SLICE of Collaboration 2026-10-06

Join us at Noon on Tuesday, Oct. 6 for a SLICE of Collaboration! The topic for this session is "Help Me Connect," a program offered by the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families. 

Help Me Connect launched in 2021 as a resource portal to help professionals working with expectant families and families with young children find services in their local communities that support healthy child development and family wellbeing. The portal has since grown to a trusted resource that connects both professionals and families to programs across Minnesota, eleven tribal Nations, and border cities in neighboring states. Help Me Connect is available in four languages (English, Spanish, Somali and Hmong) and interacts with a database of 15,000 services and programs, such as:

• Food shelves and diaper banks
• Doulas and prenatal resources
• School district programs and parenting education
• Autism supports and early childhood mental health services 

Join this session to participate in a live demo of the portal and to learn more about the background of Help Me Connect, current user themes and analytics, ways that professionals use the portal to support families they are serving, and recent enhancements that help all users find what they need. Help Me Connect is a state-agency initiative led through the MN Department of Children, Youth, and Families and in partnership with the Departments of Education, Health, and Human Services; local school districts; government agencies; and community organizations.

Shawn Holmes is the Help Me Connect Coordinator at the MN Department of Children, Youth and Families. She leads a cross-agency team with additional partners from the MN Departments of Health; Education; and Human Services and the Governor’s Children’s Cabinet that is responsible for implementing an online resource portal that connects expectant and parenting families with young children to services in their local communities. She previously worked at the MN Department of Health for 26 years in a variety of positions within the Child and Family Health Division/Children & Youth with Special Health Needs Section. Shawn holds a BA in Child Psychology and a MSW Certificate in Child Abuse Prevention Studies.