About

The purpose of the Mississippi State University Project ECHO is to systematize support for families and professionals providing services to young children and their families and to create a sustainable model for early childhood professional development that builds on and supplements existing systems. Since 2021, Project ECHO has been adapted to childcare settings connecting rural childcare providers with University of Mississippi Medical Center developmental and behavioral health specialists to discuss, anonymously, specific cases they are struggling with in their centers. Through Project ECHO for Child Care Providers, which was one of the first in the nation, providers learned to manage difficult cases and to promote developmental and behavioral health among all attending children. 

This work builds on a foundation laid by the previous Child Health & Development Project: Mississippi Thrive! (MS Thrive), a partnership between the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s Children’s of Mississippi and Mississippi State University’s Social Science Research Center, funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration. From 2017-2022 researchers and developmental/behavioral health experts in Mississippi developed innovative solutions to increase the number of early care providers in Mississippi with developmental/behavioral health expertise and enhance the skills of existing care providers. One such innovation was a pilot to apply the Project ECHO model, and was adapted through a partnership between the Social Science Research Center at Mississippi State University, the Graduate Center for the Study of Early Learning Center at the University of Mississippi, the North Mississippi Education Consortium, and the University of Mississippi Medical Center.  

This first iteration of an early childhood Project ECHO in Mississippi was funded by the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund, and then expanded and iterated with funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, showing a positive impact on early childhood professionals’ understanding of behavioral and developmental health and their practice. Building on this past success, the Mississippi Department of Human Services began funding Project ECHO for Childcare Providers in 2023 and is anticipated to continue funding this unique tele mentoring professional development opportunity for childcare providers. 

The current Early Childhood ECHO project for families and professionals is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an award totaling $800,000 with 0% financed with non-governmental sources.

Early Childhood ECHO seeks to demonstrate the viability of developmental and behavioral health-focused ECHO programs for virtual professional development for a variety of rural early childhood providers (e.g., case workers, social workers, early interventionists, and others) and rural families of children 0-8 who are receiving these services.

Our goals for Early Childhood ECHO are as follows: 

1. Increase developmental/behavioral health knowledge amongst early childhood professionals and families by providing training and information telementoring sessions for professionals and families, and to train early childhood specialists (e.g., social workers, pediatricians, child psychologists, medical professionals, social workers, early intervention providers, etc.) to run and lead the ECHO telementoring professional development activities. 
2. Create a sustainable system for early childhood developmental and behavioral health professional and family learning by developing a website, creating a digital depository of early childhood resources, generating greater awareness of the potential of the ECHO model for low-cost, effective telementoring for rural early childhood professionals and families, and supporting interested state partners in adopting the ECHO model for their training purposes.
3. Measure outcomes of the work and offer our evaluation model to other ECHO projects engaged in early childhood developmental and behavioral health support. 

Staff

Partners

• Mississippi Families for Kids
• Nurturing Homes Initiative, Mississippi State University Extension
• Delta Health Alliance
• Lowndes County Department of Child Protection Services

This website is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an award totaling $800,000 with 0% financed with non-governmental sources. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by HRSA, HHS, or the U.S. Government. For more information, please visit HRSA.gov.