Child Welfare Community Collaborations Cohort 2 Grantee Profiles

The Child Welfare Community Collaborations (CWCC) initiative is designed to mobilize communities to develop and evaluate multi-system collaboratives that address local barriers and provide a continuum of services to prevent child abuse and neglect. The initiative is funded by the Children's Bureau (CB) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Administration for Children and Families (ACF). In 2018 and 2019, CB awarded 5-year cooperative agreements to a total of 13 states, non-profit organizations, and Native American tribal organizations (referred to here as "grantees"). The first cohort of four grantees received CWCC funds in 2018 and the second cohort of nine grantees received CWCC funds in 2019.

To advance the evidence around collaborative approaches to preventing child abuse and neglect, the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation within ACF, in collaboration with CB, contracted with Abt Associates and its partner Child Trends to conduct the Building Capacity to Evaluate Child Welfare Community Collaborations project. The project includes:

• evaluation-related technical assistance (TA) to support grantees and local evaluators and their capacity to conduct their required project-specific evaluations and
• a cross-site process evaluation of the CWCC grants to better understand how communities came together to develop and implement their CWCC approaches.

These grantee profiles summarize each of the nine CWCC Cohort 2 grantee projects and are included in a series of products the evaluation team will produce as part of the cross-site process evaluation. Each grantee profile includes an overview of the project and descriptions of the project's community and organizational context, key partners and collaborative efforts, implementation strategies, use of data and evaluation, plans for sustainability, and lessons learned. You can view the profile for each of the Cohort 2 grantee projects at the links below:

• Allegheny County Department of Human Services'Hello Baby project(PDF)in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.
• Family Resource Center of North Mississippi's Comprehensive Community Collaboration Demonstration Model to Strengthen and Preserve High Risk Families(CCCDM) project(PDF)in Tupelo, Mississippi (Lee County).
• Larimer County Department of Human Services'Supported Families, Stronger Communityproject(PDF)in Larimer County, Colorado.
• Ohio Children's Trust Fund's (OCTF) Family Success Network (FSN)project(PDF)in three Northeastern Ohio counties: Columbiana, Mahoning, and Trumbull.
• Partnership for Strong Families, Inc.'s Resource Center Model: Evaluation, Refinement, and Expansionproject(PDF)in North Central Florida.
• Trustees of Indiana University'sStrengthening Indiana Familiesproject(PDF)in Tipton, Grant, Madison, and Delaware Counties, Indiana.
• Vision for Children at Risk's Parents and Children Together St. Louis (PACT-STL)project(PDF)in St. Louis and St. Louis County, Missouri.
• Washington Department of Children, Youth, and Families'Strengthen Families Locally (SFL)project(PDF)in four locales in Washington: Port Angeles/Sequim, Bremerton, Ferry/Stevens counties, and Spokane.
• YMCA of San Diego County'sPartners in Prevention (PiP)project(PDF)in San Diego County, California.

These grantee profiles are one of many products from the cross-site process evaluation designed to advance the evidence around collaborative approaches to preventing child abuse and neglect. They complement the Child Welfare Community Collaborations Projects at a Glance brief by providing more in-depth descriptions of the specific activities that each Cohort 2 grantee and their collaborative partners undertook, along with facilitators, barriers, and lessons learned.

ACF's CWCC initiative funded collaborative efforts across the United States to prevent child maltreatment and reduce community-level rates of child abuse, neglect, and out-of-home placements. While grantees shared a common goal, they were diverse geographically, organizationally, and in the specific strategies they undertook. Cohort 2 included the following nine grantee projects:

• Allegheny County Department of Human Services'Hello Baby project in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.
• Family Resource Center of North Mississippi's Comprehensive Community Collaboration Demonstration Model to Strengthen and Preserve High Risk Families(CCCDM)project in Tupelo, Mississippi (Lee County).
• Larimer County Department of Human Services'Supported Families, Stronger Communityproject in Larimer County, Colorado.
• Ohio Children's Trust Fund's (OCTF) Family Success Network (FSN)project in three Northeastern Ohio counties: Columbiana, Mahoning, and Trumbull.
• Partnership for Strong Families, Inc.'s Resource Center Model: Evaluation, Refinement, and Expansionproject in North Central Florida.
• Trustees of Indiana University'sStrengthening Indiana Familiesproject in Tipton, Grant, Madison, and Delaware Counties, Indiana.
• Vision for Children at Risk's Parents and Children Together St. Louis (PACT-STL)project in St. Louis and St. Louis County, Missouri.
• Washington Department of Children, Youth, and Families'Strengthen Families Locally (SFL)project in four locales in Washington: Port Angeles/Sequim, Bremerton, Ferry/Stevens counties, and Spokane.
• YMCA of San Diego County'sPartners in Prevention (PiP)project in San Diego County, California.

Each grantee's project employed a variety of prevention-oriented strategies such as:'

• Cafés: Structured discussions and group listening sessions among parents/community members to build relationships and confidence in parenting.
• Family coaching/navigation: Participant-driven, individualized support to families, including referrals to outside services and provision of concrete supports.
• Parent education and training: Classes offered to parents to help develop their parenting skills. Classes are generally evidence-based and offered in a group setting.
• Resource centers: Physical spaces where families can go to receive services and interact with other families and that may serve as a community hub for grantee and partner activities.
• Staff and provider training: Trainings or workshops designed to increase service provider capacity and knowledge around community prevention of child maltreatment.
• Meaningful engagement of families: Efforts to include parents and community members in the design and delivery of prevention strategies and programming.
• Community outreach and public awareness: Broad-based communication initiatives to increase awareness of grantee/community services and normalize seeking help.
• Systems alignment strategies: Efforts to collaborate with system partners to strengthen the prevention services network (e.g., data sharing and continuous quality improvement).
• Equity-promoting strategies: Efforts supported by supplemental CWCC equity funding designed to explicitly address racial disparities and promote equity.

The grantee profiles explore which strategies each grantee implemented and how, as well as grantee-specific facilitators, barriers, and lessons learned.

These grantee profiles use qualitative data collected from (1) annual site visits with in-depth interviews with CWCC project leadership, key partners and staff, as well as (2) information from grantee documents such as applications, semi-annual progress reports, and summaries of each grantee created by the evaluation TA team to describe the strategies that CWCC grantees included in their initial approaches. The evaluation team also asked CWCC project directors and theCook Inlet Tribal Council Compliance Officerto review their grantee profile for accuracy.

DeCoursey, J., Glenn, M., Layzer, C., & Schachtner, R. (2024). Allegheny County Department of Human Services Child Welfare Community Collaborations Grantee Profile. OPRE Report 2024-266, Washington, DC: Office of Research, Planning, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, US Department of Health and Human Services.

Flannigan, A., Glenn, M., Layzer, C., & Schachtner, R. (2024). YMCA of San Diego County Community Collaborations Grantee Profile. OPRE Report 2024-269, Washington, DC: Office of Research, Planning, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, US Department of Health and Human Services.

Glenn, M., Antonova, G., Layzer, C., & Schachtner, R. (2024). Washington Department of Children, Youth, and Families Community Collaborations Grantee Profile. OPRE Report 2024-270, Washington, DC: Office of Research, Planning, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, US Department of Health and Human Services.  

Layzer, C., Glenn, M., Elmudesi, E., & Schachtner, R. (2024). Ohio Children's Trust Fund Community Collaborations Grantee Profile. OPRE Report 2024-267, Washington, DC: Office of Research, Planning, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, US Department of Health and Human Services.

Layzer, C., Glenn, M., Gilbertsen, J., & Schachtner, R. (2024). Trustees of Indiana University Child Welfare Community Collaborations Grantee Profile. OPRE Report 2024-272, Washington, DC: Office of Research, Planning, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, US Department of Health and Human Services.

McKlindon, A., Downing, K., Glenn, M., Layzer, C., & Schachtner, R. (2024). Larimer County Department of Human Services Community Collaborations Grantee Profile. OPRE Report 2024-273, Washington, DC: Office of Research, Planning, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, US Department of Health and Human Services.

McKlindon, A., Elmudesi, E., Glenn, M., Layzer, C., & Schachtner, R. (2024). Vision for Children at Risk Child Welfare Community Collaborations Grantee Profile. OPRE Report 2024-268, Washington, DC: Office of Research, Planning, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, US Department of Health and Human Services.  

Roy, R., Jacquin, L., Glenn, M., Layzer, C., & Schachtner, R. (2024). The Family Resource Center of North Mississippi Child Welfare Community Collaborations Grantee Profile. OPRE Report 2024-274, Washington, DC: Office of Research, Planning, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, US Department of Health and Human Services.

Rushovich, B., McBride, C., Layzer, C., Glenn, M., & Schachtner, R. (2024). Partnership for Strong Families' Inc. Child Welfare Community Collaborations Grantee Profile. OPRE Report 2024-271, Washington, DC: Office of Research, Planning, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, US Department of Health and Human Services.

Cook, R., Schachtner, R., & Blocklin, M. (2023). An Introduction to the Child Welfare Community Collaborations Grantees and Strategies. OPRE Report # 2023-332, Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Cook, R., Cusick, J., & Schachtner, R., & Blocklin, M. (2023). Child Welfare Community Collaborations Projects at a Glance. OPRE Report # 2023-333, Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Layzer, C., Blocklin, M., Schachtner, R., & Cook, R. (2023). Child Welfare Community Collaborations Cross-Site Process Evaluation Design and Methods. OPRE Report # 2023-334, Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

McKlindon, A., Schachtner, R., Flannigan, A. (2024). Approaches to Partnership in the Child Welfare Community Collaborations Initiative. OPRE Report 2024-103, Washington, DC: Office of Research, Planning, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, US Department of Health and Human Services.

Naylon, K., Cook, R., Schachtner, R., Malm, K., Flannigan, A., & Blocklin, M. (2024). Supporting Equity Through Child Welfare Community Collaborations. OPRE Report 2024-102, Washington, DC: Office of Research, Planning, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, US Department of Health and Human Services.

Tano, C., Layzer, C., Hyra, A., Cook, R., and Blocklin, M. (2021). Community Prevention of Child Maltreatment: Lessons learned and Promising Practices During the COVID-19 Pandemic. OPRE Report 2023-11, Washington, DC: Office of Research, Planning, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

ACF:Administration for Children and FamiliesCWCC:Child Welfare Community CollaborationsOPRE:Office of Planning, Research, and EvaluationTA:Technical Assistance

Types:

Report

OPRE Research Topics:

Abuse, Neglect, Adoption & Foster Care

Projects:

Building Capacity to Evaluate Child Welfare Community Collaborations (CWCC) to Strengthen and Preserve Families