Help Me Grow: A Model of Targeted Universalism to Advance Equity and Promote the Well-Being of All Children

Authors

  • Melissa Miller Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, Office of Child and Community Health, Hartford, CT; Help Me Grow National Center
  • Melissa Passarelli Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, Office of Child and Community Health, Hartford, CT; Help Me Grow National Center
  • Sarah Zucker Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, Office of Child and Community Health, Hartford, CT; Help Me Grow National Center
  • Wendy Ake Othering & Belonging Institute at University of California - Berkeley
  • Kimberly Martini-Carvell Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, Office of Child and Community Health, Hartford, CT; Help Me Grow National Center
  • Paul Dworkin Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, Office of Child and Community Health, Hartford, CT; Help Me Grow National Center; Department of Pediatrics, University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Hartford, CT

Keywords:

early childhood, child development, targeted universalism, population health, early detection, early intervention, system of care, prevention, developmental promotion

Abstract

Many families with young children in the United States struggle to access the services and care they need to thrive, signaling a need for a comprehensive, coordinated, effective system of developmental promotion, early identification of concern and need, and linkage to resources. The Help Me Grow (HMG) Model is an innovative solution that provides an early childhood system of care and utilizes targeted universalism as a framework to advance equity. Together, the HMG Model and targeted universalism provide a coordinated and universal system with targeted support for vulnerable populations and can prevent young children from “slipping through the cracks.”

Author Biographies

Melissa Miller, Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, Office of Child and Community Health, Hartford, CT; Help Me Grow National Center

Ms. Miller is a masters-level trained health services researcher with broad expertise in quality improvement, measure development, data analytics, and evaluation. She currently serves as the Associate Director of Impact & Network Performance at the Help Me Grow (HMG) National Center and oversees the strategic development and implementation of a measurement framework to further validate the HMG Model and measure Network performance. Previously, Ms. Miller worked at Yale University/Yale New Haven Health’s Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation (CORE), which develops inpatient and outpatient quality outcomes measures for Federal payment programs. Ms. Miller has also led quality improvement initiatives, care coordination, and health information technology evaluations at the Greater New York Hospital Association and as a researcher at the Center for Health Informatics and Policy at Weill Cornell Medical College.

Melissa Passarelli, Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, Office of Child and Community Health, Hartford, CT; Help Me Grow National Center

Ms. Passarelli is the Associate Director of Implementation & System-Building for the Help Me Grow (HMG) National Center supporting HMG affiliates in implementing the Model, for which she draws upon experience and expertise in pediatric practice transformation, system-building, and cross-cultural implications of trauma at the state and local-levels. Prior to this role, Ms. Passarelli served as the Director of Programs at Docs for Tots where she directed HMG Long Island, acted as the local Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems Grant team lead, provided technical assistance to physicians and other providers on implementing screening initiatives, and coordinated HMG efforts across New York State. She was CDC's Act Early Ambassador for New York State from 2019-2022, and a Board Trustee for T1International since 2020.

Sarah Zucker, Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, Office of Child and Community Health, Hartford, CT; Help Me Grow National Center

Ms. Zucker is the Manager of Communications & Network Relations at the Help Me Grow (HMG) National Center. In this capacity she leads efforts to promote engagement of HMG affiliates and partners in their relationships with the National Center, the Model, and the National Network. She works to increase brand awareness, strengthen existing partnerships, and cultivate new strategic collaboration. Sarah previously led technical assistance efforts for the HMG National Center, supporting new states and communities in efforts to explore the HMG Model and devise site-specific installation strategy. Before her work at Connecticut Children’s, she led research efforts at the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness, a statewide agency advancing a mission to end homelessness through leadership, community organizing, research, education, and advocacy.

Wendy Ake, Othering & Belonging Institute at University of California - Berkeley

Ms. Ake is a co-author on the “targeted universalism” framework primer and consults on the Institute’s application of the targeted universalism policy framework and inclusive strategic philanthropy. Ms. Ake currently directs the Othering & Belonging Institute's Just Public Finance project and her work explores exclusive economic structures and the potential of inclusive transformational economic systems. Currently, this work is applied in the context of higher education and student debt, and the realm of public finance in the age of austerity. Prior to joining the Othering & Belonging Institute, Wendy was a researcher with the Global Justice Program at the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at Ohio State University and served on the editorial board of Kirwan’s journal Race/Ethnicity: Multidisciplinary in Global Contexts.

Kimberly Martini-Carvell, Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, Office of Child and Community Health, Hartford, CT; Help Me Grow National Center

Ms. Martini-Carvell is the Executive Director of the Help Me Grow (HMG) National Center. Previously, she worked as Associate Vice President for programs at The Village for Families and Children where she created and managed prevention and early intervention programs for families and children. She also worked as a child and family development consultant for the United Way of Central & Northeastern Connecticut and as director of the CT Family Development Institute of the Children’s Trust Fund. She has served on numerous national committees including Zero to Three Policy Committee, the National Childhood Traumatic Stress Network’s Birth-6 Workgroup, and the leadership team of the Connecticut Parent Educators Network. Ms. Martini-Carvell has presented the HMG Model at national and international convenings, including the bi-annual World Association of Infant Mental Health Congress.

Paul Dworkin, Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, Office of Child and Community Health, Hartford, CT; Help Me Grow National Center; Department of Pediatrics, University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Hartford, CT

Dr. Dworkin is a nationally-recognized expert on child development, child health services and child health policy. He has authored more than 150 journal articles, abstracts, and book chapters in the fields of developmental-behavioral pediatrics and general pediatrics. He is the Founding Director of the Help Me Grow Model and National Center. He is also currently the Executive Vice President for Community Child Health at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center and professor emeritus of pediatrics at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. Dr. Dworkin has served on the boards of numerous community-based organizations, recently completed his tenure as chair of the board of the Urban League of Greater Hartford, and currently serves on the board of the Institute for Child Success in Greenville, South Carolina.

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Published

2023-09-13

How to Cite

Miller, M., Passarelli, M., Zucker, S., Ake, W., Martini-Carvell, K., & Dworkin, P. (2023). Help Me Grow: A Model of Targeted Universalism to Advance Equity and Promote the Well-Being of All Children. Social Innovations Journal, 20. Retrieved from https://socialinnovationsjournal.com/index.php/sij/article/view/6595

Issue

Vol. 20 (2023): Population Health Equity for People with Intellectual Disability, Autism, and Mental Health Challenges and Other Special Populations

Section

Inclusion

Categories

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Copyright (c) 2023 Melissa Miller, Melissa Passarelli, Sarah Zucker, Wendy Ake, Kimberly Martini-Carvell, Paul Dworkin (Author)

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