Baltimore Infant and Toddler Program: Early Intervention Strategic Refresh
Overview
The Baltimore Infant and Toddler Program (BITP) makes families a priority in their work to bring the best early intervention services to the children of Baltimore City. BITP primarily serves families with young children - 0 to 3 years old - who may be experiencing a delay in development or who have been diagnosed with a condition that is likely to affect development. In 2016, BITP decided to take a close look at the early intervention services they were offering. A critical line of inquiry was whether they were serving all families well, especially families of color and those who speak a language other than English. And most importantly, they wanted to find out what could be better. They called this effort the “BITP Strategic Refresh.” The goal was to create a plan that would guide them over the next five years. BITP asked School Readiness Consulting (SRC) to facilitate this work by collecting and analyzing the community voices and related data they needed and developing a report and set of strategic and actionable recommendations for improving services and supports.
Our Process
Starting with a vision and a set of core values (access, quality, and equity), the SRC team worked side by side with BITP’s leadership team to collect the information and data needed to develop a plan for a strategic refresh. To ensure BITP had what it needed to create the most responsive updates, SRC created opportunities to listen to families, program administrators, and community leaders through focus groups and interviews. Additionally, the SRC team was able to collect and analyze data to understand current conditions and identify gaps, learn about what was working in other settings, and collect evidence from the latest research.
The Outcome
All efforts culminated in a final strategic plan that summarized findings and presented a set of long- and short-term strategies and action steps. Following the release of the strategic plan, SRC supported next steps by preparing a series of resources designed to share findings with the community. A family and community-friendly summary of the report was developed and distributed at a number of community convenings hosted by the SRC and BITP team. In addition, SRC developed a presentation and facilitator’s guide to support future community information sessions and BITP continued to share findings with families and key communities in Baltimore City.
Overall, the work resulted in a robust five-year strategy for improving and enhancing early intervention services for infants and toddlers with special needs. The “Strategic Refresh” represented a deep commitment to providing services and supports that reflected current research and best practices, tackled issues of racial inequity within systems and services, and addressed the unique needs of the young children, families, and larger community in Baltimore City.
Related Work
SRC Contributors
Lindsey Allard Agnamba
Founder and CEO
Mimi Howard
Advisor for Strategy and Systems
Nicole Sharpe
Senior Director
