A growing body of research has demonstrated the key role that healthy ECE environments and good nutrition play in brain development and children entering kindergarten healthy and ready to learn. All children should have access to high-quality early learning environments and healthy, local foods. Children of color represent a growing share of the Pennsylvania’s population. They also experience worse outcomes in nearly every indicator of social well-being due to a long history of exclusionary and discriminatory policies. These disparities hurt all of us by weakening the Commonwealth’s economic, social and cultural web. The commonwealth’s success as a thriving and prosperous place for all its residents depends on its ability to break down barriers to racial equity.
Please see the list below for a number of resources to learn more and take action to advance racial equity for a healthy and bright future for all our children.

 

Resources on Equity for ECE Teachers, Administrators and Staff:
Steps on a Journey Towards Racial Equity in Early Childhood Education Organizations
Equity and Early Childhood Education: Reclaiming the Child
Race Talk in the Early Childhood Classroom from the Early Childhood Education Assembly of the National Council of Teachers of English
Anti-Racism Educational Consultants Network

 

Cultural Responsiveness in ECE Classrooms:
The Food Trust's Multicultural Collection of Farm to ECE Books 
Diversity Book Finder: Identify and Explore Multicultural Picture Books
Multicultural Principles for Early Childhood Leaders

 

Cultural Relevancy in ECE Kitchens:
Local Food for Little Eaters: A Purchasing Toolbox for the Child and Adult Care Food Program: Supporting Culturally Relevant Programming Through Local Food Purchasing (page 9)
USDA: Child Nutrition Programs and Traditional Foods

 

Resources for ECE Scholarship (Professors, Scholars, Researchers in Higher Ed):
On Educating Culturally Sustaining Teachers
Start with Us! Culturally Relevant Pedagogy in the Preschool Classroom
A Call for Culturally Sustaining Progressive Pedagogy
Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy in the Literacy Classroom

 

ECE Policy and Systems Resources:
Why Racial Equity?
Ripples of Transformation: Family Engagement Toolkit - Center for the Study of Social Policy
Webinar: How Can We Engage Families for Systems Change
Kid’s Count in Washington State Racial Equity Tool. The document is also available in Spanish.
Thrive Washington Racial Equity Theory of Change Washington state’s visual road map to eliminate race as a predictor of success. The document is also available in Spanish.
BUILD Initiative Diversity and Equity Initiative
Racial Equity Contributes to Quality of Early Childhood Education

 

Equity in the Food System Resources:
Michigan State’s Annotated Bibliography on Structural Racism in the US Food System
Iowa State University: Inequities in the Food System Resource Page
Food First Backgrounder on Racism in the Food System
Four Not so Easy Ways to Dismantle Racism in the Food System
Leaders of Color Discuss Structural Racism and White Privilege in the Food System
Building the Case for Equity in the Food System

 

General Resources:
W. K. Kellogg Foundation Racial Equity Resource Guide: The Racial Equity Resource Guide is a searchable collection of journals, magazines, articles, books, videos that allows users to create a fully personalized or customized set of resources tailored to an organization's needs.
Racial Equity Tools
Targeted Universalism The Haas Institute
Leading Inside Out & the Collective Impact Forum: Community Engagement Toolkit
The Fork in the Road: Moving Beyond Cultural Competence and Towards Cultural Humility
GARE (Government Alliance on Race and Equity) Tools and Resources
National Academy of Science: Framing The Dialogue on Race to Advance Health Equity
Change the Culture, Change the World Favianna Rodriguez

 

If you have any questions, feel free to contact us.