Center for Early Childhood Health & Development | NYU Langone Health

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Division of Health & Behavior Center for Early Childhood Health & Development

Center for Early Childhood Health & Development

The Center for Early Childhood Health and Development (CEHD), in NYU Langone’s Department of Population Health, conducts research and creates programs to improve the health and development of children. Our practice activities are deeply embedded in New York City educational and health systems—with emerging partnerships in other U.S. cities and globally—and advance equity by developing and testing real-world solutions for children of color living in low-income areas. Because most children and families spend only a fraction of their time in contact with the healthcare system, efforts to improve the health of populations must focus not only on actual medical care but also on where children spend the majority of their lives, including school and early childhood education settings.

Our center includes a racially and ethnically diverse group of researchers, mental health professionals, educators, and administrators who envision a world where all young children, especially children of color from historically disinvested neighborhoods, have opportunities to learn and develop relationships in safe, nurturing, and predictable environments that promote healthy development, academic achievement, and overall wellbeing.

Our Commitment

We are committed to creating opportunities and improving the lives of children by conducting high-quality, culturally relevant research; developing, testing, and implementing family-centered programs such as ParentCorps; and disseminating the resulting knowledge from our research and implementation experiences to practitioners, educators, key community stakeholders, and policy makers through a racial equity lens that works to change the narrative about low-income families of color.

We acknowledge that inequality caused by systemic racism leads to disease and hinders success. Because our work focuses on low-income, immigrant, and racial minority populations that have been historically disadvantaged and marginalized, we believe it is our responsibility to interrupt internalized and systemic racism in our interactions and relationships within our center and with partners. Importantly, we seek to carry out work that is relevant and useful to those we serve. Under the leadership of Laurie M. Brotman, PhD, and based in these beliefs and commitments, our center provides all faculty and staff with the necessary resources and support to deepen their knowledge and build skills required to engage in courageous conversations about race with colleagues, external partners, and diverse audiences.

ParentCorps

We work with schools and parents to help prekindergarten children develop foundational learning skills.