Help Me Grow Washington News

Help Me Grow Washington Strategic Plan

Earlier in the month, Help Me Grow WA hosted a Lunch & Learn about the HMG WA strategic plan. You can view the presentation slides and recording on the HMG WA website.  

New Help Me Grow Washington Test Site Coming Soon

We’ve been hard at work developing content and design for the new website, which will merge Help Me Grow Washington and ParentHelp123 websites. We look forward to having an easier pathway for families, community partners and providers to connect with Help Me Grow. A test site will be ready by the end of September and the HMG network will be a key audience for feedback. You’ll hear from us again when we are ready to start user testing. 

PDG Funding Supports Help Me Grow Washington Collaborations

The Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) continues to invest in the Help Me Grow Washington system with the latest round of Preschool Development Birth through Five grant funding. Help Me Grow Washington is collaborating on two projects in support of Washington’s children, families and workforce. 

In partnership with Washington State Employment Security Department, Help Me Grow Washington will co-create and test approaches to raise awareness of the Paid Family and Medical Leave benefit among workers of low-income and workers of color, and identify further opportunities to reduce disparities and eliminate barriers to Paid Leave. Strategies may focus on tailoring Paid Leave messaging to populations of focus and/or creating systems change to ease the application process for underserved families. 

Help Me Grow Washington is also partnering with Child Care Aware of Washington to explore increased collaboration and connection points between the two systems with the goal of streamlining access to essential early childhood supports for parents, caregivers, providers and community members. Over the next 8 months of discovery, the two systems will identify opportunities and approaches to support access for all Washington families through an improved user experience and develop a roadmap for future implementation.

DCYF’s News Release offers more information on the overall Preschool Development Birth through Five grant.  

Help Me Grow National Forum Presentations

We are excited about the hybrid Help Me Grow National Forum and to be having Washington state representation and participation for both the In-Person Summit (October 11-13) and Virtual Event (October 17)!  

Washington State will be hosting two virtual sessions: One session will be titled, "Help Me Grow Systems Linkage to Support Equitable Access to Paid Family Medical Leave”, which will speak to how Help Me Grow Washington partnered with state agencies, providers and families to take a deeper look at who was not aware of or accessing Washington State’s Paid Family & Medical Leave program and co-develop targeted solutions with families and providers.

The other session will be titled, “Plan of Safe Care: Supporting Infants & Parents/Caregivers with Substance Use Disorder” and will highlight how Child Welfare and Help Me Grow join together in Washington State’s Plan of Safe Care community-based pathway to connect infants affected by prenatal substance exposure and their families to wrap-around supports.  

Virtual Event registration remains open through Tuesday, October 17. We encourage you to attend and tune into the various affiliate-led sessions! 

Resources to Share

• Diaper Bank Request for Application: The Washington State Department of Commerce is soliciting grant applications from eligible organizations for the purpose of purchasing diapers, wipes, and other essential baby products for distribution to families in need. The application deadline is Sept.13. 



• Learn about the relationship between the Help Me Grow National model and Strengths-Based Frameworks including Strengthening Families Approach and Protective Factors Framework in this 2023 report!

• Come work on the statewide Help Me Grow WA team! WithinReach is hiring for a Senior Manager of Data Systems and Evaluation. This person will be responsible for strengthening the client management system used to help serve Help Me Grow WA families and houses the statewide resource directory. To learn more about the role and apply, visit the WithinReach posting. 

• The Washington Fatherhood Council has commissioned Camber Collective to conduct the WA Fatherhood: State of the State study. The objective of the study is to collect information from service providers, advocates, community leaders, and other professionals to gather ideas on how fathers, father-figures, and their families are being served or could be better served in Washington State. We encourage you to share your input by filling out this survey by September 8th.  Please reach out to Tina@cambercollective.com if you have any questions about the study or would like to participate in a 1:1 discussion/interview to provide direct input. 

Send along ideas and resources for the Help Me Grow Washington website and future newsletters by emailing Keri Nguyen.

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