The goal of the Marin Children's Health Initiative is to improve health access for all of Marin's low income children and youth by finding the uninsured, enrolling them, linking them to services, increasing retention, and providing funding to insure those not eligible for publicly funded health insurance.

Our highly collaborative health access effort began in 1995 with the founding of Healthy Marin Partnership by the leaders of Marin County hospital and health care services.

In 1998, Healthy Marin Partnership, together with Health and Human Services and School Linked Services (an initiative of the Marin Community Foundation providing a system of care for Marin’s at risk kids) spearheaded the first community-focused insurance enrollment and outreach effort in Marin with the introduction of Healthy Families. 

This first effort led to a collaborative, which grew to include many other organizations, and in October 2003, Marin expanded beyond its outreach collaborative to develop its first policy level body dedicated to the larger Children’s Health Initiative (CHI). 

The CHI Coordinating Committee is a collaborative of the County of Marin, First 5 Marin Children and Families Commission, Marin Community Foundation, Healthy Marin Partnership, the Latino Council, Coastal Health Alliance, the Marin Community Clinic and the Marin County Office of Education. The committee was formally approved by the Board of Supervisors on May 4th, 2004. The Committee is staffed by Health and Human Services under the direction of Dr. Larry Meredith, Director.