Monthly Insights from Iowa's Integrated Data System for Decision Making

October 2021

What we have been up to:

Working with Early Childhood Iowa (ECI) Results Accountability workgroup to recommend useful indicators for tracking statewide priorities.

Developing "data to action" training seminars for local-decision-makers including ECI Area Boards.

Engaging stakeholders to plan ECI's next statewide needs assessment to update the 2019 "first use" of I2D2 to document unduplicated counts of children in programs.

24% of rural adults say access to high-speed internet is a major problem in their local community. When COVID-19 made it impossible for home visitors to continue meeting clients in their homes, IDPH started the Phones for Families program to help families continue access to needed services like Early Access, Home Visiting, and Maternal Child Health. CLICK HERE

Did you know that nearly 60% of children enrolled in home visiting programs in Iowa have 2 or more birth risks? Home visiting programs seek to improve child health and behavior outcomes, parenting skills, and to connect families with needed resources. To read the I2D2 data brief click MORE.

Children born to mothers without a high school education, or who are lower-income, are more likely to be disconnected from preschool education and more likely to demonstrate poor attendance in kindergarten. See more from the 2019 ECI Statewide Needs Assessment for how we can support increased access to educational programming for underserved young children. CONTINUE

What The New Census Data Shows About Race Depends On How You Look At It NPR News Article: Over the past decade, the United States continued to grow more racially and ethnically diverse. This discussion of the latest census results suggests several ways to see race and ethnicity multi-dimensionally, and that “count after count people have made clear that their identities often cannot fit neatly into check boxes on census forms.”

Federal Relief Efforts Protected Millions of Children From Poverty Blog post by Child Trends- author Dana Thomson: A summarization of results from a 2019 needs assessment of the capacity of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs in 54 U.S. states and territories to analyze data used for the purposes of program improvement, monitoring, and evidence- building.

Iowa: Federal Support for Early Learning & Care Opportunities: First Five Years Fund Report: High-quality early childhood education is proven to dramatically improve a child’s opportunities for a better future—particularly children from low-income families—while offering parents improved job stability and overall economic security. To ensure all children can access high-quality early learning and care, the federal government partners with states to support local efforts and innovation. This fact sheet provides an abbreviated overview of state- and federally-funded early childhood opportunities in Iowa, which serve more than 58,393 children and families.

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