Community Readiness: A Toolkit to Support Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program Awardees in Assessing Community Capacity
Awardees for the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Program include states, territories, and tribal entities developing and implementing evidence-based, voluntary home visiting programs that best meet the needs of their communities. The toolkit was developed to help MIECHV awardees complete their community readiness assessment. With the toolkit, awardees can identify home visiting connections, capacity and infrastructure to address service gaps, and community willingness to support evidence-based home visiting programs. Awardees can also explore whether gaps can be filled using home visiting services, how service delivery can be strengthened, and how communities can increase their readiness. Using action steps, recommendations, and worksheets, awardees can collect, organize, and interpret data on community knowledge, leadership, climate, and resources.
The MIECHV Community Readiness toolkit draws on multiple resources to guide users through the process of defining community stakeholders and exploring the dimensions and stages of readiness.
Sections of the MIECHV Community Readiness Toolkit
- Compiling Existing Community Data: reviews and expands on information compiled for the needs assessment by adding information on resources and services available to families in the community
- Collecting Stakeholder Data: uses interviews, focus groups, and other methods to gather data from leaders, service providers, and other stakeholders
- Developing a Community Profile: compiles the data to develop a community profile that summarizes the level of need for home visiting services, capacity to deliver services, and preparedness to support home visiting programs
Community Readiness: A Toolkit to Support Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program Awardees in Assessing Community Capacity
Administration for Children & Families (ACF) • acf.hhs.gov
