Washington State is a national leader in the translation and integration of early childhood development and brain science research into policy, practice and professional development opportunities through two portfolios of work: Program Innovation, and System and Policy Innovation.
System and Policy
A cross-agency collaboration exists between Washington State Agencies Department of Social and Health Services* (DSHS); the Department of Early Learning (DEL); the Health Care Authority (HCA); and the Department of Health (DOH) focused on:
Driving and managing projects that accelerate innovation across sectors in Washington
Sustaining and developing clusters of innovation with multi-disciplinary leadership and expertise to design, test and evaluate creative, science-based strategies that address challenges that would leave many vulnerable children and families better off and have not been able to be solved with existing strategies
Providing support for knowledge dissemination efforts around the science of early childhood development
Providing support for professional development modules including learning communities and cross sector communities of practice such as the one currently underway focused on adolescent executive function which includes OSPI, DSHS, DEL, DOH, and
Expanding into all communities statewide with equitable access and services for vulnerable children and families
Building and sustaining a dynamic learning community between clusters of innovation with regular opportunities to bring together the best of what’s happening statewide and nationally for an intensive opportunity to learn from one another and to take those learnings into action in moving forward this agenda
Utilizing the ability to leverage state funding investments to match local and philanthropic resources
Developing a cross sector, cross agency evaluation plan to assess impact FOI has had on policies, programs, and services provided in Washington State and seek resources to implement said plan.
*Participation from the Department of Social and Health Services includes the following administrations, Economic Services Administration (ESA), Rehabilitation Administration (RA), Behavioral Health Administration (BHA), and Children’s Administration (CA).