Approximately 19 percent of families in western and central New York with children under age 5 report a household income below the poverty level.¹

Our Vision for Young Children Living in Poverty living in Western and Central New York

Every young child is healthy and ready to succeed in school.

Page Content:
Background
Challenges
Current Projects
Results 
Sources

Background

Young children living in poverty are our priority because they are one of the most vulnerable groups of people in the regions we serve. The concentration and culture of poverty impacts individual families, children and community institutions that serve them, such as schools and recreation programs. The Health Foundation for Western and Central New York (formerly the Community Health Foundation of Western and Central New York) is now focusing on children birth to five because of their particularly high vulnerability and because of the importance of the early learning experiences and significant developmental milestones to be achieved during these years.

Children this young living in poverty have families and communities who are often unable to provide many protective benefits against the high risk factors they face. They are often unable to catch up, having lost so many opportunities in their formative years. These missed opportunities to protect and promote their health and well-being during this time period has an exponential effect on their development that is difficult to reverse or overcome in later years.

Challenges

Some of the health care challenges we are facing in our work to improve health care for young children living in poverty in western and central New York include:

• Preventive care: It has been estimated that while approximately 12–16 percent of children experience developmental problems, only one-third of those children, usually those with the most obvious conditions, are identified in pediatric practices prior to school entry.²
• Chronic disease: The rate of chronic diseases among children in poverty is rising at an alarming rate. Many people do not realize dental disease is the most common chronic childhood disease. In New York, approximately four of every ten third graders living in low income families had untreated cavities between 2002 and 2004 as compared to only two of every ten living in high income families during the same period.³
• Supporting parents: Low-income parents often have difficulty accessing primary care delivered in an office or clinic setting during regular working hours. Many work at low-wage jobs where time off means lost wages and possible job loss. Those without cars must secure rides or use time-consuming public transportation to get to appointments.
• Supporting communities: Many low-income communities lack formal health care systems or organizations designed to meet their needs, other than hospital emergency rooms. School Based Health Centers offer a unique option. However, according to the NYSDOH (2009) 78 percent of New York’s SBHCs are located in urban areas of the state, of which 61% are located in New York City.⁴

Current Projects

Bringing Care to Places Children Already Go

CHOMPERS! Bringing Dental Care To Kids applies three proven strategies through the early childcare programs and health care providers that already serve poor children birth to five and their families in western and central New York: Cavity-Free Kids curriculum, fluoride varnish treatment and portable dental equipment.

The School Based Health Center Readiness Project, in partnership with the New York State Coalition for School Based Health Centers is engaging high-need school districts and community partners, such as community health centers, hospitals, and mental health care providers, in central New York to implement school-based health centers.

Increasing Screening and Improving Coordination of Care

Early Childhood Connections partners with five primary care practices in western New York serving children in poverty to increase developmental and behavioral screening using the following strategies: providing developmental and well-child screening guidance and material, a Linkage Coordinator to facilitate referrals to services for at-risk children, and engaging a national expert to help promotion.

Because the first five years of children's lives play such a critical role in shaping their behavior, social and emotional development, the Health Foundation and The Peter and Elizabeth C. Tower Foundation partnered to create PEDALS: Positive Emotional Development and Learning Skills to provide early child care educators in Erie and Niagara counties with training on how to use evidence-based emotional and social curricula and assessments in their classrooms.

Improving Maternal and Child Health

The Central New York Maternal and Child Health Initiative focuses on improving the health and well-being of children up to age one and women of child-bearing age living in poverty in central New York, with a strong emphasis in areas with a high risk of poor maternal and child health outcomes - "hot spot" neighborhoods.

With projects to improve the health of mothers and their babies now underway across central New York, the Health Foundation is expanding its efforts and turning its attention to Maternal and Child Health Services in Western New York. 

Results

Some examples of the results we are beginning to see with these projects include:

• Improving coordination of care: We are providing primary care practices with a Linkage Coordinator whose role is designed specifically to facilitate linkage to appropriate support for at-risk children through Early Childhood Connections.
• Providing health care professionals with valuable tools: We are able to increase and facilitate developmental screenings by providing health care professionals with screening tools such as the behavioral and developmental screeners of Early Childhood Connections.
• Providing communities with valuable tools: We are preparing to disseminate tools informed by best practices, like the Cavity Free Kids curriculum to early childcare providers and their partners through the development and launch of the CHOMPERS! initiative.
• Increasing resources: All the projects we fund provide health care professionals, communities and families with authoritative and appropriate health care information through presentations, trainings, events, web sites and professional development opportunities.