Aligning Early Childhood Systems: Ten Recommendations and a Roadmap for Action

This resource is designed to support states in strengthening how the Title V Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Services Block Grant, Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV), Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems (ECCS), and Healthy Start programs work together in practice.
This updated resource reflects lessons learned from putting the Roadmap into practice with six states. The resource is organized into three parts: a brief primer on the opportunity for alignment, ten recommendations that describe key conditions and approaches for stronger alignment, and a practical Roadmap Tool that offers step-by-step guidance to help you assess current efforts and take concrete next steps. It also features a new table showing how shared and individual measures across Title V, MIECHV, ECCS, and Healthy Start programs align with Title V’s National Outcome Measures.
Although built with Title V, ECCS, MIECHV, and Healthy Start programs in mind, this resource is designed for anyone working in early childhood programs who wants to improve systems of care and outcomes for families and young children. Whether your state has an established cross-program collaborative or is just getting started, you can use this resource to:

• Understand common challenges and opportunities for alignment
• Self-assess current approaches to coordination and alignment
• Identify and implement strategies to strengthen alignment toward shared early childhood outcomes

The Roadmap Tool walks you through six steps for establishing or strengthening a core collaboration team, starting with scanning for existing coordinating bodies and strategic plans and ending with institutionalizing the collaboration. Each step includes the purpose and rationale, activities to complete, and outputs to document.
For additional support or questions, please contact Anna Corona Romero (acorona@amchp.org), Maura Leahy (mleahy@amchp.org), or Paige Bussanich (pbussanich@amchp.org).