Our Work with Schools and Communities

Early Care & Education Initiatives

Research shows that the brain develops most rapidly in the first 1,000 days of a child’s life. With this knowledge, Bank Street strives every day to advance the education and care of children in their earliest years. The goal of our early child care work is to ensure that more children have a healthy foundation for continued cognitive, social, and emotional growth that will serve them throughout their lives.

Our initiatives are grounded in the work that Bank Street has led for years in its core programs, including the Graduate School’s infancy programs; the Center on Culture, Race & Equity; Emotionally Responsive Practice; the Family Center, and more. Each of them operates under a shared mission to increase high-quality early learning experiences for infants, toddlers, and families.

A Sample of Our Work

Teacher playing on floor with two young children
Learning Starts At Birth
Conducts research to uncover the greatest opportunities to impact and reform early childhood policy and practice

Two early care providers with infant
Supporting Family Child Care Providers
Professional learning opportunities and support for the inclusion of 3-K services in home-based family child care programs

Teacher hugging three children
NHChILD Partnership
Works to enhance the early childhood landscape in New Haven, CT through professional learning communities and coaching

Adult hugging infant
Guttman Center for Early Care & Education
A cost-free professional development program for infant/toddler caregivers and leaders of early care programs

Teacher and young child playing
Straus Center for Young Children & Families
Produces and disseminates new scholarship for early childhood practitioners and policymakers

Margie Brickley plays with infant
Infancy Institute
Annual Bank Street conference to help infant/toddler specialists build on their practice

Baby during Family Center playgroup
Family Center Playgroups
Groups for infants/toddlers and their parent(s) that support early social, emotional, and cognitive growth