Racial Equity at the Center

Leading with Racial Equity

A racially equitable society would be one in which the distribution of benefits and burdens is not determined, predictable, or disproportionate by race or place. Today, when a child is born in the United States, we can durably predict outcomes in every aspect of health and wellness, including physical and emotional health, education, wealth, and more, based solely on their race. This is true in Wake County. Leading with racial equity means prioritizing strategies that specifically work to improve outcomes for children of color and giving special consideration to the wisdom and innovation of adults of color to develop responses that are lasting and reach all children.

  • Based upon its construction, historical significance, and current manifestation in our culture, we recognize race as the most durable predictor of outcomes in people’s lives overall. The data are clear that black and brown children and families are on the margins of our society and in Wake County as reflected in a litany of quality-of-life measures. The area of social and emotional health is no exception. We know, due to structural racism, barriers are created to black and brown children living their best lives socially, emotionally, and mentally. Those barriers affect the quality of places where kids spend time and the relationships they build in those places. And those barriers restrict access to places that are conducive to a child’s growth into positive social, emotional, and mental health.

  • Young children’s social emotional development takes place within the social and physical caregiving environment around them. Environments are multifaceted, and children spend varying amounts of time in different settings. These environments include early childhood education/childcare settings, pre-kindergarten and elementary schools, parks/natural learning environments/playgrounds, recreation facilities/museums, family/community centers, common areas in neighborhoods and more…

  • What does positive young child mental health look like? Children are confident, can self-regulate, are independent, can separate successfully from parents or caregivers, have mutually satisfying friendships, are autonomous, and have empathy for others. One of the most important things you can do for the children you care about is to foster their warm and trusting relationships. Healthy relationships are the foundation for life-long success.

  • We want to learn from you and the families you work together with because the most effective strategies for reducing vulnerability and building on assets and opportunities will come from the families themselves.

    When we pay attention to the needs of young children, we can create environments where children thrive. What works best can look different from community to community. Do one thing; do many things; it all matters!

Building Resilience

Reducing the effects of adversity on young children’s healthy development is important. A child’s resiliency begins with secure attachments built in infancy. All young children need eye contact, affectionate touch, smiles, and encouragement. At every age, having at least one loving and supportive relationship is the best predictor of a person’s resilience.

Additional Resources

Research, Articles, and Documents

ACEs Infograph

The 5 Protective Factors
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Understanding ACEs
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The Truth About ACEs
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Nine Temperament Traits

‍Videos
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We Can Prevent ACEs
Childhood experiences, both positive and negative, have a tremendous impact on future violence victimization and perpetration, and lifelong health and opportunity. As such, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are an important public health issue. Learn how everyone can help prevent ACEs by using strategies to create safe, stable, nurturing relationships and environments for all children.

How childhood trauma affects health across a lifetime | Nadine Burke Harris
Childhood trauma isn’t something you just get over as you grow up. Pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris explains that the repeated stress of abuse, neglect and parents struggling with mental health or substance abuse issues has real, tangible effects on the development of the brain. This unfolds across a lifetime, to the point where those who’ve experienced high levels of trauma are at triple the risk for heart disease and lung cancer. An impassioned plea for pediatric medicine to confront the prevention and treatment of trauma, head-on.

InBrief: The Science of Resilience
One way to understand the development of resilience is to picture a balance scale or seesaw. Protective experiences and adaptive skills on one side counterbalance significant adversity on the other. Watch this video to visualize the science of resilience, and see how genes and experience interact to produce positive outcomes for children.

Meet the Experts

ZERO TO THREE
ZERO TO THREE works to ensure that babies and toddlers benefit from the early connections that are critical to their well-being and development.

Triple P NC
Triple P is the flexible, practical way to develop skills, strategies and confidence to handle any parenting situation. It's backed by decades of research. And it's already helped more than 4 million children and their parents.

Advocates for Health in Action
AHA improves the health and well-being of Wake County residents by facilitating and supporting community initiatives. We accomplish this by convening partners that change policies, systems and environments focused on well-being, healthy eating and physical activity.

Center on the Developing Child, Harvard University
The mission of the Center on the Developing Child is to drive science-based innovation that achieves breakthrough outcomes for children facing adversity. We believe that advances in science provide a powerful source of new ideas focused on the early years of life.

Prevent Child Abuse
Prevent Child Abuse North Carolina supports the development of safe, stable, nurturing relationships for children in their families and communities to prevent child abuse and neglect.

SAFEchild
SAFEchild is the only child abuse prevention agency in Wake County working directly with families. SAFEchild offers parent education and support services to families to prevent abuse and neglect, and changes the long-term effects of abuse if it has occurred.

Wake County Smart Start
WCSS works to improve the quality, accessibility and affordability of child care, provide preventive health and early intervention services and offer family support services—all delivered as part of a strong, diverse integrated early childhood system.
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