National Center on Health, Behavioral Health, and Safety
Project Director:
EDC Staff:
Funded by:
Office of Head Start and Office of Child Care
Partners:
Association of State and Territorial Dental Directors; Georgetown University; Illuminate Colorado; Center for Childhood Resilience, Lurie Children’s Hospital; National Maternal and Child Oral Health Resource Center; National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care and Early Education; Prevent Blindness; Pyramid Model Consortium; Sesame Workshop; University of California-San Francisco (UCSF) Childcare Health Program; UCSF Child Trauma Research Program; and the Horowitz Center for Health Literacy at the University of Maryland
Focus Area:
Child Health & SafetyEarly Childhood Development & LearningEducation Workforce & SystemsMental Health & Wellbeing
Duration:
2020-Present
Challenge
As our country deals with issues such as limited access to health and mental health care, promoting child safety and well-being, and preparing for and responding to natural disasters, support for health, behavioral health, and safety have never been more vital. Children and families served by Head Start and Early Head Start programs are especially impacted by these issues.
To address this need, EDC and Georgetown University are leading the National Center on Health, Behavioral Health, and Safety. With funding from the Office of Head Start and the Office of Child Care, the Center provides practical, high-quality, effective training and technical assistance (TTA) and resources to enhance the wellness of children, families, and staff.
Key Activities
Building on more than 40 years of EDC’s work supporting Head Start at the national, regional, and local levels, the project team is carrying out the following activities:
- Build the capacity of Head Start and early childhood programs to address key factors that negatively impact children and families
- Provide effective TTA that guides Head Start health, mental health, and nutrition services staff in providing high-quality services to children and families
- Develop and disseminate effective, user-friendly resources on nutrition, healthy child development, emergency preparedness, disease prevention, injury prevention, oral health, and more
- Foster collaboration among stakeholders—including health and mental health care providers—to connect children and families to resources that meet their needs
Our Impact
- Assist Head Start programs to deliver effective, high-quality health and behavioral health services to over 154,000 families who are served annually in 1,700 Head Start programs
- Promote the healthy development and school readiness of over 1 million Head Start children in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., the U.S. territories, American Indian and Alaska Native communities, as well as migrant and seasonal worker communities
- Respond to thousands of questions on health, behavioral health, and safety from the early childhood community through the management of our Infoline
