Tools to Support Early Childhood Systems Building

By Kiran Obee, Spark Policy Institute

The Colorado Trust’s Early Childhood Health Integration grant strategy supports the efforts of Colorado Early Childhood Councils (Councils) in establishing the systems necessary to improve child health outcomes. An evaluation of the first three years of the strategy was conducted by Spark Policy Institute to assess the efforts of 25 Councils in building a more integrated local system of care that links child health services to other early childhood services.

Systems building, which entails coordination of different programs, services, policies and funding streams that collectively respond to a particular need, is complex and labor intensive. Councils are located statewide in urban, suburban and rural areas and vary in the available resources and social services in their communities. Engaging key stakeholders to better integrate health into the early childhood system is critical, as many operate with limited staff and resources. In addition, for many of the Councils, systems building was a growing area of work.

Accordingly, the evaluation sought to leverage learning and generate tools and resources that could meaningfully and tangibly support the Councils’ work integrating health into the early childhood systems. As such, Spark Policy Institute developed four briefs on topics that directly impacted Councils’ systems-building efforts. The briefs incorporate a review of national literature on the following topic areas, and the experiences of the Councils and their health partners, in order to identify solutions to barriers and strategies to support systems-improvement efforts:

• Data Use and Shared Accountability – offers recommendations and strategies to enhance systemwide use of data in order to increase stakeholder accountability and ultimately, improve health outcomes for young children
• Integrating Health Partners – provides recommendations and strategies for meaningfully engaging health partners in Early Childhood Council efforts
• Communications and Messaging for Early Childhood Health – tackles communications challenges by generating recommendations on best practices in communications and messaging to engage families, building awareness and leveraging health partners in expanding outreach efforts
• Screening and Referral Systems for Early Childhood Health – explores the developing efforts of Councils in designing, implementing and assessing early childhood health-related screening and referral systems to connect children and families to the right services and resources.

While framed within the context of Colorado’s early childhood system, the briefs are relevant to efforts to strengthen any system. To learn more, please visit The Colorado Trust or Spark Policy Institute.