This report is designed to support the planning and implementation of the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) State Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems (SECCS) Initiative. It addresses a set of principles that these agencies can use to advance their planning process, reach out to new partners, develop collaborative strategies, and build a foundation for the implementation phase of the SECCS Initiative. The report begins by presenting a framing metaphor that has been useful to the strategic planning efforts of states and communities to engage different service sectors in a collaborative effort to achieve common goals. A set of core principles that can guide change strategies and help to establish criteria for systems development and reform strategies follows the framing metaphor. The five essential components of the SECCS Initiative are reviewed and considerations for how they can be addressed are included. Finally, ten strategies that SECCS grantees can use to maximize their chances of success are recommended. Through a strategic engagement process that addresses communication, leadership, coordination, finance, accountability, and measurement challenges, SECCS grantees and their partners can work together and achieve optimal healthy development and school readiness for all children. (Contains 63 endnotes and 11 figures.) [This report was produced by the National Center for Infant and Early Childhood Health Policy, which is a partnership of the UCLA Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities; The Women's and Children's Health Policy Center of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; and the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs. For corresponding four-page policy brief, see ED496873.]