'll send something out, but we will switch August from 10 to 12.

Great. Thanks for bringing that up.

Okay. All right. We're pretty well on time. So I want to just open up for public comment. If anybody— I don't think there's anybody public at the meeting itself, so I think all the public is online.

So just raise your hand and I will take public comment.

I will try to keep it to— please try to keep it around 2 minutes. I'm not going to use a timer because it doesn't seem like a lot of people have it, but please just respect that time. And we'll start with Laura, you're number 1.

Hi guys, thank you. So a few things, and I'll try to keep it in 2 minutes. And the first one is just a very easy question, uh, is how will, um, I know when the public comment period is for this? Will there be an email or will it be on the website? What's the best way to stay informed?

So, uh, it will be through on the website. We will also put out an email as well as we will ask many of our partners that have great distribution lists to also send it out. So we're going to try multiple ways, and if you specifically want to make sure that you get an email, if you put it in the chat, Christina will have it and she'll make sure that you are aware of it as well. Christina, am I missing anything? Nope, and I will be adding that you can submit public comments in writing as well during the period, but you nailed it.

We're going to use every Yeah. Okay. All right. Anything else, Laura? Yeah, I do have a couple of just quick things while you're here, or while we're here, and I'll put this in the public comment.

But while the most of the board members are here, I'd love to share these thoughts quickly. One is on the child care worker subsidy. Absolutely great. We love it. But as far as our particular— and I'm with Anchorage Montessori School, I forgot to say I say that.

For our particular situation where we give 50% and 75% discounts, that those funds make a huge difference to our budget, and we have— we can't plan for them because we have no idea if we are going to receive our funding, our portion of funding, that the tuition for the staff members. Until December, which was way past the end of our fiscal year, and this makes a big difference. So it's just a, just a comment of my, of our situation here at Anchorage Montessori. Another quick comment is the discussion between the operational and capital pilots. Just like to share my experience and thoughts as a provider who is very fortunate enough to have received the capital funding both years, and it has made a huge impact and been able to give us, let us do some projects that were much needed in the school.

However, it's my thought that the operational, that it'd be more, all of that go to operational if, you know, worst case scenario budgets happen. And my reasoning for that is because that goes to everybody. That's distributed to everybody who applies, as opposed to those lucky few of us who are able to receive the capital pilot funds. And then last thing, last thing. Actually, Laura, we're a little bit over and I see about 5 people, so if you want to put it in the chat, but I do need to move on.

But thank you so much for joining us. Amy, please introduce yourself and who you're with, and you have 2 minutes.

Thank you. My name is Amy Collins. I know many of you. I'm the executive director of Best Beginnings. I'm also a mom of 3.

I've got boys ages 11 to 6, so I still very much live in the child care world, having, you know, kids who are still quite young in need of child care. So I just wanted to come on and say say thank you to the board, first of all, for your diligence on the budget. I know it's not easy work. We know that there's more need than there are resources, so I recognize that. I also just want to provide my perspective working in school readiness and education, both in Anchorage and statewide.

Um, you know, when this tax fund was passed, the second named function of it was to dedicate funding— provide funding for reading programs specifically for child care and early education programs.. And so I've been surprised in some discussions to hear comments like using funding for early literacy may not be what the, this fund was intended to do. And I just want to provide that clarification perspective as someone who's watched this fund come alive over the years and had various board members engaged in building this program. And so whether it's Best Beginnings, Anchorage Library, or another program, to me is irrelevant. I just want to I also want to share my perspective as a parent that these home-based programs are part of our early education system, are incredibly important, and something that voters were thinking of and aware of when this proposition language was passed.

So I also would love to see early literacy still be part of the budget in any capacity that the board decides. I think it's especially difficult to imagine cutting programs for kids that do reach more children for pilot and capital projects that might benefit 50 to 100 kids that we don't know what those projects are going to be. Like Laura, I also believe that as equitably as the fund can be distributed to as many kids in our, in our area is my personal preference. I also have experience with my youngest where there was no child care center for his special or medical needs that was best for his development. My My husband was a stay-at-home dad, and so we relied on home supports for his education and for our support as a family.

And so even a $400 reduction in child care tuition would not have made child care accessible for our family. And I just hope we keep those families like mine in mind when we're making those budget decisions. So thank you. Thank you, Amy. Vicki, please introduce yourself and who you're with, and you have 2 minutes.

You're muted.

Are you able— are you still with us, Vicki?

You look maybe frozen, so I'm going to move to Melanie and I will come back to you. Melanie, please introduce yourself and you have 2 minutes.

Awesome. Hi, thank you, Trevor, and to the, the entire board. My name is Melanie Hooper, President and CEO of Camp Fire Alaska. Similar, I just want to thank you all for really the incredibly difficult job you have with limited resources. You can hear it in the difficult decisions you're all having to make.

I'll try to be succinct. You know what I would just say is child care operating grants continue to be the most important funding source for providers, not only for us, but I hear this all the time in advocacy work in Juneau locally and working and partnering with providers across the state and here locally. I think keeping this at either flat funding and reducing other line items is really a priority. I would love to advocate strongly that both Budget A and Budget B have the Muni prioritizing operating grants as the single largest line item. I do have concerns about a Plan B budget going to the Muni and giving them kind of an easy option not to direct the alcohol tax funding to youth and children and prevention as it was originally intended.

I agree with the other comments today that I think operating grants are one of the most equitable distributions of funds. That, you know, to as many providers as possible. So looking at how those funds are reaching large numbers of youth and families. Also, I want to just address one of the pieces of conversation today about the operating grants. If there's a reduction at the ACE fund level, that's— the state of Alaska has operating grants that could potentially, you know, help soften that.

What I'd like to clarify is that the state funds The state operating grants that we've been getting for the last 2 years as a sector, these have been in addition to the ACE funds. And I think it's really important that the sector needs sustainable braided operational funding from multiple sources. We need that at all levels of government, private-public partnership to really offset and continue to offset the cost for families and the cost for providers. And I'm just going to speak just for a moment to the age sector. I think that we are unique in the child care space.

We're sometimes left out of conversation, and I would just like to continue to emphasize that decisions are continuing to be to benefit all ages, birth to 12. School age providers have year-round and fixed costs that are not always considered in rate setting and formulas. And something we've been seeing in the last year, but particularly the last 2 months, there's some really concerning trends. In the school-age sector. I would say child needs are changing at a rate I have never seen in my 25-plus year of working in the sector.

Behavioral mental health supports, the amount of resources that we're having to put into our programs right now to support changing youth behaviors, to support staff and families and youth in that setting are significant. And we're seeing in the last 2 months a downward enrollment trend that we have not seen, and it's happening nationally, it's happening locally for school-age in particular, and affordability is—. I'm gonna have to wrap it up, Melanie. Okay, I'll put it in the chat. Thanks so much, Trevor.

Thanks. Sorry, all great information and just never enough time. Uh, Vicki, I see that you're back and you froze, uh, so I'm going to put you back into the queue. So you have 2 minutes, go ahead. Perfect.

Sorry about the technology there, but my name is Vicki Longleather. I'm the co-executive director of the Alaska Center and the Alaska Cancer Center Education Fund, where we operate Trailside Discovery Camp, which is a licensed school-aged child care program and also an American Camp Association accredited summer camp. And our camp has 275 slots weekly and serves over 1,000 youth in Anchorage and surrounding areas. I wanted to talk here and encourage the board to be really cautious about shifting funding from operational grants to capital projects. Decreasing operational grants by like 70% is kind of jarring to, to hear.

Like, the operational grants are the most flexible funding source available to all providers, allowing us to respond to the greatest challenges that we're facing, whether that's staffing, utilities, rent, or keeping parent fees affordable. They have the broadest impact and gives us the most flexibility. Now, capital funds are valuable, but they don't— they're not the ones that keeps the light on or retains staff or makes things more affordable for people. And as a provider, we might close due to the lack of operational dollars. So in my opinion, operational grants are the most equitable because every provider can use them to meet the day-to-day costs that they need in their program regardless of what program they are.

I also ask that school-age programs continue to be this centered in funding decisions. Like, we serve children year round and have significant operation costs and are seeing increase, like Mel had mentioned, about behavioral and mental health needs that require such additional support. I have to say enrollment is declining. Like, we're seeing that families are struggling to afford care, and these grants are the ones that help bridge the gap so we don't have to put the full cost of, of rising things like our vans, our fuel cost is so high now with gas prices. And so we're helping to ensure that children have a safe and quality care instead of—.

Where are they? They're probably at home on screens and in less appropriate situations. So in my opinion, operational funding is a priority in both Budget A and Budget B, and asking to put pressure on the muni to fund the very critical, important pre-K program through the alcohol tax fund. So thank you for your time today and your commitment to children. Thanks.

Thank you, Vicki. All right, we'll go back in the queue. Melanie, if you want to drop your hand down, and Vicki. But I believe, Nate, you're next. 2 Minutes.

Nate Root, the president and CEO with the YMCA of Alaska. Thank you to the ACE board and staff for all the hard work and hard decisions you face. I love going after Mel and Vicki because I can save you all time and just say, "Did 'em." It is literally everything that they brought up the YMCA programs face. I fully agree with everything they stated, that the increased behavioral emotional needs that children are having nowadays and what that has done to impact our staff and the increased training. The operational operational grants should be looked at as more of sustainability grants.

Those are sustaining programs. Without those grants, we're at risk of additional programs closing or reducing services. That's not going to help anyone out at this stage. So making sure there's as much in those operational grants as possible will have the greatest benefit to the community, in my opinion. Again, I echo everything that Mel said.

I echo everything that Vicki said. And as well, to reference what the board was discussing in terms of data, the Y is happy to share anything you want from our programs as well as get testimonials. So please reach out if there's anything there you'd like. And I'll give you guys another minute back. Thank you, Nate.

Appreciate it. Cristina, please introduce yourself and who you're with, and you have 2 minutes.

Thank you. My name is Gustavo Espilicueta, and I'm talking on behalf of my wife Cristina, which is the administrator of a childcare-based home. And I just want to say that the support and financial support from government municipality or the muni from— or the state or federal support is essential for us to keep running the child care and to have people well qualified to help Christina to maintain all the running the child care. And I just want to say thank you, and I hope we, we maintain to receive some support because otherwise it's not possible to maintain open in the long term. We have 5 years with 2 caregivers helping part-time with full-time kids and everything, but it's, it's not easy.

To keep this thing running, but thanks, thanks for all you do. It's all what I have to do to say. Thank you.

Thank you so much. And Cindy, please introduce yourself and you have 2 minutes.

Hi, my name is Cindy. I am the director over at You muted yourself by accident, Cindy.

Again, I'm Cindy, the Trojans Discovery Camp Director. I'm also a parent of 5 wonderful boys. They're ages 8 to 19, so most of my boys are, are past that child care need except for one of them. But having recently become a single mom, I've taken a crash course into the difficulties parent experience in terms of access to child care. And so my comments will be twofold in that regard.

So, also wanting to echo the comments of my colleagues Vicki and Max, definitely these operational costs are the most important funding that providers have. They directly impact how to keep programs open, staffed, affordable, all those things. If we are considering reductions, definitely I urge you to consider reductions in other areas. In my opinion, the entire child care system is serving children from birth ages all the way to 12 as many folks as we can. A lot of people need those services, so thanks for considering that.

In terms of Trailside Discovery Camp, we've been really fortunate to receive funds for our licensed child care program. And so, I think one of the biggest challenges that we've encountered is just adequate staffing to meet the licensing requirements, the educational requirements that licensing requires in particular. And then, you know, the recruitment and retaining of those qualified staff has been increasingly difficult. And in our operational camp cost grant funding kind of helps us maintain that staffing and to provide cheaper ways for families to attend camp. So, for example, last year we received some funding that allowed us to cover operational costs within freed-up funds to allow for some scholarships for families to attend our Winterberry program.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to attend. So those grants make a direct impact on our program in that way. So in addition to that, I also wanted to echo the comments that were made about the behavioral and social-emotional needs and the mental health challenges that we've been seeing in the sector. They require additional support. They require additional training and resources.

And there's also the mental load and the emotional labor of those staff that help support those children. So the kids need it. The staff need it. And so, those— those funding is really important for those folks as well. Likewise, with our summer camp program, we serve over 1,000 kiddos every summer, and operational costs have just increased so much over the past few years.

And we're trying really hard to keep things affordable for our families. We definitely— I think most providers are probably in the same boat where we're charging rates that don't quite cover all the costs, right? With our goal of bringing families in. So I think, um, there's, there's a lot that is impacted there. So we're seeing the downward enrollment that Mel mentioned.

Um, it's, it's everywhere right now. And again, those, those things are directly related to the cost of tuition. Um, so my greatest, uh, this point— is that my time? Uh, yes, just quick wrap-up, Cindy, go for it.

So my concern basically is just that we should continue, uh, funding these operational grants. More families are going to make difficult choices if we don't have these funds, including leaving children at home who are, you know, too young to be home really, and just relying on less stable and maybe potentially unsafe or unqualified child care centers. So that's it. Thank you. Great, thank you.

Well, thank you all. Appreciate your comments. And please, we have a pretty good list, but if you want to make sure when we put out the budget and looking for comments put your email in the comment section so Christina has it so she can just do a big blast and you might get 3 or 4 emails that it's out but that way we're reaching as many people as possible. And then one of the things I strongly suggest is, I love seeing the public comment here, once we make our final decision, which you will all learn, you can also reach out to the Mayor's Office and either support what we're suggesting or or making your own comments. And then when the mayor's budget comes out, you can also make sure, coordinated, to connect with Assembly members and let them know your perspective.

I will tell you that those personal stories and that impact is very, very powerful at all levels, and I encourage you, we're just the beginning, we're not the end of the train, and do work work your way down and be actively engaged. That's how we, how we create the best budget and serving the field is directly hearing from you all. So again, thank you so much for that. With that, we have 2 minutes. Is there any additional comments or announcements from board members?

Hearing none, I will give you a whopping 2 minutes back, and everybody have a fabulous Wednesday and enjoy the rest of your July, and we'll see you in August. Thank you very much. Thank you. Christina, give me a shout when you're done. Okay.

Thank you. Thank you.