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| Over
the past two years, North Dakotans concerned about early childhood
issues have been talking, collaborating, meeting, planning, addressing
and strategizing the best practices for meeting the needs of the State’s
young and their families. These folks have been busy!
The funding for this initiative, called the Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems (ECCS) Grant, is from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). The goal of HRSA in providing funding is to support states to plan, develop and ultimately implement collaborations and partnerships to support families and communities in their development of children who are healthy and ready to learn at school entry. Grant funds are used to allow States to engage in those strategic planning and collaboration-building efforts needed to promote the development of comprehensive systems of early childhood services. Planning participants are encouraged to build on existing strengths and to integrate, rather than to duplicate, currently operating initiatives. The North Dakota Department of Health was granted funding for the ECCS project in mid-2003. There are two phases required by the ECCS Grant. The first phase is the Planning Phase, followed by the Implementation Phase, based on the strategic agreements reached. There are five (5) essential components, as outlined by the federal funding source, to be addressed relative to statewide early childhood systems development, and they are: |
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| Access to Health Insurance and Medical Home – providing comprehensive physical and child development services for all children in early childhood, including children with special health care needs and assessment, intervention and referral of children with developmental, behavioral and psycho-social problems. | ||
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| Mental Health and Social/Emotional Development – availability of services to address the needs of children at risk for the development of mental health problems and service delivery pathways to facilitate entrance of at-risk children into appropriate child development and mental health delivery systems. | ||
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| Early Care and Education/Childcare – services for children from birth through five years of age that support children’s early learning, health and development of social competence. | ||
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| Parent Education – services that provide support to parents in their role as prime educators of their children. | ||
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| Family Support – services that address the stressors impairing the ability of families to nurture and support the healthy development of their children. | ||
| The
ND Department of Health contracted with the Consensus Council to provide
meeting planning, facilitation and documentation for the statewide
efforts. Strategic planning activities included the development of
the Healthy North Dakota Early Childhood Alliance (HNDECA) comprised
of an impressive group of over 50 agency, parent and advocacy organization
representatives. Healthy North Dakota is a statewide initiative that
focuses on improving the health of every North Dakotan. A community-driven
process, Healthy North Dakota is a dynamic statewide partnership that
continues to grow as new stakeholders become engaged.
The role of HNDECA was to oversee the process, to assure that it met federal guidelines and to be good stewards of the planning funds. In the early course of their work, HNDECA members agreed to the establishment of four (4) sub-committees to prepare draft versions of planning goals for review by the larger “Alliance.” By including and incorporating important issues of family support into the other four essential areas, sub-committees developed “mini strategic plans” for the Alliance to revise, approve and synthesize into one plan for all of North Dakota. Some of the key goals developed include: |
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| To establish critical pathways, including checks and balances, for (childcare) licensure standards and practices to assure uniformity of delivery statewide. | ||
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| To assure that all North Dakota communities will involve families in planning and implementation of children’s mental health programs and services. | ||
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| To increase the number of health and dental care provider practices that incorporate the seven medical home core components (care that is accessible, family-centered, continuous, comprehensive, coordinated, compassionate and culturally effective). | ||
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| To assure that all parents, and persons in a parental role, of children aged birth through eight have access to parenting education. | ||
| As the process and the planning, has moved forward, continuation funding has been approved by HRSA for North Dakota’s implementation efforts. The Consensus Council is pleased to have been a part of this important work for children and families in the state and looks forward to the many positive implementation activities that will occur in the coming months. It is never too “early,” and one is never too “young” to plan! | ||
