Center of Excellence for Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation, part of Georgetown University’s Thrive Center

CoE Equity Toolkit

Equity is a central component of IECMHC. Every individual who is part of the IECMHC system has an important role to play in battling racism and promoting fair, positive, and equitable learning experiences for children and families. The new IECMHC Racial Equity Toolkit is a collection of videos, tools, and resources that can help consultation systems leaders and all IECMHC practitioners build capacity in understanding race and systemic racism, bias, and culturally responsive practice and meaningfully embed equity in their programs and practice. Each resource includes accompanying discussion questions that can guide reflection of the central issues.

These resources can facilitate full implementation of the recently revised IECMHC Competencies, which include an explicit focus on equity across each domain.

The toolkit has two parts: “Start Here” and “Dig Deeper.” The “Start Here” section includes a collection of resources that systems leaders, supervisors, and consultants can use to begin their work using the toolkit; the “Dig Deeper” section includes an additional set of resources that can facilitate deeper learning and continued exploration of racism and using IECMHC and early childhood systems to combat it. The toolkit will be a “living toolkit”, such that new resources will be added on an ongoing basis.

Systems leaders and supervisors can use these resources in supervision or reflective meetings with staff and move through each resource, reading, video, or podcast together.

Start Here

Dig Deeper

Equity in ECE Settings

  • Searchable Evidence Database for IECMHC (new)

    The Center of Excellence has created a Searchable Evidence Database for IECMHC that summarizes the current status of the peer reviewed literature on IECMHC. You can search articles using a range of criteria, including whether the article analyzed differences in IECMHC access and outcomes based on race/ethnicity. There is much more research needed on advancing equity through IECMHC! Please view the Future Directions for Research in the Evidence Synthesis for recommendations and proposed next steps. Feel free to request Technical Assistance if you would like consultation as you design an equity-focused research or evaluation project.

  • Talking About Race

    Tool: Let's Talk About Race (opens in a new tab)

    Type of Resource: Video

    Time Required: 18 minutes to watch

    Questions for reflection: After watching, reflect on your own racial culturalization. What were you taught about discussing race? How does that culturalization impact your work today?

    Audience: All

  • Learning About Anti-Racism in Early Childhood

    Tool: A Lesson In Humility: Diving into Anti-Racist Early Education Practices and Policies (opens in a new tab)

    Type of Resource: Podcast

    Time Required: 1 hour to listen

    Questions for reflection: After listening, discuss your thoughts with your team around the following: During the podcast, there are multiple mentions of traits of dominant culture that lead to inequities in early care and education. What are some of those traits? How have you seen them lead to inequitable treatment and outcomes for children, especially Children of Color?

    Audience: Consultants, Practitioners

    Tool: Justice from the Streets to the Early Childhood Classroom

    Type of Resource: Webinar

    Time Required: 90 minutes to watch

    Questions for reflection: After watching, consider what concrete steps / actions you can take to promote more equitable early childhood spaces.

    Audience: Researcher, Policy, Consultants, Practitioners

    Tool: Racial Justice, Equity, and the Role of Child Care

    Type of Resource: Webinar

    Time Required: 1 hour to watch

    Questions for reflection: What are some of the inequities inherent in the way early care and education systems operate in the US? How has the COVID pandemic worsened those inequities?

    Audience: Researcher, Policy, Consultants

    Tool: Advancing Equity in Early Childhood Education Position Statement NAEYC (opens in a new tab)

    Type of Resource: Position Statement

    Time Required: 45 minute read

    Questions for reflection: Review the sections applicable to your position and consider how to apply the recommendations into your daily work.

    Audience: All

    Tool: Supporting the School Readiness and Success of Young African American Boys Project: Reflections on a Culturally Responsive Strength-Based Approach

    Type of Resource: Report

    Time Required: varies

    Questions for reflection: Use the reflective questions and activities embedded throughout the document to reflect on your learning.

    Audience: Researcher, Policy, Consultants, Practitioners

    Tool: Unequal Access: Barriers to Early Childhood Education for Boys of Color (opens in a new tab)

    Type of Resource: Issue Brief

    Time Required: 30 minute read

    Questions for reflection: After reading the article, consider the barriers to access that exist to high quality early childhood education to Boys of Color. What actions can you take in your role to overcome those barriers?

    Audience: Policy, Funders, Consultants

    Tool: Start with equity: From the Early Years to the Early Grades, a Review of the Data and Research Landscapes and an Actionable Policy Agenda (opens in a new tab)

    Type of Resource: Report

    Time Required: 2 hour read

    Questions for reflection: How do different forms of inequities take shape in the settings in which you work? How can you work to address each of the areas discussed in the report in your work? How can systems leaders implement change via ECMHC systems to address these inequities?

    Audience: All

  • Understanding Systemic Racism

    Tool: You Can't Fix What You Don't Look At: Acknowledging Race in Addressing Racial Discipline Disparities Carter, P., Skiba, R., Arredondo, M., & Pollock, M. (opens in a new tab)

    Type of Resource: Brief

    Time Required: 45 minute read

    Questions for reflection: Read and discuss as a team what concepts and ideas seem relevant to your role.

    Audience: Consultants, Researchers

Building an Equity Lens for Consultation

  • Reflecting on the History of Race in the U.S.

    Tool: Scene on Radio: Season Two - Seeing White (opens in a new tab)

    Type of Resource: Podcast

    Time Required: Varies - 30 minutes to 1 hour listen per episode

    Questions for reflection: After listening to each episode, engage in a reflective conversation with a peer. What new information did you learn? What are you wondering about? What do you want to learn more about?

    Audience: All

    Tool: The House We Live In: Race—The Power of an Illusion

    Type of Resource: Video

    Time Required: 56 minutes to watch

    Questions for reflection: After watching, reflect with colleagues on the following question: "What new insights are you taking away about how racism is integrated into systems after watching this video?"

    Audience: All

  • Talking about Race

    Tool: Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable (opens in a new tab)

    Type of Resource: Video

    Time Required: 11 minutes to watch

    Questions for reflection: After watching, journal your thoughts about what it means to be uncomfortable and speak the hard truths when necessary.

    Audience: All

    Tool: Having Conversations about Race, Bias, and Equity (opens in a new tab)

    Type of Resource: Webinar

    Time Required: 1 hour to watch

    Questions for reflection: Watch this video with your team. After watching, engage in a discussion about what you learned. How do you see this showing up in your work?

    Audience: All

  • Addressing Implicit Bias

    Tool: How to Overcome Our Biases: Walk Boldly Towards Them (opens in a new tab)

    Type of Resource: Video

    Time Required: One, 1-hour module

    Questions for reflection: Complete the course individually and discuss your learning and actions steps with your team.

    Audience: All

    Tool: State of the Science: Implicit Bias Review (opens in a new tab)

    Type of Resource: Report

    Time Required: 2 hour read

    Questions for reflection: What are some of the ways you have noticed implicit bias in action in yourself? In others? In your work? What were the most useful strategies and how could you use them in consultation?

    Audience:

  • Understanding Systemic Racism

    Tool: Being Anti-Racist (opens in a new tab)

    Type of Resource: Webpage

    Time Required: 10 minutes to read

    Questions for reflection: Review the content and resources included. Use the "Let's Reflect" questions at the end of the page to reflect with a colleague.

    Audience: All

    Tool: The Urgency of Intersectionality (opens in a new tab)

    Type of Resource: Video

    Time Required: 19 minutes to watch

    Questions for reflection: At the end of the video, the speaker states "If we can't see a problem, we can't fix a problem." How did this video help you to see the problem of racism and intersectionality through a new lens?

    Audience: All

    Tool: We Need to Talk About an Injustice (opens in a new tab)

    Type of Resource: Video

    Time Required: 23 minutes to watch

    Questions for reflection: After watching, reflect on what Bryan shared about how the justice system works in the United States. Is this information new to you? How does this add to your understanding of the "preschool to prison pipeline"?

    Audience: Consultants, Practitioners, Policy

    Tool: Race Forward: Systemic Oppression Video Series (opens in a new tab)

    Type of Resource: Videos

    Time Required: 10 minutes to watch entire series

    Questions for reflection: After watching, consider the impacts that components of structural racism have on young children. How do you see it show up in the spaces where you work and serve children and families?

    Audience: All