Please join me in celebrating the release of Flourishing Children, Healthy Communities, and a Stronger Nation: The U.S. Early Years Climate Action Plan. Since its launch in June 2023, it has been my honor to serve as Co-Chair of the U.S. Early Years Climate Action Task Force, and I am grateful to my fellow Task Force members for their contributions and to Capita and the Aspen Institute for creating a forum for this important work. We owe the success of these recommendations not only to their hard work but also to the insights that were so generously shared with us by caregivers and other early childhood, health, climate and systems leaders through listening sessions.

Start Early believes that our early childhood system should be high-quality, equitable and responsive—and climate-resilient. Adapting and expanding our child- and family-facing services in the years ahead is especially critical to our ability to support those most impacted by climate disruption: pregnant people, infants, and young children, particularly those with disabilities and those impacted by environmental injustice and racism in America.

Together, the early childhood and climate change mitigation fields must look to the strengths and protective factors offered by our early childhood system to support these high-priority populations in the context of a changing climate. The challenge of climate change is daunting, but well-resourced, accessible early childhood systems are key in helping young children and their caregivers prepare and adapt. Child- and family-serving programs are key resources in both helping children and their families remain safe amid climate emergencies and helping them prepare for the future of our changed climate by building resilience, navigating information and resources and strengthening community networks.

Echoing Resilience: Intertribal Canoe Journeys

October celebrates Indigenous Peoples Day, honoring Indigenous People’s legacy, traditions and invaluable contributions.

In the rich tapestry of Indigenous coastal communities of the Pacific Northwest, Canada and Alaska, the timeless art of canoeing embodies more than just transportation — it represents profound journeys that symbolize unity, resilience, and a deep connection to the land and the water.

Start Early Washington’s Training and Technical Assistance Specialist Alex Patricelli shared how she reclaimed her Native culture and traditions with her young boys Mateo (6) and Kulani (4) through the celebration of intertribal canoe journeys at the 2023 Paddle to Muckleshoot.

For generations, coastal tribal communities relied on canoes for daily life. However, cultural ties were severed when canoeing was banned in the U.S. and Canada in the 20th century. More than 100 years passed before this restriction was lifted. In 1989, coastal communities reclaimed the canoe with an intertribal canoe journey to symbolize the resilience and survival of traditional practices against colonization and Western assimilation challenges.

In preparation for the 2023 epic canoe journey, Alex wanted to make her boys custom drums. The drum is regarded as the heartbeat of Indigenous culture in ceremonies, celebrations and spiritual gatherings.

Alex’s vision for the drums was clear: to harmoniously blend her son’s multifaceted cultural identities, uniting them as brothers while also preserving their individuality. She soaked the deer hide, skillfully assembled the drum kits and hand-painted each drum. The drums serve as a canvas for symbolism, where a turtle and manta ray take center stage through distinct imagery.

Alex elaborated on the origins of her art designs, “The outer ring symbolizes the boys’ Native heritage, inspired by the ‘formline’ design of Coastal Native artwork. Within the lines, both drums bear the symbols of a turtle and manta ray, which hold cultural significance to our Chamorro and Filipino heritage and represent qualities of persistence, wisdom, patience, good fortune, power and protection.”

Alex further emphasized, “drums are regarded as living entities and not just musical instruments; before a drum can be used, we awaken their spirit by burning sage and infusing them with good thoughts, energy and blessings. Mateo and Kulani are learning to respect and understand the hand drum’s cultural significance, a vital part of our families’ cultural teachings and identity that we’ve worked hard to reclaim for our family.”

*all photos credited to Alex Patricelli

Children have many big emotions! Preschoolers are learning to name and manage them. They are also learning friendship and other social skills. And sometimes, their behaviors are challenging. Many behaviors are appropriate for a child’s stage of development yet are found challenging by adults. This may be one of the biggest pain points for educators in early childhood. We’re taking a new approach to support educators who want to build positive social skills and decrease challenging behaviors in their classroom – Reflectable SEL.

In early childhood, we have always focused on social and emotional learning. We know that high quality social and emotional skills are linked to all other areas of children’s learning and critical to their success; skills like empathy, regulating behaviors and emotions, and problem solving. It can be challenging to supply the support preschoolers need to develop these important skills.

Every Pre-K teacher that I have met is deeply invested in the growth of their students. They want to send children to kindergarten ready to succeed in school and in life.

How Early Childhood Teachers are Feeling Today

At this moment, teachers are worried about the state of children’s social and emotional growth. There is an increasing number of challenging behaviors in the classroom that they must deal with, like emotional dysregulation, difficulty building relationships, or coping with change in routine. These challenges affect the mental health of both teachers and children in ways we haven’t seen before.

The recent pandemic highlighted the vital role early childhood teachers play in families’ success and how under supported they are. We know educators experience high levels of stress—and when they are stressed, children show more challenging behaviors. And the cycle of worry, frustration, anger, and dysregulation repeats.

In a recent visit to a child development center, I asked teachers, “What do you need to help children grow and learn skills like empathy, sharing, friendship skills and regulating their emotions?” Their answers:

1. We need support that is focused and specific to the work we are doing.
2. We need support that helps us respond to challenging behaviors in the moment during our daily work.

There are many valuable frameworks, curricula, and learning models for promoting growth and preventing challenging behaviors. Their use creates lasting and positive effects on children. But it is hard to apply frameworks, curricula, and special resources to guide a teacher’s practice day to day in real time.

Applying a Human-Centered Approach to Problems of Practice

At the Early Learning Lab – where we combine human-centered design and early childhood expertise with data and technology – we asked: How might we help practitioners quickly recall the strategies they learn in training to make it easier to use them with children? How might we provide easy mindfulness supports?

To answer these questions, we used a discovery process to create a new tool and bring it to teachers to get their ideas and input. These pilot teachers helped us make the experience one that would be helpful to them. With guidance from these educators, we built the first Reflectable tool to supply focused and specific bite sized actions in simple and easy to apply language. This put the power in the teachers’ hands. They were able to reflect on the topics that mattered most to them. This made it easier for teachers to practice the skills they learned during training in a way that made sense for their unique needs. In turn, this helped educators make quick choices for how to best care for children when challenging behaviors appear.

“I didn’t realize I had the power to really change things!” – Pilot Pre-k Teacher

After using this simple, new tool to reflect on practice and set weekly goals, teachers said they:

• felt valued as experts for the work they were doing
• could thoughtfully make choices that help children’s growth
• made meaningful mindset shifts for themselves
• experienced less stress themselves and saw fewer challenging behaviors among children

A New Tool to Support Reflective Practice

The result of testing and refining this tool is Reflectable® and its Social Emotional Learning content module. Reflectable’s online, guided 10-minute weekly reflection, helps educators see the power of taking small, intentional steps. These steps improve their social emotional learning practice in the areas they decide matter most and positively impact children.

Reflectable is a helpful pause for educators to take time for themselves and give children the attention and support they deserve. In turn, this boosts outcomes, morale, self-efficacy, and job satisfaction.

It’s time to rethink support tools for the early learning workforce. They are a precious resource, and their job is tough. The early learning workforce deserve to be heard and valued so they can listen to and value the children in their care.

No matter the season, the Capitol Campus is always gorgeous!
(Photo Credit: Erica Hallock, Sept. 19, 2023)

Changes in the Legislative Makeup in 2024 and Beyond

What legislative makeup changes can we expect heading into 2024’s legislative session? Christine Rolfes’ decision to leave the state Senate for a seat on the Kitsap County Board of Commissioners kicked off a series of changes to the Senate and House of Representatives membership and committee assignments. During the first shift, in August, the Kitsap County Board of Commissioners appointed House of Representatives member Drew Hansen to serve the remainder of Senator Rolfes’ Senate term (with now Commissioner Rolfes abstaining in the vote).

In September, the same Board of Commissioners appointed Greg Nance to fill Rep. Hansen’s former House seat. The part of Rep. Nance’s resume that is generating the most conversation is his passion for running and the fact that he ran across the country (that’s 3,156 miles!) for youth mental health. He also enjoys running ultramarathons. Impressive!

Because former Senator Rolfes chaired the powerful Senate Ways and Means Committee, her departure led to a number of changes in Senate Committee assignments. Last week, Senate Democrats announced that Senate Ways and Means Committee Vice Chair June Robinson from Snohomish County would assume the Chair role, with Senator Joe Nguyen from West Seattle serving as the Committee Vice Chair. Senate Higher Education and Workforce Development Committee Chair Emily Randall from Kitsap County was added to the Ways and Means Committee, filling Sen. Nguyen’s seat.

Senator Hansen was appointed to the Senate Higher Education and Workforce Development, Labor and Commerce and the Transportation Committees. In other shuffling, Senator Marko Liias replaced Sen. Rolfes on the Senate Agriculture, Water, Natural Resources and Parks Committee.

How are the 2024 elections shaping up? As we’ve previously reported, Governor Jay Inslee’s decision not to seek a fourth term set in motion a series of cascading dominoes. We know two current statewide officeholders – Attorney General Bob Ferguson and Public Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz – have thrown their hats into the ring for the open Governor seat, along with the current state Senator from the Issaquah area, Mark Mullet. Further, longtime Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler announced he does not plan to seek a seventh term, opening up a fourth statewide office.

As of this writing, five sitting state senators have announced plans to run for the four open statewide seats:

• Senator Mark Mullet from Issaquah for Governor
• Senator Manka Dhingra from Redmond for Attorney General
• Senator Patty Kuderer from Bellevue for Insurance Commissioner
• Senator Kevin Van De Wege from Port Angeles for Public Lands Commissioner
• Senator Rebecca Saldana from Seattle for Public Lands Commissioner

With Senate seats up for election every four years, only two of these current state senators have to give up their Senate seats to run for statewide office – Senators Mullet and Van De Wege. Senators Dhingra, Kuderer and Saldana are up for election in the Senate in 2026. Should any of these three prevail in their statewide election, however, there would be appointments for their Senate seats. Like with the recent ascension of Drew Hansen to Christine Rolfes’ Senate seat, it is very common for House members to seek an open Senate seat (which of course leads to openings in the House and more shuffling).

Another data point is that in 2024, 27 of the 49 Senate seats will be up for election. This is higher than usual because of a number of midterm Senate appointments. All 98 House seats will be up for election in 2024 as well.

Are you following all of this?? It is confusing and, yes, I had to make my own chart to keep track of all the potential movement. And, this is all happening before the usual round of retirement announcements that typically occur during the legislative session. Guess I should have written my chart in pencil …

State Revenue Update

On Sept. 26, the Washington State Revenue and Forecast Council met to receive the latest revenue report from the state’s Chief Economist Dr. Steve Lerch. While revenue collections are slowing, they do continue to outpace projections. Revenues are expected to be $663M more than anticipated for the 2023-25 biennium and $437M more than anticipated for the subsequent 2025-27 biennium.

Washington continues to enjoy its lowest unemployment rate of all time at 3.6%. High inflation rates continue to be a risk to the state’s economy as does the potential federal government shutdown. Dr. Lerch noted that the resumption of federal student loan payments will mean fewer dollars will flow into our state’s economy, impacting sales tax receipts. The question of the magnitude of the impact of the student loan payments resuming was asked by a number of legislators on the panel and Dr. Lerch replied it is too early to anticipate the impact.

After years of service, Dr. Lerch will be retiring from his role as the state’s economist and the Council is slated to appoint his successor at its Oct. 6 meeting. Dr. Lerch is widely considered a trusted resource and is appreciated for calling it like he sees it.

State Agency Decision Packages

Each September, state agencies submit to the Office of Financial Management (OFM) “Decision Packages” containing agency requests for consideration of funding to be included in the Governor’s budget released in mid-late December.

Note that 2024 is an “off year” where the Legislature will adopt a supplemental budget. Supplemental budgets are designed to account for caseload shifts or unanticipated expenses (such as expenses associated with intense fire seasons). While supplemental budgets are not intended for significant investments, state agencies and advocates (and legislators) will still try to advance priority initiatives.

Over the next few months, the Governor and his team will weigh the various proposals against available funding. One final revenue forecast released in November will inform the Governor’s proposal with the Governor’s budget out in December.

These decision packages can be found on the OFM website. Web access to the decision packages is clunky, so we summarized some of the key early learning requests submitted by the Department of Children, Youth and Families below:

ECEAP Entitlement

DCYF requested a total of $37M for the supplemental budget, with the amount rising to $82.09M in years 25-27. DCYF proposes the new funding support three areas: slot rates, slot expansion and quality supports.

• Slot Rates ($29.759M). DCYF requested a 19% rate increase for school-day slots and a 28% increase for working-day slots. Funding at this amount would equal the full rate recommendation in the ECEAP cost study . This would raise the school-day rate from $14,893 to $17,659 (and then to $18,030 in SFY 26). It would also increase the working-day rate from the current $21,478 to $27,587 (going up to $28,166 in SFY 26).
• Slot Expansion ($4.976M). The adopted 2023-25 budget included 500 new school-day slots. In the supplemental budget, DCYF is requesting an additional 200 school-day and 50 working-day slots. The decision package notes that three contractors returned 246 slots this year due to staffing shortages.
• Quality Supports ($1.046M in maintenance and $149K for new slots). This funding request would support child assessment, curriculum and training. This request was not fully funded in the 2023-25 budget and $1.046M represents that funding gap. Additional funding is needed because of pricing increases from a vendor and quality funding not provided to support new slots allotted.

Making Child Care Work for Families

A total of $12.597M in the 2023-25 supplemental budget is requested to align eligibility for ECEAP, Working Connections, Head Start, Early Head Start and Early ECEAP. Alignment would include:

• Allow participation in ECEAP, Early ECEAP, Head Start and Early Head Start as an approved Working Connections activity. This would cost $2.377M and impact about 166 families who are enrolled in Working Connections and either Head Start or ECEAP.
• Continued Working Connections Eligibility for 12 months for children adopted or in guardianship. This would cost $1.091M.
• Exclude child support, Social Security and SSI as income for ECEAP and Working Connections Eligibility. This would cost $6.876M for child support and $2.115M for SS/SSI exclusion.

Infant Rate Enhancement and Non-Standard Hours Bonus

A total of $23.758M is requested in the 2023-25 supplemental budget and $47.458M in 2025-27 to:

• Increase infant rate enhancement from $90 a month to $500 a month. This would cost $14 million and impact about 2500 children. DCYF also requests 1 FTE to manage the contracting of slots for the approximately 100 infants placed with kin or relative parents.
• Increase non-standard hour care bonus from $135 a month to $500 a month. This would cost $8M.
• Increase shared services funding to $1.7M. This supports training, mentoring and consulting.

Transition to Kindergarten Coordinated Recruitment and Enrollment

DCYF requests $1.357M and 2 FTE to implement the requirements of the 2023 Transition to Kindergarten legislation (the adopted budget did not include this funding). The decision package also includes funding for Child Care Aware to support bringing local partners together to coordinate and communicate. The goal is to support increased access to pre-K and informed parental choice.

The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction may also have a decision package for its costs associated with this work, but it has not been posted as of this writing.

State Redistricting Updates

In August, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Lasnik found that the map for the 15th Legislative District in the Yakima area limited Latino voter participation and representation in elections. The Washington State Standard does a great job of describing the case in a series of articles.

Invalidating the map drawn by the state’s Redistricting Commission, Judge Lasnik directed the Legislature to either call the Redistricting Commission back to redraw the district or leave the redrawing to the federal court. The Judge ordered the new redistricting plan be sent to the Secretary of State by March 25, 2024 to allow time for the new district(s) to be considered for the 2024 elections.

It is important to note that the redrawing of one legislative district has ripple effects and it is likely that this redistricting will impact the makeup of multiple legislative districts.

While the District Court did provide an option for the Redistricting Commission to be convened by the Legislature to redraw the district, on Sept. 13, the State Standard reported that Democratic legislative leadership does not plan to exercise that option, and the federal court should undergo the redistricting process.

Expect this redistricting conversation to be another focal point in 2024.

Capitol Campus Construction

Irv Newhouse Building during the waning days of the Legislative session in April 2023
(Photo Credit: Erica Hallock)

A much different view in September 2023
(Photo Credit: Erica Hallock)

A visit to Olympia is not complete without checking out the progress on the Capitol campus modernization project. As the most recent picture clearly demonstrates, the Irv Newhouse Building – which housed Senate Republican members – along with the Capitol Press houses and the old visitor center are all demolished. The new “view” as you walk toward the Capitol campus is striking.

You can learn more about the Newhouse replacement building on the Department of Enterprise Services website. One update that will bring joy to Capitol dwellers is the inclusion of conference rooms for meetings – something that is sorely lacking on the current campus.

A note if you are planning to visit the Capitol in the near-term, the visitor’s parking lot is closed due to the construction. Alternative parking lots can be found here.

Next week, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) is holding the first two of its three fall budget hearings, the first step in determining next year’s proposed education budget for the state. These hearings provide the early childhood advocacy community an opportunity to help shape the state’s Fiscal Year 2025 budget proposal. Please consider participating *virtually or in-person * in requesting a $75 million increase in state funding for the Early Childhood Block Grant (ECBG) and to continue and grow the $5 million investment to improve inclusion supports for children with disabilities and developmental delays.

Here’s how you can participate in the ISBE budget hearing process:

1. Visit ISBE.net/BudgetRequestForm, and enter your name and contact information.
2. Choose the hearing you’ll attend or select the option for submitting a written testimony. Written requests must be received by ISBE no later than Oct. 31.
3. Under the “Add Program Request” drop-down menu select “Early Childhood Education”
4. Enter $75,000,000.00 under the “Additional Requested Funding” section.
5. Under the field that begins with “Please provide the Board with a description of your funding request,” you will need to put further detail on the $75 million ask.

Upcoming Budget Hearings:

• Oct. 3, 4-7 p.m. CT (In-person in Springfield)
  Must submit a written funding request online by Sept. 28
• Oct. 5, 4-7 p.m. CT (Virtual)
  Registration deadline is Oct. 2 at 11:59 p.m.
  
• Oct. 30, 1-4 p.m. CT (Virtual)
  Registration deadline is Oct. 25 at 11:59 p.m.

General Tips to Testify at ISBE’s Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Hearings:

• Use your time wisely as oral testimony is being limited to three (3) minutes per person.
• Be sure to personalize your testimony with your own perspective.
• Compose your testimony with an introduction, early childhood needs, the $75 million ask and conclusion.
• Use your own words as much as possible, for variety and authenticity.

Contact us if you plan to testify or have questions. Thank you for speaking up for children and families across the state!

Late summer marks the beginning of the return-to-school season for K-12 teachers across the country. Yet within the early learning field, child care educators work year-round providing care for our youngest learners while earning low wages and working under difficult conditions.

According to 2021 survey data from the Illinois Network of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies, the median wage for early childhood assistant teachers was $12.00 per hour and for early childhood lead teachers, the median wage was $14.29.¹ In terms of benefits, only approximately half of centers are able to offer health insurance.¹ Not only is compensation abysmally low, but child care teachers work long hours to reflect the unique care schedules of families.

July marked the beginning of the City of Chicago’s annual budget process, the first for Mayor Brandon Johnson. The City’s new administration has made clear their commitment to K-12 education and they are advocating for increasing quality learning opportunities and supports for all students. It’s our hope that the Mayor and City Council will consider including Chicago’s early childhood care and education system in their education and health priorities. Many early childhood programs in Chicago received a much needed influx of investment from ARPA relief dollars to help stabilize and support their programs. However, many of those funds will come to a cliff in the next few years. Now is the time to increase local investment to support Chicago families and follow in the State’s footsteps of prioritizing early childhood education in the budget.

Strengthening family engagement and retention in home visiting programs are crucial for supporting positive lifelong outcomes for children and families. Here’s a peek at some of the things we are learning about ways to enhance family engagement and retention:

Increased Communication and Check-Ins: Regular and open communication keeps families engaged and connected. Frequent check-ins, whether through phone calls, text messages or virtual meetings, allow home visitors to stay in touch with families, offer support, and address any concerns or challenges families may face.

Flexibility and Individualization: Recognizing that each family has unique needs and circumstances, programs can offer flexible approaches and individualized support. What works for one family may not work for another, so tailoring services to meet families’ specific needs and preferences is fundamental for engagement and retention.

Personalized Celebrations and Surveys: Personalized cards or small gifts to celebrate milestones or achievements demonstrate that the program values and acknowledges the families’ progress. Surveys are also helpful to understand the evolving needs of families and gather feedback to improve program effectiveness.

Engaging Multiple Family Members: Involving various family members during home visits can create a sense of collective support and shared responsibility for the child’s well-being. Engaging parents, grandparents, or other caregivers welcomes input from multiple perspectives.

Flexibility in Scheduling and Locations: Offering flexibility in scheduling home visits and meeting locations can help accommodate families’ unique circumstances, reducing barriers to access. This approach acknowledges that families have busy lives and varying constraints.

Group Connections: Providing opportunities for families to connect in group settings can foster a sense of community and support. Group activities or events can also be beneficial for sharing experiences, learning from one another and reducing feelings of isolation.

Rotating Locations: Rotating locations for connections across the county or service area can help meet families where they are, making support more accessible and inclusive for families.

By investing in the quality of relationships between home visitors and families and implementing strategies that address families’ specific needs and preferences, home visiting programs can successfully promote family engagement and retention.

The above information stems from our Continuous Quality Improvement work with home visiting programs during FY23. To learn more about how home visiting transforms lives, we invite you to explore our work in Washington state.

Whether it is preparing an older sibling for the arrival of a new baby or potty training a toddler, Camille Carlson recognizes that everyone – whether they are aware of it or not – uses Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) to improve everyday life. CQI is an invaluable reminder of the strength found in taking small, intentional steps. Therefore, it is important to break up the process into achievable goals – and celebrate the milestones along the way!

As Start Early Washington’s Quality Improvement and Innovation Manager, Camille Carlson’s approach to Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) is instrumental in supporting home visiting services statewide. Through individual and group coaching, Camille guides professionals in the field toward providing the best possible services for children and families using tools to identify and test changes on a small scale. Together with CQI teams and Washington home visiting programs, Camille works to identify changes that result in significant improvements for the home visiting field, families and children, all part of Start Early Washington’s mission to create strong foundations necessary for more fulfilling work that continuously improves supports and resources available to families statewide.

A Beautiful Reminder

Camille uses her expertise to help home visiting programs deliver services relevant to the unique needs of the children and families they support. Her firsthand experience as a parent fuels her desire to improve systems of support for children, their families, and the teams of staff that serve them. Camille’s motivation for this work grew when she was pregnant with her second child. “During my pregnancy, I had the support of home visitors and supervisors at my fingertips. As I listened to home visiting professionals across the state discuss parent coaching and family observations, I started applying their valuable insight to navigate the changing dynamics of my life with two children. This process helped me gain confidence in my parenting skills, and it was a beautiful reminder that family is central to our work. I was overwhelmed by the support that was given to me and the confidence that it brought, which emphasized the importance of sharing such a positive experience with others.”

Connecting Data to Practice

Quality improvement is essential to providing successful home visiting services where staff collaboratively establish goals, reflect and create actionable steps for improvement. By adhering to a CQI process, home visiting programs can build strong relationships with families, make well-planned decisions and increase positive outcomes to achieve better support for children and families.

The ongoing, collaborative process draws on the expertise and experience of home visitors, supervisors, community partners and families. Although data points are a big part of CQI, Start Early Washington works toward cultivating a culture of continuous quality improvement rather than another set of requirements to check off for reports. “Since I’ve been in my role, we have seen an investment in a CQI culture. Teams have grown significantly, and we are beginning to see a sense of buy-in and excitement around the process.”

Camille shared her immense gratitude for the opportunity to work with and coach organizations that provide home visiting services to families across Washington state with the shared goal of creating positive change for the organizations and families that they serve, utilizing a CQI lens.

In these tumultuous times, the need for greater diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is in the news almost every day. One of the best ways to raise tolerant, accepting and empathetic children ready to thrive in life is to start early, incorporating inclusion and anti-bias into early childhood education curriculum for infants, toddlers and their families.

In a recent activity, children recently made posters showcasing their cultural heritage, as well as their similarities and differences. “The students were able to share and be proud of what makes them unique… your hair may be in ponytails, while my hair is in locks. The simple rule is we would like to treat people fairly and acknowledge that we are different but we’re also the same and need to show each other respect,” Jordan continues.

This focus on respect and appreciation for inclusion is particularly important during this time of racial unrest. “The way that we address the societal environment is by talking about community, family, culture and heritage,” says Jordan.

To help talk about these topics, staff at Educare Chicago have incorporated Sesame Street’s “We’re Different, We’re the Same” segment into their curriculum, as well as the book “Sometimes People March” by Tessa Allen.

Educare Chicago teachers also help students learn how to process big emotions such as sadness and anger, while emphasizing that people express feelings in a variety of ways to encourage an appreciation for personality differences. The school’s Wellness Specialists also connect with parents to let them know where their children are from a socioemotional perspective and offer guidance for development.

Intensive family engagement is a core tenet of the school’s approach, meaning the school’s inclusive curriculum also extends to children’s first teachers: their parents and caregivers. Staff provide parents with book recommendations, including those outlined above to help encourage at-home discussions about DEI. There are also parent support groups and a Parent Committee to help parents to build strong relationships with staff and one another.

Jordan has already seen the impact of their work. Recently, students celebrated a very shy classmate for stepping outside his comfort zone to give a presentation to the entire school about his pet snake.

Learn more about how to address race and identity with children by reading our National Racial Day of Healing blog post.