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NOW LEARNING COMMUNITY

Berkeley Early Education and Care Collective

Berkeley County, South Carolina

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About Us

The Berkeley Early Education and Care Collective (BEE Collective) was formed in 2017, to build an integrated mental health framework to increase the social-emotional development outcomes of children, birth to 6, in Berkeley County, SC. The Collective began by addressing exclusion and expulsion in early learning settings that disproportionately affects Black boys. The group also supports family resilience from the beginning, through doula services, reproductive health information and parent groups. The Collective tackles bias in the early education system and engages community to lead the way towards solutions.

Mission

The mission of the Berkeley Early Education and Care Collective is to ensure that every child enters kindergarten socially and emotionally ready to learn, that every educator has positive well-being and the tools to handle challenging behaviors, that families are resilient and that our community reduces mental health stigma for all ages.

Vision

Our vision is to build upon the assets of our hardest to reach children, parents and educators so that we can co-create beloved community in early education where everyone is treated with dignity.

Learning Community Goals and Strategic Priorities

During the learning community, the Berkeley Early Education and Care Collective is focusing on the following goals:

  1. Increase and improve quality and competency of those providing care to children

  2. Collecting, analyzing, applying, and sharing data for continuous improvement of service delivery

  3. Engage the community on a path from input to empowerment, where those most affected by the issues are leading the charge and effectively resourced

 

During the learning community, the Berkeley Early Education and Care Collective is focusing on the following specific priorities:

  1. Promote health literacy with a mental health focus

  2. Lay the foundation for a socio-emotional development system of care for early childhood that includes supports for children, families and primary caregivers

  3. Address bias in early education systems and develop an anti-bias culture of support

  4. Identify and implement effective modes of communication that engage lay people and professionals in information and data discovery, sharing and decision-making

  5. Engage the community on a path from input to empowerment, where those most affected by the issues are leading the charge and effectively resourced

Highlights

For More Information

www.berkeleyfirststeps.com

Phone: 843-863-3030

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Berkeley First Steps Executive Director: Adrienne Troy-Frazier; atroyfrazier@berkeleyfirststeps.com

 

BEE Collective Project Director: Alexa Stephens; astephens@berkeleyfirststeps.com

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