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Early Childhood Systems Collective Impact Project

“Five key program elements for alignment and coordination” is a graphic of a circle divided into four equal parts with a smaller circle in the center. Each of the four parts are labeled, “Eligibility criteria,” “Needs assessments,” “Well-being metrics,” and “Outcomes and performance measures.” The smaller circle in the center is labeled, “Equity.”

Leaders across federal agencies, including the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services, Education, and Agriculture, have identified a shared vision for improving health and well-being outcomes for young children and their families. Yet long-standing barriers at the federal, state, tribal, and local levels impede the development of coordinated, comprehensive early childhood systems.

The Early Childhood Systems Collective Impact Project (ECS Collective Impact Project) will help to re-envision a truly coordinated approach to program implementation designed to advance equitable early childhood and family well-being outcomes across federal programs that support expectant parents, children ages 0 to 8, and their families. This project will develop recommendations to improve – and tools to support – alignment, coordination, and equity across five key program elements: program eligibility, needs assessments, outcomes and performance measures, well-being goals and metrics, and equity goals and actions. Project findings aim to:

  • Facilitate integration of services and improve program efficiency and effectiveness
  • Streamline program eligibility and support enrollment into services
  • Enhance comparability, consistency, and standardization of assessment, measures, and metrics across programs
  • Reduce systemic barriers to services
  • Enable deeper understanding of factors that support family resiliency and well-being

Early Childhood Systems Collective Impact Project products include:

Early Childhood Systems Collective Impact Project: Voices from the Field

This video elevates the voices of family, local, state, and national leaders on opportunities for federal coordination and collaboration in early childhood. Experts share their perspectives on key challenges, opportunities, and actions for the federal government to advance equitable early childhood and family well-being outcomes through creation of a coordinated, comprehensive early childhood system.

Early Childhood Systems (ECS) Collective Impact Project: Voices from the Field from Mathematica on Vimeo.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, in collaboration with the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau, has contracted with Mathematica and their partner, the Center for the Study of Social Policy, to carry out the project.