Overview

Project LAUNCH grantees are required by SAMHSA to ensure that local and state priorities and visions are aligned and that policy and practice improvements at the local level are supported through state-level council work. In the original LAUNCH funding to California, an existing Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems (ECCS) council served as the state oversight council. For the current LAUNCH program, the state oversight and trouble-shooting is being provided by the California Systems Integration Team, Home Visiting Workgroup (SIT-HV). The SIT-HV is focused on integrating the work of key stakeholders and state agencies to strengthen home visiting so that better outcomes are achieved for children and families. Members include the MIECHV Program, Title V Program, Behavioral Services Directors’ Association, California Department of Education, Head Start, Early Start, California Department of Community Services, California Department of Social Services, Office of Child Abuse Prevention, California Department of Healthcare Services, Head Start State Collaboration Office, First 5 California, First 5 Association, children’s advocacy organizations, mental health specialists, Maternal Child & Adolescent Health Directors’ Association, organizations that service children with special needs, and housing representatives.

 

Resources

California Project LAUNCH -Systems Integration, Mental Health Consultation in Home Visiting, and Family Café Logic Models 2017

Logic Models

 

Sustainability

These two documents provide a road map to understanding federal resources and how different funding streams have the potential to be braided together to create integrated service delivery models/approaches. Kay Johnson’s national research on the utilization of Medicaid funding to provide preventative and treatment health services for young children and their families provides foundational information. This information can potentially lay the groundwork for thinking about two generation approaches to care.

Links: Using EPSDT to Promote Early Childhood Mental Health: Idea Kit Medicaid and Home Visiting

 

Systems Building

These websites focus on systems building and service integration.

The BUILD Initiative: http://www.buildinitiative.org/

Center for the Study of Social Policy: http://www.cssp.org/

 

Help Me Grow

Hello Early Childhood Advocates,
First 5 produced a video about Help Me Grow Alameda County to give policymakers and system leaders a better understanding of the Help Me Grow system. Highlighting the crucial importance of early identification, the video shows how Help Me Grow not only helps families answer childhood development questions and navigate available services, but also works with leaders to build a strong early childhood system across the county. Help Me Grow is a collaborative effort, and we hope that this video can help new potential partners understand how they can get involved. Please use it! Send it out to partners, screen it at meetings, etc.. In any situation where there’s an opportunity to give a broad overview of Help Me Grow, this video was designed to be a tool to help you do that!