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Ten (10) Ways Fractional General Counsel Will Strengthen your Head Start/Early Head Start Program (Especially Before Focus Area One/Two Monitoring of the Dreaded DRS)

 

If you want to learn more about Fractional General Counsel, please check out this blog I wrote entitled ‘What is Fractional General Counsel?’  In that blog, I detailed the definition of Fractional General Counsel, which is a means for your nonprofit organization to obtain custom sized legal services at an affordable price.  With fractional general counsel, your nonprofit’s management team can add a general counsel (as an independent contractor) at a fixed monthly price that will fit within the nonprofit’s annual budget and provide incredible value to the organization.

Some of you may know that for over two years, I had the privilege of being an Executive Director for a Community Action Agency, which was a Head Start and Early Head Start Grantee.  Running a HS/EHS program is not for the ‘feint of heart.’  In many respects, being an attorney made me my agency’s ‘unofficial’ general counsel.  In this blog, I am writing one especially for those Head Start and Early Head Start Grantees. So let’s look at Ten (10) Ways Fractional General Counsel Will Strengthen your Head Start/Early Head Start Program (Especially Before Focus Area One/Two Monitoring or the Dreaded DRS)

  1. Your Fractional General Counsel (FGC) can review all relevant board, committee and policy council meeting minutes to ensure all bodies are documenting actions related to review of : monthly financial statements, monthly program info summaries, monthly report of meals (USDA/CACFP), Financial Audit/Single Audit, Annual Budget, Annual Self-Assessment, Community Needs Assessment, Communications from ACF/Regional Office, Program Information Reports (PIR) (Satisfies 642(c)(1)(E) of the Head Start Act and 1301.3(3) Head Start Program Performance Standards). If there’s anything missing, your FGC will coordinate with the Executive Director, Head Start Director, Board of Directors and Policy Council to ensure these requirements are recorded in the minutes appropriately before monitoring begins.
  2. Your Fractional General Counsel will review your governing body and policy council and ensure that composition requirements are met prior to monitoring (HSPPS 1301.2(a)-(b); 1301.3(b)(c).
  3. Your Fractional General Counsel can serve as the legal consultant to the grantee’s board of directors as licensed attorney familiar with issues related to Head Start/Early Head Start (Satisfies 642(c)(1)(b) of the Head Start Act); This will also help with Area Two Monitoring where reviewers will dive into the ‘formal structure’ of program governance for your agency.
  4. Your Fractional General Counsel can review, revise or draft a conflict-of interest policy for use by governing board (Satisfies 642(c)(1)(E) of the Head Start Act) and also train your board on how to use it (helps satisfy HSPPS 1301.5).
  5. Your Fractional General Counsel can review, revise or draft impasse policy between governing board and policy council (Satisfies 642(c)(1)(E) of the Head Start Act). Your FGC can also act as a mediator to try to resolve any disputes between governing board and policy  council as well.
  6. Your Fractional General Counsel can review and revise your agency’s HR personnel policies and advise governing body and policy council regarding adoption (will affirm review for grantees subject to Community Service Block Grant requirements) (Satisfies 642(c)(1)(E) of the Head Start Act).
  7. Additionally, your Fractional General Counsel can revise your HR manual to satisfy HSPPS 1301.3 to ease pressure on Policy Council’s requirement to approve both hiring and firing staff members, coordinate with management, governing body and policy council and ensure that its approved and recorded in the minutes.
  8. Your Fractional General Counsel can review, revise and draft whistleblower policy for grantee (Satisfies 642(c)(1)(E) of the Head Start Act)
  9. Your Fractional General Counsel can assist the governing board with performing compensation review of CEO (Satisfies 642(c)(1)(E) of the Head Start Act)
  10. Your Fractional General Counsel can provide advice and counsel to governing board to ensure program compliance with federal laws and regulations, applicable state, tribal and local laws and regulations (Satisfies 642(c)(1)(E) of the Head Start Act)

 

If you are a Head Start/Early Head Start Grantee and are interested in learning more about Fractional General Counsel Services, please contact me at rcabagnot@lawyercarolina.com  Because most of the items listed above relate to compliance with federal law, i.e. Head Start Act and Head Start Program Performance Standards, I can serve most programs regardless of where they are located in the country.  That said, I am licensed in North Carolina and Florida and can do all of the items listed above for programs listed in those states.