Friday, April 18, 2025
4/18/2025
Category C: Strengthening Public Health Systems and Services by Providing Capacity Building Assistance to Early Childhood System Leaders - There is an urgent need for equitable access to resources due to the absence of a comprehensive, universal system of care for families with young children in the United States. Promoting the importance of early childhood development is vital because of the exponential brain growth that occurs during the first five years of life. The mission of Help Me Grow (HMG) National Center, a program of the Office for Community Health at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, is to ensure that all families, regardless of socioeconomic status or background, have access to the resources they want and need to promote positive child health, development, and well-being. Identifying developmental concerns early in life is an important foundation for lifelong health and well-being. However, systemic challenges prevent optimal population-level outcomes. These challenges include underfunded and fragmented community-based promotion and prevention systems, the lack of capacity building assistance (CBA) at meaningful scale for the early childhood (EC) system leader workforce, and disparities in families’ access to comprehensive systems for developmental promotion and early identification of child developmental concerns. This current approach to system-building perpetuates disparities by race, class, ethnicity, gender, and disability, which worsens inequities and blocks opportunities for many families. Addressing these challenges requires a collective effort to enhance the capacity of EC system leaders to build integrated, comprehensive EC systems that prioritize developmental promotion and early identification of concerns and delays. Such investments have substantial economic benefits, with early identification of concerns yielding the highest returns, promoting a more efficient and effective society. Despite significant progress in EC system-building efforts, translating evidence-based practices into impactful outcomes remains challenging. Tailoring interventions to local contexts and validating their effectiveness through field implementation and evaluation are essential steps in achieving population-level impact. Survey data of EC system leaders indicate the value of identifying family needs, improving screening rates, enhancing data modernization, strengthening collaboration among partners, and improving referral and linkage systems. CBA that focuses on basic education on cross-sector system-level approaches, strategies to foster family and community partnerships, and tools for data integration are essential to address these needs. In partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), HMG National will develop and implement CBA for EC system leaders using an approach that targets the varying experience of leaders and challenges with the populations they serve. Outcomes of the CBA will address the grant’s strategic areas, increased awareness of promising practices and tools by EC system leaders, and increased utilization of CBA services and products by EC system leaders. The intermediate outcomes achieved by the end of the period of performance include increased implementation and dissemination of recommended processes, policies, programs, and practices for EC system leaders related to the project’s strategic areas. By increasing the implementation of impactful processes, policies, programs, and practices of EC system leaders in the long-term, we will improve: the capacity of EC organizations and systems to serve families; their capabilities to address equity-focused priorities; the effectiveness of EC systems infrastructure and performance; and ultimately health and well-being outcomes for children.
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).