Episode 13 - July 9, 2020

Our team is back this week with our 13th video in our series. In this episode, recognizing that the field of infant and early childhood mental health was built to address inequities for our youngest parents, families and children – we are continuing to delve into the data that grounds this work, and looking at another section of the a report recently published by the Children’s Defense Fund on The State of America’s Children 2020 on child hunger and nutrition. This is a component, though often unseen, has significant implications for school achievement, child development and contributes to higher rates of mental health challenges and concerns. Click the video below to watch and for some additional resources.

Here is the full brief of the Children’s Defense Fund’s 2020 Report https://www.childrensdefense.org/policy/resources/soac-2020-tables/ and more information from the report that Laura referenced Children’s Health Watch is viewable here: https://childrenshealthwatch.org/want-to-effectively-end-hunger-in-america-dr-kofi-d-essel-says-we-must-first-take-on-racial-and-economic-root-causes/.

Another important resource in this space is No Kind Hungry and they have a specific resource related to food access and food insecurity within the COVID context: https://www.nokidhungry.org/blog/coronavirus-response-first-responders-education, which only further complicates the realities for children dependent on schools for two to three mails per day.

Please reach out to piec@ssw.umaryland.edu (or in a comment below) with any questions, and share your resources as it relates to understanding and addressing racism and bias for our most at risk families, and our youngest students and clients. Please also use the comments to share any innovating things happening in your community to support food insecure families.

Be well and be in touch!

The PIEC Team