What Can Municipal Leaders Consider?
Cross-departmental collaboration happens when local government staff and departments work together across roles to support shared goals. In the context of early childhood development, it means recognizing that no single department can meet all the needs of young children ages PN8 and their families. No matter the size of your community, coordination among municipal departments, key staff and their roles is essential for ensuring early childhood success.
This kind of collaboration matters because early childhood development is influenced by many interconnected municipal-based systems across the PN8 spectrum – child care, housing, transportation, health services, economic security and access to community spaces. Families experience these needs all at once, and government systems are most effective when they reflect that reality. Working together allows departments to align services, reduce barriers and support children and families more holistically.
To do this well, collaboration can be informed by data. When departments share information and insights, they gain a more comprehensive picture of where needs exist, where services are working, and where policies should adapt. Data help ground decisions in evidence, track progress over time and ensure resources are directed where they’ll have the greatest impact.
With shared goals, open communication and data-informed strategies, local governments can build lasting systems that help every child grow up safe, healthy and supported.
Key Questions to Ask Yourself
Reflecting on the following questions can help you identify opportunities, align priorities and strategically advance early childhood efforts within your city. Ask yourself these questions to guide your work on building stronger cross-departmental coordination among PN8 systems:
- Are we clearly signaling, through leadership, policy, and practice, that cross-departmental collaboration is a priority in this moment and always?
- Are we using data across departments to understand community needs, track outcomes, and inform decisions?
- How are we aligning or pooling resources, data, strategies and goals across departments to serve young children and families?
- Do we have structures in place to support consistent coordination across departments, and are they working?
- How are residents experiencing local government? Are we designing policies and practices around their needs?
- What barriers are limiting collaboration, and how can we address them together?
What are we doing to sustain collaborative systems beyond individual projects, available funds or political terms?
Your Next Steps for Getting Started
Municipal leaders can consider best practice approaches or strategies for strengthening cross-departmental collaboration and help you get started. Here are some helpful tips to get your departmental teams organized and collaborating:
- Complete a department mapping to clarify and document the roles and responsibilities of each department.
- Define and regularly revisit shared goals across departments to ensure alignment, accountability and responsiveness to changing community priorities.
- Establish formal structures such as interdepartmental teams or liaisons and consistent channels for cross-department communications to make collaboration routine and sustainable.
- Ensure departments have access to shared data and use it transparently and collaboratively to shape policy, funding and service delivery.
- Provide training and capacity-building to staff at all levels to strengthen collaboration skills, systems thinking and equity-centered problem-solving.
- Align budgets, staff, tools and other resources across departments to support shared priorities and prevent gaps or redundancies.
Celebrate collaborative wins and share lessons learned across departments to build trust, reinforce culture and encourage ongoing innovation.
Potential Outcomes & Impacts
Cross-department collaboration can lead to the following outcomes:
- Improved Service Coordination: Families experience more seamless access to programs and supports.
- Stronger Community Trust: Public confidence in local government is deepened.
- Greater Public Awareness: Residents understand how different parts of government contribute to shared priorities.
- More Equitable Practices: Policies and services are responsive to diverse community needs.
- Better Decision-Making: Policies and programs better reflect community conditions and lived experiences.
- Increased Efficiency and Impact: Coordinated efforts maximize the reach and effectiveness of resources.
Deeper Internal Collaboration Culture: Relationships, trust and shared ownership lead to more inclusive and innovative problem-solving.
City Examples
Tacoma, Wash.: The City of Tacoma convenes a quarterly meeting for department heads that they call the “Mighty Middle,” bringing together mid-level managers that work on the implementation of efforts across municipal government. This practice creates opportunities to keep prenatal-to-three on the radar across multiple departments, as well as breakdown silos impacting the way the city does business.
Newark, N. J.: Newark’s Prenatal to Third Grade 10-Point Literacy Plan is a strong example of cross-departmental collaboration. It brings together multiple city entities and community partners to address early literacy as a shared responsibility. The initiative was developed by a “Brain Trust” convened by Mayor Ras Baraka, which includes the Mayor’s Office of Comprehensive Community Education, the Newark Board of Education, the Newark Public Library, and local universities.
Boston, Mass.: In 2024, the City of Boston launched their Children’s Council, which brings together team members across city departments on a quarterly basis to share updates and move shared projects that impact the city’s children and families forward such as the Connect, Learn, Explore program and work around extreme heat and mitigating its impact on children, infants and pregnant people.
Resources to Help You Get Started
Embedding Equity Into How Your City Does Business for Early Childhood Success
Embedding Equity in Early Childhood Success
3 Ways Cross-Departmental Alignment Can Improve Public Health in Your City
Early Childhood Alignment Rating Tool
Navigate the roadmap
Homepage
Knowing Your Government’s Structures & Power Influences
Making the Case for Early Childhood Success
Strengthening State & Local Alignment
