Linking Systems of Care

Creating an Integrated Early Childhood System of Care

Creating an integrated early childhood system of care for children 0-5 in Alameda County is essential to improve child well-being and school readiness of children. Unfortunately, our county’s current service delivery system is a mix of categorically funded programs, with varying eligibility requirements and uneven access. Parents must struggle to access support, with many children never receiving needed services and no cross agency accountability for children’s outcomes.

Creating an integrated early childhood system of care requires the involvement of multiple county agencies and community partners, flexible funding streams, linked data systems, regulatory changes and federal and state policy that promotes coordinated communities of care.  First 5 Alameda County is working to create such a system by:

  • Coordinating, supporting and linking developmentally appropriate services for children 0-5 and their families

  • Participating in local, state and national early childhood policy work to promote the work of First 5 Alameda County and to learn from other innovative initiatives

  • Developing linked data system to track family success and program outcomes

  • Developing and disseminate key research findings from First 5 programs and best practices from across the country

We do this by working with a broad coalition of community partners:

Interagency Children’s Policy Council (ICPC)

BHCSA Early Connections –Early Childhood Mental Health SOC

Alameda County Child Care Planning Council

Alameda Children with Special Needs Committee

Alameda County Early Childhood Policy Committee (ACECPC)

EO Building Healthy Communities

Children’s Outcomes Project (Nemours and Cal Endowment Sponsored)

Frontiers of Innovation (Harvard Center for the Developing Child)

National and State Project LAUNCH (SAMHSA)

For more information on Policy, Advocacy & Communication contact:
Lisa Erickson at 510-227-6953

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