Systems Coordination

Connecting the Dots Across Systems That Support Young Children and Families

Navigating services for young children and families—especially during the prenatal to age three period—requires coordination across multiple systems that are often siloed in structure and funding. In Allegheny County, early learning, health, and family support services live across three County departments, are implemented by several community-based providers, and are funded by a complex mix of federal, state, and local dollars.

That’s why our work focuses on bridging these systems—aligning programs, providers, and resources so families can access what they need without falling through the cracks.

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Health

Perinatal Health

Caregiver Mental Health

Nutrition/WIC

Family Support

Basic Needs

Family & Fatherhood Supports

Home Visiting

Child Care/Early Learning

Finding High Quality Child Care

Affording High Quality Child Care

Early Intervention

Early Learning Program & Educator Supports

We actively collaborate with a wide network of partners, including:

  • OB and NICU providers

  • Health systems and behavioral health providers

  • Nurse-led home visiting programs (e.g., Nurse-Family Partnership, Healthy Families America)

  • Learning-focused home visiting models (e.g., Early Head Start, Parents as Teachers)

  • Fatherhood programs

  • Licensed and relative child care providers

  • Early Intervention Part C service coordination, assessments, eligibility, and developmental monitoring

  • Family Centers

  • Basic needs providers (e.g., diaper banks, formula access, housing support)

What This Looks Like in Practice

Health System pieces:

  • Obstetrician appointments and prenatal care

  • Medicaid and CHIP enrollment

  • WIC nutrition assistance, breastfeeding supports, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)

  • maternal mental health, behavioral health services

  • Home visiting: Nurse Family Partnership, Healthy Families Allegheny (affiliated with Health Families America); Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies

Family Support pieces:

  • Family Center engagement

  • Home visiting: Healthy Start, Family Check-Up, Parents as Teachers, Safe Care Augmented

  • Housing and emergency funding

  • Diaper and formula banks

Early Learning pieces:

  • finding available slots in child care programs

  • child care assistance funding for licensed programs and relative providers

  • Early Head Start (home-and center-based) enrollment & referrals

  • Early Intervention, Part C assessments, eligibility, and resource coordination

System Anchors

Hello Baby

During 2018–2020, Allegheny County DHS convened our partners, additional service providers, and community members as part of a community advisory board to develop what is now a comprehensive network of supports called Hello Baby. The Network offers universal supports to all new parents in Allegheny County at the hospital or birthing center and through a follow-up mailer a few weeks after birth. Families who are identified as higher risk (either through community referrals or a predictive risk model) receive proactive outreach and are offered more intensive services and supports.

The Birth Plan

In 2020, US Health & Human Services awarded Healthy Start Pittsburgh supplemental funding to develop a plan to reduce maternal and infant deaths, disproportionately affecting Black families. This began The BIRTH Plan for Black Babies and Families which engaged community partners including all the members of Allegheny Prenatal to Three along with community members with lived experience seeking prenatal healthcare, giving birth, and parenting an infant in Allegheny County. The plan has four action areas that address racism at the structural, institutional, and interpersonal levels. Four action areas were identified in order to address racial disparities.

Early Learning Resource Center

Early Learning Resource Centers operate across Pennsylvania to connect families with child care assistance and to support continuous quality improvement of child care programs. In 2017, Trying Together, the Department of Human Services, and The Alliance for Infants and Toddlers jointly applied for the ELRC Region 5 (Allegheny County) contract and were successfully awarded it in 2019 and renewed in 2024.

Because families come to ELRC locations seeking child care, ELRC staff also connect families with other services they may be eligible for, such as Medicaid/CHIP health insurance, WIC, or SNAP benefits, and they refer families to Hello Baby, Family Centers, and offer support with housing and basic needs.

“I believe the Allegheny Prenatal to Three partnership is important because not only are we building stronger, more seamless systems for families, but we are also being attentive to how families may choose to access and navigate critical community supports."

— Jada Shirriel, CEO of Healthy Start, Inc.