Guided by the vision that families in West Virginia have the power to define their own destinies, the Healthy Kids and Families Coalition is a grassroots outreach organization that strives to organize a diverse group of individuals from all backgrounds that are dedicated to improving the health and well-being of West Virginia's children and families through leadership development, community engagement and policy change. The Healthy Kids and Families Coalition works with other partners to improve the health of children and families in West Virginia by providing a forum for organizations to collaborate and resolve issues that affect WV families with a current emphasis on ending child poverty and increasing community wellness. 

History of Organization: In 1998, the Healthy Kids Coalition, now known as the WV Healthy Kids and Families Coalition, brought together supporters from across the state to enact legislation for a Medicaid program providing health insurance for West Virginia Children, CHIP. After the initial legislation was enacted, work with partners such as the West Virginia Primary Care Association and the WV Council of Churches to increase enrollment of eligible but uninsured kids and adults into Medicaid and WVCHIP continued, including a name change in 2002 to embrace the inclusion of both children and their families. Alongside work with WVCHIP, the Coalition expanded in both scope and partnerships. In conjunction with the United Way Parents as Teachers Program, the Coalition began an education initiative in 2006 to help parents understand how to attend to the minor medical needs of their children to reduce emergency room visits and expenses, developed Child Health and Healthy Schools report cards with partner agencies, and held several community meetings to develop a Child Health Agenda. The Coalition also began partnering with multiple agencies to sponsor conferences focused on child health issues and became an independent non-profit organization in 2012 with the goals of not only improving child health policy, but ending child poverty in WV and expanding outreach efforts to a broader range of issues as an organization composed of and for WV kids and families.  

Programs and Projects: Covering Kids and Families initiative (2002) sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation increased outreach efforts to increase enrollment in Medicaid and CHIP for eligible West Virginia residents. The Process Improvement Collaborative (2004), sponsored by the Southern Institute on Children and Families and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation examined ways to improve the eligibility and re-enrollment processes for Medicaid and WVCHIP. In 2005, the Coalition and its partner the United Way of Central West Virginia conducted the "What to Do When Your Child Gets Sick: A Parent Education Pilot Study". The Coalition has sponsored several conferences and statewide projects including The Growing Healthy Children Conference, The Child Care Conference, The Mission Gathering: Health, Energy, and Poverty Conference, the oral health project, perinatal wellness project, and participates in the West Virginians for Affordable Health Care organization. The Coalition also writes policy papers and reports relevant to child and family health and wellness. Current projects and partnerships include the Our Children, Our Future Campaign that works to end child poverty including an annual policy summit to learn about policy efforts across the state and develop an platform and holding policy and non-partisan candidate training academy workshops that teaches interested persons the skills for running for an elected office. The WV Healthy Kids and Families Coalition is also a partner and co-founder of the Try This West Virginia healthy communities movement. 

Partners and Frequent Collaborators

• West Virginia Health Insurance Program 
• West Virginia Primary Care Association
• Try This West Virginia
• The West Virginia Community Development Hub
• West Virginia Council of Churches
• United Way of Central West Virginia
• West Virginia Community Voices, Inc.
• West Virginia Perinatal Partnership
• Our Vote, Our Future
• Southern Institute on Children and Families
• Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation 
• Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation

Future Developments for This Wiki

• Policy Summit and policy platform