Assessing Models of Coordinated Services for Low-Income Children and Their Families (AMCS)

AMCS Study Invitation email and request for confirmation of STATE MODEL profile

To: [DIRECTOR OF STATE APPROACH]

Subject: Help us to learn more about [STATE APPROACH NAME] for an important study!

Dear [DIRECTOR OF STATE APPROACH]:

We would like to invite you and other staff at [STATE APPROACH NAME] to contribute to an important new project that the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is conducting, called Assessing Models of Coordinated Services for Low-Income Children and Their Families. ACF has partnered with Mathematica to conduct this study. The goal of this study is to improve our understanding of approaches to coordinate early care and education with family economic security and/or other health and human services.

We conducted a national scan to identify and describe coordinated services approaches and identified [STATE APPROACH NAME] for the work you do to serve children and families. Based on information we found in public documents and reports, we created a profile about your coordinated services approach. We were so interested to learn about the work you are doing! We have attached the profile to this email and would like to request your help to make sure the information we have is correct. This profile will be used to help inform other people who are operating, or starting, coordinated services approaches. In particular, we hope to use this information to support the work of states engaged in the Preschool Development Grant, Birth through Five grant program. Your efforts to complete this profile could directly benefit other approaches and programs!

Could you please review the attached profile and share your feedback, including filling in missing information, by [DATE]?

Thank you in advance for taking the time to review the profile and make any changes. We anticipate it will take up to two hours to confirm and complete the information in the profile. Your participation is voluntary, and any information you share will be considered private to the extent provided by law. We truly appreciate your willingness to help us understand how children and families are being served across the country. Please reach out if you have any questions or if there is a different person at [STATE APPROACH NAME] that we should connect with. My contact information is below.

Sincerely,

[NAME]

[ATTACH TO EMAIL: STATE Approach Profile]

Paperwork Reduction Act Statement: The referenced collection of information is voluntary. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The OMB control number for this collection is 0970-0356 and it expires 06/30/2021.

AMCS Study Invitation email and request for confirmation of STATE MODEL profile (reminder)

To: [DIRECTOR OF STATE APPROACH]

Subject: REMINDER: Help us to learn more about [STATE APPROACH NAME] for an important study!

Dear [DIRECTOR OF STATE APPROACH]:

We recently contacted you to help us learn more about [STATE APPROACH NAME]. We invite you to contribute to an important new project that the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is conducting, called Assessing Models of Coordinated Services for Low-Income Children and Their Families. We would like to include your work in this important study!

As we mentioned in the initial email, ACF has partnered with Mathematica to conduct this study. The goal of this study is to improve understanding of approaches that coordinate early care and education with family economic security and/or other health and human services.

We conducted a national scan to identify and describe coordinated services approaches and identified [STATE APPROACH NAME] for the work you do to serve children and families. Based on information we found in public documents and reports, we created a short profile about your coordinated services approach. We were so interested to learn about the work you are doing! We have attached the profile to this email and would like to request your help to make sure the information we have is correct. This profile will be used to help inform other people who are operating, or starting, coordinated services approaches. In particular, we hope to use this information to support the work of states engaged in the Preschool Development Grant, Birth through Five grant program. Your efforts to complete this profile could directly benefit other approaches and programs!

Could you please review the attached profile and share your feedback, including filling in missing information, by [DATE]?

Thank you in advance for taking the time to review the profile and make any changes. We anticipate it will take up to two hours to confirm and complete the information in the profile. Your participation is voluntary, and any information you share will be considered private to the extent provided by law. We truly appreciate your willingness to help us understand how children and families are being served across the country. Please reach out if you have any questions or if there is a different person at [STATE APPROACH NAME] that we should connect with. My contact information is below.

Sincerely,

[NAME]

Paperwork Reduction Act Statement: The referenced collection of information is voluntary. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The OMB control number for this collection is 0970-0356 and it expires 06/30/2021.

AMCS Study Invitation email and request for confirmation of STATE MODEL profile (TELEPHONE FOLLOW UP SCRIPT)

Protocol for TElephone Outreach for STATE model profile confirmation

Interviewer instructions: This goal of this telephone call is to identify a person at the STATE approach who can confirm and complete a model profile. Please ask to speak to the director of the STATE approach (or someone in the equivalent role). If that person is not available, please use the information below to briefly describe the study and the request and ask if there is anyone else to speak to or if the director of the STATE approach could return your call. Once you are speaking to the director of the STATE approach or other person who is able to address the request please follow the protocol below.

Telephone protocol:

Hi, my name is ______________ and I am from an organization called Mathematica I am calling about an important study we are conducting for the Administration for Children and Families in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The study is called Assessing Models of Coordinated Services for Low-Income Children and Their Families. We recently sent an email describing the study and a profile we’ve complied about [STATE APPROACH NAME]. Did you receive this email?

[IF NO…] I am sorry to hear you did not receive the email. We would be happy to send it again. Can you please confirm the best person/email address to reach out to? [PROCEED WITH ALL RESPONDENTS PARAGRAPH BELOW]

[If YES...]. Great! You may recall that in that email we described the study and mentioned a profile that we had completed about [STATE APPROACH NAME]. As a reminder…

[FOR ALL RESPONDENTS] The Assessing Models of Coordinated Services study is focused on understanding how states and communities are coordinating services to serve children and families. We identified your coordinated services approach through a search of public information and we have completed profiles of [STATE APPROACH NAME] and coordinated services approaches like yours so that we can learn more about them. We have really enjoyed learning more about your work! We are reaching out to you now because we would like to request your help in making sure the information we have about your coordinated services approach is correct.

Could you or someone at [STATE APPROACH NAME] review the profile we sent by email and confirm whether the information included is correct and update or complete anything that is missing? We are happy to walk through the profile with you now and collect some of the information. Would you like us to do that? [IF YES] Great! We anticipate this will take a maximum of 30 minutes. Your participation is voluntary, and any information you share will be considered private to the extent provided by law. [BEGIN ASKING RESPONDENT SELECT QUESTIONS FROM THE PROFILE].

[IF NO TO PHONE CONFIRMATION] If you prefer, you can complete the profile in writing and return it to us via email.

[IF YES TO WRITTEN CONFIRMATION] Thank you! Is [CONFIRM EMAIL ADDRESS] the best email address to use? [IF NOT, PLEASE GATHER CORRECT EMAIL]. We have really enjoyed learning about [STATE APPROACH NAME] and we look forward to learning more. We will follow up with an email that includes the profile and some brief instructions. Do you have any questions? Thank you for your time today.

[IF NO TO PHONE CONFIRMATION OR WRITTEN CONFIRMATION] We understand. We have really enjoyed learning more about [STATE APPROACH NAME] in our public search. Thank you for your time today.

Paperwork Reduction Act Statement: The referenced collection of information is voluntary. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The OMB control number for this collection is 0970-0356 and it expires 06/30/2021.

State Name, Name of the approach

We use the term “approach” to refer to the coordinated services work you are engaged in. An approach could be a model (a framework for how to coordinate) or a program (an organization directly delivering services to families) or both. Your approach might also have different terms that you use. Please focus on the coordinated services work your organization does when answering the questions below.

Category		Details
General information
Do you have any documents that provide information about the coordinated services approach that you are able to share, such as a diagram of partners or organizational chart? If so, please provide a link to their web location or attach them by email.
1	What year was the coordinated services approach founded and/or how many years has it been in operation?
		Not applicable Don’t have this information
2	What are the mission, goals, and vision of the coordinated services approach?
		Not applicable Don’t have this information
3	What is the State doing to coordinate services (for example, providing funding or technical assistance to local approaches, creating joint governance across agencies, combining agencies)?
		Not applicable Don’t have this information
4	Are there local implementation sites of the State coordinated services approach? If so, what are the locations? Please include the number of local sites and their locations. If available, please provide the web address for any local sites. If the approach is being implemented in nearly every county, you do not need to list them all, but please describe this.
		Not applicable Don’t have this information
5	How were the local implementation sites identified?
		Not applicable Don’t have this information
Development of the approach
6	Please describe any needs assessment activities conducted in developing the coordinated services approach.
		Not applicable Don’t have this information
7	What were the drivers (or impetus) in developing the coordinated services approach (e.g. legislative, executive, agency-level champions, response to challenge, policy change, state investment)?
		Not applicable Don’t have this information
8	Was there Federal involvement in developing the coordinated services approach (other than funding)? Please describe.
		Not applicable Don’t have this information
9	How has the coordinated services approach changed over time?
		Not applicable Don’t have this information
Size
10	What is the annual number of children and families served by the coordinated services approach overall? What are the most commonly/frequently used services in the approach?
		Not applicable Don’t have this information
Funding sources
11	What is the total annual budget dedicated to the coordinated services approach? What is the approximate proportion of the overall department or agency budget that is dedicated to coordinating services (please base proportion on the department or agency leading the coordinated effort and provide the name of the department/agency)?
		Not applicable Don’t have this information
12	Do you use Federal funds to support the coordinated services approach (such as the Child Care and Development Fund, Head Start, or Federal grants)? If so, what services are they used for?
		Not applicable Don’t have this information
13	Do you use State funds to support the coordinated services approach? If so, what services are they used for?
		Not applicable Don’t have this information
14	Do you use any other funding sources to support the coordinated services approach (such as municipal or private funds)? If so, what services are they used for?
		Not applicable Don’t have this information
15	Do you combine or blend funding from different sources?
		Not applicable Don’t have this information
Partners in coordination
16	Is there a lead agency or coordinating body for the coordinated services approach? If yes, please name it.
		Not applicable Don’t have this information
17	Do you have any Federal and/or State partners in the coordinated services approach (including governor’s office, State agencies, tribal authorities, or public universities and community colleges)? If yes, please name them.
		Not applicable Don’t have this information
18	Do you have any local partners in the coordinated services approach (including tribal authorities, local education agencies, or local governments)? If yes, please name them.
		Not applicable Don’t have this information
19	Do you have any private organizations as partners in the coordinated services approach (including foundations, corporations, private universities or colleges, or faith-based partners)? If yes, please name them.
		Not applicable Don’t have this information
20	What is the primary way that State level partners work together to coordinate services and make decisions (including governance, oversight, resource allocation, and financial management)?
		Not applicable Don’t have this information
Services
21	What is the target population for the coordinated services approach (include community characteristics, demographics, and special populations; for example: homeless families, pregnant or parenting teens, and/or American Indian/Alaska Native families)?
		Not applicable Don’t have this information
22	What services are provided as part of the coordinated services approach for children under 5 (such as early care and education, early intervention, infant and child nutrition, or health and wellness)? Please indicate if services are evidence-based and/or trauma-informed.
		Not applicable Don’t have this information
23	Are there supports within the coordinated services approach to help families transition from early care and education into kindergarten?
		Not applicable Don’t have this information
24	What health and human services and/or family economic stability services are part of the coordinated services approach?
		Not applicable Don’t have this information
25	What are the eligibility criteria for participating in the coordinated services approach?
		Not applicable Don’t have this information
26	Have there been any efforts to align eligibility criteria across different types of services? If so, please describe.
		Not applicable Don’t have this information
27	How are services coordinated to improve families’ engagement in services?
		Not applicable Don’t have this information
28	What key outcomes do you expect for children, families, and adults from the coordinated services approach?
		Not applicable Don’t have this information
Data systems and use
29	To what extent are individual-level data on children and families collected (e.g. can family members be linked with a family ID and/or be tracked across services)?
		Not applicable Don’t have this information
30	Are data shared across partners (e.g. shared database, reports, extracts)? If so, for what purpose?
		Not applicable Don’t have this information
31	How are individual-level data used (e.g. research, reporting, decision-making, continuous quality improvement)?
		Not applicable Don’t have this information
32	Have there been efforts to integrate data systems and/or improve data sharing? If so, please describe.
		Not applicable Don’t have this information
Collaboration outputs
33	Has the coordinated services approach resulted in cost savings? Please share the amount of cost savings, if applicable.
		Not applicable Don’t have this information
34	Have there been policy changes and/or legislation proposed and/or passed as a result of the coordinated services approach?
		Not applicable Don’t have this information