First Steps of North East Indiana LPCC Staff:

Jennifer Higgins – Lead LPCC Coordinator   1-866-725-2398 (x25) jhiggins@neccfs.org

Pam Deetz – Quality Assurance Coordinator/Child Find Coordinator- East1-866-725-2398 (x76) pdeetz@neccfs.org

The State of Indiana requires that every First Steps Cluster (regional office) maintain one cluster-wide Local Planning and Coordinating Council (LPCC). This group is required to have representatives from every county in the cluster, as well as various types of resources in the community that have a relationship with First Steps. These include parents, First Steps staff and providers, representatives from the different fields, such as health/medical, educational, social service, Head Start, child care, and other fields.

The LPCC acts as the local governing body to the First Steps program. Its purpose is to identify issues, needs and strategies to address those needs that affect the delivery of early intervention services to the community and families. In addition to the cluster LPCC, there are committees, task forces and other local First Steps interagency groups that meet in each community to discuss more specific issues.

The LPCC specific to our cluster (which serves DeKalb, Elkhart, LaGrange, Noble, Steuben, St. Joseph & Whitley counties) is called the North East Indiana Coordinating Council (NECC).

The NECC meets bi-monthly in a location that is centrally located in our cluster [the town of Ligonier (Noble County).]

The NECC and other local First Steps groups are open to parents and members of the community interested in volunteering to be a part of the group. Please contact the LPCC office if you would like more information firststepscouncil@neccfs.org or call 1-866-725-2398.