Connect (Events)

2023 AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting: The 2023 AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting (ARM) will be held in person at the Seattle Convention Center in Seattle, Washington. The ARM will convene a large and diverse group of stakeholders at the intersection of health, health care, and policy to share important findings and showcase the latest research on how the health system works, what it costs, and how to improve it. Saturday, June 24, 2023 – Tuesday, June 27, 2023 | Seattle Convention Center | Seattle, WA. | Register here

WCAAP Webinar: Developmental Screening and Early Intervention: Perspectives from Spanish-Speaking Families and Family Navigators. Dr. Becky Schwartz and Colleen McCarty from WCAAP will share perspectives from interviews with Spanish-speaking parents and Harborview Pediatric Clinic Family Navigators about developmental screening and early intervention processes. Join us for a discussion of best practices for improving family support and ensuring successful receipt of early intervention referrals for families with limited English proficiency. June 27, 7:00am – 8:00am PDT | Register Here

LEARN and Chat Series: Using Reflective Supervision and Consultation (RS/C) to Explore Social Location and Intersectionality from Zero to Three. Join us for our third event in the LEARN and Chat Series: Holding the Baby in Mind. Our topic is Reflective Supervision and Consultation (RS/C) and how RS/C can empower early childhood professionals to form reflective alliances that can serve as vehicles for the exploration and self-examination of one’s social location and points of intersectionality. June 28, 11 a.m. - noon. Register here.

Harm Reduction as an Essential Part of a Comprehensive Strategy to Combat the Opioid Epidemic: The National Prevention Science Coalition to Improve Lives is hosting a congressional briefing to discuss the policy relevance of harm reduction strategies to improve the physical and mental health and aid in the recovery of people of all ages who are using psychoactive substances, including opioids. June 28 | 7:30 – 9 p.m.| Register Here | Download Flyer

Strengths-based Leadership, Mentorship, and Coaching: This 2-part, 6-hour workshop series offers strategies you can use to further cultivate and sustain a strengths-based approach in your leadership, mentorship, and coaching role. All professionals who serve as a leader, manager, coach, or mentor — including directors, supervisors, coaches, peer or team leaders, and education or mental health consultants — are encouraged to attend. Live Spanish translation and closed captioning are available. Workshop dates and times: July 11, 9 a.m. to noon | July 13, 9 a.m. to noon.

You Are Invited to Attend Brave Conversations: Brave Conversations are welcoming virtual spaces for conversations about building supportive relationships between parents and caregivers (both foster parents and relative/kinship caregivers) of children placed in out-of-home care. Open to parents with children in out-of-home care and caregivers (kinship, foster, suitable other) Conversations are held every other month. The next meetings are scheduled for Aug. 1 and Oct. 3. Register for each session here: Building Family Partnerships - Amara (amarafamily.org). Caregiver training credits are available.

WISe Family Symposium: Don't miss out on our highly anticipated virtual event, packed with inspiring speakers, interactive sessions, and incredible insights! This event is open to anyone who is interested in attending, including youth and families, WISe practitioners, and community members. Dates: August 15 and 16 | Time: 9 to 1 (each day) | Location: Virtual | Register here.

Learn (Educational Resources)

DSHS Economic Services Administration Service Trends Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic: This study describes changes in the number of participants in four public assistance programs before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: 1) Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), 2) Basic Food, 3) Aged, Blind, and Disabled (ABD) cash assistance program, and 4) Housing and Essential Needs (HEN) Referral program. The number of TANF and Basic Food recipients dramatically increased during the pandemic and, at the end of 2021, caseloads remained above pre-pandemic levels. Read the report here.

Pride Explained for Kids: Why do we celebrate Pride? Where does it come from? Watch Pop'n'Olly Learn and discover what happened on June 28th 1969. Learn about the Stonewall Inn and the event which helped pave the way for LGBT+ Liberation (watch time 3:34): Watch on Youtube.

Innovate (News and New Insights)

Help Washington families get connected to the mental health services they need: Washington’s Mental Health Referral Service for Children and Teens (MHRS) connects children and teens 17 years and young to outpatient mental health services in their community. MHRS keeps an updated database of over 4,000 licensed mental health providers to support children, youth, and families in accessing services they need. The database includes details such as: Availability for new referrals; Mental health provider’s specialties and types of treatment offered; Health insurance or state programs accepted. Providers: click here to get registered

The Survey of Well-being of Young Children (SWYC)™ is a freely-available, comprehensive screening instrument for children under 5 years of age. The SWYC was written to be simple to answer, short, and easy to read. The entire instrument requires 15 minutes or less to complete and is straightforward to score and interpret. The SWYC is approved by MassHealth for compliance with the Children's Behavioral Health Initiative screening guidelines. Learn more here.

Grow (Funding and Resources)

DCYF Early Childhood Equity Grant: The Fair Start for Kids Act, passed by the Washington State Legislature in 2021, directs DCYF to distribute funds to support inclusive and culturally and linguistically specific early learning and early childhood and parent support programs across the state. The funds are distributed through the Early Childhood Equity Grant program. The Early Childhood Equity Grant helps support culturally responsive programming so that children have access to diverse care that meets their needs. The Early Childhood Equity Grant Application is now open! The application will remain open until June 30, 2023 at 5 p.m. Learn more and apply here.

Apply for the Children and Youth Resilience Challenge: Promoting children and youth resilience―their ability to adapt in the face of adversity―is critical to avoiding long-term negative mental health outcomes. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will award $1 million to communities promoting youth resilience. This first-ever Children and Youth Resilience Challenge is a competition that will award prizes to innovative community-led solutions to advance mental health in children and adolescents, birth to age 24, affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and other disasters. Applications due July 7. Learn more and apply here.

Prevention services RFA: HCA is proud to announce a request for applications (RFA) for organizations interested in implementing substance use disorder (SUD) prevention services related to opioids and cannabis, mental health promotion, and suicide prevention services in Washington. The purpose of this project is to increase community capacity to implement evidence-based and culturally appropriate direct prevention service programs to communities experiencing the highest need and risk. HCA will award multiple contracts to public or private community-based organizations, including tribal governments or urban Indian organizations, and government agencies. Please see the RFA for a full list of eligible applicants. Applicants with questions or clarifications should email Alexander Agidius. The final round of questions closes on Friday, June 23, 2023. Applications are due Sunday, July 16. Interested applicants are strongly encouraged to register as a vendor on Washington’s Electronic Bid System and to download a copy of the RFA from WEBS, in order to view any amendments that are issued by HCA which may modify the terms of this RFA.

Tribal Focused Organizations RFA: The Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families is excited to announce a funding opportunity for Federally Recognized Tribes, Recognized American Indian Organizations (RAIOs), and other Native Serving Organizations. Through this funding opportunity, DCYF will contract with Tribal Governments, RAIOs, and Native Serving Organizations to pilot culturally responsive and specific prevention services to reduce entries into out-of-home care among Native children. This pilot will help DCYF and its pilot partners learn what it takes to achieve that goal in advance of an anticipated expansion in these kinds of services in the coming years.

The application will be live from May 10, 2023 and due by July 7, 2023, by 5 p.m. The agency anticipates awarding 3-6 contracts, valued at approximately $100,000-$200,000 for one year, with a possibility of further extension dependent on available funding and pilot success. The initial contract will run from October 2023, through September 2024.

All Washington Federally Recognized Tribes, Recognized American Indian Organizations (RAIOs) and other Native Serving Organizations are encouraged to apply for this opportunity. Information about this opportunity including the Request for Applications (RFA) form, is available at Washington’s Electronic Business Solution, WEBS Website: https://fortress.wa.gov/ga/webs/

Please contact Rachel Denny at  Rachel.Denney@dcyf.wa.gov for any questions.

If you have suggestions for what to include in this newsletter, email Joy Lile.