ReadyKid San Antonio

ReadyKid San Antonio, focused on Bexar County, seeks to build a comprehensive early childhood system that promotes the social, emotional, physical, and cognitive development of children aged 0-8.

What factors are essential for effective cross-sector alignment?

Shared Purpose

  • ReadyKid San Antonio held a series of meetings over 8 months to develop a framework and mission to improve childhood health and well-being.
  • They used data and broad range of input from leaders to community members to establish mission.
  • The coalition is a collaboration of early childhood education professionals, child development advocates, health professionals, community members, parents, and civic leaders to guide the development of strategic actions focused on the elements of an aligned system for young children.

Governance

  • The United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County acts as a backbone to the coalition.
  • A group of stakeholders from 120 organizations participate, but no specific leadership was established originally; people give feedback on the model.
  • At the time of evaluation, the coalition was refining formal leadership structures.

Data

  • ReadyKid SA Coalition Scorecard is a dashboard that captures progress on ReadyKid SA‘s goals and helps guide strategy on an ongoing basis.
  • Coalition members regularly discuss available data together to determine plans and to be accountable; no data-sharing system in place.  A lot of emphasis is placed on using disaggregated, community-level data in specific “indicator areas.”

Finance and Sustainability

  • ReadyKid SA launched in 2015 with funding from the MIECHV grant and Annie E. Casey Dual Generation grant through United Way.
  • In 2017, United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County received a state contract award of $1.8 million for the Healthy Outcomes through Prevention & Early Support (HOPES) III Grant from Texas Department of Family and Protective Services Prevention and Early Intervention Division.

Integration of Health Equity

  • Has an understanding of SDOH, root cause analysis, and racial equity to guide interventions but no explicit definitions
  • Requires an SDOH screening because coalition wants to be hyper focused on addressing highest risks
  • Uses data to identify focus areas (indicators) within community
  • Worked with National Academies of Medicine to develop plan for establishing “culture of equity”

Community Trust and Accountability

  • Does not engage community members actively yet
  • Creates trust through relationship with United Way 
  • Frequently checks in with coalition members on projects and promises

Measures of Success

  • Using shared definitions of “school readiness” or other early childhood development indicators

Outcomes Achieved

  • Successfully launched Pathways HUB tool
  • Individuals in coalition organizations made changes to organizational structure to be more equitable