New Generations Project Focuses on Generations to Come

By Administrator Lindsey Earnest

The New Generations Project focuses on the importance of early childhood mental health.

Setting the foundation for physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual wellness as early as infancy can set your child up for future success. Studies have shown early learning development is at one of its most influential stages from birth to age 8. Southcentral Foundation’s New Generations Project focuses on the importance of infant and early childhood mental health and connecting new generations from pre-pregnancy through age 5.

SCF’s New Generations Project seeks to improve coordination across child-serving systems, build infrastructure, and increase access to high-quality prevention and wellness promotion services for children and their families. Services seek to address the nutritional, physical, behavioral, and intellectual needs of families focusing on a connection to culture.

To increase understanding of the goal, SCF renamed the program from Project LAUNCH to the New Generations Project after the first year to support the aim: Alaska Native families will increase their physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual wellness by optimizing the effectiveness of services that support families in the preparation for and care of new generations.

The New Generations Project launched the second phase of a new service delivery model offered to all customer-owners as a new standard of care called the parent partner. The pilot began in July 2022 and utilizes a behavioral health consultant as a parent partner to provide community and home-based services for customer-owners in any stage of parenting from preconception to age 3. The goal is to improve access to home visiting services for families through early intervention and improve health outcomes, safety, and emotional well-being. The pilot continued into spring 2023 with a long-term goal of expanding parent partner services system-wide within the next few years throughout primary care clinics.

To learn more, please contact SCF New Generations Project at NewGenerations@SouthcentralFoundation.com.