Rhode Island

Project Description:

Rhode Island Governor LincolnÊAlmond has made young children's well being a top priority. A Children's Cabinet, composed of state agency directors and chaired by the governor's director of policy, is taking the lead in reforming the state's health and human service system to make it more responsive to community and family needs.

Rhode Island has a strong track record in ensuring high-quality health care for disadvantaged children. Its Department of Health has created a universal screening system for identifying the health and social risks of all newborns. A model statewide tracking and follow-up system for child immunizations is now being developed with funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Medicaid coverage of uninsured pregnant women and preventive health care for children is among the best in the nation, and community outreach programs offering continuous health care and parent support are promising. Rhode Island's linkages between school restructuring and comprehensive health education are very strong.

Rhode Island's project will connect its strong public health infrastructure to an emerging system of comprehensive family centers that are being established by the governor, the state legislature, and the private sector. With $2 million in federal, state, municipal, and private funding for "child opportunity zones" that have been developed in twenty low-income communities since early 1994, family centers typically focus on meeting the social and health needs of families with school-age children. The state's Starting Points project will test the feasibility of focusing these centers on meeting the needs of young children before they enter school. In the first year, four family centers, including two in Providence, will receive incentive grants and technical assistance to concentrate on improving the quality of child care, promoting responsible parenthood, and ensuring good health care. Two more centers will receive support in the second year of the project. The Children's Cabinet will commission an independent evaluation of the performance of the family centers; the evaluation will include recommendations for policy and program reforms.

Public education about the Starting Points project will aim both to inform the public and to develop leadership in critical sectors. Public hearings and community meetings focusing on young children's needs will include government officials, consumer advocates, corporate executives, and representatives of professional, civic, and social organizations. Stakeholder mobilization will be led by the Lt. Governor's Partnership for Early Childhood Education.

The project is codirected by staff from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Department of Health, with the former overseeing the management of the project. The state, the Rhode Island Foundation, and the United Way of Southeastern New England are providing matching funds.

Major Program Components:

Contact:

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