Nevada has made great strides in laying the foundation of an integrated system of care for prenatal-to-three (P-3) populations that are accessible, sustainable, and comprehensive. In 2021, The Children’s Cabinet was awarded a Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Early Childhood Comprehensive System (ECCS) grant. This 5-year initiative is comprised of twenty state awardees whose ECCS programs work with their state and local partners and family leaders to strengthen their early childhood system.
Read all about just some of our accomplishments below:
From 2022 to 2024, Children’s Funding Project collaborated with The Children’s Cabinet to conduct a full strategic public finance plan and analysis of Nevada’s early childhood system. Strategic Public Financing is a process that allows states and communities to assign a cost to their goals and priorities for children and youth, and, to identify ways to cover those costs. It often builds on existing strategic plans by addressing three key questions:
1. How much funding supports our goals right now?
2. How much will it cost to fully fund our goals?
3. How do we fill the gap between current funding and needed funding?
The Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems (ECCS) project aims to build integrated maternal and early childhood systems of care that are sustainable, accessible, and connected to the health system. It promotes early developmental health and family well-being and increases family-centered access to care and engagement of the prenatal-to-three-year-old population.
A maternal and early childhood system of care brings together health, early care, education, child welfare, and other human services and family support program partners. ECCS strives to collaborate with community leaders, families, and other stakeholders to achieve agreed-upon goals for thriving children and families.
Thank you to the ECCS Leadership Team for their tireless efforts throughout 2023 to support the creation of Nevada’s first Early Childhood Comprehensive System Prenatal – Age 3 Strategic Plan. Stay tuned for more information on work plans related to our three goals!
Since 2002, the BUILD Initiative has worked to promote our vision of a comprehensive early childhood system in which families can easily access high-quality early learning and development opportunities regardless of their neighborhood and agencies working with children and families can have the resources to meet the needs of our diverse young child and family population. This video describes that vision.
The Executive Summary presents the initial key findings and recommendations of the Nevada Early Childhood Coordinated Intake and Referral System (Nevada EC CIRS) Workgroup, a collaborative initiative established in September 2023 aimed at improving access to health, early learning, social services, and family support services, for young children and their families in Nevada. In Nevada, as in many other states, young children and their families face challenges in accessing the array of services necessary for optimal health, development, and well-being. The complex network of providers—spanning healthcare, early childhood education, social services, and family support—often operate in silos, making it difficult for families to navigate and for providers to coordinate care.
The Nevada EC CIRS Workgroup was established to address these challenges by exploring opportunities to develop a coordinated intake and referral system that improves how services are delivered to families with young children. The vision of the workgroup is to create a unified, user-friendly platform that facilitates seamless referrals, enhances communication across sectors, and ensures that families have access to resources they need to thrive. The workgroup met monthly and included representatives from various Nevada state agencies and non-profit organizational partners that focus on the target service areas.
The Nevada Early Childhood Advisory Council (ECAC) works to strengthen state-level coordination and collaboration among the various sectors and settings of early childhood programs.
ECAC members are appointed by the Governor of Nevada. ECAC meetings are held every other month and are open to the public.
DHHS – DPBH, DHHS – DHCFP, DHHS – DWSS, NDE – OLED, Governor’s Office of New Americans, NV Early Childhood Advisory Council, Rural NV Health Network, NV Community Health Worker Association, Family TIES, NV Institute for Children’s Research & Policy at UNLV, Children’s Advocacy Alliance, NV Statewide Coalition Partnership, PDG B-5, NECAC (Nevada Early Childhood Advisory council – Starting Early is Starting Right on Time.
