Family, Youth and Community Engagement: About the Initiative

Strengthening our Communities

Family, youth, and community engagement aims to strengthen programming by responding to participants’ experiences.

The Maternal Child Health (MCH) Program is committed to supporting successful partnerships and engagement with family, youth, and community members because this is a key strategy to advance health equity. 

Challenge Statement

Family, youth, and community members who receive support through our MCH system of local programs need to have their voices heard in meaningful partnerships because our programs will then be more responsive to their thoughts and ideas.

Local agencies need support to engage families, youth, and community members because this may be a paradigm shift.

Aim Statement

By December 31, 2025, we aim to strengthen family, youth, and community member engagement within all MCH programs because programs that respond to participants’ experiences are more effective.

How We Will Measure Our Progress

Seventy-five percent of Wisconsin’s MCH-funded programs are making progress or have embedded concepts of family, youth, and/or community member engagement on at least three indicators of the Community Engagement Assessment Tool.

MCH programs are making progress in enhancing their family, youth, and community member engagement. Seventy-five percent of programs will have a total score (sum of all indicators) greater than 35.

Overall, MCH programs approach the work of family, youth, and community engagement beyond the traditional survey implementation. Sixty percent of programs that assess overall work in the categories of Discuss, Involve, or Partner.

Our Implementation Team