Healthy beginnings: a system of care for children in Atlanta.

For more than a decade the Annie E. Casey Foundation's Atlanta Civic Site has invested in a comprehensive community change strategy in five neighborhoods near downtown Atlanta. The foundation pursues a three-prong strategy focused on improving educational outcomes for children, encouraging family economic success for adults, and positively transforming the community's physical environment. The foundation recently integrated a focus on health into its community and family strengthening strategies. In this article we review the foundation's Healthy Beginnings System of Care. Healthy Beginnings seeks to prevent or reduce health disparities through a community-based, coordinated care approach based in a high-quality early learning center. An initial evaluation found that in 2013 the program exceeded all of its performance requirements for the 279 enrolled children. Ninety-seven percent of the children had health insurance, 92 percent were up to date with immunizations, and 98 percent were current with developmental screenings. By building upon the partnerships formed through the foundation's community change effort, Healthy Beginnings has dramatically increased neighborhood children's access to health care and forms the basis for a cost-effective approach that can be replicated in other communities.