BUILDING BRIDGES WITH YOUR STATE’S EARLY CHILDHOOD COMPREHENSIVE SYSTEM
Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems (ECCS)
Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems (ECCS) grants help states and communities build and
integrate early childhood service systems to better meet the needs of children and families.
Since 2003, 49 States, the District of Columbia, Guam, the Republic of Palau and the
commonwealths of Puerto Rico and the Mariana Islands have participated in this federal
grant program.
The core components of ECCS are the following:
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Access to health care and medical home
Social emotional development and mental health
Early care and education
Parenting education
Family support
Note: A new funding announcement was released in March, 2013 for ECCS, see below:
Building Health Through Integration
Applicants have the option to plan, if necessary, and implement one of three strategies: 1) Mitigation
of toxic stress and trauma in infancy and early childhood. This strategy should be broadly focused
across multiple systems in communities, and coordinated with medical homes, trauma prevention
activities, and collective impact approaches; or 2) Coordination of the expansion of developmental
screening activities in early care and education settings statewide by connecting pediatric and other
child health leaders with child care health consultants to link training and referrals among medical
homes, early intervention services, child care programs and families; or 3) Improvement of state
infant/toddler child care quality initiatives (State licensing standards/Quality Rating and
Improvement Systems [QRIS] and/or professional development) by incorporating 10 or more Caring
for Our Children: National Health and Safety Performance Standards; Guidelines for Early Care and
Education Programs , 3rd ed. (CFOC3) standards focused specially on the infant/toddler age group
RELATIONSHIP BUILDER: The following link provides information on how to contact your
state’s ECCS administrator:
http://mchb.hrsa.gov/programs/earlychildhood/comprehensivesystems/grantees/index.html
BUILDING BRIDGES WITH YOUR STATE’S EARLY CHILDHOOD COMPREHENSIVE SYSTEM
POTENTIAL IDEAS FOR STATE LEADERSHIP TEAMS:
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Embark on a project aimed at integrating early childhood screening (i.e.
developmental, social emotional, trauma, family risk, maternal depression) into
medical home and early education systems
Work with your ECCS to create a parent education and outreach campaign around
EBCD that can be disseminated across systems
Work with early childhood system to coordinate services to mitigate stress for families
Offer recommendations for enhancing and/or replicating successful projects
TOOLS:
1. Sample email to the ECCS coordinator
2. ECCS worksheet
3. Foundational PowerPoint
BUILDING BRIDGES WITH YOUR STATE’S EARLY CHILDHOOD COMPREHENSIVE SYSTEM
Sample email to the ECCS coordinator
Email Subject Heading: An Opportunity to Collaborate with Your AAP Chapter
Dear [insert name],
It is a pleasure to reach out to you as the Building Bridges State Early Brain and Child
Development (EBCD) Team Leaders (consisting of a member of our American Academy of
Pediatrics (AAP) Chapter and Early Childhood Systems Representative). As you may know, the
AAP has made EBCD a strategic priority. This is an incredible opportunity to ensure that
children are supported early with nurturing environments and relationships that promote
health and success.
We are interested in exploring how we can work together to incorporate EBCD efforts into the
work of our state’s ECCS. In this regard, we would like to plan a meeting or a call to identify
collaborative efforts and opportunities.
Below are the days and times we are available during the next 2 weeks for your consideration.
[insert dates and times]
If you have any questions, please let us know. We are looking forward to speaking with you and
exploring ways that we can work together.
Sincerely,
Names
Contact Information