Home Visiting of Mecklenburg County LANDSCAPE ANALYSIS: Opportunities for Growth, Expansion & Building Infrastructure

GROUP MODEL BUILDING SESSIONS
GROUP MODEL BUILDING FINDINGS
In November 2022, SSMC hosted two participatory
group model-building (GMB) sessions attended by
16 participants. 12 Dr. Lanier and his team from the
Jordan Institute for Families led the sessions. GMB is
a systems-thinking approach that seeks to develop a
shared understanding of a complex system and build
consensus around priorities for improvement.
The purpose of the sessions was to develop a
common understanding of the current home-visiting
system, identify action steps to increase access for
families, and include stakeholders in the formation
of recommendations. The sessions also helped
participants build systems-thinking skills.
During the first session, participants were oriented
to the approach of systems thinking and GMB
overall as a participatory-change strategy. Next,
participants discussed the landscape of home visiting
in Mecklenburg County. Dr. Lanier and his team
presented data on statewide longitudinal service
trends and how trends in North Carolina are similar to
and different from Mecklenburg County. The statewide
trends suggest that while the number of families and
children who could benefit from services mostly stayed
the same over time, the number of families and children
who actually received services had been steadily
decreasing since 2018. 13
The research team from the Jordan Institute developed
a home-visiting system map for Mecklenburg County
using data from the 2018 statewide landscape study. 14
Agencies were asked to report on collaborations and
referrals made and received by local agencies.
Housing Support
Medicaid
Charitable
Services (e.g.
Crisis Assistance
Ministries)
Bright Blessings
Nurses
As illustrated in Figure 2, a heavily interwoven system
of agency-to-agency connections exists. Four homevisiting
programs, shown in orange, were connected
through some common agencies, but in general the
four programs operated in separate and distinct
subnetworks with no connection to one another.
Primary Care
Clinics
Dept of Social
Services
800,000
700,000
600,000
500,000
# of Children Who Could Benefit
600,000
500,000
400,000
# of Families Who Could Benefit
Reach Out and
Read
Relationship
Counseling
HV Program
3
Job Training
Mental Health
Services
Child Care
Resources
HV Program
2
Community LINK
400,000
300,000
300,000
200,000
SNAP
Vitamin Angels
Crisis Assistance
Ministries
Health Department
Local Faith
Group
200,000
100,000
100,000
Further Education
0
2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
0
2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Primary Care
Clinic
Bethlehem Center
Head Start
Families
Forest Hill
Church -Charlotte
16,000
Children Received Home Visiting
16,000
Families Received Home Visiting
WIC
Baby Bundles
Thompson Child
Development
Center
Charlotte
Community
Health Clinic
14,000
12,000
14,000
12,000
Pregnancy
Resource
Center
Renaissance
West Community
Initiative
Smart Start
of Mecklenburg
County
Enlace -Latin
American Council
of Charlotte
10,000
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
OB offices
HV Program
4
CDSA
Charlotte Mecklenburg
Schools
HV Program
1
Legal Services
of Piedmont
YMCA of Greater
Charlotte
2,000
2,000
0
2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Figure 1: Statewide Trends in Eligible Home Visiting Population and Service Recipients
For Mecklenburg County, participants shared that
programs have remained at full capacity with constant
waiting lists, and there is a sense that the number of
those receiving services has stayed stable. However,
as the population of eligible families has increased,
stagnant funding for home visiting likely results in
a decrease in the percentage of total families and
children in Mecklenburg County receiving services.
0
2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Participants noted “grace” be given for the way the
Covid-19 pandemic has impacted the data and its
trends. The group also discussed the importance of
monitoring future growth, continuing to engage in
conversations about trends, and obtaining accurate,
up-to-date service numbers specific to Mecklenburg
County.
Legend
Opposite
Community Org.
Early Ed/Schools
Families
Government
Health/MH
HV
CC4C
Pregnancy Care
Management
Hospitals
Bottles-n-Bottoms
Loaves-n- Fishes
Figure 2: Mecklenburg County Home Visiting System Map 2018
The Learning
Collaborative
Levine Cancer
Institue
Care Ring
Lakewood Preschool
Charlotte Bilingual
Preschool
Howard Levine
Child Development
Center
Latin American
Coalition
7 8