The Florida Association of Healthy Start Coalitions (FAHSC) has been awarded the Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems: Health Integration Prenatal to Three Program Grant (ECCS P-3 Program) to develop a comprehensive continuum of services for expecting families and families with infants and young children. The program will strengthen the role of families in planning and policy development, and contribute to health equity by focusing on service gaps and needs that underpin racial and ethnic disparities. The ECCS P-3 Program is a five-year endeavor and extends the work of FAHSC’s previous Florida ECCS Impact Project Grant, and the Florida ECCS Advisory Group in developing cross-sector, community-driven collaboration around developmental screening, parent leadership, and equity. Proposed strategies include:
- Engagement of parent leaders in state-level maternal and child health, and early education initiatives, including Title V, the Pre-school Development Grant, Child Abuse Prevention & Treatment (CAPTA), and Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance programs;
- Integration of maternal and child health interventions into the state ECCS Action Plan;
- Increased participation by prenatal and pediatric health care providers in CONNECT, the state’s coordinated intake and referral system for pregnant women and families of newborns;
- Improved linkages between CONNECT and the Division of Early Learning’s Florida Child Care Resources & Information (CCR&I) program;
- Development and piloting of best practices for increasing prenatal screening, and integrating maternal and child health into early childhood development and education at the community-level;
- Identification of cross-sector systems gaps and needs that contribute to racial and ethnic disparities in maternal, infant and child health and well-being, and development of policies and strategies to address them;
- Cross-sector capacity building through training in leadership development, health equity and reproductive justice, and continuous quality improvement, and,
- Advocacy for the adoption of innovative policy and financing strategies to support P-3 goals.
Partners: Florida Maternal Infant Early Childhood Home Visiting Initiative, Help Me Grow Florida, The Lawton and Rhea Chiles Center for Healthy Mothers and Babies, Division of Early Learning/Department of Education, Florida Department of Health