March 2023 eNews

Inside this Issue

2023 Nurturing Developing Minds: Finding Your Community
The Update: Over 300 Assessments Now on IMPACT!, ICS Team Supporting HRSA Early Childhood Evidence to Impact Center Grant, ICS Team Members Present on Equitable and Effective Measurement for Two Empowering Communities Globally Groups, and ICS Research & Evaluation Team Supports FUEL for 50 Initiative in NYC
Hello Family Spartanburg Releases Impact Report for 2021-2022
Refundable Earned Income Tax Credits Could Benefit Working Families in Need
Request for Proposals: ICS Seeking CPA firm for December 31, 2022 Fiscal Year-end
What We've Been Up To: Guest speaking at TERC, Representing ICS at State with the South Carolina Coalition for Safer Schools, and Teaching a session for Parents as Teachers Cooperative Health

2023 Nurturing Developing Minds:

Finding Your Community

by Megan Carolan, ICS VP of Policy Research

"Finding your community is NOT finding your echo chamber," remarked Cemeré James, Thursday’s keynote speaker at the Desmond P. Kelly, MD Nurturing Developing Minds Conference last month. She was speaking about the ongoing process of developing an equity lens and the need to sometimes make ourselves uncomfortable in order to make change.

Her comment struck me enough that I immediately scribbled it down. We were sitting in the very first session of our two-day event, which we haven’t been able to hold in person since 2020. While ICS and our conference partners continued to offer virtual programming in 2021 and 2022, there’s no substitute for the interactive elements of an in-person conference. Would we be spending two days in an echo chamber, “preaching to the choir” about long-term, system-level needs in early childhood? Or would we be challenging ourselves to consider new ideas, see new perspectives, and take something innovative back to our day jobs?

I’m pleased to share that the event created plenty of space for both big picture thinking as well as new opportunities to innovate and experiment in the more immediate future. Cemeré made us promise to push ourselves to have on difficult conversation about equity in coming days. In a plenary panel later that day, our speakers highlighted different to work towards the same goals in different communities: improving program and policy offerings for children prenatal-to-age-3. Friday’s SC LEND (Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities) panel elevated the voices of self-advocates and families of individuals with disabilities, sharing a perspective on the challenging systems and opportunities that can only come from those with lived experience. Moreover, Friday’s keynote from Dr. Dipesh Navsaria challenged us to consider the deeper impacts of some deceptively simple tools–like using shared reading with a child as a tool for supporting early relational health.

Breakout sessions on both days allowed attendees to dig in deeper to improve their practice, whether they work in early childhood education and care, pediatric health, or any of a range of child-serving fields. Attendees discussed handling challenging child behaviors, shifting the focus from just “Adverse Childhood Experiences” to the Positive ones as well, and even considering the physical spaces where children receive child care and health care services.

On Thursday evening, many long-time friends of ICS were on hand to celebrate the official naming of the event as the Desmond P. Kelly, MD Nurturing Developing Minds Conference. Dr. Kelly is a founding Board Member of ICS, former Board Chair, and the Interim Chief Academic Executive Officer at Prisma Health Upstate. He is also a development-behavioral pediatrician whose commitment to improving health care and services for young children led to his creation of the NDM Conference more than a decade ago. Ever since, the NDM conference has been a powerful professional development event, bringing experts together across sectors to focus on moving the needle for children.

Our theme for this year was “Restoration, Resilience, and Rebuilding”–an acknowledgement that as we move into an era beyond the acute COVID emergency, going “back to normal” would still leave too many children and families behind. The opportunity before all of us now is to design a world in which children and families are truly supported in their most sensitive years of development, and to move together towards that vision as a community–not an echo chamber.

For those claiming Continuing Medical Education (CMEs), a link to the attestation form was provided to you during the conference.

If you intend to claim credit through a different system or accreditation body, please reach out to John Young Shik Concklin to discuss these details.

Pictures from the Conference and Reception and Poster Session

Access the full photo albums on Facebook (conference, and reception and poster session).

Conference photos by J. Lisa Maronie, ICS General Communications Director.

Reception photos by Amy Randall Photography.

View the 2023 Nurturing Developing Minds Conference & Research and Implementation Symposium presentation and Recordings.

The Update

Over 300 Assessments Now on IMPACT! 60 New Assessments Added to the IMPACT Measures Tool®, Including Health Care, Job Satisfaction, and More

The IMPACT Measures Tool® now features over 300 assessments, thanks to the recent addition of 60 assessments related to health care, early childhood job satisfaction, and more. As always, all assessments are reviewed using our science-backed scoring system on four key categories of usability, cost, cultural relevance, and technical merit. Explore our new assessments.

ICS Team Supporting Health Resources and Services Administration's Early Childhood Evidence to Impact Center Grant

The ICS team began work in January to support the development of an Early Childhood Developmental Health Systems Evidence to Impact National Center, attending the partner kickoff meeting in January, supporting literature reviews, learning agenda development, evaluation plan development, and website development. This work is being done in partnership with ZERO TO THREE, the American Academy of Pediatrics, Help Me Grow National Center, the Center for the Study of Social Policy, Family Voices, and Georgetown University Center for Child and Human Development.

ICS Team Members Present on Equitable and Effective Measurement for Two Empowering Communities Globally Groups

ICS team members Dr. Aimée Drouin Duncan and Katie Hammond were invited to present on equitable and impactful measurement practices with two groups participating in the Empowering Communities Globally program, including a group of Afghan women Master’s students in early childhood research methods, as well as a group of home visitors and father program advocates. Learn more about the Empowering Communities Globally program.

Interested in joining us for a presentation on early childhood measurement, evaluation, or policy? Connect with us at info@instituteforchildsuccess.org!

ICS Research & Evaluation Team Supports FUEL for 50 Initiative in NYC

ICS continues work with the Robin Hood Foundation on the FUEL for 50 initiative in New York City. In addition to serving as a Foundation thought partner, reviewing applications and helping to select Round 2 grantees, ICS also conducts intake calls to match grantees with technical support organizations. Our Research & Evaluation team provides measurement and evaluation support through training webinars and/or direct consulting to ten New York City-based early childhood programs:  Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, Barbershop Books, CAMBA, Chances for Children-NY, Day One NY, FamilyCook Productions, Forestdale Inc., ImmSchools, the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, and the Tree of Life Center. Learn more about FUEL for 50.

New Hello Family Impact Report: 2021-2022 Achievements Supporting Spartanburg Families

by Katie Hammond, ICS Science Communications Director

Hello Family Spartanburg has released its first annual report, highlighting the great work of partner organizations such as BirthMatters, Family Connects, Quality Counts, and Triple P (Positive Parenting Program). From October 2021 to September 2022, Hello Family has served hundreds of families and young children in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

See the key takeaways in our blog post, and read the full report.

Up to $427 Million in EITC Benefits for

South Carolina

Refundable Earned Income Tax Credits Could Significantly Expand Support for Working Families in Need

by Bryan Boroughs, ICS COO & General Counsel

Prenatal-to-3 has published a report estimating the benefits and costs of implementing a refundable state earned income tax credit (EITC) in South Carolina between 10 percent and 25 percent of the federal credit, to reach more families than the current 125 percent nonrefundable EITC alone. This report calculates up to a 10-to-1 benefit to cost ratio for fiscal and human service benefits for South Carolina families, with up to $172 million in possible benefits from a 10% refundable EITC, and up to $427 million from a 25 percent refundable EITC. The addition of a refundable EITC could help expand coverage to 1 in 6 working families across the state.¹

Read our full blog to see how EITC could benefit SC families.

ICS Seeking Requests for Proposals from

CPA Firms to Provide Audit and

Tax Preparation Services

The Institute for Child Success (ICS) is requesting proposals from CPA firms to provide audit and tax preparation services commencing for its December 31, 2022 fiscal year-end, and the mutual option to extend for two additional years. Qualified firms must be headquartered in Greenville, Spartanburg, or Columbia, SC and have extensive experience with audits of non-profit organizations with numerous programs and large grants.

View Request for Proposal for Audit and Tax Services

What We've Been Up To

Out and About: the State and Nation

We're invested in the future!

Here we are in Utah at the 2023 Sorenson Impact Summit, learning how to leverage innovation, economic development and scale, and to achieve social and environmental justice through capital markets to better invest for the future.

Pictured left to right: ICS COO & General Counsel, Bryan Borough; ICS CEO, Jamie Moon; ICS Chief Equity Officer, Mary Garvey; and ICS Board Chair, Gary Glickman.

Mari Strand Cary, PhD served as an online guest speaker for TERC (Technical Education Research Centers) on February 13. Mari presented "Embracing technology to ease every step of the research process."

ICS Palmetto Engagement and Policy Director, Deborah DePaoli represented ICS at State House Advocacy Day with the South Carolina Coalition for Safer Schools on February 7. The event was recognizing Parent's Perspective on School Safety.