View Back-to-School Events in North Carolina

North Carolina Covering Kids & Families Initiative

Grant Overview
NC Covering Kids & Families pursues three main objectives: to identify and enroll all eligible children in both Medicaid and SCHIP, to simplify and make routine the enrollment/re-enrollment process and to coordinate initiatives to create synergistic relationships across activities. The NC Pediatric Society foundation serves as the lead agency for the statewide coalition and works actively with four local coalitions to develop and evaluate different strategies to achieve the three major objectives.

The statewide coalition will continue its successful efforts in partnering with schools, childcare centers and health care providers. It will double its efforts to reach communities and families who experience difficulties in obtaining health care by developing carefully tailored outreach efforts designed to be culturally and linguistically appropriate. The state has already developed a single application for health check/health choice. Consequently, the coalition will now pay particular attention to ways of simplifying and systemizing enrollment and re-enrollment, developing and disseminating technologies that make caseworkers more productive and facilitate the integration of benefits. The coalition will participate actively in policy analysis to develop viable options to maintain and expand children's health insurance. In particular, the state coalition will explore the feasibility of an "express lane" application process that would integrate child health insurance with other means-tested programs, like WIC, food stamps, and childcare subsidies. The lead agency will work actively with four local coalitions. The local coalitions are broadly representative of the geographic and socioeconomic diversity across the state. The lead organizations at the local level also vary. The intention is that each counterpart makes a distinctive contribution to the overall effort. Building on complementary strengths, local coalitions will share experiences and learn from colleagues. Additionally, the state lead agency is developing some techniques to spread "lessons learned" more broadly, not only among the four partner coalitions but also to other local coalitions throughout the state. NC Covering Kids & Families will develop and promote sustainable and cost-effective procedures to make health insurance available to all eligible children. This should lead to positive public health outcomes for children, families and communities.

Grant Amount
Children: $1,000,000

Start Date
October 1, 2002

End Date
December 31, 2006

Target Populations
African Americans (search other projects targeting African Americans)
Immigrant families (search other projects targeting Immigrant families)
Latino/Hispanic Americans (search other projects targeting Latino/Hispanic Americans)
Migrant workers (search other projects targeting Migrant workers)
Native Americans (search other projects targeting Native Americans)

Interventions
Business (search other projects using this intervention)
Child care providers (search other projects using this intervention)
Hospitals (search other projects using this intervention)
Schools (search other projects using this intervention)

Lead Organization
NC Pediatric Society Foundation

Contact
Patricia Garrett, PhD
1100 Wake Forest Road
Suite 150
Raleigh, NC 27604

p (919) 839-1156
e covernc@attglobal.net
w www.ncpeds.org

Local Projects in North Carolina

Buncombe County Department of Social Services
Moorehealth
New Hanover County Partnership for Children