Northwest Illinois
Contact Info
Network Coordinator: Pamela Williams (815) 599-8432 pamwilliams@stephensoncountyil.gov
Family Engagement Specialist: Rebekah Randecker 815-815-8435 rrandecker@stephensoncountyil.gov
Address:
Stephenson County Health Department
10 W. Linden St
Freeport, IL 61032
Families at the Center: Transforming Early Childhood Systems in Northwest Illinois
The All Our Kids (AOK) Network of Northwest Illinois (NWIL) includes Stephenson, Carroll and Jo Daviess counties. From 2024 to 2025 the NWIL AOK completed a four-phase Community Assessment and Action Planning Process (CAPAP). Local partners and families looked at data and identified the following early childhood outcomes as focus for the next five years: fewer children are abused or neglected, more children receive developmental screenings, and fewer parents/caregivers report being depressed.
In fiscal year 2026, the NWIL AOK identified objectives and approaches to improve these targeted outcomes for children ages birth to eight and their families in the three counties. The network is working together to improve family engagement, increase access to mental health resources, strengthen developmental screening coordination, expand equitable outreach, and improve the use of the IRIS referral system. Network partners continue to demonstrate strong collaboration, community involvement, and a growing commitment to family-centered systems change.
Elevating the parent voice
The local team achieved a major accomplishment in FY26 by expanding family engagement efforts. The AOK Family Engagement Specialist strengthened the Parent Ambassador effort through onboarding, peer learning sessions, Parent Cafés, and community partnerships. The team hosted Parent Cafés throughout the year, providing safe spaces for families to discuss parenting stress, resilience, communication, and self-care. Participation steadily increased, with events engaging dozens of parents and children across the region.
One of the network’s strongest partnerships is a collaboration formed with the Freeport & Local Parents group. Together, NWIL AOK and parent leaders worked side-by-side to co-create family-centered events, gather parent feedback, and strengthen parent voice within the community. Through this partnership, families helped plan and support Parent Cafés, Mom Swaps, Love Bug Potlucks, and other family engagement activities that connected parents to resources and one another. The NWIL AOK also gathered feedback from parents regarding barriers to services, including transportation, childcare, work schedules, language barriers, mental health concerns, and difficulty navigating available resources. This partnership helped ensure that family voices directly informed outreach strategies, event planning, and future network priorities.
Supporting Mental Health in Our Region
Mental health promotion is a central focus of the NWIL AOK. The team worked alongside network partners to create and distribute child mental health resource flyers, participate in local wellness and mental health fairs, and partner with the 708 Mental Health Board to strengthen local mental health supports. During Youth Mental Health Week, the community participated in activities centered around colors connected to emotions to promote conversations about children’s mental wellness and emotional expression. The network leadership also participated in Mental Health First Aid training opportunities and hosted a brainstorming session with regional mental health workers to identify barriers to care, including workforce burnout, access challenges, and system complexity. These discussions helped identify solutions such as warm hand-offs, shared resources, and improved coordination between agencies.
Another key accomplishment is the development of wellness and mental health toolkits for families experiencing stress, isolation, or limited access to services. The Network formed a Mental Health Workgroup. Together the workgroup collaborated to create printed and digital versions of the toolkits, secure distribution plans, and coordinate outreach through trusted community agencies and events.
Equity & Inclusion
The network also advanced equity and empathy initiatives through storytelling and reflective learning opportunities. Network partners explore the impact of trauma, bias, and systemic barriers on families through facilitated discussions that centered on the film Straw by Tyler Perry. This work informed the creation of an Inclusive Communication Guide, a culturally responsive engagement checklist, and trauma-informed tools designed to improve service delivery and strengthen trust between providers and families.
The NWIL AOK also made significant progress reaching more families through bilingual and inclusive engagements. The Family Engagement Team created monthly bilingual community calendars. Partners distributed these widely throughout the region, helping families connect with resources and events. The partners also improved access and inclusion for Spanish-speaking families by offering Spanish-language resource materials, bilingual Parent Cafés, translated directories, and bilingual community events. Partnerships with local schools, Family Connects Illinois, Mercy Health, Molina, and community organizations strengthened these outreach efforts and expanded engagement opportunities for families.
Supporting Child Development
The Developmental Screening Workgroup accomplished important groundwork during FY26 to strengthen coordination and consistency in developmental screening practices across the region. The workgroup brought together community partners to improve timely developmental screenings for children birth to age five, strengthen referrals to Early Intervention services, improve communication and reporting between agencies, and rebuild collaboration among screening partners. Throughout the year, the workgroup developed draft standardized developmental screening protocols and a memorandum of understanding (MOU) designed to align screening practices and reporting procedures across participating agencies. These efforts are intended to improve early identification, referral coordination, and family access to developmental supports throughout Northwest Illinois.
Information & Referral
In the area of information and referral coordination, the NWIL AOK made substantial progress, strengthening the IRIS referral system. The network established an IRIS Workgroup, hosted Community of Practice meetings, created onboarding and training materials, expanded technical assistance opportunities, and added IRIS resources to the local website. Workgroups collaborated to standardize implementation protocols and improve referral coordination across agencies.
AOK also expanded awareness of community resources by updating local websites, creating weekly community flyer distributions, improving online calendars, and redesigning family resource guides to be more user-friendly and family centered. These efforts improved accessibility to information for both providers and families throughout the region.
Community Engagement / Networking
NWIL AOK participated in and supported numerous community events to expand community engagement and outreach. Local staff, parent ambassadors, and partners attended health fairs, resource fairs, festivals, backpack giveaways, community baby showers, family connection nights, Mom Swaps, holiday events, and parenting activities. During Child Abuse Prevention Week, the AOK partnered with community organizations to raise awareness through Blue Ribbon Week activities.
The NWIL AOK received a proclamation from the Mayor of Freeport, displaying blue ribbons and prevention signs throughout the community, hosting a poster-making contest, and promoting awareness activities that encouraged families and organizations to stand together in support of child abuse prevention. These events connected hundreds of families to resources, services, and support systems while strengthening relationships between families and providers.
Since launching our data-driven planning process, the NWIL AOK continues to demonstrate meaningful progress toward building a more coordinated, equitable, family-centered system of support for young children and families in the Northwest region of Illinois. Through collaboration, innovation, and strong community partnerships, the AOK Network is laying the foundation for long-term systems improvement and stronger outcomes for children and families.
“I have been an AOK community partner for over 20 years and feel the collaboration and partnerships that have developed through AOK have allowed all of our programs to better support children and families. It is a great network of partners all working together for a common goal and sharing success through making families the priority. I think AOK is very valuable and makes us stronger as a community.”
–Beth Johnson, Director of Grant Services, Regional Office of Education #8