ECIN Milestones
With 2019 well underway, we wanted to share some of ECIN’s progress and achievements since our launch in early 2016. Our three primary goals are to:
Keep parents well by protecting and enhancing parent mental health
Build healthy brains by optimizing early childhood developmental outcomes
Prepare children to learn by improving readiness for school at age 5
We’ve spent the last few years developing this new collaboration to reach these goals as quickly and effectively as possible. Our approach is to apply tested models coupled with continuous program assessments and a responsive structure for making programmatic adjustments. We believe this is the best way for us to ensure that every child and family we serve receives the best services.
Our collaborative now includes more than 50 health and education providers, community-based organizations, researchers, and advocates in Washington, D.C. We’ve celebrated several milestones, including:
Implementation of 11 initiatives at partner sites, health centers, schools, and organizations across the city. These include behavioral health and developmental support in prenatal and pediatric primary care, mindful parenting and teacher workshops, early childhood mental health consultation, social-emotional learning curriculum, place-based peer support, and more!
Our advocacy and support for Washington, D.C. City Council bills, Birth to Three for All DC and the Maternal Mental Health Task Force Act, that advance the needs of children and families.
Community-based listening conversations to embed what matters most to families and communities in our work.
The training of 700 care providers and first responders in trauma-informed practices to ensure thoughtful, responsive care.
Finally, we’ve also spent a lot of time developing new channels to communicate with you, our partners, supporters, and collaborators, about how to engage with us and contribute to systems transformation.
Visit and browse through ECIN.org, make sure you have subscribed to our newsletter emails, or follow us on Facebook or Twitter to keep up with the latest news and events. Most importantly, let us know what you think!
Highlighting Impact Stories
We are excited to announce the addition of Impact Stories to ECIN.org. These brief stories will highlight how ECIN’s innovative programs and partnerships are helping us reach our goals of keeping parents well, building healthy brains, and preparing all children to learn. Our first installments feature two early childhood principals from Appletree Early Learning Centers who tapped our Early Childhood Mental Health Consultant program to support their teachers, young students, and families.
Do you have a story about how one of our programs has impacted a family, group, or organization? Email us at info@ecin.org. We’d love to hear more!
ECIN Speaks at...
Aspen Forum on Children and Families
From left to right: panelists sarah watamura, randall baylor, matthew biel, and Marjorie sims (moderator)
ECIN’s Matt Biel and Randall Baylor spoke on a panel at the Aspen Forum on Children and Families in late February. The panel, “Two Open Windows: Understanding the Role of Brain Science in Expanding Opportunity” presented research showing the brains of new parents also have tremendous ability to grow and change.
Matt talked about this window in the lives of new parents as an excellent time to establish practices that build resilience and strength. Laying a solid foundation of parental support, mental health and emotional stability early in a child’s life can equip the child, and the entire family, to better face challenges and overcome adversity in the long term.
Randall shared how the HealthySteps program coordinates mental health services in primary care clinics to do just that--engaging young families with developmental and mental health support as part of routine well-child care from birth to three years of age. He also reinforced the importance of engaging the entire family—especially fathers.
“There’s not enough inclusion of fathers when it comes to engaging parents in their children’s health care,” he noted.
The Aspen Forum on Children and Families is a convergence of policymakers, practitioners, researchers, parents, and philanthropists to discuss the present and future of the two-generation approach to ending poverty, which focuses on children and their parents together.
The ideas and conversations aim to shed light on what’s worked so far, the challenges ahead, and how we can continue to change systems, develop policies, and update practices to move families toward opportunity.
Events and Announcements
SPACEs in Action Leadership Academy: Birddogging: The art of holding decision makers accountable
When: March 20, 2019
11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Where: 1536 U Street NW (Corner of 16th and U Streets)
This session will teach participants to craft their testimony by linking their personal story to a policy solution. Visit SPACEs In Action for information about additional upcoming sessions under development.
DMV Mental Health Symposium
When: April 9, 2019
12:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Where: Children’s National Health System — Auditorium, 111 Michigan Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20010
The DMV Perinatal Mental Health Symposium is for Washington, DC area clinicians and allied health professionals — anyone who works with pregnant or postpartum women. It will be a chance to discuss issues unique to our region, to share resources and information, and to improve how we help new families.
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ZERO TO THREE’S Strolling Thunder 2019
When: April 30, 2019
12:00 p.m.
Where: East Lawn, Capitol grounds
Team up with parents, little ones, and Members of Congress at a rally on Capitol Hill to bring national attention to what babies and families need to thrive. Join us for a fun, family event, including activities for kids, and lend your voice to make the potential of all babies a national priority.
Trauma Goes to School: Policy, Prevalence, and Promising Practices
When: May 3, 2019
8:00 a.m. — 3:00 p.m.
Where: Gaithersburg Marriott Washingtonian Center
Registration Fee: $35 (non-refundable)
School communities around the world are struggling to effectively counter trauma’s distressing impact on classrooms. Trauma is powerful force that negatively impacts a child’s ability to function and learn in the classroom, connect with their classmates, and build trusting relationships with teachers. Traumatic expression and unsafe behaviors have increased safety concerns for students, their peers, and classroom staff. The symposium will highlight the challenges that many students, teachers, and school administrators are facing, highlight policy developments, and offer promising intervention practices for schools and providers.