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The Framework for the evaluation of the Strategic Initiative Projects identifies the following as expected outcomes of the Regional Delivery Models Demonstration Projects.

1. Reduce the management pressures of individual child care programs
2. Increase the overall stability of child care programs
3. Improve regional planning, development and delivery of child care
4. Improve quality particularly in the unlicensed sector
5. Improve cost efficiencies of the child care system and affordability for parents
6. Expand and improve services in communities that are typically hard to serve

The VCCRDMPP was intended to address some but not all of these outcomes. Section four discuss the Regional Delivery Model outcomes that are applicable to the Vancouver Child Care Regional Delivery Model Pilot Project (VCCRDMPP). It is important to note that VCCRDMPP addressed some of these outcomes through several of its four component demonstration projects, Regional Umbrella Group, Collingwood Neighbourhood House, Kiwassa Neighbourhood House and the Administrative Partnerships and others were addressed through only one or two of its components. Some outcomes were not intended to be addressed by the Project.

1)	Reduce the management pressures of individual child care programs

VCCRDMPP successfully helped to reduce the management pressures of individual child care programs in four ways:

1. Reduction of isolation of child care organizations and individual management staff within them
2. Provision of a variety of management training opportunities for staff within VCCRDMPP organizations
3. Provision of support for new or less experienced child care managers and administrators
4. Provision of financial resources to allow time for staff to complete administrative tasks

1a)	Reduction of isolation of child care organizations and individual management staff within them

Management pressures on individual child care programs were eased through the effects of all four Demonstration Projects' efforts to reduce the isolation of VCCRDMPP child care organizations.

RUG's structure of regular meetings and other activities brought together 14 child care organizations and fostered a sense of trust through ongoing and purposeful contact. RUG participants' commitment to sharing information of common interest and concern and developing coordinated responses to common child care issues provided opportunities for both formalized networking and informal relationship building amongst organizations and individuals. The sense of trust that developed as a result of RUG's structure were commonly identified by individual participants as key to their growing abilities to respond more effectively to the multitude of management challenges they encountered.

The Administrative Partnerships Pilot Project brought staff from two isolated stand alone child care programs into contact with other child care organizations. RUG activities and funding for management staff time to accomplish managerial and administrative tasks eased the day-to-day management pressures on staff of these two child care programs.

The Collingwood Neighbourhood House Demonstration Project provided resources for the organization to explore ways to move towards a fully integrated service delivery model that facilitated inclusion of its six House-based child care programs and six satellite child care programs into its continuum of family, child, youth, adult and senior oriented support services. Isolation is a primary management challenge for satellite child care programs, and Collingwood found ways to ensure that the staff of these off-site programs felt adequately supported and included in the life of the organization.

The Kiwassa Neighbourhood House Demonstration Project linked an inexperienced Child Care Manager with more experienced colleagues who supported and enhanced her professional development in the area of management and administration. Through her own learning, she paid particular attention to ensuring that staff from all of Kiwassa's on-site and off-site child care programs had opportunities to network with each other and with staff from other House programs and had input into the development of more effective administrative systems. As a result, standardized management and administrative practices across all Kiwassa child care programs have reduced management pressures stemming from confusions in staff roles and responsibilities.

1b)	Provision of a variety of management training opportunities for staff within VCCRDMPP organizations

VCCRDMPP through all of its Demonstration Projects made opportunities for management training a focus of its efforts. This decision was based on the premise that programs that are managed by competent leaders with a broad base of managerial knowledge and skills are less likely to experience undue management pressures and crises.

RUG planned and implemented several activities related to management training during the Project period. Beginning with a series of group discussions with both RUG and non-RUG child care organizations, RUG produced a paper entitled Management and Leadership in the Child Care Field: Reflections on Training Needs and Issues (1996) that identified the basic and more advanced management training needs for child care. This led to implementation of a training program called the Cross-Organizational Management Training Series that involved sixteen senior supervisory staff from eleven RUG organizations in six full day sessions held between October 1997 and March 1998 and twenty-two staff from two additional organizations who joined the original group for four follow-up sessions. Training session topics included human resources management, financial management, program planning, program evaluation and nonprofit governance as well as broad child care issues.

In focus group discussions RUG members were very positive about changes in the management skills of those program staff who had participated in the management training series. They identified that staff had gained skills and seemed more confident in their management roles. In a focus group held in March 1998 training participants reported feeling much more knowledgeable about human resources management, financial management, program planning, program evaluation, nonprofit governance and broad child care issues. Participants also reported that the training established a network of child care staff who expected to continue to support each other in their work in the future. The Project Coordinator reported that a workbook is currently being developed which will include resource material and exercises from the Cross-Organizational Management Training Series sponsored by RUG. The workbook is expected to be released by the end of Year Four and is intended to be used by staff in child care centres.

Kiwassa involved two child care staff in this management training series with the expectation that they would then share their learning with other staff in their own child care programs. As in other organizations, participants in the training series brought back ideas for improving management practices to their own organization thereby raising the expected standard of management throughout that organization.

This same training series was instrumental in easing the management pressures of the stand alone child care programs in the Administrative Partnership Pilot. The supervisors of each of these centres were inexperienced in management and administration. Both were struggling to cope with the demands of their new responsibilities. They both attributed some of their increased knowledge and confidence and the reduction of their personal sense of overwhelm to the training received through the RUG Project.

During the Project period, Collingwood Neighbourhood House also emphasized an increased knowledge and skill base for child care staff. In addition to sending child care Program Coordinators to the RUG training series, Collingwood initiated some House-based training, some of which was particularly targeted toward those with administrative responsibilities. All those with such responsibilities who participated in these training opportunities reported that these training experiences had increased their feelings of confidence in their administrative roles.

1c)	Provision of support for new or less experienced child care managers and administrators

VCCRDMPP acknowledged from its inception that less experienced managers and administrators needed support from more experienced colleagues. Project structures and activities were based on the belief that peer support along with formal training afforded more effective learning opportunities.

Based on information obtained in interviews conducted with all RUG members, managers and administrators with less experience reported the greatest satisfaction from the support made available to them through VCCRDMPP. Much of the time this support stemmed from being involved with a large group of experienced managers around the RUG table. Inexperienced managers noted that they had often learned a great deal from simply listening in on the discussions that ensued at RUG about broad child care issues.

Informal networking opportunities and individual contact provided opportunities for all Project members to approach other colleagues for advice about specific issues they were facing. There was a shared understanding that reaching out to others in the group to help or be helped was part of each individual's personal responsibility. Without the RUG structure, there would have been much less likelihood of such connections occurring.

A formal mentoring relationship was also used to support a "new" child care manager through the facilitation of a direct mentoring relationship between Kiwassa's inexperienced Child Care Manager and an experienced manager from outside VCCRDMPP. This six month mentorship provided the new Manager with the "boost" needed for her to get on top of the managerial responsibilities she had assumed.

1d)	Provision of financial resources to allow time for staff to complete administrative tasks

Often the management pressures experienced by child care programs stem from the lack of time available to staff to attend to administrative issues. Priority must go to providing quality care for children and operating within the child - adult ratios set by the provincial Child Care Regulation. The financial reality of many programs is that there is no money "for extras" and uninterrupted administrative time is usually considered an extra. As a result administrative tasks are either completed by staff on personal time or they go undone. These conditions lead to much of the management pressures felt by individual child care programs.

The Administrative Partnership Pilot recognized this as a main contributor to management pressures. Financial resources were allocated specifically for providing staff so that the Supervisors could leave their direct child care duties to attend to administrative tasks. This meant that the Supervisors could give their undivided attention to management work within their usual work week rather than at home on weekends or during evening hours.

Assistant Coordinators of Collingwood Neighbourhood House child care programs also were given time away from direct child care duties to do their administrative work. In a focus group held with Assistant Coordinators, all participants identified a much lower stress level in their work at Collingwood than in previous positions even though their responsibilities were greater at Collingwood.

2)	Increase the overall stability of child care programs

VCCRDMPP successfully helped to increase the overall stability of individual child care programs who participated in the project in three ways:

1. Sharing understanding of the viability factors for child care programs
2. Strengthening links between child care organizations and the child care programs within organizations
3. Development and implementation of written policies and procedures and consistent management practices across programs within an organization

2a)	Sharing understanding of the viability factors for child care programs

VCCRDMPP recognized that for child care services to become more stable, operators needed to understand the factors that increased the likelihood of viability and those that made them vulnerable. One of the accomplishments of RUG was to explore and document these factors and produce reference documents that could be used by organizations to determine the strengths and vulnerabilities of their child care programs. RUG engaged the services of independent consultants to assist VCCRDMPP members to produce the following documents: ^*

• Management and Leadership in the Child Care field: Reflections on Training Needs and Issues
• Child Care Programs Trends and Changes Forces at Play
• Infant and Toddler Child Care Financial Analysis Pilot Project
• 3-5 Group Child Care Financial Analysis Pilot Project
• School Age Child Care Financial Analysis Pilot Project
• Child Care Financial Analysis Pilot Project Final Report
• A Workbook on Financial Sustainability for Child Care Organizations

^* This is not a complete list of documents produced by the VCCRDMPP.

2b)	Strengthening links between child care organizations and the child care programs within organizations

It is commonly accepted that individuals who have social support networks are healthier and more stable than those who are isolated. Research indicates that the same applies to organizations as well as to staff teams and programs within organizations. Much of VCCRDMPP attention was devoted to seeking mechanisms through its four components to stabilize child care programs through establishing and strengthening links between organizations and programs.

The relationships that formed between individuals and organizations as a result of interactions at the RUG table are a prime example of how VCCRDMPP contributed to strengthening these links. In interviews, focus groups and questionnaires, many RUG members commented that the new relationships they had formed as a result of RUG would be sustained past the end of the Project. Such links are especially important when organizations seek to come together to make a coordinated response to issues which have strong impacts on all child care programs.

Collingwood Neighborhood House management also built intentional links between House-based and satellite programs and supported stronger relationships between Collingwood child care programs and other child care organizations and programs. These links were built through monthly staff meetings and training opportunities sponsored by the Neighbourhood House for both child care and other Collingwood program staff. Coordinators and Assistant Coordinators of Collingwood child care programs stated in focus group discussion that they were appreciative of these efforts and were aware of having stronger relationships with both child care and other program staff.

The Kiwassa Project also expended effort to strengthen links among its on-site and off-site child care programs and to keep child care connected to the spectrum of other family support services in the organization and in the broader community. Child care staff noted that these links supported their work with the families who used their services. The Kiwassa Neighbourhood House Demonstration Project also paid particular attention to the development of more effective administrative systems. As a result, standardized management and administrative practices across all Kiwassa child care programs have reduced management pressures.

The Administrative Partnerships Pilot focused attention on assisting the two stand alone centres to become more integrated into the larger child care community and on building stronger ties amongst programs within their own organizations through more consistent management and administrative practices. Such links helped establish a sense of stability in the face of the many challenges encountered by child care programs.

2c)	Development and implementation of written policies and procedures and consistent management practices for child care programs within an organization

Key elements that contribute to the ability of child care programs within one organization to support each other include consistent management practices and common policies and procedures across programs. Both Collingwood and Kiwassa have developed policies and procedures that apply to all their child care programs. This helps staff and families share common knowledge about how the organization's programs operate. Kiwassa also instituted fee tracking systems, enrollment procedures and monitoring of budgets to stabilize individual child care programs and help ensure the viability of their child care programs.

City Hall Child Care Centre and Pooh Corner Child Care have both instituted effective management practices which have had stabilizing effects on their programs. One example of such a practice is the establishment of enrollment tracking systems. This system has reduced the number of vacancies that have occurred across three programs in this one centre thereby helping to improve its overall financial stability.

Throughout the VCCRDMPP members had opportunities to share their own organizational policies and procedures with the whole group. This included enrollment and wait list policies and procedures, various data collection forms and policies related to child protection issues. RUG members reported that this exchange was helpful for organizations wishing to update or develop new policies and procedures. The Project Coordinator also noted that the planned financial sustainability workbook and the workbook being developed based on the Cross-Organizational Management Training Series are intended as tools to help organizations develop organizational policies and procedures.

3)	Improve regional planning, development and delivery of child care

The VCCRDMPP reduced the isolation of child care organizations and created the potential for working together in response to common issues and challenges. RUG activities contributed to the building of a common knowledge base about child care issues, increased information-sharing and broadened members' awareness and understanding of child care issues. The VCCRDMPP also developed policies and procedures for effective working relationships among community partners and developed a document entitled, Recommendations for a Regional Child Care Process (1998) . At the same time, in focus groups and interviews RUG members indicated that little progress was made toward regional planning of child care services for Vancouver within the time frame of this report.

4)	Improve quality particularly in the unlicensed sector

The VCCRDMPP did not intend to directly address improved quality of care in the unlicensed sector.

The VCCRDMPP did not intend to directly address the cost efficiencies of the child care system nor the affordability of child care for parents. At the same time, the increased efficiency and effectiveness of the administrative and management systems developed by RUG members and in the Collingwood, Kiwassa and Administrative Partnerships Demonstration Projects suggested possible cost efficiencies.

Some Project participants identified that through their enhanced understanding of the level of knowledge and expertise required to effectively manage child care centres, they now know that staff time dedicated to administrative and management functions is required in order for programs to operate effectively. At the same time, allocating such staff time leads to additional payroll expenses.

The VCCRDMPP did not intend to directly address improved services in communities that are typically hard to serve. However, Kiwassa's development of a child care program for Backstretch Workers at the Hastings Racetrack did serve to provide care for families with the need for care in the atypical early morning hours and on weekends.