Background: School closure is one of the primary measures considered during severe influenza pandemics and other emergencies. However, prolonged school closures may cause unintended adverse consequences to schools, students, and their families. A better understanding of these consequences will inform prepandemic planning, and help public health…

The Community Connections preschool program (herein referred to as Community Connections) was developed to help prepare children in home-based child care for success in school and in life. It has three goals: (1) to make state prekindergarten classroom experiences available to children in home-based care, (2) to extend classroom learning…

This paper presents a profile of Illinois' Quality Counts prepared as part of the Child Care Quality Rating System (QRS) Assessment Study. The profile consists of several sections and their corresponding descriptions including: (1) Program Information; (2) Rating Details; (3) Quality Indicators for Center-Based Programs; (4) Indicators for Family…

Onunaku, Ahlers, and Gilkerson describe Illinois's effort to build infant mental health capacity within the Part C Early Intervention system and Wisconsin's effort to build capacity for infant and early childhood mental health services statewide across all systems that serve children. Because of multiple funding streams, families often experience…

In April, 2003, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich presented the fiscal year 2004 proposed budget in the midst of a severe state fiscal crisis. Despite the deficit, the proposal maintains or expands investments in many important programs for children and families, and includes a variety of cuts to programs and administrative costs with unclear…

This report outlines the national and state environmental context for the SECCS Initiative in supporting MCH strategic planning in early childhood systems building. This strategic context has implications for roles, relationships, and activities within a planning process and ultimately an implementation process. It summarizes the opportunities and…