Infusing a Health Agenda into Early Childhood Programs: The Process and the Plan

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Infusing a Health Agenda into Early Childhood
Programs The Process and the Plan

• Stone Soup The Power of Collaboration and
  Discovery
• October 26, 2004
• Christine Holley
• Susan Macary, MPH
• Cliff OCallahan, MD, PhD
• Opportunity Knocks for Middletowns Preschool
  Children Collaborative

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Goals of this Presentation

• Describe Opportunity Knocks
• Describe planning year strategies
• Describe parent involvement component
• Describe implementation plan

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Opportunity Knocks

• Mission Improve the health of the children and
  families we serve
• Goal Strengthen the links between health
  services and early care education
• Vision Every Middletown child enters
  kindergarten emotionally and physically health
  and ready to succeed

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Funders and Partners

• Funders Collaborative
• Childrens Fund of CT
• CT Health Foundation
• Community Foundation for Greater New Haven
• Graustein Memorial Fund
• Community Partners
• Middlesex Hospital Family Advocacy and Practice
  Residency Programs (Health Partner)
• Middlesex United Way (Community Partner)
• Middletown School Readiness Council
  (Collaborative Agent)

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Target Areas

• Social and emotional health
• Oral health
• Nutritional and physical wellness
• Backdrop Cultural sensitivity and disparities in
  health

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Planning Year Strategies Community Collaborative

• Brought together health and early care community
  for the first time
• Committed to work together
• Developed shared goals and implementation plan
• Parent representation and engagement

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Planning Year StrategiesParent Component

• Parent recruitment strategies
• Stipend
• Buddy system
• Personal invitation
• Parent Organizations-PTAs/PTOs
• Job description
• Be clear about expectations
• Attendance at meetings
• Responsibilities between meetings

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Planning Year StrategiesParent Component

• Leadership role
• Parent perspective

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Planning Year StrategiesSteering Committee

• Consists of one representative from each
  community partner
• Plays an executive role to avoid draining member
  resources
• Maintains on-going communication between meetings

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Planning Year Strategies Objective-Specific Work
Groups

• Refined target goals
• Conducted needs/assets assessment
• Researched data collection measures
• Researched cultural competence
• Identified best practices for implementation
  year activities
• Generated logic models

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Planning Year Strategies Sustainability

• Secured local matching funds
• Strengthened the early childhood community via
  collaboration with Discovery

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The Discovery -Opportunity Knocks Relationship

• Leadership
• Vision
• Resources
• Committee members
• Staffing
• Technical assistance
• Tag line
• Shaping Our Childrens School Success

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Planning Year Strategies Evaluation Component

• Child Health and Development Institute
• -Works with us to set and stay on course
• -Creates the framework for lessons learned
• -Assures accountability for use of funding
• The Consultation Center, Yale University School
  of Medicine
• Provides technical assistance for planning year
  evaluation

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Next Steps in Planning

• Extend our collaboration
• Brainstorm about what we can do for surrounding
  communities
• Connect with statewide initiatives and
  collaboratives
• Think politically
• Implementation plan