Appendix B. Recruitment Letter for Head Start Directors

APPENDIX B

RECRUITMENT LETTER FOR HEAD START DIRECTORS

(FOR THE PROJECT TEAM TO SEND)

OMB # XXXX-XXXX

Expiration Date XX/XX/XXXX

DATE

Dear [DIRECTOR NAME]:

We are excited to inform you that [PROGRAM NAME//IF NEEDED, SPECIFY DELEGATE] has been identified as a candidate to participate in the Study on the Conversion of Enrollment Slots from Head Start to Early Head Start (HS2EHS Study) sponsored by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE).

A central goal of this study is to understand how ACF can better support programs as they consider and pursue conversion of enrollment slots from Head Start to Early Head Start. To help ACF achieve this goal, the Urban Institute and MEF Associates are conducting a study of why and how programs pursue conversion.

We need YOUR help to make this study a success!

[PROGRAM NAME] was identified as a program of interest for the study because it converted enrollment slots recently. We are specifically interested in the conversion of slots that was approved on [DATE], converting [XXX] Head Start slots to [XXX] Early Head Start slots.

If your program is selected for participation, our team will conduct data collection virtually during the fall or winter of 2022. We will conduct interviews to hear the perspectives of program staff who participated in the conversion process, as well as community partners and state and local early care and education (ECE) leaders. To help facilitate the process of identifying staff and scheduling interviews with minimal disruptions, we will ask you to designate one of your staff to help us coordinate with your staff. For additional information about project activities, please see the attached list of frequently asked questions.

We would like to schedule a phone call to provide more information about the study, collect information to help determine your program’s eligibility, and talk through any questions you might have. Please respond to this email or contact me at XXX-XXX-XXXX with a few times that work for you, and our team will schedule this call.

If you are newer to the director role and are unfamiliar with the conversion of slots referenced above, please feel free to invite other program staff who were involved with the conversion to this call.

We look forward to working with you! Thank you in advance for your help with this important project!

Sincerely,

Kate Stepleton

Senior Research Associate

HS2EHS Study Data Collection Co-Coordinator

MEF Associates

Catherine Kuhns

Research Associate

HS2EHS Study Data Collection Co-Coordinator

The Urban Institute

An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The OMB number for this information collection is XXXX-XXXX and the expiration date is XX/XX/XXXX.