Family and Community Initiatives
In 2008, NAEYC created a Family and Community Initiatives program area, providing a home for efforts related to supporting strong families and communities. This new program area is aligned with the NAEYC Early Childhood Program Standards and Accreditation Criteria for Standard 7 (Families) and Standard 8 (Community Relationships) and provides a framework for NAEYC’s programmatic efforts in these areas. NAEYC envisions that as a result of its efforts, early childhood programs and professionals demonstrate increased competence and effectiveness in the following program area content:
- Knowing and understanding the program’s families;
- Communication between staff and families;
- Nurturing families as advocates for their children; and
- Promoting social and emotional health for the whole family.
- Linking with the community;
- Accessing community resources; and
- Acting as a citizen in the neighborhood and early childhood community.
Engaging Diverse Families (EDF), a grant-funded project, is helping early childhood education programs effectively engage diverse families. The goal of the project is to learn from the work of excellent early childhood education programs that are effectively engaging diverse families and to share what we learn with the field. As part of this effort, NAEYC identified 10 exemplary programs.
Partnerships with the Center on Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning (CSEFEL) and the Technical Assistance Center for Social Emotional Intervention (TACSEI) help NAEYC provide early childhood professionals with high-quality professional development materials and opportunities on addressing children's challenging behaviors and promoting healthy social and emotional development. Partnership activities and resources include:
- Training-of-Trainers (TOT) on promoting children's healthy social and emotional development held in conjunction with NAEYC's National Institute for Early Childhood Professional Development. These full-day TOTs focus on infants and toddlers or preschoolers.
- The National Training Institute on Effective Practices: Supporting Young Children's Social Emotional Development held annually in Clearwater Beach, Florida. This conference consists of intensive, three-hour workshops where attendees learn practical strategies for supporting a positive approach to social emotional development.
- A distance learning event on classroom transitions based on the article in the May 2008 issue of Young Children, "Moving Right Along...Planning Transitions to Prevent Challenging Behavior." The article and online event offer a discussion of why challenging behavior occurs during transitions and strategies for more effective transitions. This multimedia presentation includes the presentation by authors Mary Louise Hemmeter and Michaelene M. Ostrosky with synchronized recorded audio.
National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day Executive Planning Committee member. In partnership with the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and more than 40 other organizations, NAEYC is helping to raise awareness about the importance of mental health and increase understanding of the mental health needs of young children and their families. National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day is a day to promote positive development of infants, toddlers, children and youth. Click on the link for more information and ideas of activities you can do in your community on Mental Health Awareness Day - and every day - to promote healthy social and emotional development.
Early childhood programs and parents are encouraged to "Click, Check, and Protect" for safety! NAEYC is a member of the National School Safety Coalition, convened by the Consumers Union, The National PTA and the National School Boards Association, to further the reach of the School Safety Alert Program. Tens of millions of children are needlessly exposed to the unsafe products, toys and foods that have been recalled by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Coalition members disseminate important recall and safety alert information through their communication channels to schools, parents, educators, and school administrators.
NAEYC is a National Partner in the Child Abuse Prevention Initiative, contributing to the work of a broad-based partnership of national organizations, Federal partners, and parents committed to preventing child abuse and strengthening families and communities. The partners contribute to the annual prevention Resource Guide, created by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children's Bureau, Office on Child Abuse and Neglect, its Child Welfare Information Gateway, and the FRIENDS National Resource Center for Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention. The Resource Guide supports service providers in their work with parents, caregivers, and their children to prevent child abuse and neglect.
From 2002 through 2008, NAEYC helped early childhood professionals strengthen families through the Supporting Teachers, Strengthening Families project.