We are excited this morning to announce a new investment by MolinaCares Accord to establish an innovative Center for Family Voice at Groundwork Ohio. The Center will engage families from across the state in order to authentically center their voices in policy and practice decisions at the state and local levels. By launching this new Center, we aim to empower families to drive change within their communities and in public policy.
For far too long, families have been left out of important decisions that greatly impact their everyday lives. By excluding families from these conversations, we know that many decisions by well-intentioned policymakers have not fully addressed the challenges faced by families, resulting in poor policy outcomes. The Center builds on this growing body of research as well as the learnings from our 2018 Ohio Early Childhood Race & Rural Equity report and our 2020 follow up report, Drafting a New Blueprint for Success: Reflections on Ohio Early Childhood Race & Rural Equity. In both reports, it is made that clear that more now than ever, we need to reimagine our health care and social service delivery models and engage families more deeply in that process.
Over the next few months, we will be researching best practices of organizations nationwide and across Ohio. Implementing these engagement models will begin later in the year and will span across issues that impact young children and their families. We are grateful for the investment by MolinaCares Accord and technical assistance from the Center for Health Care Strategies to make this work possible.
We look forward to working with families and community partners in the coming year to ensure equitable outcomes for young children and families in Ohio.
For more details regarding today's announcement, read our full press release.