“The vision for the future is simple and straightforward…enhancements to our current child care system can clear a path for Black boys to succeed at the same rate as other children.”
We have some big news to announce: The Collaboration for Early Childhood joins seven other organizations across the nation with bold visions for the future of the United States’ child care system as a member of the Care Constellation Cohort.
IDEO, in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, created the Care Constellation Grant, an open call for organizations to reimagine child care in our nation. The Collaboration’s Executive Director John Borrero proposed the creation of a racial equity roadmap that can be adapted for any community that is seeking guidance around how to pave the way for Black boys to succeed and for Black men to find a place for themselves in early childhood.
The interconnected roadmap will address early childhood expulsion, the absence of men from the early childhood workforce, and most ambitiously, build community-wide supports for men who have recently had a their criminal record expunged as a result of the legalization of marijuana. Specifically, to help these individuals secure the training and schooling required to become early childhood educators, and to serve as role models for young boys.
This innovative work builds off of the policy research John did as a 2019-20 Barbara Bowman Fellow at Erikson Institute. You can see his “policy pitch” video below. Thanks to the support from the Care Constellation Grant, the Collaboration for Early Childhood will spend the next year exploring what it takes to build a pipeline for promising men of color to make contributions to early childhood.
The Collaboration for Early Childhood will convene community stakeholders who work in both early childhood and adult criminal justice to develop a resource that can be used across the country to better ensure the success of Black boys and men in the early childhood space. In the coming weeks and months, we will be highlighting our partners and our work together to move this vision forward. In the meantime, you can learn about the Constellation Cohort here. Stay tuned for more!
“We can directly impact the early childhood workforce and create a pipeline for Black men to find a place for themselves in early childhood.”