Sunday, April 28, 2024
4/28/2024
Project Name: Project Launch Upper Valley: Promoting a healthy start for young children and their caregivers Population to be served and need: We aim to increase our community’s ability to identify, engage and serve at-risk and trauma-affected families with evidence-based early intervention services, with an eventual goal of influencing early childhood policy and practice in two Northern New England states. We will achieve this goal through our overarching vision of “meeting young children and families where they are,” whether it be the pediatrician’s office, school, child care center, or a caregiver’s place of work. The target population is children 0-8 and their caregivers in Grafton and Sullivan Counties in NH and Windsor County in VT (collectively, the “Upper Valley (UV)”). Many towns suffer from higher than average poverty and unemployment levels, and the targeted counties are in the midst of a devastating opioid crisis, with some of the highest rates in the county of infants born opiate-exposed. Numerous service sectors have observed an unprecedented increase in early childhood neglect and trauma and subsequent behavioral health (BH) needs of young children. For example, the number of children in out of home care has risen more than 50% since 2012, mostly accounted for by young children. Health, education and service providers are overwhelmed by the influx of needs in this population, and are unfamiliar with how to identify, triage and meet the BH needs of young children. Strategies/evidence-based practices: Project Launch UV will focus activities at four tiered levels. At our broadest, community-wide level (Tier 1), we will raise public awareness and decrease stigma for young children’s BH needs via local businesses, radio ads and social media campaigns. Tier 2 involves screening of children 0-8 and their caregivers in six primary care clinics, and providing trauma-informed care training to the workforce (e.g., early education and care, health, BH). Tier 3 will provide targeted supports to enhance engagement and increase access to care, and provide expert BH consultation for our professional workforce that serves young children and their caregivers. Finally, most intensive supports provided in Tier 4 will be delivery of two evidence-based parenting interventions: Circle of Security (COS) and Helping the Noncompliant Child (HNC). Goals and measurable objectives: Our goal is to increase identification and access to care for at-risk and trauma-affected families, and promote healthy development of children 0-8 by meeting them and their caregivers in naturalistic settings (e.g., primary care, early care and education, caregiver workplace) through a tiered approach. Our primary objectives are: to reach our community at large through a public awareness campaign with distribution of flyers, radio ads and social media posts; provide trauma informed training to 300+ professionals and staff from health, BH, education and business sectors; enhance screening, linkage and referral systems across 6 primary care clinics (reaching ~8500 children; ~1000 Year 1); provide 600+ BH consultations; deliver COS and HNC to caregivers (235 for COS and 335 for HNC); and create a Young Child Wellness Council.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
