Home visiting connects expectant parents, new caregivers, and their young children with a support person, called a home visitor. The home visitor meets regularly with the family, develops a relationship with them, and supports them to achieve their goals and meet their needs. To reach the thousands of additional families who could benefit from…

In 2021, Baby's Space became a Community Resource Hub. Funded by Minnesota's federally-funded Preschool Development Grant (PDG), the Community Resource Hubs help pregnant and parenting families with children under age 9 connect with needed resources. Baby's Space: A Place to Grow is a child development center that works to create a cycle of…

Community colleges are mission-driven institutions committed to access and community needs. They serve a diverse population: The majority of students are employed, so they have to balance work with school; about one-third are first-generation, so they are navigating an unfamiliar system for the first time in their families; and 15% are single…

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). Through this initiative, five states explored how to use the two-generation approach to…

This hearing serves as a first in a set of hearings focusing on early learning. In his opening statement, Senator Tom Harkin, Chairman of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, strongly encouraged members of this committee on both sides of the aisle to hold roundtables and have discussions on early learning in their local…

Objectives: Successful childhood obesity intervention models that build sustainable behavioral change are needed, particularly in low-income, ethnic minority communities disparately affected by this problem. Method: Families were referred to Taking Steps Together (TST) by their primary care provider if at least one child had a body mass index…

As cities across the country and globe continue to generate new solutions to a wide variety of vexing problems, sharing information about what works and what doesn't has become more important than ever. Yet, outside of a few prominent policies, the vast majority of successful municipal experiments never reach a national audience or, for that…

This study examined the effects on low-income families of being on a waiting list to receive child care subsidies under the Minnesota Child Care Sliding Fee Program. It surveyed 270 randomly-selected families in Hennepin County who had been on the waiting list, 38 of whom had begun receiving assistance at the time of the study. It found that: (1)…

The State of the Science conference was held in May, 2007 as part of the ongoing series of national conferences, "Building on Family Strengths," conducted by the Research and Training Center on Family Support and Children's Mental Health at Portland State University. The theme of this State-of-the Science conference was "Effective…

Early Childhood Family Education is a voluntary public school program for Minnesota families with children through kindergarten age. The program's mission is to support parents' ability to provide for their children's development. To determine the program's effectiveness, participating parents were interviewed in the fall of 1990 and again at the…