Learning & Pushing Together How a Community of Diverse Parent Leaders Across the Country Are Advancing Racial Equity During a Pandemic

January 3, 2022

In January 2021, NYU Metro Center launched a peer learning community for parent leadership organizations to advance their work on racial equity. Funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Parent Leadership Racial Equity Peer Learning and Inquiry Community (PLC) is a partnership between the Center for Policy, Research, and Evaluation (PRE) at NYU Metro Center and four parent leadership organizations across the country. Over the past year, this PLC has been collecting data to inform and evaluate their racial equity action plans.After completing participatory evaluation projects as part of an earlier project, the Parent Leadership Evaluation Network (PLEN), parent leaders and staff from four organizations decided to deepen their work on racial equity. They have been meeting bi-monthly to discuss their plans and the racial equity issues they are addressing. Groups also meet internally and with the PRE team every month. Each organization has a different racial equity focus.

Mobility Matters Employment and Advancement for Working Parents

December 6, 2021

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) supported two innovative initiatives over a three year period that yielded some impressive results for single mothers and working families. The STEPS (Supporting Transitions to Employment for Parents) program served to help working parents enter the labor market, while the MOVE UP (Mobility and Opportunity for Valuable Employment by Upskilling Parents) program focused on providing low-income workers opportunities to move up within the labor market, thereby increasing income and job stability. Between 2015 and 2018, WKKF invested $11 million to support 13 different organizations to implement these two pilot programs. This report overviews findings from those investments.

Mobility Matters Employment and Advancement for Working Parents-Executive Summary

December 6, 2021

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) supported two innovative initiatives over a three year period that yielded some impressive results for single mothers and working families. The STEPS (Supporting Transitions to Employment for Parents) program served to help working parents enter the labor market, while the MOVE UP (Mobility and Opportunity for Valuable Employment by Upskilling Parents) program focused on providing low-income workers opportunities to move up within the labor market, thereby increasing income and job stability. Between 2015 and 2018, WKKF invested $11 million to support 13 different organizations to implement these two pilot programs. This summary overviews findings from those investments.

7 Compelling Reasons Why You Need Family Child Care

June 1, 2021

Family child care is flexible in a number of ways, including affordability, payment options and scheduling. It is also based in the provider's home, creating a much more comfortable, cozy experience for everyone.This guide will empower you to make the right choice for your family and answer frequent questions about child care.

Maternal and Child Health

COVID-19 the Family, State and Federal Policy Lessons Learned in New England’

February 3, 2021

This report captures insights, lessons, and recommendations for family-centered policy and practice and how to support families in this new COVID-19 context, drawn from frontline participants' input across states.

Doula Services for Improving Birth Outcomes

December 20, 2020

There are many factors that contribute to maternal mortality including cardiovascular events, infection and hemorrhage. Each of these outcomes is driven by social determinants of health, and the individuals affected are embedded in communities and served by systems with a history of unequal access and treatment that make these outcomes staggering.

Maternal and Child Health

Unequal Access to FMLA Leave Persists

January 16, 2020

Family and medical leave (FML) plays a vital role in helping workers balance their personal and family health needs. FML allows employees to take time off of work to address their own or a family member's serious health condition or to bond after the birth or adoption of a child. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is federal legislation guaranteeing job-protected unpaid leave to certain eligible workers to care for themselves or an immediate family member in times of illness, birth or adoption. However, access to the FMLA is limited by both eligibility and affordability, both of which are unequal across different racial/ethnic groups.

Employment Equity; Health Equity

What Does "Economically Secure" Children Really Mean? Federal Statistics Monitoring Children’s Economic Security Need an Overhaul

January 16, 2020

Federal agencies monitor child and family wellbeing and consider children living with at least one adult working full time, year round as economically secure. However, an economically secure environment for children depends on much more than the number of hours their parents work. Economic security also requires wages that are high enough for children and families to live healthy lives.A more meaningful definition of economic security for children considers whether full-time working adults earn enough income to meet minimum living standards for children. diversitydatakids.org defines economically secure children as those living with at least one adult working full time, year round only if family incomes are over 200% of the federal poverty level. For example, to be considered economically secure, children living with at least one full-time working adult in a family of four in 2019 need to have a family income over $51,500.

The Family and Medical Leave Act Policy Equity Assessment

January 1, 2020

In this Policy Equity Assessment, we assess the capacity of the FMLA to address racial/ethnic equity and whether the FMLA impacts economic and health outcomes and reduces disparities for U.S. workers. Significantly, some of the populations who are least likely to have access to FMLA leave are also more vulnerable to certain health conditions, which means that they may be the most in need of, but the least likely to access, worker benefits that can help address health issues. We particularly emphasize the impact of the FMLA for working parents, given research showing that when a parent is present to provide care, children recover faster from illnesses and injuries, have shorter hospital stays and are more likely to receive preventive care.

Employment Equity; Health Equity

Parents And Children Thriving Together: A Framework For Two-Generation Policy And System Reform

January 1, 2020

This brief explores the lessons learned from the 2016 Parents and Children Thriving Together: Two Generation State Policy Network (PACTT Network), a collaboration between the National Governors Association (NGA) and the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) with funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Through this initiative, five states explored how to use the two-generation approach to improve their state systems that serve children and parents. This brief summarizes the lessons learned from the two-year initiative and provides a framework to help guide state leaders trying to implement two-generation strategies.

Strengthening State Systems and Policies to Foster Two-Generation Strategies and Practices

September 1, 2019

This policy brief reports on the first three years of an initiative to work directly with five WPFP state partners in AR, CO, GA, KY, and NC to enhance their state's commitment and ability to serve and support adults and children collectively as well as drive local programs to do so by reviewing the efforts of the five state partners. After first providing more background on Two-Generation efforts across the U.S. in recent years, this brief discusses: 1) the WPFP concept and approach to the initiative; 2) the work of the five state partners, including the state systems identified for this work and specific items identified for improvement within those systems as well as progress to date; and 3) lessons learned and observations of this work with a clear recognition of the challenges and complexities inherent in undertaking systems change work.

Cultivating a Community of Champions for Children: Through Transformative Family Engagement

July 30, 2019

This report shows how equity-based family engagement helps parents and caretakers in underserved communities become effective advocates and culture-bearers in schools, which boosts educational quality and relevance.

Resource Directory