The ECAS Network is similar to the concept of an ‘auwai, an open channel of water that connects a river to a taro patch or a fishpond. Each of our partners (each fresh water source), comes together to feed the taro patch (our keiki, ‘ohana and those that support them). In doing so, we collectively strengthen the system of care for our youngest keiki. The healthier the ‘auwai of our community, the healthier and happier our keiki will be.
As I reflect on the past year and look ahead to 2025, I am filled with profound gratitude for the unwavering shared commitments to ensuring more babies are born healthy and more of our youngest keiki are developing on track, ready for kindergarten and thriving by third grade. Systems are not built in silos but rather across sectors and industries, through collaborative and rich conversations and shared decision making. This report reflects the heart and hard work of everyone who contributes to meaningful solutions. Let us leverage our 2024 successes and increased momentum to build the future our keiki deserve. One where our youngest keiki and their ‘ohana have the supports they need, when they need them and how they need them so that they can live happy and fulfilling lives.
Mahalo nui loa for everyoneʻs contributions and hereʻs to a bold and courageous 2025!
Me ke aloha pumehana, Kerrie
Kerrie Urosevich
Executive Director Kerrie@ecashawaii.org
ECAS Mission
About Early Childhood Action Strategy (ECAS)
To bring together governmental and nongovernmental organizations to align priorities for children prenatal to age eight, and to strengthen and integrate the early childhood system by streamlining services, maximizing resources, and improving programs to support Hawai‘i‘s youngest keiki and their ‘ohana.
Early Childhood Action Strategy (ECAS) works to influence the core conditions that enable or impede systems change. Through the concerted effort of a broad range of government and nongovernment actors operating across the early childhood landscape, we build momentum for positive change in the systems that support young children and their families in Hawai‘i.
Achievements and related outcomes are the result of ongoing partnerships between the many actors who participate in the ECAS network.
ECAS Goals
ECAS partners work across sectors to advance four core goals.
(1) Babies are born healthy
(2) Children are safe and healthy and develop on track
(3) Children are ready for school when they enter kindergarten
(4) Children are proficient learners by third grade
The ECAS network is helping to build momentum for positive change in the systems that support young children and their families in Hawai‘i.
Since its creation in 2012, the Early Childhood Action Strategy has maintained a focus on strengthening key dimensions of child wellbeing including health, early childhood development, family safety and security, access to quality early learning opportunities, and school readiness and academic achievement. Over that same period of time, ECAS has operated in a landscape characterized by swings in levels of available resources and public and political support, and affected by national and global events, including a national recession and a global pandemic.
Trends in child wellbeing in Hawai‘i since 2012 paint a mixed picture. On the positive side, we see rising rates of breastfeeding, declining rates of teen parenting, and reduced rates of child abuse and neglect, and a strong statewide commitment to expanding the number of publicly supported preschool seats. At the same time, fewer prospective mothers are receiving early prenatal care, the share of children receiving developmental screenings has stalled, the number of vacancies in the early childhood workforce has increased, and kindergarten entry scores show little change between 2023 and 2024.
Responding to these trends, the ECAS network continues to identify, implement, and assess strategies and possible solutions to strengthen the wellbeing of young keiki and their ‘ohana in Hawai‘i.
Effect Policy
Policy Engagement Efforts
Through both the Commit to Keiki effort and the ECAS policy engagement process, the ECAS network is working to shape the direction and focus of public policy in Hawai‘i. In 2024, ECAS engaged in a review of our policy process, leading to a modification of our engagement in the 2024 legislative session. In 2025, we are shifting from a reactionary policy approach to a more intentional policy development strategy. Our new Policy Lead will start in January and will be working closely with ECAS teams and the Commit to Keiki Steering Committee on policy priorities moving forward.
During the 2024 legislative session, ECAS backbone staff provided testimony in support of measures aligned with team and workgroup priorities, and supported related bills championed by network partners.
Collectively, these measures were focused on
* Expanding access to child care and early learning
* Preventing family violence
* Expanding access to early childhood mental health support
Status of Key Measures Supported by Commit to Keiki and ECAS in 2024
Keiki Credit
HB 1662
Died this session
Early Intervention Services 4.9M
Salary Increases
HB 1800/SB 2234
Signed into law by the Governor
Child Care Worker Wage Supplement
HB 1964/SB 2603
Died this session
Contracted Classrooms
HB 2535
Died this session
Early Learning Facilities
HB 2398/HB 1903/SB3087
Passed
Peer-Support Specialists
HB 2405.SB3094
Passed without funding*
Would have assisted families in covering essential expenses like food, housing, school supplies and childcare
Supports salary increases for Early Intervention Services specialists who provide critical services including speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and cognitive and social and emotional supports for keiki birth to 3 years of age. Hawai‘i has a 25-30% vacancy rate in this field and salary rates are one of the leading reasons. The salary increases will support both recruitment and retention.
Would have established a program to provide stipends and bonuses to licensed/regulated child care programs to supplement staff wages and improve recruitment and retention of early child-hood care and education professionals.
Would have allowed the Department of Human Services to run and assess a 2-year pilot program in which each county would contract with infant/toddler or group childcare centers for classrooms and implement an innovating funding model designed both to establish a stable funding stream for providers and increase child care access for families with subsidies.
Amends the Pre-Plus statute to allow early learning programs to operate on state property in addition to those on DOE campuses, and opens the program to children not yet in kindergarten.
Establishes a working group within the Office of Wellness and Resilience to develop a framework for peer-support specialists statewide.
*Philanthropy provided funds to support coordination for the Office of Wellness and Resilience
Access to Quality Early Care and Education Services
In addition to direct legislative lobbying efforts, ECAS backbone and team members participate in many ongoing conversations with Executive and Legislative branch colleagues in support of policy development to benefit keiki and ‘ohana.
One example is seen in the work of members of the ECAS Team 4 Infant and Toddler sub-group who have been working closely with the Department of Human Services to identify ways to increase access of infants and toddlers (0-3) to quality early care and education services by addressing policy, regulatory and funding barriers, and by supporting quality-improvement and capacity-building activities.
These efforts have included:
* Participation in feedback sessions with DHS on proposals for a demonstration project designed to increase the supply of Infant and Toddler (I/T) care
* Participating by DHS invitation in an I/T workgroup to work on recommended rule changes in Q4 for I/T staff qualifications for 2025 consideration
* Working in collaboration with partners to assess and identify policy options for supporting I/T
Statewide Pre-Kindergarten Expansion
A major policy initiative across Hawai‘i is the effort to expand Pre-Kindergarten access for 3 and 4-year-olds. Under the Ready Keiki banner, and with Executive and Legislative leadership, voluntary pre-kindergarten expansion is well underway.
* The Ready Keiki initiative continues to be a strong component of the statewide strategy to support early childhood development in Hawai‘i in 2024, working to rapidly expand early care and learning capacity.
* Ready Keiki is working to expand access to preschool for Hawaiʻi’s 3- and 4-year-olds, creating over 400 new classrooms statewide by 2032. Of the $200 Million appropriated for Ready Keiki through Act 257, $90.72M (45% of the total) has been released). This funding has made possible the creation of 64 new prekindergarten classrooms either in development or complete and operational.
* ECAS Funders’ Hui members, in collaboration with the University of Hawai‘i, Chaminade University, EOEL, PATCH and the Hawai‘i Legislature have come together to encourage the development of the workforce that will be needed to staff these new classrooms, and fill the state’s already substantial early childhood workforce needs.
* In the first and second rounds of kindergarten entry assessment testing (Fall 2023 and Fall 2024) a third of entering kindergarteners statewide earned scores indicating they are ready for kindergarten. In many schools and communities, the share of children ready for kindergarten is much lower. Increasing access to prekindergarten is a key strategy in the effort to increase kindergarten readiness.
Tracking State and County Developments
County Government Early Childhood Efforts
Hawai‘i‘s four County Governments continued to take decisive action in 2024 to prioritize early childhood. ECAS celebrates recent County led efforts to strengthen the systems of support for young children and their families, including:
City and County of Honolulu
* The City and County of Honolulu has hired an Early Childhood Resource Coordinator and an office assistant. With a federal funding opportunity, the City will be adding a full time Community Engagement Coordinator. ($220k)
* The City and County of Honolulu Early Childhood Community Profile has been completed and is being used to identify key data points and metrics to assist with the development o the City‘s 3-year Early Childhood Action Plan.
* The City‘s Coordinator is also leading the charge in engaging childcare professionals through a series of stakeholder sessions. These stakeholder sessions will be instrumental in shaping the City‘s 3-year Early Childhood Action Plan. This plan is being crafted with the Urban Institute‘s Upward Mobility Framework as the foundation.
* The City is developing two sites that combine affordable housing with childcare facilities. Parkway Villages in Kapolei will include six early learning classrooms, including one traumainformed classroom.
* For the Kunia affordable housing project, a portion of the parcel will be used to construct five child care classrooms.
* The City was awarded $300k to implement a family child interaction learning program co-located with a Family Assessment Center to support children and families experiencing residential instability.
* The City has also started facilitating the work to start the design and planning stage for construction of a child care facility in Ewa.
* The City is building permanent housing for
domestic violence survivors and their keiki.
- The City provides over $193,000 annually for housing vouchers for survivors of domestic violence.
- The City was recently awarded $3 million dollars for the acquisition of property for the purpose of housing domestic violence survivors.
- The Grants in Aid Advisory Commission recommended a total of $9.9 million in grants, of which $2.2 million was awarded to programs focusing on children.
- The City secured $200k to bolster family engagement and access to services and to support professional learning opportunities for early learning professionals and city personnel.
County of Hawai‘i
* The Early Childhood Resource Team has employment commitments through 2026 and has added an additional Family Engagement team member (with PDG B-5 funding)
* Hawai‘i County has used data collected for the Hawai‘i County Early Childhood Community profile to establish County funding priorities and guide the development of the County‘s ARPA funding RFPs.
* The County has awarded $4M in ARPA funds to support the expansion of preschool programs and family childcare homes, support a new apprenticeship program, support professional development conferences, provide scholarship opportunities for Hawai‘i Island practitioners to enroll in early childhood education classes, and to support the Pāhoa Promise and Pāhoa Reads early childhood development and kindergarten readiness continuum efforts.
* Held a third Early Childhood professional development conference in September 2024
* Distributed more than 7,500 Reach Out and Read books to keiki across the County with plans to expand the program to more pediatric clinics and to other health providers.
* Supported an ‘Ohana Keiki Fest in Waikoloa in November that attracted 26 resource tables, and over 1,500 attendees.
* Convene partners across the County in monthly meetings to provide updates and hear from providers.
County of Maui
* Maui County is the only County that has designated and ongoing funds for early childhood development at $2M per year.
* The Maui County Early Childhood Resource Coordinator (ECRC) is a General Funded Position under the Department of Human Concerns. The Housing and Human Concerns Departments were bifurcated as of July 1, 2024.
* For FY25, the ECRC budget saw a slight increase and FY26 is targeting a flat budget. Focus areas of funding are:
- Early childhood workforce development
- Early childhood literacy
- Family support services including the Early Childhood Resource Center;
- Subsidy assistance for childcare
- Parent education
* Maui County has engaged in partnerships with MFSS, EOEL and P-20 to work on County specific PDG family engagement deliverables.
* By Maui County ECRC request, ECAS is housing the Early Childhood Maui County Wildfire Recovery Coordinator.
County of Kaua‘i
* The County of Kaua‘i Chief of Staff continues to work closely with Alanna Souza, ECE System Coordinator from Kaua‘i Planning & Action Alliance on Early Childhood priorities.
* Renovations are underway in the Pi‘ikoi Building (the old Big Save space) for the County Youth Center.
* Mayor Kawakami is one of the Early Learning National Policy Fellows at The Hunt Institute, which includes 100 mayors and other elected officials nationwide.
* Has increased family and community engagement through a partnership with Kaua‘i Planning & Action Alliance.
* The Kaua‘i County Early Childhood Community Profile has been completed and is helping to inform early childhood policy conversations.
* Kaua‘i Planning & Action Alliance was recently awarded $235,000 from a subgrant through the Hawai‘i P-20 PDG B-5 Family & Community Engagement and Advocacy project to increase family knowledge and maximize family engagement on Kaua‘i. Currently, they are administering an early childhood education survey to understand community awareness, preferences, and access to early learning programming, and will launch a county-wide campaign in early 2025. Stay tuned!
* As of September 1, 2024, Kaua‘i County employees and their families will receive free health care premium coverage, including medical, prescription drugs, vision, and dental plans. The county will pay 100% of the premium and administrative costs for employees who enroll in the Kaiser Standard HMO or HMSA 75/25 PPO health plans.
* $120,000 in ARPA funds were awarded to the Kaua‘i YWCA to fund its 24/7 crisis support services through this year.
* The county‘s FY24-25 budget included a $1M competitive GIA program to support various substance abuse prevention and mental health programs across the island.
* The Kaua‘i Office of the Prosecuting Attorney has partnered with Ho‘ola La Hui Hawai‘i, a Native Hawaiian Health Care System, to create a diversion program for low-level offenders suffering from mental health issues, as well as partnering on a program to assist families dealing with domestic violence issues.
* Mayor Kawakami continues to prioritize progressive and inclusive parks and open spaces, such as inclusive playgrounds for kupuna and children with special needs, skateparks, and the county‘s first public equestrian facility so that all children will have a safe space to play.
* The 2025 Kaua‘i ECE Conference will be held on February 1, 2025. This year‘s theme is I ka wā ma mua, ka wā ma hope. The future is found in the past. We are excited to offer experiential workshops grounded in Hawaiian culture.
* The 2025 Parent & Child Fair will be held on April 5, 2025, at Kukui Grove Center. More information will be available soon.
Increase Investments
Fiscal Mapping Project with the Children’s Funding Project
Fiscal mapping is the process of identifying the sources of funds that currently are used to pay for needed programs and services for children birth to age 24 in Hawai‘i, including Federal, State and County funds and philanthropic support. ARPA dollars received for children in Hawai‘i are also being mapped. With this information, departments can make more strategic decisions on how to spend their funds to better meet the needs of Hawai‘iʻs children, programs will have the data to guide strategic programming decisions, policy makers will be able to make more informed policy decisions, and the data will inform advocacy priorities.
The Fiscal Mapping project in Hawai‘i began in the summer of 2024 with budget holders across the State. The initial map will be completed in March 2025.
Funding Efforts by ECAS Teams
In 2024, the work of the ECAS teams and backbone was made possible by more than $3.5M in funding generated through grants and contracts. Grants came from The Omidyar Group, The Omidyar Group, CDC Foundation, Harold K.L. Castle Foundation, Hawai‘i County Government, Hawaiʻi Community Foundation, Hawaiʻi Medical Service Association (HMSA), Hawaiʻi Public Health Institute, Papa ola Lōkahi, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Samuel N. and Mary Castle Foundation, Strive Together, the Stupski Foundation, the US Department of Agriculture, along with contracts awarded by the Hawai‘i Departments of Health (DOH) and Education (DOE).
Early Childhood Funders’ Hui
The EC Funders’ Hui is comprised of philanthropic funders who support efforts to improve early childhood health, child and family safety and security, and access to quality early learning opportunities. The EC Funders’ Hui supports deeper collaboration between funders, helps to support aligned strategic efforts across the community of funders, and provides one of many pathways for ECAS teams to receive catalytic funding for promising innovations. ECAS backbone staff work with the Funders’ Hui to identify promising funding opportunities and encourage the development of prospective proposals to be considered for funding.
Proposals to the EC Funders’ Hui in 2024 include: Aloha at Home (ECAS Team 2)
* Support families and improve the communitywide response to family violence
* $60,000
Child Care Provider Participation
* Incentives for the Child Care Cost Modeling Project
* $25,000
FARMWISE - Farm to CACFP Institute and Learning Collaborative (ECAS Team 3)
* Increase awareness, build capacity and improve participation in and implementation of the Child and Adult Care Food Program and Farm to ECE activities
* $15,000
Lactation Care Fast Pass Pilot (ECAS Team 1)
* Medicaid-covered families receive timely lactation assistance to better meet their breast/ chestfeeding goals
* $50,000
In addition, funders collaborated significantly to support both Maui Wildfire Recovery and workforce development strategies.
Support and Scale Innovative Practices
ECAS teams incubate innovative practices until they are ready to move to a permanent organization and/or agency. Makua Allies, Ka ‘Upena Shared Services, Breastfeeding Toolkits, and Aloha at Home are examples of efforts that were initially prototyped within ECAS teams and have since found homes in other organizations.
Makua Allies
Epic ‘Ohana’s Makua Allies program offers pregnant and parenting women suffering with substance use disorder a trusted partner to help them access needed community supports and services. Providing peer-support increases parents’ hope and sense of self efficacy and helps to keep parents and their children together, avoiding separation.
There will be a bill introduced in 2025 for sustained funding for the peer-support programs through the Department of Health.
“In a typical day, I will be driving all over the island. I will start off my day at court with one of the moms I partner with, at a hearing for petition for foster custody. It is crucial and important that I attend alongside the mom to share the importance of connecting with her attorney, empowering her to ask questions including questions she has about where her child is placed-and sharing information that would be important for the caregiver to have. I help her to know that all her efforts matter. We work on articulating what she has been working on, making sure the attorney is prepared with all the vital information prior to that first court hearing. I am there as moral support for mom and dad; I support them before and after court preparation. If mom had trouble hearing all that was said-which happens when you are flooded with emotion-I can help her recall what was said and what our next steps are.”
Lactation Access Transforming Communities in Hawaiʻi
LATCH (Lactation Access Transforming Communities in Hawaiʻi) is co-led by Breastfeeding Hawaiʻi and ECAS. In partnership with Med-QUEST, HMSA, SMALLIFY, and lactation consultants (IBCLCs) around the state, LATCH employed design thinking to generate innovative responses to the barriers many families experience when seeking lactation care. In 2024, LATCH prototyped a FastPass program that rapidly connects new parents in need of lactation support.
* Prototyped with 59 families in 2024, the FastPass pilot will continue into 2025 to serve families on Medicaid (HMSA QUEST) who would otherwise face multiple barriers to lactation care
* In order to connect insurers and families with an adequate network of qualified lactation providers, the FastPass pilot engaged nine lactation consultants serving rural islands to build skills and support each other in the insurance billing process
* The pilot helps partners understand how best to get lactation support to under-served families, and how best to reimburse lactation consultants through insurance
* LATCH partners work toward policy changes to increase Medicaid coverage for lactation care and encourage insurance plans to expand lactation coverage
* Results of the prototype are being closely watched by health insurers who are eager to support this work
“The Fast Pass Lactation Consultant “was amazing and gave me hope in transitioning baby from exclusively breastfeeding to breastmilk in bottle. I had to go back work and she helped me with baby to have that smooth transition.”
LATCH FastPass participant
“It really is a beneficial to families and a great resource to have. I am very happy that insurance covers and is available to families.”
LATCH FastPass participant
Aloha at Home
Aloha at Home is a multi-year initiative that was initiated by ECAS Team 2. The initiative brings together more than 20 partner organizations that share a commitment to decreasing family violence and supporting healthy child development in Hawai‘i. The project integrates Hawaiian cultural values with the 5 Protective Factors framework for strengthening families.
In 2024, the Team 2 Aloha at Home (A@H) partnership was awarded a Hawai‘i Department of Health Strengthening Families Grant to implement the A@H framework as a tool for strengthening families and home environments and decreasing family violence in our communities.
As part of this grant, Team 2 partnered with 11 community organizations in order to distribute 250 ‘ohana toolkits across the islands of Kaua‘i, Hawai‘i and O‘ahu. Additionally, A@H reached Maui families with support from the DOH/Papa Ola Lokahi SERG grant.
Meanwhile, the reinvigorated A@H social media campaign posted 250 engagements across Instagram and Facebook, and the Aloha at Home Website averaged 1,911 visits per month.
Feedback from families who received the Aloha at Home toolkits speaks to their effectiveness:
* 80% of these families indicated that they were likely to continue using A@H activities in next 6 months
* 95% say they are likely to recommend A@H to others
* 75% report the toolkits increased the quality time they spent together as a family
* 50% of parents believe the toolkits improved their communication with their children
* 45% noticed positive behavioral changes within their families
* 30% of respondents say that the toolkits helped to decrease stress at home
Early Language and Literacy Development
ECAS Early Language and Literacy partners continue to gather as a community of practice under the umbrella of Team 6
In 2024, Team 6 partners supported early literacy development across Hawai‘i in many ways:
* Read To Me International convened their annual meeting and increased both their in-person and virtual programming to meet growing demand from families.
* Read to Me International also held their annual conference in June 2024 featuring Mem Fox and Barney Saltzberg.
* Through 2024, Kristi Yamaguchi’s Always Dream Foundation’s Always Reading program has reached over a thousand families and dozens of pre-kindergarten and kindergarten classrooms in eight complex areas across Hawai‘i.
* Pediatric practices working with the Reach out and Read (ROAR) program on Hawai‘i Island have now distributed over 7,000 books during well child check-ups, and the County Early Childhood Resource Coordinator office will expand the reach of the program with ARPA funding.
* 3 pediatric practices in Maui County also have adopted the ROAR program.
* Maui County has expanded the Imagination Library program to reach each zip code in the county, and on Molokai, all children 0-5 are enrolled in the IL program.
* The Maui County Early Childhood Resource Coordinator has partnered with the bookmobile to register keiki for the Imagination Library program, and to deliver books to those keiki.
* With support from the Omidyar ‘Ohana Fund and the CLSD early literacy grant, Family Hui Hawai‘i has offered early language development support with the LENA program, in partnership with Read to Me International, Rainbow Schools and HCAP Head Start. These efforts have reached families directly and have been employed in early learning classrooms.
- Since its inaugural class in 2020, the LENA Start program has reached 200 families in Hawai‘i. Parents enrolled in LENA Start were provided with weekly coaching to increase the quantity and quality of their verbal interaction with their keiki.
- Families had an 83% graduation rate, and families report that the program improved their understanding of language development, child development, and bolstered their confidence that they would be able to support their child’s school readiness.
- Enrolled families increased the number of minutes they read with their keiki each day.
* Almost 300 children have participated in LENA Grow classroom programming.
- During the project, over 2,000,000 words and 200,000 conversational turns were recorded in LENA Grow classrooms.
- Children who started in lower talk groups showed the most dramatic increase in conversational turns.
- Teachers had a 100% graduation and retention rate, with 100% stating they would recommend LENA Grow to other teachers.
- Some LENA Grow teachers doubled the number of conversational turns in their classroom.
- Children who started the program in the lower-talk group increased from an average of 13 to 18 conversational turns per hour.
“Because of our involvement with ECAS Team 6, Early Language and Literacy Development, Always Dream has re-thought the way we use data in evaluating the effectiveness of our programs. Our work with Team 6 has caused us to think more deeply about ways to measure the effect of our programs on school readiness, which has led to the start of a pilot study with the Department of Education to better understand how keiki who have access to our Always Reading program as part of their pre-kindergarten experience perform on the new Hawai‘i Kindergarten Entry Assessment.”
Aarika Riddle, Executive Director, Kristi Yamaguchi’s Always Dream Foundation
Physical Activity and Nutrition Initiatives
ECAS Team 3 continues to work to embed evidence-based and culturally appropriate physical activity and nutrition practices into the early childhood system.
Key efforts 2024 include:
The team received a US Department of Agriculture FARMWISE grant, and a supplemental matching award from HCF. These resources will help the team strengthen the Farm to ECE pipeline by increasing awareness, building capacity and improving participation in and implementation of the Child and Adult Care Food Program and Farm to ECE activities.
* The FARMWISE team held a kick-off Coalition meeting in September.
* The Coalition is refining their FARMWISE action plan.
* Four members of the Hawai‘i team attended the FARMWISE Institute in New Orleans in November.
Community Centered Partnerships (CCP)
In collaboration with the Stupski Foundation, Omidyar ‘Ohana Fund, and the Hawai‘i Leadership Forum, ECAS has launched a Community Centered Partnership (CCP) initiative, intended to center the wisdom and knowledge of community members in order to identify immediate community needs that can be supported by philanthropic dollars, inform network systemslevel strategies, influence state and county priorities and more effectively guide philanthropic strategy and focus.
The CCP initiative is applying a communitycentered lens support the development of young keiki, acknowledging the importance of health, safety and early learning to children’s overall wellbeing and development. Funds committed to the project are being distributed in rural communities on Hawai‘i Island, Kaua‘i, and in Maui County beginning in Ka‘u on Hawai‘i Island and on the Island of Moloka‘i. U‘ilani CorrYorkman is leading the CCP effort where she is helping to focus, develop and manage this initiative to assure the strongest support reaches Hawai‘i’s youngest keiki.
In 2024, the CCP initiative made significant progress in the communities of Ka‘u and Moloka‘i.
Key efforts 2024 include:
* Community panel members and facilitators have been selected in each community.
- These teams are working to gather key data on community needs, identify potential organizations to support, analyze data on need and on effective interventions, and help to guide community decisions.
- Panel members include DOE administrators, parents, teachers, health care workers, Child and Family service workers, small business owners, and others who have been in nonprofit community work for many years.
* Training for community panels and facilitators.
- Training involves reviewing the design and intent of the initiative, developing data collection and analysis processes, and brainstorming strategies to identify organizations that will be able to create much needed evidence-informed change.
- On-going training and data review will inform the work moving forward.
FARMWISE Institute, New Orleans, Nov. 19-21, Left to right: Kristy Sakai (Chaminade University), Vivian Eto (ECAS), Jordan Smith (JNS Consulting), Keala Menza (PATCH)
Early Childhood Continuums
The community-based Early Childhood Continuum initiative brings together health care providers, family support services, public, public charter, and independent school pre-k-12 education leaders, early childhood educators, and families and community members to create stronger developmental pathways for all keiki so that they reach kindergarten healthy, safe and ready to thrive, and making sure that they are excelling in third grade.
The continuums are demonstrating that when communities invest in the health, safety and early learning of low-income and at-risk children, they can fundamentally improve outcomes for a generation of kids.
Key efforts in 2024 include:
The Pāhoa Promise Partnership and the Pāhoa Reads (implementation) initiative (Hawai‘i Island) received a $1.4M award from Hawai‘i County Government to support the development, implementation, and monitoring of the continuum effort in Pāhoa. Under the banner: Pāhoa Reads, the Pāhoa Promise is implementing a set of strategies designed to address:
* Family economic hardship (one in ten parents report they struggle every day to afford basic needs)
* Uneven health care (one in three keiki 0-5 are overdue for a well-child check)
* Scarcity of early learning (one in six 3- and 4-year-olds are enrolled in early learning programs)
* Readiness and achievement gaps (one in five keiki reach kindergarten ready to thrive, and one in four are reading at grade level by the end of third grade)
The Waimānalo Early Education ‘Upena (O‘ahu Island) is crafting a strategic agenda to respond to:
* Family economic hardship (two of every three families are in poverty or are low income)
* Few early learning opportunities (today, the community has the capacity to care for 14% of keiki 0-5, even fewer ‘aina based and Hawaiian immersion early childhood learning opportunities)
* Low rates of kindergarten readiness (fewer than 20% of incoming kindergarteners demonstrate readiness)
* Uneven school attendance (40% of students missing more than 15 days of school last year)
* Low rates of early reading success (30% of third graders and 22% of eighth graders are reading at grade level)
In October, the two Hawai‘i early childhood continuums were joined by five national organizations: Strive Together, Levado, Save the Children, the Education Commission of the States, and Partners for Rural Impact. These allies came to Pāhoa and Waimānalo to meet with the project teams and learn from the work happening in each community, share their insights and learnings from work taking place across the country, and look for opportunities to help accelerate progress and explore pathways to sustainability.
Representatives of each community’s leadership team along with national partners concluded the week with a dinner with key state leaders including the Lieutenant Governor, legislative leaders, and the Superintendent of Education to discuss the long term outcomes of communitybased, collective action in supporting school readiness and academic achievement.
“My mind and heart are full from the powerful community summits - what a gift to spend time with local leaders and residents and learn more about their work, their communities, and the beautiful visions they hold for their keiki.”
Representatives of the Pāhoa Promise and the Waimānalo Early Education ‘Upena, along with national partners, meeting with key state leaders including the Lieutenant Governor, legislative leaders, and the Superintendent of Education to discuss the long term outcomes of community-based, collective action in supporting school readiness and academic achievement.
Strengthen Cross-sector Leadership
Comprehensive System of Personnel Development (CSPD)
ECAS Team 5 is developing a Comprehensive System of Personnel Development (CSPD) to strengthen and sustain an early childhood workforce that will support meaningful positive outcomes for children with special needs, birth to five, and their families. One key strategy supporting that effort is the alignment of preservice preparation programs with national professional standards. In the first half of 2024, partners and backbone staff developed several grant proposals to support these efforts.
In 2024, the CSPD saw a number of key advances:
* The preservice group developed a no-cost Family Engagement in Early Childhood Education self-paced online course with the Hawaiʻi Statewide Family Engagement Center at UH. We will be building a Pde3 course for teachers using these modules.
* The Recruitment and Retention workgroup is strengthening partnerships with DOE’s Career and Technical Education program with high school students, and is developing an infographic of key R&R strategies gleaned from multiple sources to support workforce initiatives.
* The Inservice workgroup is working to integrate Family Partnership Guidelines across training opportunities.
* Plans are in development for Hawai‘i Pacific University Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy students to do clinical rotations with Early Intervention Services.
* An Early Intervention minor is in development at University of Hawai‘i. This new offering will be aligned with all EIECSE Standards.
* Conversations are also underway at UH to create a bachelor’s degree program in SPED with a concentration in early childhood.
* Meanwhile, Chaminade University will be submitting for an OSEP Funded Personnel Preparation Grant that will fund scholars to take part in a newly created Post Bac Certificate in Early Intervention in December.
* Windward Community College is committed to integrating EIECSE standards into coursework across their curriculum.
* CSPD is working with the University of Hawai‘i Center on Disabilities on the implementation of grant to expand inclusive practices.
* CSPD is actively involved in the Hawai‘i Careers for Young Children (HCYC) Steering Team to provide perspective on inclusive practices in Early Childhood Education.
* CSPD supported the HI DOH CSHNB Blueprint for Change strategic planning meeting, held parent training sessions, facilitation techniques classes for DOH employees, and compiled and analyzed all data.
* CSPD supported the DOH EIS Annual partner meeting to include holding two parent focus groups to obtain feedback regarding services from initial assessment to transition into DOE SPED services.
CSPD will be assisting the Newborn Hearing Screening Program (NHSP) and (EIS) with DOH Deaf or Hard of Hearing (DHH) working groups, to include parents, to improve services for children with hearing loss in Early Intervention.
Perinatal Substance Use Disorder (PSUD) Support
ECAS Team 1 partners, working with Hawai‘i Pacific University and the Healthcare Association of Hawai‘i, are creating a web-based, interdisciplinary training for providers who work with people who have perinatal substance use disorders.
To date, the project team has completed two on-line training modules. The first module provides an overview of Caring for Pregnant and Postpartum People with Substance Use Disorder. The second module addresses Medication for Opioid Use Disorder for Pregnant and Postpartum Persons.
Contributors to modules 1 and 2 include:
- Dr. Tricia Wright (UCSF)
- Dr. Michele Pangilinan (UH, Hawai‘i Pacific Health, Waikiki Health PATH Clinic)
- Amber Hernandez (Lived Expertise)
- Kimberly Nabarro (EPIC ‘Ohana, Lived Expertise)
- Ashley Viluan (EPIC ‘Ohana, Lived Expertise)
* Nichole Mansanas (The Queen’s Health Systems)
The team is currently working to develop modules 3 and 4.
Module 1: Caring for Pregnant and Postpartum People with Substance Use Disorder
Module 2: Medication for Opioid Use Disorder for Pregnant and Postpartum Persons
www.hah.org/overview-psud
Early Childhood County Coordinator Network
Hosted by ECAS Team 4, the Early Childhood Coordinator Network is working to strengthen the alignment between state and county initiatives and priorities. To that end, the EC Coordinators meet regularly as a community of practice:
* In 2024, the Early Childhood Coordinator Network worked closely with the Lieutenant Governor to help align State and County priorities (With discussions touching on the Preschool Open Doors Program, difficulties confronting families seeking childcare subsidies and confronting providers of early care and learning; and exploring strategies to expand preschool capacity).
* The Coordinators have aligned their efforts around the PDG B-5 County surveys in order to collect meaningful and comparable information on the needs of families across the state.
* The Coordinators developed and presented a collective panel on early childhood issues and strategies at the 2024 HSAC (Hawai‘i State Association of Counties) conference.
* They have developed an agenda of meetings with other statewide groups in 2025. Facilitate Network-wide Shared Learnings
ECAS All Network Meetings
Held twice each year, ECAS All Network Meetings are an opportunity for the Early Childhood network to come together to connect, learn about the work happening on each of the ECAS teams, share lessons learned, and engage in interactive learning sessions.
The Spring All Network Meeting, held March 5th, focused on integrating lived expertise in program design and leadership, building resiliency among preschoolers, and exploring the power of protective factors for strengthening families. Evaluations from close to 100 attendees indicate that participants found the sessions to be engaging and supportive of their professional efforts.
The day’s keynote focused on The Power of Lived Expertise and was presented by Kimberly Nabarro and Ashley Viluan of the Makua Allies program. Afternoon sessions included Mindfulness for Preschoolers: A mind-body connection approach for building resiliency with Anne-Marie Cline, and Protective Factors Framework overview and practice example with Marty Oliphant and Kanoe Enos.
The Fall All Network meeting, held October 3rd, focused on the importance of early language and literacy development and the role of family engagement in successful early learning
strategies. The morning’s keynote was presented by Merleen William who recounted her journey from Chuuk in the Federated States of Micronesia with three boys in tow and a baby on the way. Merleen’s literacy journey began alongside her growing family.
Kuʻi Adolpho also joined the meeting to present on the premiere showing of the literacy documentary Sentenced, which traces the connections between literacy and lifetime opportunity, and how limited literacy can ‘sentence’ individuals to a much more difficult life.
In the afternoon, meeting participants heard from Dr. Kathleen O’Dell who spoke on the work of the statewide network of Family Resource Centers, in supporting families as they attempt to serve as their young children’s first and most important teachers.
Participants also had a chance to engage with a number of Rotation Stations, hosted by partners including Family Hui Hawai‘i, Always Dream, Imagination Library, InPeace, and Hawai‘i’s P-20, providing attendees the opportunity to have deeper conversations on topics surrounding early literacy, and to strengthen their own toolkit of resources for creating environments that support early language and literacy development.
Improve Alignment
Keiki Central
Creating a comprehensive, virtual and mobile, early childhood resource and referral service to efficiently connect families and providers across the islands.
The Keiki Central website is now fully functional, offering a one-stop, web-based platform for information on services and supports for young keiki and their ‘ohana. The intent is for this platform to provide an exhaustive collection of resources for families.
* The Keiki Central subgroup of ECAS Team 4 continues to expand to include more partners (including neighbor island partners), helping to make sure that available resources are included in the AUW211 system and reflected in Keiki Central.
* Partners at Site Savvy continue to upgrade the Keiki Central website.
* The workgroup is developing a landing page to expand the accessibility to Keiki Central.
* Continuing to collect and providing feedback to AUW211 to strengthen the taxonomies used on the site.
Education for Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY)
With leadership from Lisa Martinez, Program Specialist V, The Education for Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY) office of the Department of Education is bridging sectors and islands to reach children in families at greatest risk. The initiative has strengthened cross-sector leadership and alignment across services and supports for young children in housing insecure families.
Specific efforts in 2024 include:
* EHCY is doing outreach on all islands to expand awareness of program offerings and to increase enrollment of children B-5 experiencing homelessness.
* The Early Head Start/Head Start referral app is up and running. EHCY is using it and referring keiki. Lisa has shared her outreach calendar with HCAP and PACT to align efforts to enroll keiki into services.
* EHCY is collaborating with EOEL and has a system in place for enrolling keiki experiencing homelessness in EOEL pre-kindergarten. Numbers have tripled from SY 23-24 to SY 24-25, with a 137 increase in identified keiki.
* Lisa is in discussion with Early Intervention about joining outreach efforts to increase the share of housing insecure children who are screened, referred, and receive needed services from EIS.
* EHCY also partnered with YMCA to establish 4 part-time early childhood sites in 3 shelters and one community center, serving many children and providing essential early learning opportunities. YMCA was able to secure funding for June 2025 for the US Waianae site.
Infant and Early Childhood Behavioral Health (IECBH) Plan
The Infant and Early Childhood Behavioral Health (IECBH) Plan integrates infant and early childhood mental health and trauma-informed care into our health and early care and learning systems throughout Hawai‘i. The plan is designed to expand services ‘upstream’ to offer equitable prevention and intervention care, reduce racial and socioeconomic disparities, strengthen efficiencies, ensuring children succeed in school and life. Key efforts in 2024 include:
1) Building and supporting infant and early childhood mental health (IECMH) expertise within the workforce serving young children and families, and
2) Working with partners to strengthen the diagnosis and treatment of IECMH. The updated classifications take family culture and social determinants of health into account along with child’s signs and symptoms into consideration when designing treatment plans. It will also be used to guide billing for services with MedQuest and other insurances.
Establishing and coordinating dependable funding mechanisms is a key to sustaining efforts. The Finance Policy Project (FPP) is untangling the finance puzzle to build a coordinated finance pattern to ensure sustainability of efforts. The big in-person IECBH gathering demonstrated the value of bringing together a wide spectrum of perspectives for robust discussion with exciting input from managed care organizations, MedQuest, DOH, DOE, and others.
A devoted workgroup is creating and distributing a Provider Survey to gather baseline data on the use of IECMH services to date. We hope to use this information to help plan the next phase of work with primary care and behavioral health providers statewide.
Much follow-up has occurred after the June 28 Big Tent Event, which brought together over 30 leaders to discuss how best to realize the IECBH vision and how, by working together, they might support their own organizational goals.
Another essential strand of work is training professionals in infant and early childhood mental health (IECMH). The Association for Infant Mental Health Hawai‘i (AIM HI) continues to be a lead training entity across the state offering workforce development through the Promising Minds initiative, other grants, and now the Pediatric Mental Health Care Access Grant.
The IECBH convening of cross-sector leaders was an opportunity to champion systems-level strategies, with great interest to keep this momentum going. The post-meeting survey showed 100% of participants felt it was worth their time with 93% stating that gathering in person to have these conversations was the most important aspect. Event participants appreciated the opportunity to identify and recognize small and large action steps in the weaving process of integrating Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health into various aspects of the Early Childhood system.
Participants in the IECBH Big Tent Event in June
West Maui Early Childhood Collective (WMECC)
Since the devastating wildfires on Maui in August of 2023, there has been a massive outpouring of support from the community, from county, state and federal governments, and from philanthropic partners. The resulting relief and recovery efforts have made great strides. Many of these efforts have involved the West Maui Early Childhood Collective (WMECC), with coordination from Keaka Mitchell, Early Childhood Maui Wildfire Recovery Coordinator.
Key efforts to date include:
The West Maui Early Childhood Collective has expanded its network of partners, fostering collaboration with local organizations and providers. This expansion has enhanced resource sharing and service delivery across the region. Several new early childhood education programs have been launched, focusing on inclusive and accessible education for all children. These programs emphasize developmental milestones and are preparing children for future academic success.
Below: From left to right: WMECC: Keaka Mitchell-ECAS, Kaina BonacorsiMaui County Early Childhood Resource Coordinator, Larae Balag-Director of Early Childhood Education at Maui Family Support Services, Stacy Clark-Vice President at Kama’aina Kids, Maui County Mayor-Mayor, Richard T. Bissen, Jr., Karyn Kanekoa-ʻAha Pūnana Leo ‘O Lahaina Kahu Site Coordinator, Edeluisa Baguio-Larena-Chief Executive Officer at Maui Family Support Services, Christopher Kish-Maui County Homeless Program Specialist, Recovery Team, U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services - Wendi Ellis, Ms. Isabella Bissen-First Lady of Maui County.
Missing in photo: Dr. Rebecca Winkie-Complex Area Superintendent, Maui District, Hāna-Lahainaluna-Lāna‘i-Moloka‘i, Gary Kanamori-Princess Nāhiʻenaʻena Elementary School Principal, Laurie Ann DeGama- Mayor’s Lahaina Advisory Team Member, Marlene Zeug-DOE’s Educational Consultant.
Photos taken at the blessing of classroom space at Princess Nāhiʻenaʻena Elementary School.
Aunty Makalapua Kanuha, conducting the blessing with First Lady of Maui County, Ms. Isabella Bissen.
Regained child care capacity includes:
* 15 seats were recovered when Sacred Hearts opened at a long term (temporary) facility.
* The WMECC has brought back 52 seats including both infant and pre-K spaces. Doors opened in the beginning of August 2024, using classroom space at Princess Nahi‘ena‘ena Elementary School.
The West Maui Early Childhood Collective has hosted a series of community workshops and events that have engaged families and caregivers, providing them with resources and support to foster a nurturing environment for young learners. With support from the DOH/Papa Ola Lokahi SERG grant, KOKA hosted a number of ʻOhana Day community resource and family support events, targeted at families impacted by fires, at which Aloha at Home ʻOhana Toolkits were distributed.
Strategic investments have been made in early childhood facilities, enhancing learning environments and increasing capacity to accommodate more children. These investments allow for upgrades to existing centers and exploration of new site locations. And education partners have embraced innovative teaching methods, incorporating cultural elements unique to Maui, which have resonated well with both children and parents, enriching the learning experience.
The work of the West Maui Early Childhood Collective is already making a difference for keiki and ‘ohana. Keaka tells the story of a local family whose child needed early childhood interventions.
“In spite of the trauma and dislocation the family encountered, West Maui Early Childhood Collective partners have made sure this child is now receiving the support services they need, and the child is now thriving in kindergarten. Their journey underscores the importance of early intervention and community support.”
Keaka
Mitchell, Early Childhood Maui Wildfire Recovery Coordinator
View video: https://youtu.be/6IzRhG1cwfg
Meet Keaka Mitchell, the Early Childhood Maui Wildfire Recovery Coordinator. Keaka is a resident of Lahaina, Maui and joined the Early Childhood Action Strategy (ECAS) Backbone team in June 2024. Here he talks about his role, challenges and his hopes for this work of supporting Early Childhood efforts in Lahaina and across the island.
Shift Awareness, Narrative and Culture
O‘ahu and Hawaiʻi Island Voter Survey
Public opinion data collected as part of the Commit to Keiki effort demonstrates that public support for early childhood investments in Hawai‘i has increased over the past half-decade. High levels of public support for policies improving early childhood health, safety and early learning helped pave the way for unprecedented state investments in early childhood development and learning. Today, even larger numbers of voters in Hawai‘i prioritize the need for more support for children and families.
Some key findings from the 2024 poll:
* Over 90% of voters on Oʻahu and Hawai‘i believe early childhood programs should be a top priority for elected leaders.
* 77% of Hawai‘i Island voters and 60% of Oahu voters would support candidates who prioritize childcare in their City/County budget.
* Large majorities of voters consider family violence prevention, early childhood mental health, and childcare and early learning programs to be political priorities.
Keiki-focused
Sentenced Screening
Led by Kuʻi Adolpho of the Maui County Early Childhood Resource Center, the new film Sentenced, has had its Hawai‘i premieres on O‘ahu and Molokai. Sentenced examines the ways that learning to read is vital to children‘s success and lifetime opportunities. These premiere events have included expert panel discussions, reading sessions with young keiki, and family resource fairs.
The statewide premiere of Sentenced was held September 8th at the University of Hawai‘i with over 200 participants. The screening was accompanied by remarks by the Lieutenant Governor and by State Senator Lynn DeCoit, a panel discussion, along with a provider resource fair. The premiere also announced the launch of the Heluhelu HI Website which will serve as a hub for resources to support early language development and literacy success.
On November 27th, Sentenced was screened in partnership with the Moloka‘i library. Over 40 people attended the screening and mobilized around calls to action that include
* increasing the number of family child interaction learning programs on Moloka‘i;
* putting small libraries for keiki birth to 3rd grade in all businesses on Moloka‘i;
* creating an early literacy buddy program for ‘ohana and K-3rd grade students and
* supporting the local library through online donations.
Elementary principals will work closely with the library to remove transportation barriers during the school days.
Surveying Families with Young Children
Many entities across the state are collecting data on the needs and wellbeing of families with young children. This focus on gathering meaningful and timely data on the status of families speaks to a growing recognition that family wellbeing is at the core of the overall wellbeing of Hawai‘i.
With support from the PDG (Preschool Development Grant) B-5 grant, each County has developed surveys that are now ready to distribute, including statewide & county-specific questions concerning early childhood care and education.
In turn, survey findings will inform PSA‘s that will be designed to be both County specific and aligned statewide.
Other data collection efforts include Vibrant Hawai‘i, the Chamber of Commerce, Kahmehameha Schools, InPeace, the Community Centered Partnerships, and the Early Childhood Continuum communities.
Infant and Toddler Care Needs and Gaps
The Infant/Toddler (I/T) workgroup (of Team 4) is working to improve our understanding of I/T care by strengthening available data and information.
Key efforts in 2024 include:
* Studying and discussing true cost estimates for I/T care
* Inviting Vibrant Hawai‘i to present the findings from their survey of the ECE preferences of Native Hawaiian families on the Big Island
* Conducting data gathering on I/T workforce qualifications in different states to inform and support rule-change recommendations
Lieutenant Governor Sylvia Luke and Panelists Yuuko Arikawa-Cross, Heidi Armstrong, Maya Soetoro-Ng, Kanoe Enos, and Stacey Aldrich at the Oahu premiere of Sentenced.
Early Childhood Community Profiles
The Early Childhood County Level Community Profiles for Kaua‘i County and for the City and County of Honolulu were released this summer, containing both County and sub-county level data on the wellbeing of young children and their families.
This project had its origins in the needs assessment template used by Head Start and Early Head Start grantees. From the beginning, the community profiles have evolved to focus more specifically on factors that influence the wellbeing of young children, families and communities in Hawai‘i.
The profiles have gained a wide readership, informing presentations to County Commissioners, State Legislators, and to community groups, and have been used to support policy and funding decisions by County governments. They are also being used by nonprofit organizations as sources of data on early childhood needs in support of grant proposals.
EC Community profile data was used extensively in the County presentations at the Hawai‘i State Association of Counties meeting on County early childhood priorities.
Hawai‘i Child Care Capacity Dashboards
During the pandemic, Early Childhood Action Strategy developed a childcare capacity dashboard to help track the status of the childcare sector in Hawai‘i. Working families, local businesses and Hawai‘i‘s economy rely on accessible, affordable and quality childcare. The childcare dashboard has now been updated quarterly for the past four years. It has also become a trusted reference source for many partners in the early childhood sector and received national attention in the Hechinger Report.
The most recent dashboard, published September 30th, indicates that, statewide, we have the capacity to care for 19,678 children between birth and age 5 in child care settings registered with the Department of Human Services. This number is 17% below pre-pandemic levels and 305 seats shy of where capacity was a year ago. Contributing to this lost capacity are the fires on Maui, and childcare staff attrition statewide. In addition to child care settings registered with DHS (and included in this total) are the seats in EOEL public-pre-kindergarten classrooms.
www.hawaiiactionstrategy.org/ecas-data-efforts
Early Childhood Community Profile 2024 Kaua‘i County
Early Childhood Community Profile City & County of Honolulu 2024
HMIHC - Strategies To Repair Equity and Transform Community Health (STRETCH)
With leadership from the Hawai‘i Maternal and Infant Health Collaborative (HMIHC), ECAS and Team 1 leadership are participating in the national STRETCH (Strategies To Repair Equity and Transform Community Health) 2.0 Initiative offered by the CDC Foundation in collaboration with the Michigan Public Health Institute and the Association of State and Territorial Health Officers.
HMIHC was selected as one of seven collaboratives nationwide for this 15-month cohort program.
STRETCH strategies include capacity building/ technical assistance, relationships and connections, power building, community building, leadership development, and shifting resource flows.
In alignment, the HMIHC collaborative is working to stand up the Maternal Health Innovation (MHI) Steering Committee, along with the Healthcare Association of Hawai‘i, and government and nongovernment partners.
Understanding Community Participation and Power Dynamics
ECAS Team 3 prioritized increasing and improving family engagement and applying an equity lens to strategies and activities. They secured training and technical assistance from the Institute for Public Health Innovation to better understand community participation and power dynamics and applications/ strategies for our work together. The team plans to further their learning and implementation efforts through additional Training & Technical Assistance in the coming year.
ECAS Network Partners
Taking Action for Hawaiʻi’s Youngest Keiki
We thank the many actors working to support early childhood development who share their mana`o through the Early Childhood Action Strategy network.
* Hawaiʻi Child Nutrition Programs
* Hawaiʻi Public Health Institute (HIPHI)
* Head Start State Collaboration Office
* Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Coalition of Hawai‘i
* Salvation Army Family Treatment Services, Women’s Way
* Samuel N and Mary Castle Foundation
* Save the Children
* Seagull Schools
* SMALLIFY
* Aloha United Way
* Always Dream
* American Academy of Pediatrics, Hawai‘i Chapter
* American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Hawai‘i Section
* Association for Infant Mental Health in Hawai‘i (AIMH HI)
* Big Brothers Big Sisters of Kaua‘i
* Blueprint for Change
* Breastfeeding Hawai‘i
* Campaign for Grade Level Reading
* Ceeds of Peace
* Chaminade University
* Child and Family Service
* City and County of Honolulu
* Cole Academy
* Conscious Communities
* County of Hawai‘i
* County of Kaua‘i
* County of Maui
* Domestic Violence Action Center (DVAC)
* Early Childhood Data Collaborative
* Early Learning Board (ELB)
* Education Commission of the States
* EPIC ‘Ohana
* Executive Office on Early Learning (EOEL)
* Family Hui Hawai‘i
* Family Programs Hawai‘i
* Family Support Hawai‘i
* Farm to Keiki/Olapono
* FrameWorks Institute
* Harold K.L. Castle Foundation
* Hawai‘i Appleseed
* Hawai‘i Association for Education of Young Children (HAEYC)
* Hawai‘i Children’s Action Network (HCAN)
* Hawai‘i Community Foundation (HCF)
* Hawai‘i Early Intervention Coordination Council (HEICC)
* Hawai‘i Island Community Health Centers
* Hawai‘i Literacy
* Hawai‘i State Coalition Against Domestic Violence
* Hawaiʻi ʻOhana Support Network
* Hawaiʻi Medical Service Association (HMSA)
* Hawaiʻi Primary Care Association
* Hawaiʻi Careers for Young Children
* Ho‘oikaika Partnership
* Homeless Concerns Office
* Honolulu Community Action Program (HCAP)
* Honolulu Community College (HCC)
* Hui for Excellence in Education (HE‘E)
* Hui Mālama Ola Nā ʻŌiwi
* Imagination Library
* Imua Maui Family Support Services
* INPEACE
* Institute for Human Services (IHS)
* Institute on Violence, Abuse and Trauma (IVAT)
* Islands of Hope - Maui
* Kamaʻaina Kids
* Kamehameha Schools
* Kapi‘olani Medical Center for Women and Children
* Kathy’s Parenting Solutions
* Kaua‘i WIC
* Kauaʻi Planning and Action Alliance (KPAA)
* KCAA Preschools
* Keiki O Ka ‘Aina (KOKA)
* Keiki to Career Kauaʻi
* Levado Partners
* Liliʻuokalani Trust
* Mālama Family Recovery Center
* Mālama Kauaʻi
* Maui Family Support Services (MFSS)
- Early Childhood Resource Center
* Mental Health America of Hawai‘i
* MEO Head Start
* Molokai Child Abuse Prevention Pathways
* Office of Wellness and Resilience (OWR)
* Ohana Nui
* Ohana Support Network
* Papa Ola Lōkahi
* Parents and Children Together (PACT)
* Partners for Rural Impact
* Partners in Development Foundation (PIDF)
* People Attentive to Children (PATCH)
* PHOCUSED
* Prevent Child Abuse Hawai‘i
* Public Health Nursing
* Rainbow Schools
* Read To Me International
* State of Hawai‘i Department of Education (DoE)
- Hawai‘i Child Nutrition Programs
- Special Education
* State of Hawai‘i Department of Health (DoH)
- Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division
- Child and Adolescent Mental Health Division
- Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Division
- Early Intervention Section
- Family Health Services Division
- Newborn Hearing Screening Program (NHSP)
- Office of Planning, Policy and Program Development
* State of Hawai‘i Department of Human Services (DHS)
- Benefit, Employment and Support Services Division (BESSD)
- Child Care Advisory Committee
- Med-QUEST Division
- State of Hawai‘i Commission on Fatherhood
- Social Services Division/ Child Welfare Services
* Strive Together
* Stupski Foundation
* Sunshine Schools
* The Education for Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY)
* University of Hawai‘i (UH)
- Center on the Family
- College of Education
- Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, & Women’s Health
- Department of Pediatrics
- Hawai‘i P-20 Partnerships for Education
- John A. Burns School of Medicine (UH JABSOM)
- Office of Public Health Studies
- School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene
* Waikiki Health, PATH Clinic
* Windward Community College
- Learning to Grow
* YMCA Honolulu
* Zero to Three Court
Network Partners
A Hui Hou
Looking ahead to 2025, we see many opportunities for continued advances on behalf of young children and their families. These include opportunities to grow public support for investments in early childhood health, safety, and learning; a growing appetite for more, and more immediate, data on the needs and wellbeing of young children and their families; an increased focus on community-driven solutions; and in an expanded push both for greater equity and for the inclusion of lived expertise to support effective decision-making.
