It is essential to involve families in the building and improvement of the system itself. This means inviting families to co-create programs, policies, and systems as equal partners, working side-by-side with public sector leaders and educators. At Start Early, we believe the best way to do this is by teaching systems leaders and families how to work together using the principles of human-centered design (HCD). HCD helps systems consciously create programs that replenish relationships with families and communities, rather than extract a toll from them. One strategy that leverages human-centered design to build comprehensive, equitable, birth to five systems is Family Centered Design from Start Early’s Innovation Lab. Through the Family Centered Design experience, families gain the skills and confidence to make positive changes in the policies, services and systems that affect their lives, and systems leaders gain insight into the families’ lived experience, needs and behaviors.

Finally, system leaders and advocates must deploy strategies to intentionally partner with families – going beyond conducting surveys, focus groups, or interviews to ensure strong family influence and power in decision-making. Examples include forming a parent committee to influence policy and programming decisions, and/or including family leaders on a team to support implementation. And to enable family leadership in these efforts, supports such as stipends, travel reimbursement, and interpretative services should be provided.

Need extra support with promoting family leadership and effectively partnering with families? Start Early Consulting invites systems leaders to leverage our consultants as strategic advisors with this and other work toward a more equitable early childhood system. Please reach out to us at Consulting@StartEarly.org to learn more.

From data-driven working sessions to a supportive fellowship for leaders, we translate decades of experience into actionable learning for today. Strengthen your program’s outcomes with Start Early Professional Development.

Interested in learning more? Reach out to us today to discuss how to best leverage your federal stimulus dollars to support your workforce through this time of transition and into the future. Email ProfessionalDevelopment@StartEarly.org to schedule a conversation with one of our professional learning advisors, and join our mailing list to find out about upcoming learning experiences from Start Early.

We spoke about how the four elements that serve as the foundation of the NEAR@Home Toolkit — Neuroscience, Epigenetics, ACEs, and Resilience — come to life in our recent webinar at the Region 9 Early Head Start Conference, “Messing Up in Home Visits: an Opportunity for Repair and Deepening the Relationship.”

As a former home visitor, I can attest that we all mess up. Ruptures in home visitors’ relationships with families are inevitable. By openly talking about our mistakes, we have an opportunity to learn and grow. In the webinar, we share strategies to repair the interactions between home visitors and families, leading to a more authentic and trusting home visitor-parent relationship. View the webinar recording directly below.

For home visitors who want to go deeper, the NEAR@Home Facilitated Learning process offers home visiting programs additional support for the toolkit, including experiential and reflective learning resources and modules, as well as support to implement the toolkit. The facilitated learning process occurs over 6-12 months in a safe, supported small group led by a specially trained NEAR Facilitator with expertise in home visiting and infant mental health. Reach out to us at ProfessionalDevelopment@StartEarly.org to discuss how to bring NEAR@Home to your program.

Throughout the panel discussion, each leader elevated professional development as one method they are employing to improve staff retention and morale. Their use of evidence-based, sustainable professional development strategies in partnership with Start Early has resulted in leadership being able to identify exactly where their staff need support. The use of Start Early Professional Development has also empowered these leaders to carve out the time and space they and their teams need to have necessary conversations about improving quality. With everything else that these leaders were dealing with throughout the past year, they were still able to focus on providing quality services and supports to staff, families, and children in their programs.

Start Early Professional Development is grounded in decades of cutting-edge research demonstrating the direct link between strong leadership, organizational climate and culture and positive child outcomes. Read our qualitative research report detailing what strong organizational environments in programs look and feel like for families and professionals. Leaders, teachers, and families were empowered to realize higher-quality practices and better outcomes for young children.

Interested in learning more about Start Early Professional Development? Reach out to us today to discuss how to best leverage your federal stimulus dollars to support your workforce through this time of transition and into the future. Email ProfessionalDevelopment@StartEarly.org to schedule a conversation with one of our professional learning advisors.

Thank you to our wonderful panelists:

• Amye Hoskins, Professional Development Specialist, Mississippi Department of Education, Office of Early Childhood
• Karin Scott, Director of Data and Program Performance, Child Care Associates
• Andi Bales Molnar, Director Head Start Collaboration, Oregon
• Facilitators: Debra Pacchiano, VP Translational Research, Start Early and Anisha Ford, Program Manager, Start Early

State Leadership for Strong, Accountable and Equitable Home Visiting Systems

States are leading the way in advancing home visiting services, home visiting finance, and statewide systems with multiple models. Following adoption of federal Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program, with support from the Pew Home Visiting Campaign, more than a dozen states adopted systems approaches, often supported by common, cross-model accountability measures and produce annual reports for their legislatures or governors. Panelists in this presentation walk through how to  broaden the audience’s understanding of how to advance a home visiting system, use cross-model funding and measurement and improve equity in home visiting.

Maternal Health Outcomes: Balancing the Scales of Equity

Maternal health and well-being are necessary to the development of healthy outcomes for children and create the foundation for favorable opportunities to build strong parent-child relationships from birth. Yet data and research indicate that women of color have inequitable access to care during and after the perinatal period. In this presentation, moderator Andrea Palmer from the Pritzker Foundation, and panelists Zea Malawa, M.D., San Francisco Department of Health, Angela Doyinsola Aina, MPH, from Black Mamas Matter Alliance and Dr. Michael Warren, MD, MPH, FAAP, Associate Administrator of the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, discusses current and desired maternal health outcomes, unintended consequences of policies and practices implemented in existing systems, and strategies to increase positive maternal health outcomes for women of color at the program, community, state and federal levels.

Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences, HOPE

Now more than ever, we have a tremendous opportunity – and responsibility – to fundamentally transform our work by adopting practices that recognize, value and actively bolster positive experiences, those positive childhood experiences that drive health and well-being. Children grow and develop in response to their experiences, beginning at the moment of birth. Experiences of strong foundational relationships, safe, stable and supportive environments, authentic engagement, and opportunities for social and emotional growth can support optimal development and resilience. In this presentation, hear from Dr. Robert Sege, director of the Hope National Resource Center, on this paradigm shift towards Healthy Outcomes from Positive Experiences – HOPE on the power of positive transformation for ourselves and the families and communities we serve.

One panelist, an early childhood education teacher from Southwest Child Development Center in Oklahoma City, shared this call to action: “The [federal] administration should acknowledge child care workers. We are on the same guidelines as school teachers, we just make less money than them. Child care workers should get the same benefits that school teachers receive.”

While the pandemic has revealed the fragility of our under-resourced child care workforce, it has illuminated the strength and visibility of the Partnerships model. A recent qualitative policy analysis from Start Early, found that Partnerships support continuity of care for infants and toddlers and raise the level of quality for child care.

Participants came away from the discussion with a deeper understanding of Partnerships and their benefits, particularly during the pandemic, as well as ideas on how to support and sustain Partnerships and professional development resources for themselves and their staff.

Thank you to our wonderful panelists:

• Melinda George-LeCote, Director, Child Care Assistance Program in Louisiana
• Amanda Guarino, Policy Director, First Five Years Fund
• Charlina Tirso, Teacher, Southwest Child Development Center
• Sujey M. Venegas, Sr. Director Family, Community Engagement, Early Head Start-Child Care Partnership, United Way of Miami-Dade County
• Moderator: Kristin Bernhard, SVP Advocacy and Policy, Start Early