Strong partnerships and a collaborative approach are critical for systems development, implementation, service delivery and, ultimately, achieving the mission of Title V. All programs and services within WCFH are delivered in collaboration with others. The Alaska Title V program continues to partner with agencies in the health care delivery system, both within and outside of State government, to reduce duplication and improve access to health care for families. This is achieved through partnering with families and consumers, collaborating broadly to grow networks and systems, and building capacity through education, securing funding, and sharing quality data.

Other MCHB Investments: In addition to the Title V MCH Block Grant, other key MCHB programs administered by WCFH include the Maternal, Infant, & Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program, Universal Newborn Hearing Screening, Pediatric Mental Health Access, and State Systems Development Initiative (SSDI). Having these MCHB programs collocated within WCFH provides a great opportunity for collaboration and de-duplication. WCFH also partners closely with the Family-2-Family (F2F) Health Information Center grantee on parent navigation, parent trainings, and providing compensation to people with lived experience who support Title V programs.

Other HRSA Programs: WCFH administers the HRSA Oral Health Workforce Development grant and collaborates with Federally Qualified Health Centers throughout the state via partnership with the Alaska Primary Care Association. WCFH also partners with the Emergency Programs for Children grantee through the Alaska Birth Transfer Initiative which aims to strengthen the birth transfer process in Alaska.

Other Federal Investments:  In addition to HRSA grant programs, other key federal programs administered by WCFH include CDC programs such as Early Hearing Detection & Intervention (EHDI), Rape Prevention Education, Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening, Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS), Enhancing Reviews and Surveillance to Eliminate Maternal Mortality (ERASE MM), Preventing Violence Affecting Young Lives (PREVAYL), and State Perinatal Quality Collaboratives (PQC).

Other relevant federal grants administered by WCFH include the Title X Family Planning Grant program, the ACF Personal Responsibility and Education Program (Teen PREP), and an Office of the Assistant Secretary of Health’s (OASH) grant to reduce maternal deaths due to violence. Through these OASH funds, the MCDR program conducted a pilot project with community-based full spectrum doulas to enhance access and availability of birth doulas in Alaska. WCFH continues to increase community and provider awareness of doula services and work towards sustainability of these services. Birth support had been recommended by the MCDR committee after reviewing maternal deaths from violence (homicide and suicide). This program is focused now on developing a curriculum for doula training and provided mentorship support to increase the numbers of doulas statewide, with an emphasis on rural communities.

Local MCH Programs and Organizations: WCFH wants to partner with more community-based organizations during the next five years. One notable newer partnership includes the Alaska Native Birthworkers Community (ANBC). WCFH has been partnering with this group through MCDR, the Perinatal Quality Collaborative, and on the Title V Needs Assessment. WCFH wants to grow other partnerships with organizations such as the Polynesian Association of Alaska and the Pacific Community of Alaska.

Alaska does not have local/county health departments like in other parts of the United States, with the exception of couple of boroughs in the state such as the Municipality of Anchorage. The State’s Section of Public Health Nursing (PHN) administers public health services on a statewide level through itinerant services and through local public health centers in rural hub communities. WCFH has a long history of partnership related to MCH and public health nursing. As PHN continues to get back to “normal” services after the pandemic, WCFH will look for more opportunities to partnership. PHN’s MCH Nurse Consultant participated in the Title V Needs Assessment process including attending Domain-specific workgroups to provide feedback and look for areas to partner with Title V. She also applied for and was selected to serve on the new MCDR committee in 2025.

WCFH also works with Help Me Grow Alaska to co-coordinate the Alaska Early Childhood Network (ECN). The Alaska ECN is made up of early childhood coalition leaders and coordinators of similar efforts in various communities throughout the state. This peer-to-peer network provides a space for community collaboratives to learn from and support each other’s efforts to elevate early childhood in their communities, as well as to use their collective voice to inform statewide action. This has also been a great opportunity for Title V to partner with more local community stakeholders. They were also asked to participate in the Needs Assessment process.

Other State Programs: WCFH receives funding from the Section of Chronic Disease & Health Promotion (CDPHP) related to breastfeeding, violence prevention, and school-based health centers, as well as financial support for Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) and Childhood Understanding Behaviors Survey (CUBS) data collection efforts. Section staff continue to collaborate in other areas such as oral health and injury prevention. CDPHP also houses the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) and Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey programs. WCFH staff serve on the advisory committees for those programs, and their staff are partners on WCFH survey programs.

WCFH partners with the Section of Epidemiology on a variety of topics such as increasing childhood immunizations, including partnership related to RSV vaccine in children and pregnant women. WCFH worked on public health’s coordinated efforts to decrease rates of congenital syphilis. The Section Chief and MCH Epidemiology Unit Manager also serve on the Epidemiology’s Alaska Lead Surveillance Work Group. The Senior MCH Epidemiologist serves as a co-editor of the Epidemiology Bulletin, a publication of the Section of Epidemiology that primarily targets clinicians to share important public health updates, information, and recommendations.

WCFH maintains an active data sharing agreement with the Section of Health Analytics and Vital Records (HAVRS) that covers programs such as newborn screening, the AKPQC, and surveillance work in the MCH Epidemiology Unit. Staff from the MCH Epidemiology Unit and the Research Unit in HAVRS meet quarterly to update each other on projects and share resources.

In collaboration with the Childcare Program Office located in the Division of Public Assistance (DPA), WCFH co-administers Alaska’s Preschool Development Grant (PDG) program. WCFH collaborates with DPA’s TANF program to support teen pregnancy prevention activities, along with the Youth Alliance for a Healthier Alaska (YAHA). WIC is also located within the DPA. WCFH continues to collaborate with staff in this program on initiatives to improve breastfeeding rates and a WIC representative has served on the PRAMS Steering Committee for many years.

WCFH has a long-standing partnership with the Alaska Medicaid Program and CHIP, located in the Division of Health Care Services, that is described further in “Relationship with Medicaid”.

The Division of Behavioral Health (DBH) is a key partner and WCFH provides an MCH perspective for DBH work in substance use prevention and mental health. DBH funds the Substance Exposed Newborns Initiative (SENI), which is closely linked to the AKPQC. This program implements universal verbal screening for all pregnant women using an evidence-based tool and strengthens capacity for brief intervention and referral to treatment. The CYSHCN Director partners with DBH on the HRSA Pediatric Mental Health Access grant. The Adolescent Health Program collaborates with DBH on the Zero Suicide Initiative, which is an evidence-based framework to provide safer suicide prevention care within healthcare settings.

Other Government Agencies: Alaska’s child welfare agency, the Office of Children’s Services (OCS) in the Department of Family and Community Services (DFCS), sees WCFH as a resource to support their prevention efforts. Prevention is recognized as critically important, but they have often lacked capacity, staffing, and appropriate training to do prevention work. MCH Epidemiology Unit staff have served on the Children’s Justice Act Task Force (CJATF) and provided data support for many years. The CJATF is coordinated by OCS and has a mission to identify areas where improvement is needed in the statewide response to child maltreatment, make recommendations, and take actions to improve the system. WCFH received additional federal funding from OCS to support Parents as Teachers (PAT) home visiting services in Alaska. OCS also funded the Early Childhood Systems Program Manager position since federal Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems (ECCS) funding ended in 2021. This position leads efforts supporting Help Me Grow Alaska and promoting universal developmental screening. The Program Manager position has also been leading Alaska’s Early Childhood Network (ECN), a network of over 20 local community coalitions working to improve early childhood systems in their respective communities. This has been an opportunity to increase collaboration at the local level.

WCFH programs are acknowledged in Department and Division-level data sharing agreements with the Department of Revenue (which manages the Alaska Permanent Fund database), Department of Public Safety (State Trooper database), and the Department of Education and Early Development (DEED).

WCFH partners with DEED to co-coordinate Alaska’s Early Childhood Coordinating Council (AECCC) which serves as the advisory body for Alaska’s MIECHV, Head Start, and Childcare Assistance federal grant programs. On behalf of DEED, WCFH administers the PAT grant program. DEED, WCFH, and CDPHP collaborate on professional development, school-based health services, hearing and vision screening trainings, and youth mental health services planning.

Tribes/Tribal Organizations: WCFH has long‐standing collaborative relationships with Tribal Health in areas such as newborn screening, infant safe sleep, the AKPQC, home visiting, epidemiology, MCDR, breast and cervical cancer screening, and pediatric clinics. WCFH continues to co‐sponsor the Alaska Maternal Child Health & Immunization Conference with the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC).

Public Health and Health Professional Educational Programs and Universities: The Title V Director has served on the advisory committee for the UAA Nursing program. The MCH Epi Unit Senior Scientist serves on the UAA MPH program advisory committee. UAA’s Center for Human Development is a close collaborator in developing programs for CYSHCN including workforce development and the LEND program, and they provided phone interviewer services for PRAMS and CUBS for 13 years (ending in FY25). WCFH has also partnered with other universities, such as the University of Washington to host students.

WCFH has partnered with such entities as Seattle Children’s, the University of Utah, and Oregon Health & Sciences University related to pediatric specialty clinics.

Non-governmental Organizations: The AKPQC has been an excellent means for WCFH to collaborate and partner with private, Tribal, and military health care systems across Alaska. Over the past year, the AKPQC continued work on the Substance-Affected Pregnancies Initiative. WCFH leads a Perinatal ECHO to disseminate evidence-based clinical information and guidelines to the statewide provider community. Previous sessions addressed RSV, congenital syphilis, perinatal palliative care, provider self-care, and perinatal loss and grief. In the coming year, the Perinatal ECHO will transition to a quarterly webinar format. WCFH partners with Alaska’s hospital association through the AKPQC and MCDR programs. The AKPQC has strengthened relationships with Alaska chapters of professional organizations including pediatrics, OB, neonatal and women’s health nursing, nurse midwives, and maternal fetal medicine.

WCFH also partners closely with other non-profit organizations such as the All Alaska Pediatric Partnership (AAPP) and the Alaska Children’s Trust. The Title V Director previously served as a Board Member of the AAPP.