Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems: Health Integration Prenatal-to-Three Program

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This notice announces the opportunity to apply for funding under the Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems: Health Integration Prenatal-to-Three Program (ECCS). The purpose of this program is to build integrated maternal and early childhood systems1 of care that are equitable, sustainable, comprehensive, and inclusive of the health system, and that promote early developmental health and family well-being and increase family-centered access to care and engagement of the prenatal-to-3 (P–3) population. The goals for the ECCS program are to: 1) Increase state2-level infrastructure and capacity to develop and/or strengthen statewide maternal and early childhood systems of care; 2) Increase coordination and alignment between maternal and child health (MCH) and other statewide systems that impact young children and families to advance a common vision for early developmental health and family well-being; 3) Increase the capacity of health systems to deliver and effectively connect families to a continuum of services that promote early developmental health and family well-being, beginning prenatally; 4) Identify and implement policy and financing strategies that support the funding and sustainability of multigenerational, preventive services and systems for the P–3 population; and 5) Increase state-level capacity to advance equitable and improved access to services for underserved P–3 populations. To advance these goals, recipients will pursue the following core objectives: 1) Increase the number of family and professional leaders engaged in state-level maternal and early childhood initiatives; 2) Develop (or strengthen) and implement a cross-sector state-level maternal and early childhood strategic plan that integrates health with other P–3 systems and programs; 3) Increase the participation of health providers (including obstetricians and pediatricians) in coordinated intake and referral systems (CIRS) or other centralized intake and data coordination efforts for the maternal and P–3 population; 4) Demonstrate progress toward critical policy and financing changes, as identified in state maternal and early childhood strategic plans; and 5) Set specific and measurable P–3 health equity goals in the statewide early childhood strategic plan. ECCS goals and objectives aim to increase statewide access to integrated, effective, culturally appropriate, evidence-based early developmental health and family well-being promotion, prevention, and early intervention practices and services during the prenatal and early childhood period. Earlier family engagement in high-quality comprehensive services supports long-term family protective factors, reductions in risks to health and development, and improvements in indicators of health and well-being.3 See Appendix B for the ECCS program logic model and core assumptions underlying the program. For a detailed description of program expectations, see Section IV.

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