Preconception Health and Health Care and Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems: Opportunities for Collaboration

Learn about our Project Thrive project. This is an excerpt from the full report. In recent years, the importance of women’s preconception health and health care (PCHHC) for improving birth outcomes, especially among high-risk populations, has been highlighted by numerous researchers, advocates, and policymakers. In 2006, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Select […]

Comprehensive Obesity Prevention in Early Childhood: Promising Federal and State Initiatives

Learn about our Project Thrive project. This is an excerpt from the full report. The prevalence of obese and overweight children in the United States has nearly tripled during the past 30 years. In 2010, approximately 17 percent of all children and adolescents (ages 2-19) were obese (BMI is in the 95th percentile or above). […]

Pediatric Medical Homes: Laying the Foundation of a Promising Model of Care

Learn about our Project Thrive project. This is an excerpt from the full report. Introduction In recent years the nation’s health care system has accelerated the development and implementation of a new model of patient care – the medical home. States, insurers, health care delivery systems, and individual practices are increasingly exploring ways to leverage medical […]

Putting the Pieces Together: New York Early Learning Program Data Systems

Learn about our Project Thrive project.  Across the country, states are recognizing the great value of coordinated data systems to inform and improve their early childhood policies and programs. Prepared for New York’s Early Childhood Advisory Council, this report represents a big first step toward creation of a coordinated early childhood data system for that […]

State-level Indicators for Social-emotional Development: Building Better Systems

Learn about our Project Thrive project. This is an excerpt from the full report. Introduction Research repeatedly suggests that experiences and skills acquired early in life have a long lasting effect. Many interventions that promote social-emotional well-being and preventing mental health problems in children and their caregivers are clinically sound and cost effective. Social-emotional well-being […]

Environmental Health in Early Childhood Systems Building: Opportunities for States

Learn about our Project Thrive project. This is an excerpt from the full report. Introduction Exposure to environmental hazards has negative outcomes for healthy child development. Household and community pollutants affect people of all ages, but for a number of important reasons young children face a significantly higher risk of developing disease and experiencing cognitive […]

Addressing the Mental Health Needs of Young Children in the Child Welfare System: What Every Policymaker Should Know

Learn about our Project Thrive project. This is an excerpt from the full report. Introduction: Why Focus on Mental Health in the Child Welfare System? The early years of life present a unique opportunity to lay the foundation for healthy development. It is a time of great growth and of vulnerability. Research on early childhood […]

Improving Supports for Parents of Young Children: State-level Initiatives

Learn about our Project Thrive project. This is an excerpt from the full report. Introduction Most states are working to strengthen supports for young children’s health and development across the different systems that affect family and child wellbeing. Increasingly, efforts to support parenting are an important focus of this work. While states’ strategies are varied, […]

Indicators for Social-emotional Development in Early Childhood: A Guide for Local Stakeholders

Learn about our Project Thrive project. Introduction Social-emotional development in young children encompasses how young children feel about themselves, how they behave and how they relate to people close to them, such as caregivers, teachers, and peers. Although infant and early childhood mental health are often used in the same way, the term social-emotional development […]

State Indicators for Early Childhood: Short Take No. 7

Learn about our Project Thrive project. Virtually all State Early Childhood Comprehensive System Initiatives have adopted or identified indicators for monitoring program performance and child outcomes related to early childhood systems. These are primarily based on nationally recommended indicators or on state initiatives. However, although a functional set of indicators is needed to monitor progress […]