Healthy Start Overview

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The Healthy Start Initiative

The Healthy Start Support Services for Children Act (SB 620, Chapter 759), Statutes of 1991, Presley), brings together schools, school districts, county offices of education, health and human services agencies, county governments, nonprofit organizations, businesses, and others to focus their collective energy, expertise, and resources on responding to the needs presented by children, youth, and families in the school community.

The intent of Healthy Start is to improve the lives of children and families by:

Creating learning environments that are optimally responsive to the physical, emotional, and intellectual needs of each child.

Fostering local interagency collaboration and communication to more efficiently and effectively deliver education and support services to children and their families.

Encouraging the full use of existing agencies, professional personnel, and public and private funds to ensure that children of all ages are ready and able to learn, and to prevent duplication of services and unnecessary expenditures.

Building on the strengths of children and families and providing and enhancing opportunities for parents and children to be participants, decision-makers, and leaders in their communities.

The California Department of Education implements Healthy Start, as directed by the enabling legislation. Input on implementation has been provided by a public/private partnership, entered into in 1991 to coordinate and support efforts on behalf of children and families. The partnership has involved the Superintendent of Public Instruction; the Governor's Deputy Cabinet Secretary; the Secretary of Child Development and Education; the Secretary of Health and Welfare; the directors of the Departments of Health Services, Social Services, Mental Health, Alcohol and Drug Programs, Developmental Services, and Economic Opportunity; and the Executive Committee of the Foundation Consortium for School-linked Services, a consortium of 22 California-based private foundations.

 
These materials were prepared by Meredith Honig and Jeannemarie Solak of the California Department of Education and Shari Golan and Mary Wagner of SRI International. Data come from the statewide evaluation of Healthy Start being conducted by SRI, with funding from the Foundation Consortium for School-linked Services and from the California Department of Education.
 

Services for Children, Youth and Families


The school-linked services that are being offered to meet the needs of Healthy Start children, youth and families include:

Family Support (child protection, parenting education, child care)

Basic Needs (food, clothing, shelter, transportation)

Medical/Health (vision, hearing, dental, CHDP, acute care, preventive health)

Mental Health and Counseling (therapy, support groups, substance abuse)

Academic/Educational (tutoring, dropout prevention)

Employment (career counseling, job placement, job training)

Recreational

Income Maintenance (Medi-Cal, AFDC, food stamps)

Note: Healthy Start does not necessarily pay for these services. Rather, it provides
integrated service delivery which links children and families to needed supports and services.

Healthy Start is designed to serve children and their family members. A two-year statewide evaluation revealed that from January 1993 to March 1995 the first two cohorts of operational sites delivered over 282,000 services to 66,000 children, youth and family members for whom service records were available. Another 434,000 services were provided during this same period to an unknown number of children and families. Many positive outcomes for Healthy Start children and families were revealed. 


Table 1. Healthy Start Grants
Operational grants  1992  1992  1994  1995  1996  1997  Total
Grants awarded  40  25  47  37  72  72  293
Students Served  89,811  63,953  103,306  90,638  142,608  113,339  603,655
Schools involved in grant programs  128  82  162  97  181  155  805
Planning grants 
Grants awarded  110  72  44  54  64  100  444
Students Served  216,490  163,505  79,699  79,067  114,319  179,562  832,642
Schools involved in grant programs  308  239  103  117  149  215  1,131
 

 

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