NCREL's Policy Briefs

Integrating Community Services for
Young Children and Their Families

Effective Initiatives to Change Service Delivery Systems

Throughout the country, in urban and rural areas, numerous communities and counties have formed collaboratives and have begun initiatives to create more responsive services for children and families. While none have fully implemented a "communitywide profamily system," their combined efforts suggest that effective service integration initiatives share certain characteristics:

• They are school-linked, providing services and programs for children and families from a school or group of schools. School staff, along with personnel in other agencies, are involved in planning, operating, and governing the initiatives.

• They are rooted in the community and are closely connected to state government, having the backing and involvement of those who use services, those who provide them, and those who help pay for them.

• They use place-specific service delivery prototypes to create systems change - that is, before expanding, they experiment with designing and delivering services tailored to target populations or neighborhoods.

• They are data-driven. They develop comprehensive community profiles that establish baseline indicators showing how well children and families are faring, how well services are meeting family needs, and where gaps in services exist.

• They are financially pragmatic, using existing resources fully. External support is used primarily for planning and to provide enough financial stability to ensure that pilot efforts lead to systemwide policy changes.

• They use new forms of interprofessional preservice and inservice education, training, and leadership development.

• They engage all citizens in decisions about the social and economic well-being of children and families.

• They balance the political and technical dimensions of systems change (Melaville, Blank, & Asayesh, 1993).

References and Resources

Copyright © 1995, North Central Regional Educational Laboratory

Contact: info@ncrel.org

Posted on March 23, 1995

URL: http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/envrnmnt/go/93-3effe.htm