United Hospital Fund Releases Report With Observations from New York City’s Partnerships for Early Childhood Development Initiative
An early childhood initiative that partnered 11 New York City health systems with one or more community-based organizations each screened 5,534 very young children and their caregivers in New York City over the past year for socioeconomic factors that can affect a child’s health, and found that more than a third (1,890) needed services that addressed social or developmental needs.
The teams reported that adult education and child care were the two most common social needs, with food insecurity a close third. A high percentage of families at several practices were found to have one or more social needs, among them poor housing, maternal depression, exposure to violence, and child behavioral concerns. All these factors, often referred to as social determinants of health, can adversely affect the physical development of very young children, causing lifelong health and educational challenges.
The Partnerships for Early Childhood Development initiative, jointly funded by United Hospital Fund, the Altman Foundation, and The New York Community Trust, was established in March 2017 to develop and support clinical/community organization partnerships that could screen children and their families for social determinants of health and refer them to services. UHF took the lead on the project’s management and produced a report, Clinical-Community Partnerships for Better Health: Observations from New York City’s Partnerships for Early Childhood Development Initiative, analyzing the results of Phase I of the project, ending in March 2018. Phase II of the project, with eight of the original teams participating and continued support from Altman and The Trust, will begin in August...