Systems Change

The Early Childhood Partnership of Adams County is cultivating an effective early childhood ecosystem for children from birth through age five and their families in Adams County. We define an effective early childhood ecosystem as one where every child and family in Adams County has equitable access to the high-quality and affordable services and supports they need to thrive. The Early Childhood Partnership of Adams County is one of 34 organizations tasked by state legislation to help local communities do this important work effectively.

Cultivating an effective early childhood ecosystem requires whole community collaborative impact. This means we collaborate with everyone who has an impact on a child’s life in their first five years and beyond, including those who care for children, those who support children, those who teach children and those who invest in children. Most importantly, we include parents and families in all of our work because they are a child’s most important caregivers, supporters, teachers and investors. Together our work strengthens the connections between these groups, fills the gaps in resources and increases the quality of care, support and education for children and families.

ECPAC accomplished this through its core business to improve systems through:

• Ensuring a strong governance system that supports its core business to build and maintain a strong partnership that promotes shared accountability for improved child and family outcomes and is fully engaged in the agreed upon community strategic plan.
• Fostering leadership of community/family members and service providers.
• Ensuring sufficient investments are available through sharing resources, improved use of existing resources and obtaining new resources.
• Strengthening the public will to best support young children and their families.
• Working together to address system and policy barriers to improved outcomes.
• Providing professional development opportunities to improve the quality of cross-domain early childhood services towards maximum benefit.

ECPAC provides direct services to families of young children in collaboration with other community partners to fill gaps and reduce barriers as identified through assessments with partners and the community.  On-going evaluation of services inform systems change.