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Project: Pregnancy-Related Depression & Anxiety Public Awareness Campaign

Organization: Colorado Department of Public CDPHEHealth and Envrionment (CDPHE)

Location of Messaging: Statewide

800X800 MOMSThe building blocks of a healthy pregnancy and birth consist of emotional and mental health as well as physical health care. The benefits of maternal wellness during and after pregnancy include a high quality of life and maternal functioning for mothers, babies being born on time and with healthy weights, strong mother-baby attachment; and healthy, happy and productive families. Good mental health in pregnant women and new mothers also promotes young children’s development, healthy social relationships, and success in school and life!

Pregnancy-related depression and anxiety are the most common complications of pregnancy, affecting about one in seven women nationally. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment launched a digital public awareness campaign in October 2016, in partnership with Postpartum Support International, to help women recognize the symptoms and get help.

To learn more about the campaign, check out this webinar featuring key campaign concepts and creative content, as well as resources and best practices to implement the campaign in local communities. Colorado-specific resources for new and expectant mothers are available in the community partner toolkit. Women affected by pregnancy-related depression and anxiety are being encouraged to contact Postpartum Support International Colorado coordinators for free help in both English and Spanish at 1-800-944-4773.

The campaign is being piloted in five communities (Adams, Arapahoe, Douglas, Denver and Larimer counties) and efforts to be expanded in 2017.

Collateral Materials: 

CDPHE Pregnancy-Related Depression and Anxiety Public Awareness Campaign

Colorado Campaign via Postpartum Support International 

Press Release 

Community partner toolkit

Campaign contacts:
•       General campaign information: Phuonglan.Nguyen@state.co.us, 303-691-7810.
•       Press and media inquiries: Dave.Brendsel@state.co.us, 303-692-2156.
•       Merritt + Grace: hello@merrittandgrace.com, 720-278-9860 (Allison Hastey) or 303-435-1139 (Frances Tourtelot).

Implicit Bias in Early Childhood Education: An ECCP Mini-Grant Spotlight

Pedroby Pedro Mendez, Clayton Early Learning

Two main issues that have been mainstreaming the media are race and culture; interestingly, these issues have been impacting young children for quite some time now. Even to the point that some stakeholders believe nothing is being done to resolve such critical issues.

The topics of race, culture, and bias are sensitive issues people feel unease discussing, and rightfully so. People do not want to be labeled or identified as being prejudice for something they might not be consciously aware. For educators who are charged with the growth and learning of young children this may be a fine line. Especially when dealing with something like implicit bias. Implicit biases are attitudes that function outside our conscious mind and that challenge even the most veteran of teachers. Whether we want to acknowledge or our bias or not, conscious or unconscious, it has an impact in the education children receive. It is our responsibility to better understand these attitudes so that we are better able to prepare teachers to empower all children.

The Buell Early Childhood Leadership Program (BECLP) was a gateway for my personal work around this topic. This work initially began as an investigation of achievement gaps of boys of color as part of my yearlong capstone work for BECLP. My work led me to have discussions with several stakeholders across Denver County.

The next step was to look at common themes that emerge from all my conversations. One of these themes was, bias, and the impact it had on children. This lead to a collaboration with the Early Childhood Colorado Partnership through a mini grant. This collaboration allowed us to explore implicit bias within our teaching staff and the impact it can have on children’s academic career. The Partnership was very involved through the process of our research and gave us the platform to collaborate with other organizations. It was a very enriching experience to learn and hear what other organizations were being challenged with as well as overcoming in their work. The Partnership allowed us to start collegial conversations on our campus and provided a first step in improving our cultural competency, and reflect about our inner self to better to serve families. My hope is that this work inspires others to look within and explore their inner self to better understand bias and the effect it has on program, practice implementation and the impact for children.

Read the full mini-grant report from Clayton Early Learning.

 

Project: Social Emotional Messaging Materials Available for Statewide Partners

Organization: Early Childhood Partnership of Adams County

ecpacLocation of messaging: Adams County & Statewide

Through funding from Project LAUNCH, the Early Childhood Partnership of Adams County (ECPAC) worked with key stakeholders, including the Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS) – Office of Early Childhood, to develop materials to promote social emotional development based on messages in the Shared Message Bank, the Early Learning Developmental Guidelines, and Zero-to-Three.  The intent of these materials is to raise awareness about the importance of social emotional development, provide concrete examples of how caregivers (parents, families, service providers) can support children’s social emotional development, and connect caregivers to key community resources through a “call to action.”  Service providers are trained on delivering the materials as “trusted messengers” to start conversations and not use the materials as a stand alone message.

Because community resources vary, customizable materials are now available through CDHS for each community to individualize.  Early Childhood Councils or other conveners can be responsible for working with their partners to identify their unique “call to action.”

The full toolkit of materials include:

  • Fact Sheet for Early Childhood Professionals about the importance of and understanding of early childhood mental health and social emotional development
  • Parent/Family Materials broken down by age group (0-9 mos; 10-18 mos; 19 mos-3; 3-5; 6-8) in English and Spanish
  • Social Emotional Social Media Content
  • Protective Factors Social Media Content (I think these need some work)
  • 5 Videos on how to best promote Social-Emotional Development for service providers.

Examples can be found below.  For more information contact ECPAC or your local Early Childhood Council.

ECPAC Messaging Tips for Providers

ECPAC Provider Resource

ECPAC Parent Resource

ECPAC General Resource

ECPAC General Resource

Customizable Parent Resource

 

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