Publications
Early Childhood x Bridgeport, CT
A trailblazing new program at Gateway Community College in New Haven, Conn., combines prerequisite training for doula certification with instruction toward becoming a community health worker. It's challenging long-standing barriers to maternal health. When people with lived experience acquire professional certification, their perspectives can help shift systems.
The New Ecology of Early Childhood: Revisiting Bronfenbrenner’s Theory in the Context of Contemporary Challenges and Opportunities
A constellation of conditions currently exists that is impacting the ecosystems of young children in unprecedented ways and leading to new challenges for children and the adults in their lives. We refer to these conditions as the New Ecology of Early Childhood. With a sense of urgency, we outline five recommendations for both public and private action.
The RAPID Survey: An Innovative Tool for Elevating Parent and Provider Voices in Early Childhood
Born out of the COVID-19 pandemic, RAPID subsequently evolved into a platform that gathers actionable data to advance science and inform data-driven, evidence-based early childhood policy, practice, and systems.
Early Childhood x Guilford County, NC
Using an integrated data system, community-based organizations in Guilford County, North Carolina are able to serve families better by linking records and providing insight into past needs and service history.
Early Childhood x Memphis, TN
To gain a better understanding of the context for the relationships shaping the young minds of Memphis, First 8 Memphis went to the experts – the adults in their lives.
Early Childhood x Detroit, MI
Swartz’s visit to Detroit’s Cody Rouge neighborhood, photographed by Zak Bratto, reveals a cohesive network of nonprofits partnering with families to come up with and realize plans to build agency and power.
Early Childhood x Gering, NE
In western Nebraska, author Mark Swartz and photographer Jeff van Patten discover community efforts engaging business and political leadership to participate in strategies for meeting the demand for high-quality child care.
Introducing: ECX
By Philip Fisher and Joan Lombardi
Communities everywhere are turning their focus to ways in which they can support young children and the adults in their lives. Early Childhood X (ECX) was created to celebrate and amplify these transformative place-based efforts.
From Program to Place: A Community Systems Approach to Supporting Young Children and Families
A core principle of child development is the strong belief that the developing child is shaped by their family, the surrounding community and the policies that affect them.
by J. Lombardi
Using Wearable Sensors in Practice
A user guide for collecting data on parental inputs and child development using wearable devices.
by N. Tomaselli, L. Dzekedzeke, G. Lichand, and J. Phuka
Climate and Young Children Webinar Series
This takeaway guide highlights the challenges raised by panelists during the September 2023 webinars, and offers ways to engage with the effects of extreme weather and climate change at the policy, community, and family levels.