Community involvement has been essential in every phase of the development of Best Starts for Kids. In the past few months, over 500 different stakeholders provided input into this phase of initial strategy development.
Best Starts for Kids staff continue to synthesize input. Initial themes include:
- Focusing on reducing racial and cultural disparities while increasing equity in the way services are provided.
- Utilizing a trauma informed approach for care across all services and programs.
- Aligning systems, programs and initiatives across the county for ongoing success.
- Creating a “no wrong door” approach for health and social services.
- Utilizing home visiting as a tool to build social connections and strengthening the abilities of parents to most effectively nurture their kids during what can be a trying time.
- Focusing on youth led programming such as peer-to-peer support or peer advisor groups.
- Increasing use of cultural navigators and bi-lingual facilitators across disciplines to support ongoing outreach to underserved populations.
Input from communities will be ongoing and continue through a variety of venues. We will share more details about ongoing community engagement opportunities in future posts.