Help Me Grow Western New York

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Monitoring progress in early childhood development can ensure that a person's cognitive, social, behavioral, and physical development are on track and guide interventions if they are not. Because of the influence of early child development on a person’s healthy lifelong development, such interventions can have benefits for decades.

The national Help Me Grow (HMG) initiative promotes early childhood developmental screenings and leads a large-scale network to ensure that all children reach their full potential. Help Me Grow Western New York (HMG WNY), a regional effort, is creating a coordinated system for fostering optimal child development and well-being, including through early childhood developmental screenings and monitoring. In 2021, HMG WNY sharpened its orientation to operate as a system-builder in the eight counties of western New York and serve as a catalyst for creating a unified vision and data-driven action plan.

According to HMG WNY’s 2021 strategic framework, this approach seeks to achieve four system-building goals:

1. Support "action tables" working collaboratively to build a seamless system of supports responding to the needs of young children and their families.
2. Supply data to inform action and measure progress.
3. Identify and collectively address gaps in resources and supports to ensure a well-functioning and responsive system of care and support.
4. Engage in policy advocacy for long-term sustainability of the system.

To assess HMG WNY’s progress and opportunities, the authors analyzed the program’s documents, interviewed its network’s partners, and surveyed the network's members. HMG WNY's partners span a wide variety of sectors, including early childhood centers, school districts, medical providers, and community-based organizations that focus on early childhood developmental screenings and monitoring. This brief reviews HMG WNY’s progress in several key areas and its opportunities for future growth.

Areas of Progress

Almost all organizations in the early childhood network have formed meaningful relationships by actively engaging in coalitions, sharing resources, and enhancing services.

Among HMG WNY’s areas of progress, the network has

• effectively developed a cohesive and responsive early childhood development system
• improved the network’s capacity to recognize and collaboratively tackle gaps
• launched a data dashboard to support providers in using data to improve developmental screening and tracking
• actively pursued policy advocacy to secure long-term sustainability.

Building and Strengthening the Early Childhood Network of System Providers

The authors found that HMG WNY has formed or strengthened partnerships to build a coordinated early childhood system that is responsive to the needs of young children and their families. HMG WNY's key achievements include enhancing partner knowledge, increasing community engagement, broadening partner diversity, establishing strategic partnerships in rural areas, and coordinating resources to prevent duplication of records and networking efforts.

Nearly all organizations in HMG WNY's early childhood network reported having relationships with one another, and the organizations that work across the region typically had the most connections. The organizations that operated in a specific county tended to report connections primarily in that county or adjacent ones. Those relationships were mainly built through active participation in various early childhood coalitions, task forces, and networks, which has led to an exchange of resources and improved services or supports for young children and their families.

Most partners in the network perceived a high value from their connections, and most partners rated the network highly for power and influence, level of involvement, and resource contributions. The partners also highly rated trust in the network, its reliability, mission alignment, and openness to discussion.

Among the successes noted by partners were the improvement of knowledge and awareness of early childhood issues and community resources across sectors; an increased focus on physical, social-emotional, and mental health concerns for young children; enhanced collaboration among partners across sectors; and the development of effective strategies to support high-quality, accessible services for young children and their families.

The most important outcomes identified by partners included guiding the early childhood network of system partners and addressing gaps in resources and supports. However, the network faces prominent challenges, such as funding, dealing with leadership or staff turnover, and effectively bringing groups together.

Addressing Gaps in Resources

The authors found that HMG WNY improved system capabilities to identify and address gaps in resources and supports. The network's progress included building provider capacities and expanding access to early childhood developmental screenings. Although HMG WNY established a Centralized Access Point for resources, partners were less familiar with this effort to streamline access to resources and supports.

Supporting Network Partners with Data

HMG WNY introduced a data dashboard to assist providers in using data to refine their practices and improve the accuracy and timeliness of developmental screenings and referrals. HMG WNY has established data-sharing agreements, produced county-level data profiles, and facilitated the use of data for outreach and advocacy by partners. System partners acknowledged the dashboard’s utility and quality, but some highlighted the need for training on its use and the challenges posed by record duplication between the dashboard and other data collection efforts.

Advocating for Policy Change

HMG WNY engaged in policy advocacy to ensure the long-term sustainability of the early childhood development system. Among HMG WNY's successes, it collaborated with early childhood system partners to advocate for an increase in state funding for the state-level HMG initiative. HMG WNY also leveraged regional and county data to collaborate on an advocacy plan to support the state-level HMG initiative and engaged in information-sharing activities through partnerships with regional or state-level organizations and campaigns to promote early childhood developmental screenings.

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Opportunities

Even though HMG WNY has made considerable progress since 2021, there are opportunities for continued growth or improvement regarding each system-building goal area.

To achieve HMG WNY’s system-building goals, the authors recommend the following:

• Strengthen outreach to partners and the wider community to boost their understanding and recognition of system-building efforts and the early childhood network.
• Expand the provider network to conduct screenings using strategic connections and targeted messaging.
• Promote understanding of the network and participation among partners by using data tools.
• Equip network partners with the necessary knowledge and skills to engage in efforts to jointly advocate for sustainable investments in early childhood development.

Partnership Development and Engagement

Robust communication strategies can ensure that all partners are informed and engaged in the network’s activities and goals. HMG WNY should deepen engagement with system partners and community leaders by focusing on clear and targeted system-building activities and messaging. Structured networking times or dedicated sessions for building relationships can enhance the quality of interactions. Additionally, implementing a systematic approach to gather feedback from all partners, including families, can help adapt strategies and operations effectively.

Developmental Screenings and Monitoring

HMG WNY should continue expanding the number of screening partners and improve the use of its Centralized Access Point by families. HMG WNY's efforts should also focus on better messaging about the benefits of centralized access and evaluating the benefits compared with similar initiatives. Establishing connections among child-care providers for developmental screenings, expanding rural screenings, and enhancing training opportunities are also essential steps for the network’s evolution.

Data Capabilities

Enhancing data capabilities can improve HMG WNY's ability to monitor, evaluate, and respond to the early childhood network's needs. Increasing awareness and engagement among partners regarding data capabilities, including training on using the data dashboard, is critical. Addressing data-sharing challenges faced by medical providers should also be a priority.

Advocacy Efforts

Enhanced advocacy efforts are necessary to secure sustainable funding and policy support. HMG WNY should continue to build relationships with policymakers and leverage data to advocate for increased investments in early childhood programs.

Familiarizing network partners with HMG WNY’s ongoing advocacy work and any relevant policy changes ensures coherent actions among its partners. Families in the early childhood network and members of its Governance Assembly should be included to increase their voice and participation in the screening, referral, and intervention processes.

Strengthening the Early Childhood Network

The network survey that was conducted for this research provided a baseline on the breadth, depth, and strength of the early childhood network. The network survey also identified key partners and opportunities for building relationships that would achieve shared goals. Observing the evolution of the network over time will require maintaining a partnership database and repeating the administration of the survey as the network grows and moves to a new stage of its development. Additionally, access to resources for managing these activities should be maintained and expanded. To support the network's evolution, HMG WNY should seek to convene members to increase the number and strength of relationships in the network; facilitate partnerships between members that work between counties, across the region, or in the state; and continue to evaluate the contributions of members, with an eye toward maintaining the already high levels of trust and value in the network.

Implications

The efforts of HMG WNY underscore the importance of a coordinated approach in system-building and emphasize the need for continuous engagement with multiple partners and the integration of data-driven decisionmaking processes. Some of HMG WNY's approaches, such as integrating data-driven strategies, enhancing community collaboration, and focusing on policy advocacy, could serve as a model for other initiatives or communities that have similar early childhood development system-building goals.

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Topics

• Child Well-Being
• Childhood Development
• Early Childhood Education
• New York
• Parenting
• Social Services and Welfare