Collaborates with caregivers and program staff to promote equitable, warm, and trusting relationships, consistent routines, and development-enhancing interactions that positively impact classroom and home climates. Understands and values the roles culture and language play in supporting infants’ and young children’s social and emotional development, and incorporates family’s culture and primary language into classrooms and homes to build continuity in the learning experiences for infants and young children between the classroom and home.

Takes time to understand how race/ethnicity, primary language, and abilities influence the family’s experiences and the classroom’s and system’s role in oppressing or supporting wellness. Resists applying a deficit-based perspective to infants, young children, and families who are from historically marginalized and oppressed communities by committing to learning about authentic community strengths and adaptive responses to poverty, historical trauma, and other racialized experiences.