Howard County Early Childhood Advisory Council (HCECAC)

The Howard County Early Childhood Advisory Council (HCECAC) supports the care, education and health of our youngest learners. HCECAC was formed in 2012 under the auspices of the Maryland Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) Grant and is one of 24 Early Childhood Advisory Councils throughout Maryland. The Council’s mission is to ensure that all Howard County children come to school healthy and ready to succeed.

The Council’s goals are to ensure that:

All children have access to high quality early learning and development programs;
Families have access to resources needed to be effective as their child’s first teacher;
Children arrive at school with healthy minds and bodies.

Accomplishments:

Intensive school readiness outreach in the community
Learning Parties
Annual Discovery Fair
Coordination and collaboration of home visiting programs
Conducting Road to Kindergarten parent presentations
Connecting families to community events
Building relationships and partnerships
Parent Cafes
Howard County Diaper Project
Free Little Libraries
State of Early Childhood Annual Event

Membership Information

The Advisory Council’s membership is a broad representation of Howard County’s organizations and individuals that provide services for young children.

Meetings are held bi-monthly at various locations in Howard County. All meetings are open to the public.

Leadership

Tracy Broccolino, Chair
Mary Brzezinski, Vice-Chair
Bronwyn Bates, Executive Secretary

Subcommittees

Discovery Fair

Objective: Educate and expose children and families to activities that promote school readiness.

Home Visiting

Objective: Promote collaboration, coordination and awareness among programs that provide home visiting services to families in Howard County.

Literacy

Objective: Broaden awareness, use of best practices and collaborations around the importance of early literacy.

Marketing

Objective: Develop effective strategies to communicate ECAC/School Readiness materials, events, etc. to target population.

Transition to Kindergarten

Objective: Establish a smooth passage for Kindergarten transition for young children coming directly from the home setting and/or from an early care and education setting.

Advocacy

Objective: Broaden awareness of early childhood issues and advocate for the needs of children and early care ‹education professionals.

Talk with Me

Objective: Teach and reinforce caregivers understanding of the powerful brain-building that occurs during simple back and forth interactions starting at birth.

Family Engagement

Objective: Ensure that all families have the opportunity to access early childhood resources that promote school readiness.