Imperative #5 Create tools and resources to better coordinate systems that impact early childhood

Summary:  Children and families interact with many systems starting from the time a woman gets pregnant through a child's early years. These systems include early childhood care and education, health care, K-3 education, social services, and community development. Throughout the Hope Starts Here Planning process, one theme repeatedly emerged: the need to increase coordination and alignment within and across them. Increasing their coordination would increase their overall efficiency and impact as well as directly support the goals of the four preceding imperatives. However, coordination at that level requires a central mechanism that can catalyze and support alignment efforts, and this does not currently exist in Detroit.

In Detroit today, many disparate systems exist to fill the needs of parents and provide the various needed aspects of Early Childhood Education. While these organizations each have their own rich data systems, with information that ranges from databases of ECE providers to healthcare options for parents of young children to evaluations and scoring ECE provider quality, there is no central coordinating that allows educators and leaders in Detroit to easily access data and information on ECE in one place. A central provider with integrated data systems will increase efficiency and impact among organizations seeking to improve ECE education. (9)

Compiling and centralizing the work of existing ECE providers in the city will fulfill HSH priorities 5.1 and 5.2. This is turn will lead to more efficient and impactful work from ECE providers in the city.