Project Launch
Wisconsin
Funded Years : 2009
Project Director :
Jennie Mauer
608-220-3869
jennie.mauer@wisconsin.gov
Address :
1 West Wilson Street
Madison,WI 53707
Project Status : Active
Project Summary : Wisconsin's Project LAUNCH , Well-Child Connections (WCC), provides primary prevention services in an eight-zip-code area of Milwaukee to promote health for children ages 0–8. In partnership with the State of Wisconsin, Department of Health Services, and the Department of Children and Families, the local program will employ a Wellness Coordinator at the City of Milwaukee Health Department to coordinate a comprehensive early childhood system, with the goal of ensurings that young children and their families can access programs that foster wellness in all areas of a young child's life.
Milwaukee is a city of approximately 600,000 residents, located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. It is Wisconsin's largest city and ranks 22nd in the nation by population. Numerous ethnic groups immigrated in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, which led to the formation of the current patchwork of ethnically distinct neighborhoods. Until the 1940s, African Americans made up less than 1 percent of Milwaukee's population, but their numbers had increased more than 700 percent by the 1960s. The majority of the newcomers settled in central Milwaukee, which is often called the “inner city.” In 2002, the U.S. Census Bureau identified Milwaukee as the most residentially and ethnically segregated city in the United States.
The target neighborhoods are excessively burdened by issues associated with poor child health, including a high percentage of infants born at low birth weight, late entry of pregnant women into prenatal care, childhood lead poisoning, high rates of sexually transmitted diseases, high rates of poverty and unemployment, lack of education, excessive use of drugs, high crime rates, and high teen pregnancy rates.
Project LAUNCH Goals
At the state level:
• Build on the state-level infrastructure to implement a comprehensive early childhood system of care for children ages 0–8 and their families that supports local service delivery and the work of the WCC project
• Enhance and promote child wellness in all areas of development: social-emotional, behavioral, mental, and physical
At the local level:
• Develop a local Child Wellness Council for a comprehensive child wellness system of care
• Build on and sustain local evidence-based programming
• Increase the capacity of the community to provide family-centered care to Milwaukee's highest-risk children and their families
Strategies
To achieve these goals, WCC will build on the infrastructure within the City of Milwaukee Health Department and Milwaukee's community-based partnerships to implement evidenced-based programs at the local level: Nurse Family Partnership, Parents as Teachers through Empowering Families of Milwaukee, and Nurturing Parents Programs. Within the proposed evidenced-based practices, use of validated screening tools—including Ages and Stages (ASQ) and ASQ: Social-Emotional, Home Observation Measurement of the Environment Inventory, the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Screen, and NCAST: Parent-Child Interaction Scales—are well-entrenched into service provision and ongoing practice.
Expected Outcomes
The proposed strategies will result in several state-level outcomes:
• Development of positive and nurturing parenting skills among Wisconsin families, and increased parent knowledge of early childhood development
• A reduction in child behavior problems
• An increase in child positive behaviors, social competence, and school readiness skills
• Early detection and treatment of developmental delays and health issues
• Increased prevention of child abuse and neglect and of teen suicide
• A reduction in rates of drug and alcohol use and of juvenile delinquency
• A reduction in and increased prevention of domestic violence
In addition, families will report high levels of satisfaction with program services; data will be used in policy and financial decision-making regarding services to young children; and resources for young children among and across state and local agencies will be allocated more effectively.
At the local level, young children and their families will see the following outcomes:
• Improved child physical, emotional, social, and behavioral health and developmental outcomes, from birth to age 8
• An increase in the number and quality of protective factors, and in family stability and economic self-sufficiency
• A decrease in the number and severity of risk factors and in the instances of child abuse and neglect
Evidence-Based Programs :
Nurse-Family Partnership (Prenatal/Early Childhood Nurse Home Visitation Program)
Nurturing Parent
Parents as Teachers
Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation
Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ)
Home Observation Measurement of the Environment (HOME) Inventory
Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Screen (EPDS)
NCAST: Parent-Child Interaction Scales
Ages & Stages Questionnaire: Social Emotional (ASQ:SE)
