Pregnancy & Early Childhood
We strongly believe that both the pregnancy period and the first 1,000 days of a baby’s life are times of great opportunity and importance.
Research shows that the prenatal period and the earliest years of a child’s life are a crucial period of holistic development, with the ability for excessive prenatal and postnatal toxic stress to create a lifetime of physical, mental, emotional, and social outcomes.
More specifically, adverse early childhood experiences can fuel intergenerational cycles of poverty. In New York City, nearly one in four children under the age of 3 live in poverty, and Black and Hispanic children face even higher rates of poverty, material hardships, and health problems. The challenges these families in particular face are rooted in income inequality, systemic racism, food insecurity, a lack of stable, affordable housing, and anti-immigration policy -- to name just a few barriers.
Although the return on early investments in childhood are the strongest across a lifespan, as a country we spend the least amount of money on children in their earliest years when compared to other developed nations, namely from pregnancy to age three.
By the Numbers
80%
A baby’s brain doubles in size by age 1, and by age 3, it has reached 80% of its full adult size
$9
Nobel Prize-winning economist James Heckman shows that very $1 invested in early childhood can yield a return up to $9
2X
Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous babies are up to twice as likely as White babies to die before their first birthdays
Our Thesis
Our Early Childhood Development portfolio focuses on New York City-based organizations that focus on supporting birthing parents and babies during pregnancy and the earliest days of life. Our work focuses on preventing, versus undoing, in an effort to have real, palpable change on the lives of New York’s littlest ones and next generation.
Our Portfolio
Action for a Better Community: Provides opportunities for low-income families to become self-sufficient,
www.abcinfo.org
Ashe Birthing Services: Offers families unique maternal care, www.ashebirthingservices.com
Association to Benefit Children: Shares joy and love through compassionate programs for NYC’s most vulnerable, www.a-b-c.org
The Birthing Place: Provides individualized prenatal, birth, and postnatal care to marginalized BIPOC communities, www.thebirthingplace.co
Bronx Health Collective: Offers holistic prenatal and pediatric care services, involving group prenatal care, www.montefiore.org
Bronx Health Link: Improves the health of mothers and babies through providing doula services & childbirth education,
www.bronxhealthlink.org
Chances for Children: Strengthens relationships between at-risk parents and their children, from birth to age five, www.cfcny.org
Citizens’ Committee for Children: Educates and mobilizes New Yorkers to ensure that every child is healthy, housed, educated and safe, www.cccnewyork.org
Connected Communities: Partners with leaders and residents to address the various needs of several Rochester communities, www.connectedcommunitiesroc.org
Dominican Women’s Development Center: Contributes to the empowerment of low income Latinas and their families, www.dwdc.org
Early Childhood Funders Collaborative: Brings together ECD funders to act and advocate for change for children & families,
www.ecfunders.org
Healthy Baby Network: So every parent in the Rochester community has the support needed to bring a baby into a nurturing home, www.healthy-baby.net
Healthy Moms: Provides moms with the support they need to be healthy, self-sufficient, and have a healthy baby,
www.rochesterregional.org
Healthy Start @ NYCHA: Supports pregnant women living in NYCHA housing by providing material goods, resources, and ensuring homes are safe for a baby.
HER Village: Provides essential material goods, like diapers and hygiene items, for moms from birth until their child is four,
www.wearehervillage.org
Hunts Point Alliance for Children: Nurtures Hunts Point youth along their path to college or career, www.huntspoint.org
Little Essentials: Offers at-risk families urgently needed children’s supplies and parenting education, www.littleessentials.org
LSA Family Health Services: Strengthens and empowers vulnerable families and children, www.littlesistersfamily.org
Mexican Coalition: Supports Latinx families in NYC, including young mothers arriving from South & Central America seeking asylum,
www.coalicionmexicana.org
Moms for Moms: Creates a community of women providing care and support to other women, www.momsformomsnyc.org
New York Community Trust: Prepares all New York City children for lifelong success, www.nycommunitytrust.org
Nido de Esperanza: Seeks to break the cycle of poverty by changing the first 1,000 days of a child’s life, www.nidodeesperanzanyc.org
Northern Manhattan Perinatal Partnership: Provides maternal and child health services for women and babies in Northern Manhattan,
nmppcares.org
NYC Mammas Give Back: Improves the lives of NYC area moms and families experiencing homelessness and poverty, www.nycmammasgiveback.org
Power of Two: Nurtures the inherent potential in every child and family, www.powerof2.nyc
Room to Grow: Offers structured coaching, material goods, and community connections to support parents to thrive from the start, www.roomtogrow.org
South Bronx Rising Together: Builds pathways of success for children and youth “from cradle through college and career”, www.risingtogether.org
The Children’s Agenda: Advocates for effective policies and evidenced-based solutions for the health and success of children, www.thechildrensagenda.org
United for Brownsville: Launches local, innovative solutions to inequities found within systems that serve children, www.unitedforbrownsville.org