Recognizing that Regional Leads are central to Technical Assistant efforts across the state, the ASAPconnect Advisory Committee recommended a prioritization of ASAPconnect’s efforts to focus on building their capacity to effectively and efficiently serve the field. As a result of a preliminary discussion with RLs and with the full support of the California Department of Education, ASAPconnect secured funding support to provide the following resources to RLs:

• Professional Development
• Orientation of newly hired RL staff
• Facilitation of “best practices” discussions
• Connecting RLs to other TA providers and resources
• Posting learning tools online
• Customized one-on-one coaching
• Broker resources

To complement these supports, ASAPconnect offered a funding resource of $253,000 statewide to the Regional Lead County Offices of Education with a maximum award of $26,700 per region to 1) build staff capacity and/or 2) increase effectiveness of their service delivery.

ASAPconnect is delighted to congratulate and to provide support to the ongoing efforts of the following Regions:

Collaborative Work Group

Regions 3, 5, 10, and 11 have aligned not only efforts, but resources to best provide Regional Leads (RLs) with access to resources needed to increase the effectiveness of their service delivery through a comprehensive collaborated project. The collaborated efforts of Region 3, 5, 10, and 11 will focus on accomplishing specific goals of developing and the implementing a needs assessment process, the development of a framework that all regional leads can use to evaluate the effectiveness of their training and technical assistance, while looking to create a greater impact on the regions by institutionalizing a continuous improvement process for the partnered regions.

This grant will be administered through Region 5, Monterey County Office of Education as the lead applicant and fiscal agent. For additional information contact Regional 5 Lead, Mara Wold at mwold@moterey.k12.ca.us.

Alameda County Office of Education

Region 4 will be focused on maximizing the effectiveness of their service delivery by strategically addressing various identified needs. The Region 4 project has clear objectives to maximize the effectiveness of their service delivery which includes the revamping of the website to an interactive, go-to supportive site that provides Region 4 resources and services. In addition, to best promote materials, programs and services Region 4 will be re-branding to become highly recognizable in effort to promote after school programs and regional unity.

For additional information contact Regional 4 Lead, Joe Hudson at jhudson@scoe.org.

Stanislaus County Office of Education

The focus will be promoting team building, strategic planning and ongoing staff development for the Region 6 Technical Assistant (R6TA) team. In addition to enhancing professional development by attending out-of-school time conferences in effort to transfer knowledge and skills learned to regional coordinators.

Strategic planning will be an instrumental focus during the Region 6 retreat, with special attention to identifying key next steps to supporting four new high school sites in Stanislaus County that are part of the Project Supporting After School for Everyone (SAFE) Consortium. R6TA will further develop their knowledge and capacity to best support high schools by attending the ASSETs Trainer of Trainers in San Diego in November among other professional development opportunities.

For additional information contact Regional 6 Lead, Lori Ward at lward@stancoe.org.

Ventura County Office of Education

Region 8 will invest in the capacity development of their technical assistance team in effort to become more strategic in their approach to leadership development and delivery of service.

Guiding their project are the following three goals:

1. Leadership Development
2. Collaborative Planning and
3. Sustainability Planning.

For additional information contact Regional 8 Lead, Marcella Klein Williams at mkleinwilliams@vcoe.org.

Mendocino County Office of Education

Region 1 will be focused on increasing the Organizational Effectiveness of their regional services. A streamlined delivery system will be implemented which includes a newly branded website with a regional logo, and promotional materials. The intent is to ensure that the four county networking groups and advisory committee are unified in presenting their regional information and to collect data in an organized, efficient manner.

The Regional Team is going to improve service delivery by building capacity and developing leadership skills of the Regional Advisory Committee.

For additional information, contact Regional 1 Lead, Lucia Bianchi at lucia@mcoe.us.

Tulare County Office of Education

Region 7 is committed to strengthening the effectiveness of service delivery through developing the capacity of the Regional Advisory Board. They will be assessing the needs of the region, and developing strategies to best meet those needs. A focus will be on developing branding of the region’s services and sharing that information through a refined website and regional brochure.

For additional information, contact Regional 7 Lead, Maria Magallanes at mariamag@tcoe.org.