Dear Friends:
We are pleased to welcome you to a new year at the Boston College Mary E. Walsh Center for Thriving Children. It seems as if the urgency of our work to help all children and families thrive has never been greater. Working at the intersection of research and practice, below, we are sharing highlights of our work and the importance of the people, schools, and communities that partner with us to change what is possible for children and youth.
At the Center, we undertake research that matters. We study ways to counter the negative impacts of poverty on learning and lifelong success, how out-of-school factors like access to food and health care can affect children, and the role of enrichment opportunities in changing their life outcomes. We work in schools and communities across the nation to ensure the interventions we develop are practical, continuously improved, and scalable so that we can truly give all children and youth a chance to thrive.
Through our partnerships, we deliver care that connects. City Connects partners with schools across eight states and two countries to create a village of support around each and every student. It builds on the resources and relationships already present in a school and a community, further activating them through an evidence-based practice to better support the children and families who live there, transforming students, schools, and communities in the process.
We also launched a new initiative called the Promoting the Power of Pediatrics for Early Learning (ProPPEL) Network. Because nearly all U.S. children attend ‘well child visits’ with a trusted pediatrician, the ProPPEL Network has a unique opportunity to develop ways to improve whole child development and learning in partnership with pediatricians and community health centers.
Doing what works makes a difference. By combining research and practice, we are learning what children and youth need to have their best chances for success. We are uncovering the importance of creating even one more opportunity for a child, and learning how to deliver the right resources and enrichment opportunities to the right child at the right time to make a difference in their learning and life outcomes. That’s why these partnerships with schools, communities, and pediatricians are so important – because they transform children’s lives, illuminate best practices, inform policies, and provide an example of what is possible for children and youth, especially those who live with challenging circumstances.
We are thankful to everyone who continues to partner with us to discover and share what it takes to help every child thrive!
Sincerely,
Eric Dearing
Claire Foley
