40th anniversary tag image

CHILD DEVelopment & early learning

Engaged, empowered parents and caregivers form supportive communities to raise safe, happy, school-ready children.

Our strategy to support healthy early childhood development and early learning is rooted in the same understanding of the value of community relationships and participant gifts and talents that drives our community-building and organizing initiatives. We believe that parents and caregivers are more powerful and effective when they live in communities that share a commitment to child development, and resources to support that commitment. And we believe that any program seeking to improve child development needs to involve parents and caregivers not only as the recipients of services, but as the primary educators, health workers, relationship-builders, and advocates for their children. Building and strengthening the bond between parent or primary caregiver and child is the central goal of our strategy, and forms the foundation for initiatives to improve early childhood health and learning.

Our early childhood strategy currently serves more than 500 families, and includes specific programs for perinatal health and development, early learning, and ongoing support for parents and primary caregivers as educators and advocates for their children. To discover more about these participant-centered, parent-driven approaches to child development—which are available as a comprehensive sequence of parent/caregiver capacity-building, or as individual programs—please follow the links below:


Community Doulas
Community Doulas

Working with new mothers to improve infant health and social support.

Parent Support
Parent Support

Networks of engaged parents supporting the flourishing of each other's children and families.