Partnership and collaboration across diverse leaders and systems are key ingredients to having the greatest impact for children in our state. Among these partners, the most important are families. From nurturing a child’s brain development in the earliest days of…
Just as adults have mental health, little kids have mental health, too, but it’s a lot of work to provide the care and support that they need for that optimal mental and physical health we’re all striving for. And it…
This spring, we released the Pathways Action Map to help advance a shared vision where all North Carolina children are reading on grade-level by the end of third grade and have the greatest opportunity for success. The first edition…
Recommendations to give young kids and their families the support they need to thrive.
Early life experiences play a critical role in setting children up for a lifetime of good mental health.
As we address the children’s mental health crisis,…
With so much going on in the world today, from the recent shootings, to economic hardships, and moving through waves of the pandemic, everyone’s mental health has been challenged. Some families have been affected more than others, building on years…
Statement from Muffy Grant, North Carolina Early Childhood Foundation Executive Director, on recent mass shootings, May 2022The last weeks of May are typically joyful for families, with moving up ceremonies, graduations, end of year picnics, and a range of…
Parents play the lead role in children’s healthy development, especially during their child’s earliest years when brain development is most rapid and foundational for lifelong health. The reality is that most family members find themselves stretched in the early months…
The NC Pathways to Grade-Level Reading Initiative (Pathways) has always been about possibility. It started by bringing together diverse North Carolina leaders to imagine what would be possible if:We adopted shared, whole child, birth-to-eight measures that put children on…
Mental health has never been more visible than now, a year and a half into the stresses of a global pandemic. While most mental health interventions are aimed at adults and adolescents, the roots of strong mental health for young…
NC Early Childhood Foundation’s Executive Director, Muffy Grant, had the opportunity to discuss the decline in preschool and kindergarten enrollment that has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly for families with incomes below $25,000 dollars. In the interview, Muffy…