Our Purpose
To increase the capacity of institutions of higher education, professional organizations, states, territories, and tribal nations to prepare and support a diverse and competent workforce able to change the historic and current conditions that systemically inhibit the delivery of equitable early childhood intervention to each and every child and their family.
Nyansapo or Wisdom Knot, is a symbol of the Akan people of Ghana, and represents patience, integrity, intelligence, and the capacity to choose the best means to a goal.
Early Childhood Intervention is a statewide system of services and support provided to eligible children, ages birth to five, and their families, as required by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
Personnel includes all personnel categories providing IDEA Part C and Part B services.
Center for Equity Equity is interpreted and applied in different ways depending on the context or locus of interest, the historical and current socio-cultural and political environment, and the experiences and individualized needs of a child, adult, family, community, state, territory, or tribal nation.
Equity in Early Childhood Intervention
Every infant and young child with a delay in development or disability and their family, will have access to and participate in early childhood intervention, that is individually designed to be racially, ethnically, culturally, and linguistically responsive, to ensure equitable, appropriate, and optimal child and family outcomes.
When we achieve Equity in Early Childhood Intervention, we will see...
the absence of systematic disparities and unjust policies and practices that impact infants and young children with disabilities and their families in their pursuit of what they want and need to be included as valued members of their communities;
and the removal of structural barriers that deny infants and young children with disabilities and their families' opportunities to belong, thrive and learn because of their disability, and other identities and affiliations they may have such as culture, race, ethnicity, language, national origin, geography or place, ideology, sexual orientation and gender identity, socioeconomic status, and spirituality. *
Our Conceptual Framework
The conceptual framework for the Early Childhood Intervention Personnel Center for Equity represents the contexts, systems, programs, and services in which an infant or young child with disabilities or delays and their family interact to achieve improved outcomes.
The Center will facilitate the development and implementation of equity centered programs of study at IHEs and state systems of professional development, develop partnerships with states to recruit and retain a diverse workforce, and assist in the implementation of equitable components of the intervention process. The result will be all families and their children will have equitable opportunities to access and participate in culturally, racially, ethnically, and linguistically responsive early childhood intervention programs, services and supports individualized for each child and their family.
Our Work
We will engage in the technical and adaptive work of implementing and sustaining systemic and institutional change in Institutions of Higher Education, Professional Organizations, and State Early Childhood Intervention Programs under Part C and Part B Section 619 of IDEA to advance equity and diversity within the historical socio-cultural, political, and economic environments in the United States.
To do this we have adopted an Equity Framework that consists of Policy, Practice and Outcomes.
Our Equity Framework
