About Us

Early Ages Healthy Stages (EAHS) is committed to providing early childhood educators (ECE), parents, and other caregivers tools to promote children’s well-being.

As a collaborative resource, the coalition focuses on building strong links between people from all sectors and settings in our community. We know that when these links are aligned and working together, everyone does better.

By offering comprehensive resources, EAHS aims to attract even more ECE partners to ensure children across the county have a healthy start in life.

Goals

  • Promote Holistic Health: Ensure that children aged 0-5 in Cuyahoga County have a healthy start by addressing their physical, emotional, and social well-being.
  • Empower Early Care Providers: Equip early care providers with the knowledge, skills, and resources necessary to create health-promoting environments.
  • Engage Families and Communities: Foster strong partnerships with families and community organizations to support child health and development.
  • Advocate for Policy Change: Influence local, state, and national policies to prioritize and support early childhood health initiatives.
  • Sustain Impact: Establish sustainable practices and programs that continue to benefit children, families, and early care providers over the long term.

Objectives

1. Training and Education:

  • Conduct regular training sessions and workshops for early care providers on nutrition, physical activity, emotional well-being, safety.
  • Provide continuing education credits to incentivize participation and ongoing professional development.

2. Resource Provision:

  • Distribute educational materials, toolkits, and resources to early care centers to support the implementation of health-promoting activities.
  • Develop and share best practice guides and templates for healthy policies.

3. On-Site Support:

  • Offer personalized consultations and regular check-ins by health consultants to assess and improve health practices in early care settings.
  • Provide tailored recommendations and ongoing support to address specific challenges faced by providers.

4. Policy Development and Advocacy:

  • Assist early care providers in developing and implementing policies that promote healthy eating, physical activity, and overall well-being.
  • Advocate for supportive policies at local, state, and national levels that prioritize early childhood health.

5. Community and Parent Engagement:

  • Host workshops and events for families to educate them about the importance of early childhood health and how they can support these efforts at home.
  • Build strong community networks that connect families and early care providers with local health resources services.

6. Grant and Funding Support:

  • Identify and assist early care providers in applying for grants and funding opportunities to support health initiatives.
  • Allocate resources within the EAHS network to ensure all centers can participate in health-promoting activities, regardless of financial capacity.

7. Impact Measurement and Evaluation:

  • Collect and analyze data to measure the impact of EAHS programs initiatives on child health outcomes.
  • Continuously refine and improve strategies based on feedback and evaluation results to maximize effectiveness.