Help Me Grow Washington News

Help Me Grow WA Strategic Planning Update

Help Me Grow Washington is continuing in the strategic planning process, which will wrap up June 2023. In February and March of 2023, we worked with our state and local partners to flesh out a vision, shared purpose, six focus areas, and nine strategic initiatives of the HMG system. In doing so, we have developed an initial structure and model for governance. Read the full update on our progress to date.  

New Round of Preschool Development Grant Funding

The Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) received a new round of Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five funding. DCYF will use some of the funding to increase family engagement through the expansion of the Help Me Grow WA collaboration through integration with the Paid Family & Medical Leave benefit and connections with Child Care Aware, to help families find and afford quality child care. To learn more, visit this DCYF news release. 

Help Me Grow WA Timeline Visual

We are excited to share a new communications tool with you all. This HMG WA timeline tells the story of the HMG WA network by highlighting key milestones, partnerships, and funding that have contributed to HMG WA network growth.  

Help Me Grow Statewide Client Survey

The Data Systems & Evaluation team piloted a follow-up survey with families that accessed the Help Me Grow Washington (HMG WA) statewide Coordinated Access Point. The goal of this survey was to:

• Assess the proportion of families that were able to connect to services referred to by HMG WA staff.
• Identify barriers that families encountered when trying to connect to referrals.
• Identify any disparities in outcomes by race and referral type (child development, food, and health).



While there was an overall high rate of connection across different types of referrals, there were also disparities regarding who was able to get connected. We are in the process of sharing these results across different teams and plan to create a continuous quality improvement plan within HMG and beyond.

Washington Prenatal-to-Three Coalition

Since October 2021, Pritzker Children’s Initiative has provided critical support to Washington Prenatal-to-Three (PN3) Systems Building efforts with an aim to connect initiatives, including Help Me Grow, with the shared goal to increase the number of low-income infants, toddlers, and their families receiving high-quality services by 50% over the next five years. The PN3 work plan strategies focus on four core areas: 1) Increase food security; 2) Increase access to prenatal and pediatric medical care; 3) Increase access to concrete supports; and 4) Improved child development outcomes. WithinReach, in partnership with Kauffman & Associates Inc., are supporting the planning and facilitation of our WA PN3 partner gatherings that include leaders from state agencies, statewide organizations, early childhood champions, and local Help Me Grow communities.

In 2023 we will be hosting three full coalition meetings (two virtual, one in person). There is also a new structure for the WA PN3 systems building which includes three strategic sub-committees around the topics of targeted universalism, family voice, and advocacy. The sub-committees will be introduced during the May full coalition meeting, and the first meetings will be scheduled in May/June. Participation in these sub-committees are open to all Washington PN3 coalition partners.

Please reach out to Jesse Gritton (jesseg@withinreachwa.org) or Sydney Boothe (sydneyb@withinreachwa.org) to join the mailing list. 

Local Help Me Grow System Updates

The Help Me Grow WA Accomplishments Report is now available! In 2022, Help Me Grow responded to nearly 17,000 requests for support across the state and served 12,850 children and 1,456 pregnant people.

This past year we celebrate HMG Skagit and HMG Central WA launching their own provider referral web form, Pierce County distributing 411,145 diapers, HMG King County transitioning to participant level data for more robust data evaluation, and we explored new ways for the state affiliate, WithinReach, to partner with counties in the Northwest Early Learning Coalition as they explored how the HMG model can support their communities. This report is a showcase of the collective effort of the HMG WA Network to serve Washingtonians. The report is available in English and Spanish. 

Resources to Share

• WithinReach, home to the Help Me Grow Statewide Hotline, is hosting a Spring Lunchtime Webinar Series, Early Support is Community Care! This virtual learning series will take place May 8-12! Register Here. The topics will be parent mentoring, the importance of early mental health, a focus on health disparities Black and Indigenous families face, and the importance of early development and preschool readiness. 



• 2023 WA State Immunization Summit will be happening in Tacoma, WA and virtually on May 25. Registration is open with early bird tickets available until April 30. Join vaccine advocates and health professionals from all over the state to discuss immunizations across the lifespan. Register Here. 

• Save the Date! The 14th annual Help Me Grow National Forum will be co-hosted by the HMG National Center and HMG North Texas in Dallas-Fort Worth. There will be both an in-person summit (October 11-13) along with a virtual event (October 17). The in-person event will feature dynamic presentations, practical resources, networking opportunities, virtual site visits, and nationally recognized speakers.  

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

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