Commentary: Collaborative Action on Child Equity: Lessons from the Field

Abstract

The Collaborative Action on Child Equity (CACE) pursued child-focused program and policy research through the Morehouse School of Medicine’s Transdisciplinary Col­laborative Center (TCC). CACE engaged with partners representing 13 states in the United States to implement the Smart and Secure Children Parent Leadership Program (SSC) and to develop local child-focused Policy Ac­tion Plans. The objectives of SSC are to sup­port the development of parental agency and leadership in order to achieve positive health and academic readiness among school-aged children. Of the 13 partners, 9 were able to successfully implement SSC, with more than 350 parent-peer learners completing the pro­gram. Additionally, several partners were able to successfully develop Policy Action Plans. We discuss our efforts to bring SSC to scale in a national replication effort and to build policy development, implementation and evaluation capacity in organizations serving children and families. We highlight lessons learned in this replication effort and consider their implications for revisions to our training protocols, recruitment and implementation strategies, methods for providing technical assistance and evaluation models. SSC has demonstrated encouraging efficacy results, was developed using community-based participatory research methods and, as such, the lessons learned are critical for how we engage diverse communities to advance positive child development and academic success.Ethn Dis.2019;29(Suppl 2):365-370. doi:10.18865/ed.29.S2.365

Achieving Health Equity through Science, Policy, and Partnerships

“…Based on their formative research, they recommended a disparities-neutral vs disparities-explicit approach. Reese et al 21 provide a cogent description of a diverse coalition of organizational partners pursuing equity in child health and early education through a peer-led parenting program. Their discussion of implementation facilitators and challenges in the real-world can guide others developing similar initiatives, with attention to capacitybuilding, program evaluation needs and parameters, and sustainability.…”