Initiatives

Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems Collaborative Improvement and Innovation Network (ECCS CoIIN)

A multiyear initiative to improve early childhood service systems in 12 states to increase age-appropriate developmental skills among 3-year-old children and reduce developmental disparities.

Keep scrolling, or use these quick links, to learn more.

Status: Active

August 2016 - August 2021

Who: Twelve states and their respective communities (see map), which will be comprised of community leaders, researchers, healthcare providers and family partners.
Funder: Health Resources and Services Administration Maternal and Child Health Bureau. Partners on the project include: ZERO to THREE (ZTT), Applied Engineering Management Corporation (AEM), the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs (AMCHP) and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI).
Our Role: Lead the NICHQ Coordinating Center for ECCS CoIIN to support state teams through quality improvement and innovation, using collaboration and rapid cycle testing to create new approaches that will enhance early childhood systems.

If you are interested in learning more about this project, check out our project flyer or email us at eccscoiin@nichq.org

Participating States

Teams are provided technical assistance and an online collaborative workplace (NICHQ's Collaboratory) to promote continuous communication, and a data dashboard to capture shared measures and track progress toward the common agenda. Click on the map below to see a list of participating communities in the 12 "Impact Grantee" states.

Project Map

Project Aim: Thriving at Three

The ECCS CoIIN aims to improve outcomes in population-based children’s developmental health and family well-being. Within five years of the program start, participating ECCS Impact Grantees will strive to show a 25 percent increase in age appropriate developmental skills among their communities’ 3-year-old children.

IF THESE CONTEXTS EXIST...

A collective impact approach by means of a backbone (hub) organization at the state and community level

Linked, aligned and coordinated systems with data infrastructure that promote communication, continuity and cross-sector collaboration

Advocacy and policy change at the local, state and federal level to support families and promote healthy child development

AND THESE STATEMENTS ARE TRUE...

All ECCS Impact services provide the early identification of developmental needs

All ECCS Impact services promote developmental health and are available, accessible, high-quality, coordinated and useful to families

All ECCS Impact families and caregivers understand their important role in child development and engage in language rich, nurturing relationships

All ECCS Impact services address the social determinants of health and strengthen families and systems to mitigate risk and maximize healthy development

THEN THESE SHORT TERM INDICATORS WILL HAPPEN...

All ECCS Impact families understand their important role in child development with an awareness of community resources that support healthy child development

ECCS Impact communities will have capacities for data sharing and resources to promote the healthy development of all children

All ECCS Impact families will value, explore and utilize family and community resources that promote healthy child development

All ECCS Impact families when facing their ACE’s, current challenges and/or needs will access community resources and supports that address family stress and the social determinants of health

SO THAT THESE OUTCOMES WILL OCCUR...

All ECCS Impact families with children birth through 3 are healthy, nurturing, safe and actively promoting the healthy development of their child

A high quality developmental health promotion system is available for all children and families in the ECCS Impact communities

ECCS Impact Grantee babies will be on track to achieve their 3 year old milestones

Equity Action Lens

NICHQ is infusing its focus on health equity into the ECCS CoIIN initiative. This graphic, which we call the Equity Action Lens, shows the fusion of three perspectives essential to foster health equity: social determinants of health, life course perspective, and the social ecological model, which include multiple levels and sectors of social influence and support. The Equity Action Lens helped to guide the design of the theory of change for this initiative.

Play

Join Our Virtual Community

The ECCS CoIIN Collaboratory (CoLab) is a virtual place where ECCS CoIIN participants and stakeholders can share ideas and best practices, ask questions, and uncover useful tips to advance their change efforts.

Already a member?

Want to join? Fill out this form to request access.

Helpful Resources

We've curated several resources for those working on early childhood health:

The Integration of Early Childhood Data
State profiles and a report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Education
Implementation of Young Child Wellness Strategies in a Unique Cohort of Local Communities
A report of lessons learned from Project LAUNCH (Linking Actions for Unmet Needs in Children’s Health.
The Guide to Community Preventive Services
A collection of evidence-based findings from the Community Preventive Services Task Force to improve health and prevent disease.
Achieving the Promise of a Bright Future
A policy brief from ZERO to THREE outlining recommended developmental screening of infants and toddlers.
From the Ground Up: Establishing Strong Core Policies for Infants, Toddlers and Families
This resource describes the rationale for investing in programs that support children’s development in the earliest years of life.
Infant-Toddler State Self-Assessment Toolkit
This toolkit is intended to help state policy leaders and advocates assess the current status of services for infants, toddlers and their families, and to set priorities for improvement.

Webinar

Recent Webinar

Engaging Families from Diverse Backgrounds with Developmental Screening and Child Well-Being

Early childhood screenings, starting at 9 months, give children with disabilities the opportunity to thrive. At NICHQ, we're committed to helping improve access for all children. View our recent webinar to find out how to engage families from diverse backgrounds and improve screenings in your state.

View the Webinar

Social-Emotional Health is Often Invisible, But Needs Support Too

Here, NICHQ Project Director Colleen Murphy, MSMOB, shares how a classroom shooting changed her daughter's life and inspired Murphy to improve children's health systems.

Getting My Son the Support He Needed Shouldn’t Have Been this Hard

When NICHQ's Senior Director of Programs thought her son might have a disability, she realized that health systems can leave mothers feeling powerless to help their children. It's one of the reasons she's so committed to their improvement.

Helping Health Plans Improve Asthma Outcomes

Asthma currently affects over six million children across the U.S., making it one of the most widespread chronic childhood diseases. And while successful treatments exist, too many children still end up in the emergency room fighting to breathe. Working with health plans can change those numbers by ensuring that preventative treatments and services help more children. Here's how one state is engaging health plans to improve asthma outcomes.

Starting School Prepared Should Be a Right, Not a Privilege

In theory, everyone should start school on equal footing. But the reality is very different for many children across the country. Even before birth, social determinants of health such as parental income and maternal education affect a child's developmental health. Changing this means building stronger systems that support and empower families so all children can achieve kindergarten readiness.

Our Systems Meant to Help Are Hurting Black Families

When does mandated reporting hurt rather than improve health outcomes? Erin Cloud, who’s spent the past seven years advocating for parents in the child welfare system, shares a thought provoking story about what happens when biased reporting causes unintentional harm. Here, we shine a spotlight on this troubling example of when systems meant to support children’s health end up failing black mothers and children.

How Do We Address Safe Sleep Disparities? Start by Building Trust

Healthy babies shouldn’t die in their sleep. But, despite decades of trying to reduce the number of sudden unexpected infant deaths (SUID) they still persist. And most often, their persistence affects families of color. In this article, Founder of the Global Infant Safe Sleep Center, Stacy Scott, shares ideas on how we can best address this alarming lack of equity and reduce sleep-related deaths across all populations.