Center for Community Engagement

Early childhood care and education centers are primary and secondary prevention for children at risk for low performance. ECCE are essential in the first three years of an individual's life; the connections one experiences in such services are crucial to brain development. The various interactions encountered at child care facilities can positively influence how a child thinks, feels, acts, and connects with others into adulthood. It additionally contributes to academic readiness and decreases the rate of school dropouts. These facilities are a valuable resource to families with toddlers, especially low-income families who may struggle to offer certain resources and skills to their young ones. However, it seems that the families who need the help the most struggle the most to access them. However, research still struggles to determine constructive ways to address systematic racial barriers within early childhood development within BIPOC families. As a consequence, children are not getting the necessary child development resources. Likewise, the disparity gap within quality ECCE suggests that policies are not recognizing the importance of ECCE enough. The purpose of this community-engaged research was to examine obstacles limiting families from acquiring quality ECCE by utilizing the voices of historically marginalized communities. The second purpose was to identify ways to make a resourcefulness website accessible to the communities being affected. This study question was established with the guidance of the Advancement Project and from First 5 L.A - Best Start. The tools utilized in the study included interviews formerly conducted with the First 5 L.A. team. Additionally, inductive coding was used to analyze the interviews to identify themes.