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Ramsey County Early Childhood 0-3 Initiative: Pritzker Children’s Initiative Network Ramsey County was recently awarded two grants through the Pritzker Children’s Initiative (PCIN) to increase the number of children who are ready for kindergarten and school success. A small technical assistance grant is being used to support initial efforts to organize key partners, collect relevant data and solicit community input. Through the PCIN, county staff is participating with staff in counties across the country in foundation-funded convenings and information sharing opportunities. Last month, the county was notified that it was awarded additional funding to strengthen its early childhood efforts. With matching grant funds from the County, an Early Childhood Fellow staff position is being created to work across the county and in the community, focusing full time on these issues. The PCIN awards allow the county to take advantage of the unique role it plays in the lives of families with young children. Every day, families pass through the county’s door—figuratively and literally. Some of the families are coming for financial assistance, health care, child care, food and nutrition support. Others are coming because of concerns reported about their children’s wellbeing. In February 2018, for instance, of the 30,000 0-3 year olds in Ramsey County: • 13,200 were in Medical Assistance; • 3,400 were in families receiving SNAP, 10,100 were in WIC; • 2,100 were in families receiving MFIP assistance, 200 were in MFIP child-only cases; and • 275 were in foster care. In addition, many adults who are in county systems, such as correctional facilities , mental health and chemical dependency treatment, are also the parents of young children. Research has determined that these circumstances are associated with increased risk for not getting or staying on a healthy developmental track. The county’s PCIN proposal is intended to strengthen the capacity of systems to respond to and serve these families effectively. This includes strengthening connections with programs the county administers—WIC, family home visiting, child and teen check-ups—as well as those provided by county partners such as early intervention and early childhood family education, Early Head Start and quality child care. By increasing families’ participation in these programs and the capacity of the programs to meet their needs, the county hopes to achieve the PCIN goals of all children born healthy, f amilies supported in their child rearing, and children accessing and participating in high qualit y care and learning environment. 3