Taking Action for Hawai‘i’s Keiki
Mid-Year Update 2024
Early Childhood Action Strategy (ECAS)
Action Highlights January-June 2024
Key Efforts Using Systems Change Methodology
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 non-government 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.
Conditions of Systems Change
Effect Policy
The network helps to shape the direction and focus of public and organizational policy in Hawai‘i through the Commit to Keiki effort and the Early Childhood Action Strategy (ECAS) policy engagement process.
Summary of Legislative Session 2024
Network Policy Efforts
In the 2024 session, both ECAS and Commit to Keiki supported measures that would strengthen and expand child care and early learning, support early childhood mental health, and help to prevent family violence.
(See table)
Commit to Keiki continues to articulate an early childhood policy agenda focused on child care and early learning, early childhood mental health, and family violence prevention. The Commit to Keiki Facebook page has now over to 5,000 followers.
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
Awaits the Governor’s signature
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
Awaits the Governor’s signature
Peer-Support Specialists
HB 2405.SB3094
Awaits the Governor’s signature
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 2530% vacancy rate in this field and salary rates are one of the leading reasons.
To establish a program to provide stipends and bonuses to licensed/regulated child care programs to supplement staff wages and improve recruitment and retention of early childhood care and education professionals. The measure died this session.
Would have established a pilot program to contract with infant/ toddler and group childcare centers for classrooms and create a new funding model to provide stability to providers and increase access for families.
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.
We deeply appreciate the policy efforts of the Infant / Toddler (I/T) workgroup of ECAS Team 4 who continue to advocate for wage supplements and other initiatives to support the early childhood workforce.
Key I/T workgroup efforts in 2024 have included:
* Advocacy on behalf of the early childhood workforce wage measures, and the effort to extend contracts for subsidized classrooms, including infant / toddler classrooms
* Engaged with Department of Human Services (DHS) to provide initial and ongoing feedback on Infant / Toddler staff-qualifications waiver guidelines and demonstration projects
* Submitted testimony to DHS on the 2025-2027 Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Plan for States
ECAS Policy Strategy Moving Forward
In June, Peggy Mierzwa joined ECAS as the new Policy Lead. We look forward to her guidance as we prepare for the 2025 legislative session.
Pre-Kindergarten Expansion
Pre-Kindergarten Expands Statewide State and County governments, as well as nonprofit leaders, continue to focus on rapidly expanding Pre-Kindergarten access for 3 and 4-year-olds.
* The Ready Keiki initiative continues to be a foundational component of the early childhood landscape in Hawai‘i in 2023, working to rapidly expand early care and learning capacity.
* Early Childhood Funders’ Hui partners have mobilized 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 round of Kindergarten Entry Assessment (KEA) testing (in Fall 2023) only a third of entering kindergarteners scored well enough to qualify as “kindergarten ready”. Efforts are underway in a number of communities to respond to deficits identified on the KEA in order to see stronger results in the Fall of 2024.
County Governments
County Governments Champion Early Childhood Health, Safety and Early Learning
Our County Governments continue to take decisive action in 2024 in support of early childhood priorities. Highlights of County-led efforts include:
County of Maui
* The Maui County Early Childhood Resource Coordinator (ECRC) is a General Funded Position under the Department of Housing and Human Concerns.
* The FY24 budget was increased to just over 2 million dollars for EC programs. For FY25 a flat budget was submitted. Focus areas of funding are:
- Early childhood workforce development
- Early childhood family literacy
- Family support services including the Early Childhood Resource Center
- Subsidy assistance for childcare
- Parent education
* Implemented Reach Out and Read at six sites with plans to expand to three more sites
* Imagination Library now reaches 100% of keiki under five on Moloka‘i
* Wildfire Recovery Efforts
- Wildfires on Maui significantly impacted Maui residents. 275 licensed childcare seats were lost. Recent numbers show that just under 200 keiki under age five remain in non-congregate (converted hotel) shelters.
- Currently one Headstart classroom (20 preschool seats) has reopened in Lahaina, with a few more targeted to open in August. Two infant-toddler classrooms are targeted to open in April.
- The Maui County ECRC asked ECAS for help in coordinating the wildfire recovery for families with keiki five and under. We welcome Keaka Mitchell, who will serve as the Early Childhood Maui County Wildfires Recovery Coordinator.
- Keaka will be working closely with the County to re-establish and redesign the early childhood system in West Maui, which will offer learnings for communities statewide.
City and County of Honolulu
* Two sites are in development for co-location of affordable housing and childcare in West O’ahu: Parkway Village, a $199M project in Kapolei, will have space for six early learning classrooms, and a new development at the old Box Car lot in Kunia will include five childcare classrooms. Estimates to construct the early learning classrooms at the Parkway site are $3M. Annual costs to operate the six early learning classrooms are $1.8M.
* The city provides over $193,000 annually for housing vouchers for survivors of domestic violence and was recently awarded $3M to acquire property to house domestic violence survivors.
* The Grants in Aid (GIA) Advisory Commission recommended a total of $9.9M in grants, including $2.2M for programs focusing on children, including the Keiki o Ka Aina Preschool, PACT, Read to Me International, Family Hui Hawaii, and HUGS.
* The Mayor is committed to building an action oriented team to work in the childcare field. The team will engage community stakeholders and leverage activities across government and communities to better serve the needs of our youngest keiki and their ‘ohana in accessing more affordable childcare.
* The Administration will be adding a new Office Assistant to the Coordinator’s team. The Coordinator is also engaging childcare professionals thorugh stakeholder sessions. Council members in each district have committed to attending these sessions, which will be instrumental in shaping the City’s 3-year Early Childhood Action Plan, crafted with the Urban
* Institute’s Upward Mobility Framework, designed to help communities enhanceupward mobility and reduce racial inequities. The City recognizes that advancements in early childhood will significantly influence economic success, community engagement and health outcomes, contributing to the holistic development and prosperity of our communities.
These efforts mark the Administration’s significant commitment to nurturing the future of O’ahu’s keiki.
County of Kaua‘i
* County of Kaua‘i Chief of Staff Sarah Blane, continues to work closely with Alanna Bauman, ECE System Coordinator from Kaua‘i Planning and Action Alliance on Early Childhood priorities.
* The Kaua‘i ECE Conference took place February 17, 2024.
* The Kaua‘i Parent & Child Fair was held April 13, 2024, bringing together 30+ agencies to share information about their programs, services, and safety precautions for infants, toddlers, preschool students, children with special needs, and kindergarten students and had over 200 attendees.
* The Kaua‘i County Community Profile will be completed this summer. An early draft was presented to the Kaua‘i Keiki to Career leadership team and their feedback will help to guide the final draft.
* Located in Kukui Grove Center, the Kaua‘i ‘Ohana Resource Kiosk (KORK) was launched as a collaborative effort to address the need for a centralized location that has easily accessible information on services and resources available to the public. KORK helps eliminate barriers to learning about and accessing services and helps to reduce possible stigma sometimes associated with receiving assistance.
The Kaua’i ‘Ohana Resource Kiosk is supported by the Kaua’i District Health Office, Hawai’i Community Foundation, Hawai’i Children’s Trust Fund, Kaua’i Planning & Action Alliance—Keiki to Career Kaua’i, and partners.
County of Hawai‘i
* Funded a contracted Early Childhood Specialist and an Early Childhood Resource Coordinator.
* Committed $14M of ARPA dollars to supporting sustainable child care capacity development including facility improvement/development, professional development and system strengthening.
* Continues to meet with various groups to share Community Profile data on the status of young children and their families on Hawai‘i Island, most recently including presentations to the Big Island legislative delegation and the KonaKohala Chamber of Commerce’s Economic Development Committee.
* Plans are underway for the third Hawai‘i Island Early childhood Conference: Mana’olana: Rebuilding the Village that Nurtures our Keiki, taking place in September 2024.
* Reach Out and Read continues to expand to work with more health clinics across Hawai‘i County. The program is currently working with an expanding set of primary care providers, and has distributed 7,000 books to date.
* Hawai‘i County is providing scholarships with Chaminade University and Hawai‘i Community College for ECE classes for Hawai‘i Island practitioners.
* The County dedicated two major funding streams totaling 1.3M to support the Pāhoa Promise Partnership (Early Childhood Continuum). These will support facilitation of the Pāhoa Promise effort, and coordination and implementation of the Pāhoa Reads initiative.
Support and Scale Innovative
Practices
ECAS teams serve as a laboratory to develop, incubate and assess innovative practices and, where promising, help to transition them to more permanent organizational homes. Makua Allies, Ka‘Upena Shared Services, Breastfeeding Toolkits, and Aloha at Home supports are recent examples of efforts that had their genesis within ECAS teams and have since transitioned to other organizations, where they may become part of ongoing intervention practices.
Scaling Promising Practices
Peer Support for Perinatal Substance Use Disorder (PSUD)
The Makua Allies peer-support program focuses on keeping new mothers who are healing from substance use together with their infants. With leadership from EPIC ‘Ohana, and support from the Department of Health, the program is helping new mothers on O‘ahu and Hawai‘i Islands.
* The Makua Allies team is hard at work designing a monitoring and evaluation system to monitor and improve the program.
LATCH Lactation Consultation
Achieving Stronger Maternal and Infant Health Outcomes Through Lactation Consultation
The LATCH (Lactation Access Transforming Communities in Hawai‘i) team has partnered with MedQuest, HMSA and with lactation consultants (IBCLCs) to bring lactation consultation to underserved families in Hawai‘i. Working with the Smallify design thinking team, LATCH has developed a FastPass to rapidly connect new parents to lactation support.
* First prototyped with 15 families, the Lactation Consultation FastPass pilot will expand to reach 50 families insured by Medicaid who would otherwise face multiple barriers to lactation care.
* Health insurers are eager to support more rapid and widespread access to lactation consultation, which supports better physical, social, and emotional outcomes for newborns, infants, and young keiki.
06/2024
Aloha at Home
Aloha at Home is Strengthening Families Through Culturally Appropriate Resources
ECAS Team 2 partners continue to focus on the Aloha at Home initiative to support family strengthening with culturally appropriate resources. The team is currently designing and implementing resources to reduce child abuse and neglect (CAN) and intimate partner violence (IPV) and embed the Aloha at Home framework in the community.
Key efforts in the first half of 2024 include:
* Securing additional resources to sustain and grow the program. This effort resulted in five grant submissions and three new grants. Two Department of Health grants and an award from the Geist Foundation will allow the Aloha at Home effort to continue to move forward.
* Revitalizing the Aloha at Home social media presence; and designing, stocking, and distributing new Aloha at Home family kits, including the children’s book developed by Hoʻoʻikaia Partnership on the five protective factors.
* Supporting Maui wildfires relief and recovery efforts by distributing family toolkits at a series of community ‘Ohana Days, in collaboration with Keiki o ka ʻAina (KOKA)
Planting the Seeds for Healthy Development
Physical Activity and Nutrition Initiative
A core ECAS Team 3 strategy is to embed evidence-based and culturally appropriate physical activity and nutrition practices into the early childhood system. In support of their efforts, members of Team 3:
* Developed a successful FARMWISE application, and a request for matching funds from the Early Childhood Funders’ Hui. The new grant will allow the team to expand their efforts to strengthen PAN (Physical Activity and Nutrition) practices in Early Childhood Education (ECE), and 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.
Early Language and Literacy Development
ECAS Team 6 partners continue to expand their Early Language and Literacy programming efforts statewide.
* Led by Ku‘i Adolpho of the Maui County Early Childhood Resource Center, efforts are underway to hold a series of events around the statewide premiere of a new film produced by Steph Curry, titled Sentenced, which examines the importance of language development and reading to children’s success and lifetime opportunities. Hawai‘i will include local calls to action that promote investment and prioritization of early literacy.
* Ku‘i and several ECAS Team 6 early literacy partners are working with Hawai‘i Kids CAN and Hawai‘i P-20 to create a series of early literacy events this fall. In parallel, Hawai‘i Kids CAN plans to show The Right to Read, which explores the link between reading success and inclusion in American society. Between the two screenings, partners will host events including conferences, professional development seminars, events for parents, and family resource fairs.
Read to Me International (RTMI)
* Held their annual virtual conference in June 2024 featuring a full day of panels and keynote addresses from acclaimed children’s authors Mem Fox and Barney Saltzberg. Participants received beautiful hard-back copies of recent works by both authors.
* Responding to demand from families for more programming, RTMI has ramped up their schedule of events, both in-person and virtual.
Always Dream
* Through the Spring 2024 semester, Always Dream offered reading supports in 43 prekindergarten and kindergarten classrooms in 13 schools across Hawai‘i.
* In the Fall 2024 semester, Always Dream will offer programming in 19 schools across eight complex areas, reaching 1,000 families across Hawai‘i.
Reach Out and Read (ROAR)
* Pediatric practices on Hawai‘i Island have distributed over 7,000 books during well child check-ups.
* 3 pediatric practices in Maui County also have adopted the ROAR program.
Maui County
* The Imagination Library program has now expanded to include families in each zip code in the county.
* Working to reach families affected by the wildfires, including a partnership with the bookmobile to register families for the Imagination Library program, and to deliver books to those families.
Comprehensive Literacy State Development (CLSD) - Wahiawa Collaborative
With support from the Omidyar ‘Ohana Fund and the CLSD early literacy grant, Family Hui Hawai‘i has expanded the reach of LENA programming across Hawai‘i since 2019. For the past four years, a key component of that effort has been a major implementation effort in the Wahiawa community in partnership with Read to Me International, Rainbow Schools and HCAP Head Start as part of the Comprehensive Literacy State Development grant (CLSD).
There have been a number of Key Learnings from the Wahiawa Collaborative effort. See flyer.
Lessons Learned
✓ Classrooms have seen an increase in conversational turns between teachers and children, particularly for children in the “low-talk” group at the start of the intervention.
✓ Teachers increased their knowledge and confidence in their language and literacy instruction practices, as well as in their own judgment about when to refer families to Early Intervention and DOE SPED services.
Our greatest success has been the strong relationships built between the teachers, administrators and coaches.
✓ Teacher Engagement was incredibly high. 100% of teachers engaging every year.
Teachers remain engaged and want to continue the coaching model beyond the CLSD years.
✓ Family engagement was lower than expected. But positive family experiences support recruitment going forward. Engagement challenges were exacerbated by the pandemic and difficulties in recruitment.
Families who participated in the programs found them so beneficial that they then supported recruitment of other families in the following years.
Comprehensive Literacy State Development (CLSD) Grant CLSD Wahiawa Collaborative
Coaching Teachers and Families to Build Language Rich Environments for Young Keiki
Classroom
Language Environment
Conversational turns in the classroom
Conversational turns for low-talk children
✓ Teachers have increased their knowledge and confidence. Teachers were more engaged with individualizing plans for students to address areas of concern.
Teachers have increased their knowledge and confidence in literacy and language, culture-based education, and family engagement strategies.
Teachers have increased their confidence in referring families to Early Intervention and DOE SPED services.
Home Language Environment
✓ Conversational Turns (CT) have increased in classrooms and families.
Increased Conversational Turns (CT) by 53% for low-talk children in LENA Grow classrooms
Increase in the classroom of 3 CT per hour
LENA Start families saw an increase in CT and a decrease in TV minutes
Increase Investments
The wellbeing of young children reflects not only the decisions and practices of their families and communities, but also the investments made by a broad range of government and non-governmental agencies and organizations operating at the federal, state and county levels. This report highlights recent advances in legislative support for the early childhood workforce, County and State investments in expanded access to prekindergarten, and public and philanthropic funding supporting maternal and infant health safeguards, health and nutrition programming, and building an infrastructure of peer support.
Hawai’i continues to make significant Investments in early childhood development and family wellbeing. Lieutenant Governor Sylvia Luke was instrumental in securing a major expansion of Preschool Open Door (POD) funding to subsidize the cost of child care from $12M to $50M. Already, $25M in POD funds have been committed to families.
Additional major appropriations in this year’s legislative package include the $4.9M in support for salary increases for Early Intervention workers, funding to support Maui wildfire relief and recovery efforts, and continued support for the expansion of early childhood programs.
Two additional vehicles for targeted investments in early childhood are the Early Childhood Funders’ Hui and the multi-partner effort to establish Community Centered Partnerships (CCP).
Early Childhood (EC) Funders’ Hui
The EC Funders’ Hui is comprised of philanthropic funders who support work in early childhood health, safety, and learning. It is designed to support funder collaboration, strengthen strategy development across funders and provide one of many pathways for ECAS teams to receive catalytic funding for emerging innovations. ECAS backbone is working with the Funders’ Hui to continue to strengthen the Hui and solidify the processes for submitting proposals.
Proposals considered by the Funders’ Hui in the first half of 2024 include:
FARMWISE - Farm to CACFP Institute and Learning Collaborative (ECAS Team 3)
* $15,000 (May 2024)
* Project goal: Increase awareness, build capacity and improve participation in and implementation of the Child and Adult Care Food Program and Farm to ECE activities
Aloha at Home (ECAS Team 2)
* $240,000 / 4 years (February 2024)
* Project goal: Support families and improve the community-wide response to family violence
Lactation Care Fast Pass Pilot (ECas Team 1)
* $50,000 (February 2024)
* Project goal: Medicaid-covered families receive timely lactation assistance to better meet their breast/chestfeeding goals
Community-centered Partnerships (CCP)
In collaboration with the Stupski Foundation, Omidyar and the Hawai‘i Leadership Forum, ECAS has launched a $4M Community-centered Partnership (CCP) initiative, intended to center the wisdom and knowledge of community members to identify immediate community needs that can be met with philanthropic dollars, inform network systems-level strategies, potential state and county priorities and philanthropic decisions. This initiative concentrates on providing support for keiki from prenatal to age 5 in the areas of health, safety, well-being, and education.
Goals for the coming two years of the initiative include using data to identify communities in which to establish partnerships, hiring and training community facilitators and panel members, identifying and prioritizing needs of families with young children, identifying gaps in programs and services, and establishing relationships with nonprofits and government agencies best positioned to address those needs and gaps in services.
* U’ilani Corr-Yorkman has joined ECAS as the CCP Project Lead to help focus, develop and manage this initiative.
* Two initial communities have been selected: Ka‘u on Hawai‘i Island and the Island of Moloka‘i in Maui County. These communities were selected based on the number of keiki under 5 living in poverty and their level of access to programs and services, as well as through recommendations by leaders in each community.
* A community facilitator has been identified for Moloka‘i, with training to begin in July, 2024.
* Work will begin to create a community survey and identify community panel members.
Strengthen Crosssector Leadership
Growing Leadership Capacity
ECAS Backbone
The ECAS backbone team continues to expand in order to provide leadership support to the early childhood network. In the first half of 2024, ECAS has added four new staff members:
* U‘ilani Corr-Yorkman is the new CCP (Community-Centered Partnerships) Lead. U‘i will design and implement processes for intentionally engaging families with young children and recentering funding and strategy decision making in rural communities on neighbor islands. U‘iʻs position is funded by the Stupski Foundation, Hawai‘i Leadership Forum and Early Childhood Action Strategy.
* Megan Yarberry has joined the ECAS backbone to support Community-based Early Childhood Continuum efforts including those currently underway and efforts in development. Meganʻs position is funded by The Stupski Foundation and Early Childhood Action Strategy.
* Peggy Mierzwa joins ECAS as the new public policy lead. Peggy will champion ECAS network policy priorities and Commit to Keiki. She will support partners in the design and implementation of policy priorities. Peggyʻs position is funded by Early Childhood Action Strategy.
* Keaka Mitchell joins the ECAS backbone team as the Maui County Wildfires Recovery Coordinator, working in close collaboration with the Maui County Early Childhood Resource Coordinator’s office. Keaka’s position is funded by the Hawai‘i Community Foundation.
Network-wide Shared Learnings
Systems-Learning Journey
Meaningful and lasting change requires a fundamental reordering of societal priorities. A cornerstone of that change is a shared understanding not only of the needs of young children and their families for the future of Hawai‘i, but an understanding of the enablers and inhibitors in the ecosystem in which the ECAS network operates.
* Working with Engaging Inquiry, more than 100 ECAS network partners participated in stakeholder meetings to discuss factors that enable and inhibit efforts to strengthen systems of support for young children.
* This work will continue to be scaled in the second half of 2024 with leadership from Kanoe Enos and the A’ali’i Alliance
All Network Meeting Spring 2024
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 morning session featured a keynote on The Power of Lived Expertise 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 AnneMarie Cline, and Protective Factors Framework overview and practice example with Marty Oliphant and Kanoe Enos.
See all event resources
Improve Alignment
Statewide Alignment and Expansion of Key Efforts
Education of Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY)
Bridging Sectors and Islands to Reach the Hardest to Reach Families
With leadership from Lisa Martinez, Program Specialist V, The Education for Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY) office of the Department of Education has strengthened cross-sector leadership and alignment across services and supports for young children in housing insecure families. Currently, the EHCY office is:
* Conducting outreach on all islands to expand awareness of program offerings and to increase enrollment of children B-5 experiencing homelessness.
* Utilizing the new Head Start/ Early Head Start referral app. Lisa has shared her outreach calendar with HCAP and PACT to align efforts to enroll keiki into services.
* Collaborating with EOEL and has a system in place for enrolling keiki experiencing homelessness in EOEL pre-kindergarten. Numbers are already increasing.
* Exploring opportunities to combine outreach efforts with Early Intervention Services (EIS) to increase the share of housing insecure children who are screened, referred, and receive needed services from EIS.
* Partnering with YMCA to have Early Childhood programming in 4 locations, including 3 shelters.
County Early Childhood Resource Coordinator (ECRC) Workgroup
The ECRC workgroup convenes under ECAS team 4 and functions as a community of practice for County early childhood specialists, coordinators, and representatives. The workgroup provides a roundtable for sharing and aligning County agendas, identifying, and strengthening resources for EC work, and developing a stronger role for the Counties in relation to State government.
Keiki Central
Creating a Virtual Portal to all Things Early Childhood Across Hawai‘i
The Keiki Central workgroup of ECAS Team 4, in partnership with Aloha United Way AUW211, has developed an online resource guide for Hawai‘i’s youngest keiki and their families. Now that the architecture of the platform is complete, the workgroup is:
* Meeting with neighbor island partners to make sure that vital community resources appear in Keiki Central
* Conducting outreach to introduce the platform and invite collaboration and engagement around each of the domains represented in the platform
* Helping connect families displaced by the Maui wildfires to the full range of needed supports
Infant and Early Childhood Behavioral Health (IECBH) Plan
The IECBH Plan integrates infant and early childhood mental health (IECMH) and traumainformed care into our health and early care and learning systems throughout Hawai‘i. The plan is designed to expand services ‘upstream’. The plan has four components with two priority areas: Systems & Policy, and Workforce Development & Support.
* In 2024, IECBH Plan partners are working to build partnerships across the state to identify federal, state and private funding sources to support a continuum of IECMH services (promotion, prevention, assessment and diagnosis, treatment) and develop a financing strategy document with a plan for comprehensive and sustainable funding.
* The Strategy Team has been created with meetings set bi-monthly for all of 2024. This team expands the original Advisory Team to include a broader spectrum of partners as suggested by Georgetown University to improve the likelihood of success in IECMH system integration and Medicaid payment for services. The team continues to invite and expand this group per guidance plus local wisdom.
* Areas of activity include 1) Building and supporting IECMH expertise into the workforce serving young children and families, and 2) Working closely with private and state partners to bring the DC:0-5 Framework to Hawai‘i. This framework is designed to take family, culture, social determinants of health, child’s signs and symptoms into consideration when helping them. It will also be used to guide billing for services with MedQuest and other insurances.
* A funding framework has been developed within the finance team to help move stable funding goals forward.
* The finance team has created a presentation on a bundled payment demonstration project to share with potential partners. The team has met with one nonprofit partner to gauge adoption possibilities.
* A policy brief on the history and importance of the IECBH Plan has been drafted for the Governor, as we ask for support moving forward.
* Work continues to strengthen the early childhood workforce’s capacity to support IECMH. Through Promising Minds, - Over 90 highly skilled mental health practitioners have been trained; - 35 professionals have become endorsed in IECMH
Have state policies and services in place with sustainable funding streams that support IECBH across Hawaiʻi
Create mechanisms to improve understanding in families and communities, and among policymakers, on the importance of IECBH to long-term health
Create pathways for access to a full range of IECMH programs and services providing promotion, prevention, and treatment
Community Driven Alignment and Expansion of Supports for Young Keiki
Early Childhood Continuums
The Waimānalo Early Education ‘Upena (Waimānalo, O‘ahu) and the Pāhoa Promise Partnership (Pāhoa, Hawai‘i) bring together health care providers, family support services, public, public charter, and independent school pre-k12 education leaders, early childhood educators, and families and community members to create stronger developmental pathway for all keiki so that they reach kindergarten healthy, safe and ready to thrive in school.
* Each community is now mid-way into their second year of efforts.
* Early Childhood Action Strategy has hired Megan Yarberry as a backbone staff member to help guide ECAS efforts in support of the early childhood continuum effort.
* This summer the Pāhoa Partnership is focused on helping families with young children get ready for kindergarten and to help prevent the summer slide associated with a long summer break.
* Pāhoa Promise partners have responded to the $1.4M requests for proposals released by Hawai‘i County Government to support the continued development of the continuum effort in Pāhoa, and to implement a full continuum of early childhood supports under the banner: Pāhoa Reads.
Key learnings from the initiative to date include:
✓ An accurate assessment of community readiness must also include an understanding of the community’s baseline understanding of early childhood development.
✓ The discovery process can be uneven and likely will take time to sort through.
✓ Centering community priorities and definitions of impact means supporting the exploration of local needs at the community’s pace.
✓ Transitioning from design to implementation and scaling may also mean building and implementing key components of systems change.
The Waimānalo Early Education ‘Upena recently hosted a week of activities focused on the theme of Waimānalo Loves Literacy that attracted over 200 community participants.
Invoking the traditional practices of caring for and protecting the waterways of Hawai‘i, The Pāhoa Promise partnership has conceptualized the sequence of linked supports that are part of the continuum effort that their community has developed over the past 18 months as an ‘Auwai of support for young keiki.
Pāhoa Promise partnership core team members recently shared their ‘Auwai vision with staff members in Representative Jill Tokuda’s congressional office.
Newborn
All babies are born healthy and parents have access to needed resources
Infant/Toddlers
Three Year Olds
Keiki have a medical home, are on track with well-child visits, and are screened for needed interventions ʻOhana are able to access an eco-system of affordable, highquality, early care and learning opportunities, and keiki are surrounded with early reading opportunities and materials
Project:
• Newborn baby baskets with supplies and directing parents to the Pāhoa Promise partnership (YWCA)
Projects:
• Early childhood educators receive professional development, including training in early language and literacy development
• Book bag program (Executive Office on Early Learning prekindergartens, INPEACE, Partners in Development Foundation, Early Head Start & Head Start, KS preschools, Mālamalama Waldorf)
• Keiki fairs (Department of Education and the Pāhoa Promise partnership)
Projects:
• Universal screenings (HI Island Community Health Clinic, Early Intervention Services, Easter Seals)
• Kaiāulu new parent groups (Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies)
• Expanded Reach Out & Read (HICHC, DOH Public Health Nurses and the WIC program)
Four Year Olds
Keiki are on a positive developmental trajectory and ʻohana are engaged in supporting healthy keiki development
Projects:
• Keiki attend high-quality prekindergarten programs (Easter Seals)
• ʻOhana are able to access support through a network of Family Resource Centers (HOSN)
• Pre-kindergarten and kindergarten teachers have access to professional development and cross-training (HI County Early Childhood Resource Coordination Office)
• Preschoolers have access to book bags to take home on a regular basis, supporting reading at home and at school
Five Year Olds
Keiki reach kindergarten ready to thrive and excel on the Kindergarten Entry Assessment (KEA)
Projects:
• Kindergartners have access to book bags to take home (DOE)
• Summer step up into kindergarten (Kindergarten readiness) programs (DOE & HI County ECRC)
• Family resource centers (HOSN)
Aligning Efforts to Support a High-Quality Early Childhood Workforce
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 provides meaningful 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.
* Team 5 partners submitted a grant to create an Early Intervention Certificate program at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa. Ultimately, the proposal was not funded.
* Partners developed a proposal for an OTD (Doctor of Occupational Therapy) Scholars program to prepare professionals to meet the needs of children with disabilities with high intensity needs and their families. The proposal was awarded $1.2 Million in funding over the next five years. The Personnel Prep grant will begin recruiting scholars in January 2025 to begin the Fall 2025 academic year.
- Students in the OTD program will be eligible to apply to become OTD Scholars during the first year of the OTD program. In addition to a generous stipend to partially offset the tuition cost for three of the six semesters of the program, OTD Scholars will undertake a rigorous program of study and be prepared to work in Early Intervention (EI) and Preschool Special Education settings in Hawai‘i.
* Team 5 partners are in conversation with the Hawai‘i Pacific University Occupational Therapy Program and partners in the Waimānalo ‘Upena early childhood continuum to develop a comprehensive early childhood screening, referral, utilization of services system to reach all keiki in the Waimānalo community.
Providing Tools to Support People with Perinatal Substance Use Disorder (PSUD)
ECAS Team 1 partners and allies including Hawai‘i Pacific University and the Healthcare Association of Hawai‘i are working to create a web-based, interdisciplinary training for providers.
* The project team recently completed module 2 on Medication for Opioid Use Disorder for Pregnant and Postpartum Persons
* This module supplements the first session on Caring for Pregnant and Postpartum People with Substance Use Disorder
* 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
- Ashley Viluan (EPIC ‘Ohana, Lived Expertise)
- Nichole Mansanas (The Queen’s Health Systems)
* Future training modules are in development.
Module 1: Caring for Pregnant and Postpartum People with Substance Use Disorder
www.hah.org/overview-psud
Module 2: Medication for Opioid Use Disorder for Pregnant and Postpartum Persons
Shift Awareness, Narrative, and Culture
Applying an Equity Lens to our work
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 members are participating in the national STRETCH 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, strengthening relationships and connections, power building, community building, leadership development, and shifting resource flows.
* Partners attend STRETCH Core Concepts Workshops, focused on equity and power, and the partnership has access to the community of practice through monthly TA calls with the STRETCH leadership team.
* In alignment, the HMIHC collaborative / ECAS Team 1 is working to stand up the Maternal Health Innovation (MHI) Steering Committee, in partnership with the Healthcare Association of Hawai‘i and government and non-government partners, with intensive strategic planning sessions scheduled to take place over the summer.
Understanding Community Participation and Power Dynamics
ECAS Team 3 has prioritized increasing and improving family engagement and applying an equity lens to strategies and activities. In support of this commitment, they have secured training and technical assistance from the Institute for Public Health Innovation to better understand community participation and power dynamics and their applications and significance to the team’s strategic agenda.
Creating a Shared Understanding of the Status of Young Children in Hawai‘i
County Level Early Childhood Community Profiles
* Following last year’s release of the first two Early Childhood County Level Community Profiles (for Maui & Hawai‘i Counties), early childhood community profiles for Honolulu and Kaua‘i counties are in development and will be completed in July.
* The profiles have informed presentations to County Commissioners, State Legislators, a Chamber of Commerce, and community town halls, early childhood conferences, and have been used to support grant proposals.
Strengthening our Understanding of Infant Toddler Care
The Infant/Toddler (I/T) workgroup (of ECAS Team 4) is working to improve our understanding of I/T care by strengthening available data and information.
Key efforts in 2024 to date have included:
* Developing true cost estimates for I/T care
* Meeting with Vibrant Hawai‘i to discuss the findings of Vibrant Hawai‘i’s survey of the ECE preferences of Native Hawaiian families on the Big Island
* Supporting the application submitted by state partners to the Children’s Funding Project to participate in a Cost-Modeling learning opportunity
- That application was successful, and the project should begin later this year.
Looking Forward to the Second Half of 2024
The Early Childhood Action Strategy network, backbone staff, and allied partners look forward to continuing to work on this broad portfolio of efforts in support of young keiki and their amilies in the coming months.
Many of the initiatives mentioned in this review, including support for families recovering from the Maui wildfires, the development of Communitycentered Partnerships, implementation of community-based Early Childhood Continuums, the growth of new Farm to Keiki initiatives, and expanding peer support efforts, to name just a few, are gaining momentum through the infusion of new staffing, financial resources, and key alliances. We look forward to sharing updates on these developments in the next six months and into 2025.
Early Childhood Action Strategy (ECAS) seeks to be a catalyst for change in the way we support early childhood development by working to improve the connections and alignment between system actors, by strengthening policies, practices and resources available to support this collective work, and, ultimately, by helping to shift our shared understanding of how best to support early childhood development and wellbeing.
ECAS Network Partners
* Aloha United Way
* 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 Kauai
* Breastfeeding Hawai‘i
* Campaign for Grade Level Reading
* Child and Family Service
* Child Care Advisory Council
* Cole Academy
* Conscious Communities
* Department of Education
- Homeless Concerns Office
* Department of Health
- Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division
- Child and Adolescent Mental Health Division
- Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
- Early Intervention Services
- Family Health Services Division
- Maternal and Child Health Branch
- Office of Planning, Policy and Program Development
- Public Health Nursing
- Women, Infants and Children (WIC)
* Department of Human Services
- Benefit, Employment and Support Services (BESSD)
- Child Welfare Services (CWS)
- Med-QUEST Division
* Family Hui Hawai‘i
* Family Programs Hawai‘i
* Family Support Hawai‘i
* FrameWorks Institute
* Hawai‘i State Coalition Against Domestic Violence
* Hawai‘i Appleseed
* Hawai‘i Association for Education of Young Children (HAEYC)
* Hawai‘i Children’s Action Network (HCAN)
* Hawai‘i Community Foundation (HCF)
* Honolulu Community Action Program (HCAP)
* Hawai‘i Early Intervention Coordination Council (HEICC)
* Hawai‘i Literacy
* Hawai‘i P-20 Partnerships for Education
* Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Coalition of Hawai‘i
* Ho‘oikaika Partnership
* Honolulu Community College (HCC)
* Hui for Excellence in Education (HE‘E)
* Imua Maui Family Support Services
* INPEACE
* Institute for Human Services (IHS)
* Institute on Violence, Abuse and Trauma (IVAT)
* Islands of Hope - Maui
* Kamehameha Schools
* Kapi‘olani Medical Center for Women and Children
* Domestic Violence Action Center (DVAC)
* Early Childhood Data Collaborative
* Early Learning Board (ELB)
* EPIC ‘Ohana
* Executive Office on Early Learning (EOEL)
- EOEL Early Childhood State Plan Steering Committee
- Head Start State Collaboration Office
* Kathy’s Parenting Solutions
* KCAA Preschools
* Keiki O Ka ‘Aina (KOKA)
* Learning to Grow, Windward Community College
* Malama Family Recovery Center
* Maui County
- Early Childhood Resource Center
* Mental Health America of Hawai‘i
* MEO Head Start
* Molokai Child Abuse Prevention Pathways
* ‘Ohana Nui
* Papa Ola Lokahi
* Parents and Children Together (PACT)
* Partners in Development Foundation (PIDF)
* People Attentive to Children (PATCH)
* PHOCUSED
* Prevent Child Abuse Hawai‘i
* Queen Liliu‘okalani Trust
* Read To Me International
* Salvation Army Family Treatment Services, Women’s Way
* Seagull Schools
* SMALLIFY
* State of Hawai‘i Commission on Fatherhood
- University of Hawai‘i (UH)
- Center on the Family
- College of Education
- Office of Public Health Studies
- School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene
* University of Hawai‘i John A. Burns School of Medicine (UH JABSOM)
- Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, & Women’s Health
- Department of Pediatrics
* Waikiki Health, PATH Clinic
* YMCA Honolulu
* Zero to Three Court
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