Early Childhood Systems Building

Maternal and child health programs are important partners in school readiness and early childhood initiatives at the state and local levels. Title V programs can leverage funding, align different program objectives toward common goals, and work to support critical infrastructure.

Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems (ECCS)

Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems grants help states and communities build and integrate early childhood service systems that better meet the needs of children and families. AMCHP partners with the National Institute for Children’s Health Quality to support the 12 Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems Collaborative Improvement and Innovation Network (ECCS CoIIN) state teams by facilitating important connections to their Title V programs as well as providing content expertise and technical assistance as needed. Most recently, AMCHP hosted a health equity “mini-series” for the ECCS CoIIN teams, where strategies for improving organizational readiness for centering equity were discussed. 

• Early Childhood Developmental Screening and Title V: Building Better Systems (2017)
  
• Member to Member: How ECCS helps build state capacity (PULSE, July/Aug 2015)
  
• Hawaii's Success Story on ECCS Partnerships (PULSE, June 2011) 
  

The Raising of America: Early Childhood and the Future of Our Nation

With support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, AMCHP partnered with the CDC's Division of Violence Prevention, National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), and the Healthy Heartlands Collaborative to assist with dissemination of The Raising of America: Early Childhood and the Future of Our Nation (“RoA”). RoA is a multi-media, public engagement and education initiative translating recent scientific findings on the effects of children’s environments at birth and throughout childhood on life-long health and well-being. AMCHP's related activities and resources include:

Using the Documentary - AMCHP Resources for State MCH Programs: 

​Click the image below for an infographic on "Why Early Childhood Matters"

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• TIP SHEET: Guidance for Title V MCH Programs: This short guide was developed to provide state Title V MCH programs with information and resources to support use of the Raising of America documentary series.
  

• Moving to Action Resources: All files download as editable Word documents.
  

1. Facilitated agenda example for a screening event
2. Screening feedback handout (short)
3. Discussion handout (moving to action/moving forward)
4. Discussion guide for team breakouts
5. Commitment to Action to document next steps from your stakeholders         

States in Action - Resources and Highlights

• Oregon Public Health Authority: http://public.health.oregon.gov/HealthyPeopleFamilies/Babies/HealthChildcare/Pages/RaisingOfAmerica.aspx
• Colorado: Early Childhood Colorado Partnership Toolkit and Family Friendly Workplace Toolkit
• We are always looking for more AMCHP member examples to highlight! If you would like to share yours with us, please e-mail ktaft@amchp.org.

Archived Webinars:

• The Raising of America: Learn how strong community and public health partnerships benefit our youngest children, and their families (2016) 
  This webinar highlights successful examples of how state and local communities have used the series to build strategic partnerships and implement policy, systems and environmental changes to improve child health and development. To download the slides, click here [PDF]. The recording is available at: http://amchp.adobeconnect.com/p1dbh4e1h71/.

• Strengthening Public Health and Community Partnerships to Reduce Disparities in Child Health and Development (2015) 
  AMCHP and national partners hosted a webinar to raise awareness about the RoA documentary series. Click here to download the slides. 
  

For other news, resources and events from Raising of America, visit www.raisingofamerica.org.       

Developmental Screening and Early Identification

Early identification allows communities to provide children with earlier treatment or interventions that are more effective in improving delays and disabilities and less costly than special education services in later childhood. It is also an integral function of the primary care medical home, and improving the developmental screening rate is a national performance measure for the Title V MCH Block Grant program. More information on AMCHP's work on developmental screening can be found on our State Public Health Autism Resource Center's screening webpage.

Home Visiting

State MCH programs have a long history of utilizing home visiting strategies to improve the health of vulnerable families. For information about AMCHP and state activities related to home visiting, specifically the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Program, click here.   

Other Related Resources

• Bright Futures
  
• The Commonwealth Fund
• Healthy Child Care America  
• MCH Navigator: Trainings on Early Childhood
• National Association for the Education of Young Children
• National Center for Infant and Early Childhood Health Policy
• National Training Institute for Child Care Health Consultants
• U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services
• Zero To Three 

Staff Contacts