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NBCDI: Early Care and Education

The National Black Child Development Institute has been at the forefront of involving leaders, policymakers, professionals and parents about critical issues that directly impact Black children and their families. Their focus is to provide culturally relevant resources that address the unique strengthens and needs of black children that include early childhood education, child welfare, and accessible childcare and family engagement. They advocate for the children and families with the support of their Affiliate network in communities around the world.

Since its inception, NBCDI has been dedicated to supporting the development of a high-quality, accessible, affordable and aligned system of early care and education for children birth through age eight. Each of these years is critical to the socio-emotional and educational success of students, particularly students of color, because they provide the foundation for all subsequent learning and development.

In their program and policy work, NBCDI supports federal, state and local efforts to provide increasing numbers of low-income children with access to quality early education and care; efforts to create a strong and supported early childhood workforce; and efforts to promote developmentally and culturally-appropriate standards, curriculum, instruction and assessment that are aligned within and across the early childhood to early grades continuum.

To ensure every child especially black children have the opportunity to receive a quality education beginning in early childhood the advocate for the following:

·         To increase and equitably distribute quality across the birth through eight continuum.

·         Supporting specific efforts to recruit, professionally prepare compensate and retain a well-qualified workforce  and tom include family and center-based child care as well as public and charter schools

·         Supporting the development and revision of QRIS (Quality Rating and Improvement Systems) that focus on all these systems.

·         Encourage states, districts and schools to embed professional development opportunities that support a deeper understanding of families’ race and culture, and explicitly teach teachers from all backgrounds how to develop and strengthen relationships with parents in the community.  

The NBCDI understands ensure a quality education for black children begins with families being aware of resources, having accessibility to the resources and being able to afford it. The organization is an advocate for families in all three of these areas so every child has start in early childhood education.

Please visit the website to learn more about this organization: http://www.nbcdi.org/