Help Me Grow Washington Network News

We are excited to share recent progress made on several of the strategic initiatives in the Help Me Grow Washington (HMG) Strategic Plan.

Establish New Partnerships

The HMG WA Hotline (Washington's statewide Coordinated Access Point (CAP)) in partnership with Child Care Aware of Washington (CCA-WA) are in process of establishing a bi-directional referral pathway that will ease transitions and family navigation across services. HMG WA and CCA-WA both have family support navigators that work in call centers to support parents and caregivers in navigating and accessing services, each with complimentary skillsets, areas of program knowledge, and resource expertise. HMG WA and CCA WA both offer unique resource navigation and support services for families; HMG WA is focused on access to food security, medical care, child development supports, and family stability supports, while CCA WA provides navigation for families to identify childcare and early learning services. This partnership is an opportunity to provide integrated services to families.  

Building on learnings from a pilot project executed in spring of 2024, HMG WA and CCA-WA seek to permanently integrate referral pathways that will streamline families’ access to services between the two entities and provide a more robust experience of wrap-around support. The second phase of the pilot launches this spring with a plan to further automate the referral process, making it more efficient and easeful for families, as well as the resource navigators assisting them, to move between the two systems for support. By creating these referral processes, CCA-WA and HMG navigators will be able to deepen their level of support for families, increase capacity, and reduce duplication or redundancies in the system. 

Develop Specialized Referral Pathways

Help Me Grow WA and WA Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) have partnered to increase child developmental screening in Early Care and Education (ECE) settings. We began with a pilot in Spring 2024 in which we recruited ECEs and granted them Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) Online access through Within Reach’s (WR) Enterprise Account. We also provided them with training and technical assistance (TA) to use the software. 

Funded by DCYF through the Child Care Development Fund (CCDF), the project aims to expand developmental screenings across all ECE types and strengthen relationships with providers statewide. From April to June 2024, WithinReach piloted the program with nine ECE sites, which later joined the “Continuation Pilot” in September 2024 to validate updates. Pilot 2 ran from November 2024 to March 2025, involving ten new ECE sites. This phase refined the Pilot 1 model by simplifying onboarding and fostering connections between ECE providers, families, and Help Me Grow. 

• 10 Early Care and Education providers participated in a pilot of free access to Help Me Grow Washington’s ASQ Online technology for developmental screening. 
• Using a rolling-onboarding approach, ECEs joined the pilot from December through February, were onboarded to ASQ Online, and screened 113 children. 
• At the conclusion of the pilot, all providers shared their strong support for developmental screening and using ASQ Online and would enthusiastically recommend the program to other ECE providers. 
• Key scaling considerations include strengthening recruitment strategies, melding together live and on demand training content, simplifying technology training tools, and modulating the level of technical  assistance to match ECE provider capacity.

Providers shared in a survey, “it is a great way to make sure we are able to request/receive early intervention with children,” and “it helps 

create a timeline of development for our children.”

Build out Technology, Reporting, and Infrastructure

Language Translation: In the second half of 2024 we improved search features to increase language accessibility on our Help Me Grow ParentHelp123 Resource Finder, which now includes six languages. These languages are: English, Spanish, Russian, Vietnamese, Somali and Amharic. This work also includes automatically translating all of our resource data as it gets updated, as well as support for translating new resources that get added on a continual basis.

Diaper Workgroup: Last August, we launched a diaper workgroup to ensure that the Help Me Grow ParentHelp123 Resource Finder includes all diaper bank and baby supply resources across the state. Since then, we have added 110 diaper resources to the directory. This includes identifying existing resources, such as food banks and family resource centers, that were previously not listed as providing diapers. Thanks to the collaboration with community partners who not only provided information on individual diaper banks but also amplified our efforts by sharing this initiative across their networks. Our team remains dedicated to ensuring that all available diaper resources are identified and included, so families have access to the support they need.

Closed Loop Referral Pilot: A key area of improvement that providers have asked for is that a feedback loop be developed so that they can learn about the outcome of their referral. After designing and building the infrastructure for closed loop referrals, the HMG WA Statewide Contact Center started a short-term pilot starting in March that will last until the end of April. With the learnings from this pilot, WithinReach hopes to discover how sustainable this feature can be and whether it can be scaled out to Local HMG Affiliates and other Statewide HMG pathways. Providers will also be included in the evaluation to understand the impact the closed loop has on their practice.  

Establish a Governance Model

Since May 2024, Help Me Grow partners have come together to make considerable progress in shaping how Help Me Grow WA governance would look and function. The Stewardship Council is a statewide advisory body and part of the Help Me WA Network’s comprehensive governance structure. Using information gathered during our strategic planning, we have been busy identifying and recruiting key partners to participate in the HMG WA Stewardship Council. The Help Me WA Network decided to take an approach of identifying parallel coalitions, networks, and associations (in lieu of specific individuals) where partnership is key to improving access to resources and supports for families with young children. 

We are thrilled to share that after months of thoughtful planning, our inaugural Stewardship Council meeting took place on March 24th!

Representation from the following perspectives includes:

• Washington Association of Educational Service Districts (Puget Sound ESD)
• Coalition of Accountable Communities of Health (Better Health Together)
• Washington Family Support Network (WFSN)
• WA Department of Children, Youth & Families (DCYF)
• Washington Chapter of American Academy of Pediatrics (WCAAP)
• Washington Communities for Children (WCFC)
• Washington State Early Learning Coordination Plan (ELCP)
• Child Care Aware of Washington
• WithinReach
• HMG WA Community Partner Board
• HMG WA Coordinating Team

While we may welcome liaisons from organizations of tribes, the WA Department of Health (DOH), and Local Health Jurisdictions (LHJs) in the future, we’re moving forward with our current group of dedicated and insightful representatives.

 At our upcoming meeting in May, we’ll continue shaping our foundational documents before diving into our core responsibility: holding HMG WA Network accountable for progress on its strategic plan, with a strong focus on equity.

We’re also excited to explore growing partnership opportunities among member organizations. In the coming months, stay tuned as we work towards integrating Family Voice and Elected Official Feedback into our equity lens framework — a key step in deepening accountability and inclusivity.

Help Me Grow Network Updates

Through the Washington State Legislature, Help Me Grow local systems and engaged partners received a total of $100,000 to invest in local HMG system activities, initiatives, exploration, and implementation. Six communities received funding through this opportunity which include Central WA HMG, Grays Harbor County, HMG Skagit, HMG Island County, San Juan County, and Whatcom County. Here are some highlights on how some of the communities have leveraged these funds!  

Central WA HMG: Funding is being leveraged by supporting the FTE for the Central WA Family Resource Navigator (FRN). Central WA FRN attended and participated in several meeting series to Central WA that build connections between organizations for referrals including the Investing in Children Coalition and Help Me Grow/Ayúdame a Crecer Central WA. Other activities included supporting the Help Me Grow/Ayúdame a Crecer Central WA meetings to include materials via Padlet along with managing web presence and social media accounts.   

HMG Skagit: Funds have supported monthly Board of the Children’s Council of Skagit County meetings. They have also hosted four in-person Children’s Council meetings with over 30 attendees at each meeting. Funds have also been utilized to support the transition of the Family Resource Navigator (FRN) work to new staff and existing Family Resource Center (FRC) staff. Another project was convening local Coordinated Access Point partners to review online forms for each of the access points for HMG Skagit which include FRN, FRC, Newborn Outreach, and physician referral). Another activity is supporting monthly HMG Skagit Action Team meetings including planning for their upcoming 2025 CME Provider series. Lastly, a highlight was creating a postcard for distribution along with materials from the FRC to remind people of other resources available. 

HMG Island Co: Funds are supporting continued work with a consultant to focus on creating a HMG Island County Resource Directory tool and process. Another ongoing activity includes outreach to families and partners of Lantern (formerly known as Bright By Text) including coordinating community messages. Another focus has been starting work on Birth Center Outreach promotion specifically for Island Hospital in Anacortes alongside HMG Skagit and WhidbeyHealth. 

Photo: Assembling the

Whatcom Newborn Outreach bags.

Resources to Share

• Strong Start: Strong Start system is now available in Spanish, making it easier to help Spanish-speaking families with developmental screening and connection to resources. This free, secure platform from the Washington State Department of Health lets families and their healthcare providers – and soon, ECE providers - save and share developmental screening results all in one place, no matter where the screening were completed. Learn more at www.doh.wa.gov/strongstart. Email for any questions at strongstart@doh.wa.gov.  
• WithinReach, Help Me Grow WA state affiliate, Spring Campaign: At WithinReach, we believe that every child deserves a healthy start in life, and every family deserves access to the healthcare and immunization services they need to thrive. We are inviting you to STAND UP STAND STRONG for Healthy Children and Communities.  This campaign is dedicated to raising awareness about the importance of immunizations and ensuring equitable access to healthcare for all families in Washington. Our goal is to raise $70,000 from May 2-22 to support these vital efforts. Through partnerships, education, and advocacy, we are committed to empowering families with the information and resources they need to make informed decisions about their health. 
• Pop-Up Vaccine Directory – Intake Survey: The Immunization Action Coalition of Washington (IACW) is excited to share an opportunity to improve access to respiratory vaccines (COVID-19, RSV, and Flu) and other recommended vaccines across Washington State. IACW is launching a Pop-Up Vaccination Event Planning Directory to connect partners including pharmacies, clinics, schools, nonprofits, and others interested in hosting or participating in vaccination events. How it works: Interested partners should complete the intake survey. Responses will be compiled into a public directory that will be accessible on immunitycommunitywa.org, maintained by IACW and WithinReach. Email for any questions at ic@withinreachwa.org.    
• Plan of Safe Care (POSC) Newsletter: Did you know that there is a quarterly POSC newsletter that goes out? Join the email list to get updates! 

Send along ideas and resources for the Help Me Grow Washington website and future newsletters by emailing Lark Kesterke.

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