Foundation News

APRIL 2022
www.fcd-us.org
Foundation for Child Development: Foundation News
The Early Educator Investment Collaborative COVID-19 Response: Grantee Update
The COVID-19 pandemic and the social movement against longstanding systemic racism exposed persistent structural inequities, particularly for the early care and education (ECE) workforce. The Early Educator Investment Collaborative’s (The Collaborative) response is advancing its long-term vision to prepare and compensate the ECE workforce fairly and equitably. The Collaborative issued four grants to organizations working towards policy change and advocacy to build a better and more equitable ECE system in the wake of COVID-19.

The Foundation is pleased to share an update on new research findings of one such grantee, The Edward Zigler Center in Child Development and Social Policy (Zigler Center) at Yale University. The first wave of findings is published here ([link removed]) .
Understanding the Critical Implications for Reopening Child Care & Public Schools

In a devastating and uncertain year for schools, child care centers, and other early learning programs, little was understood about the spread of COVID-19 in these settings, much less the health, mental health, and economic impacts experienced by early learning program staff and providers. The Zigler Center, under the leadership of Dr. Walter Gilliam, collected data from more than 57,000 early educators in May and June of 2020, and in May and June of 2021 they collected follow-up data on a subsample of more than 20,000 of these early educators. The purpose was to inform the field and policymakers about a path to safely reopening early learning programs for young children and their educators.

In the second wave of findings from this multi-phase study, published in Pediatrics ([link removed]) , researchers found that the vaccination rate among child care providers in the U.S. (78.2%) was higher than that of eligible adults in the general population during the same period (65%). The study otherwise finds variation in vaccination rates that mirrors rates for adults generally, by age, race, geography, and income.

Providers working in child care centers were more likely to be vaccinated than those in home-based settings. This could be due to a number of reasons, the researchers say, including providers perceiving a lower risk of COVID-19 due to smaller groups of children in home-based settings or vaccination requirements specific to center-based child care staff.

Of the 21.8% of those surveyed who were not vaccinated, over 59% say they were not likely to get the COVID-19 vaccine while less than 12% say they were very likely or certain to get vaccinated.

This study highlights where messaging efforts can be focused to reach those who are still unvaccinated to communicate the benefits of COVID-19 vaccination to child care providers and those who care for young children—especially those in home-based settings. The research team was asked to present these findings in October 2021 and discuss the implications with policy leaders from agencies including the U.S. Administration for Children and Families, the U.S. Department of Education, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Health Resources and Services Administration, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and General Services Administration. The research emphasizes the work to still be done and subsequent phases will shed light on how changing conditions such as employer vaccine mandates and the Delta variant will impact these findings.
Learn More About the COVID-19 Response Grants ([link removed])
ABOUT US Research, policy and practice—we connect these pieces to help build early childhood systems that enable children to reach their full potential. Founded in 1900, the Foundation for Child Development identifies needs, fills gaps and integrates knowledge for successful implementation and continuous improvement. Learn more about our focus areas and download resources by clicking these links.

STRONGER WORKFORCE ([link removed])
EFFECTIVE SYSTEMS ([link removed])
PRIORITY POPULATIONS ([link removed])

============================================================
** ([link removed])
** Twitter ([link removed])
** ([link removed])
** Website ([link removed])
Copyright © 2022 Foundation for Child Development, All rights reserved.
You're receiving this email because you opted in at our website.

Our mailing address is:
Foundation for Child Development
475 Riverside Drive
Suite 248
New York, NY 10115
USA
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])