The Cuyahoga County Office of Early Childhood staffs Invest in Children, Cuyahoga County’s public private partnership that mobilizes resources and research to ensure the well-being of all young children. Through a continuum of targeted services, prenatal to kindergarten, we build awareness, advocate, and measure our impact. The pursuit of equity in outcomes for all families and children permeates every aspect of our work. For far too long, the “accident of birth” has been the predictor of future success in school and in life. Invest in Children is working to level that playing field. Each year, our funded programs serve over 8,400 children; 75 percent of whom are children of families from one or more minority groups. Here are three examples.

Pregnant and New Moms:

MomsFirst is a City of Cleveland program, funded in part by Invest in Children, that offers case management and home visiting services to pregnant moms until their baby reaches 18 months with a particular focus on reducing black infant mortality. Parents (including mothers and fathers) who participate in the MomsFirst program receive health education on topics such as prenatal care, breastfeeding, family planning, and safe sleep. MomsFirst also assists with referrals to help address insurance, housing, food, and education needs. The most recent evaluation showed that 80 percent of the clients served were black, and the program’s overall infant mortality rate is about two-thirds lower than the black infant mortality rate for the county as a whole!  

Early Childhood Mental Health:

The Early Childhood Mental Health (ECMH) program offers a wide range of services that support mental health and development in young children by developing and nurturing a healthy connection between parent and child.  ECMH provides intensive treatment for children with social-emotional or behavioral concerns. Providers use age-appropriate interventions to help children develop more appropriate social emotional skills with the support of their caregiver. The program helps children and families cope with a variety of issues, including: anxiety and/or depression, difficulties with sleeping, eating, toilet training and staying calm and other issues affecting a family at home and childcare settings. Because of the disproportional impact the pandemic has had on lower-income minority families, a special outreach campaign was launched last year promoting the availability of the ECMH program and services to these families.

Early Education and Kindergarten Readiness:

The impact of the differences in children’s experiences is apparent well before they enter school.   At entrance to kindergarten, approximately two thirds of children in Cuyahoga County are unprepared to succeed in school as measured by Ohio's Kindergarten Readiness Assessment.   Most of those unprepared children are from low-income families from areas throughout our county. 

Since 2007, Invest in Children has been steadily building its flagship Universal Pre-Kindergarten Program (UPK).  The program helps high-quality preschool sites located across the county meet the UPK Program’s higher gold standard of quality through funding, training and technical assistance. Equally important, Invest in Children makes this gold standard of preschool affordable to low- and moderate-income families by providing scholarships to families under 400 percent of the Federal Poverty Level. 

Parents and other caregivers can find a high-quality UPK site by visiting www.cuyahogakids.org.