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Additional Resources: Equity, Anti-Bias & Anti-Racism

Equity

Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD)
The Association of University Centers on Disabilities (formerly the American Association of University Affiliated Programs for Persons with Developmental Disabilities) is a nonprofit organization that promotes and supports the national network of university centers on disabilities, which includes University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Education, Research, and Service (UCEDD), Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) Programs, and Developmental Disabilities Research Centers (DDRC). There are currently three UCEDDs in California: Tarjan Center for Developmental Disabilities, University of California, Los Angeles Neuropsychiatric Institute and Hospital, Los Angeles, and the USC University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, Childrens Hospital, Los Angeles and the Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities at the University of California, Davis, MIND Institute in Sacramento, California.
  • Tuesday's with Liz: Sara Luterman
    Published on Mar 14, 2016 This week Liz Weintraub, AUCD's advocacy specialist and host of Tuesdays with Liz: Disability Policy for All, interviews Sara Luterman, AUCD program assistant, on how to include people with autism in the workforce.
  • AUCD Diversity and Inclusion Toolkit
    The Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights Act of 2000 (administered by the Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities or AIDD), the Division of Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Workforce Development Strategic Plan for 2012-2020, and the 2015-2016 Strategic Map for the Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) all address elements of diversity, equity, inclusion, and cultural competence. This Diversity and Inclusion Toolkit provides concrete objectives, strategies, and resources to help these audiences realize their goals in this area. It also provides a foundation for future efforts, including developing a blueprint for AUCD's network to collectively make progress in diversity, inclusion, and cultural and linguistic competence.
Bridging Diversity Toolkit from ConnectAbility Canada
This online resource was created to help you gain a deeper understanding of Equity and Diversity in order to promote Inclusion where you work, live and play. The videos, discussion guides, activities and suggested resources can all be used in a variety of ways to facilitate brave conversations about what makes us different, and how we can create a safe and welcoming environment for everyone.
Build Initiative
Helping States Help Children Thrive. The BUILD Initiative works with early childhood leaders within states and nationally to better prepare young children to thrive and succeed. We support state leaders from both the private and public sectors as they work to set policy, offer services and advocate for children from birth to age five. Specifically, the BUILD Initiative helps state leaders develop an early childhood system – programs, services and policies tailored to the needs of the state’s unique young child population. This work focuses on connecting programs and services that may have functioned in isolation, been redundant, lacked resources to meet critical needs and/or operated at cross-purposes.
Building a Comprehensive State Policy Strategy to Prevent Expulsion from Early Learning Settings, 2nd Edition
Published: June 2018 The Expulsion Policy Strategy Tool lays out a rubric for a range of policy options to promote young children’s social-emotional development and reduce the likelihood of expulsion and suspension in early learning settings. The tool is closely aligned with the 2014 Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) reauthorization and can be used to identify strengths and set priorities for action. Its goals are to support the development of state-level strategies to build quality, equity, and capacity in early learning settings and to provide an approach to preventing suspension and expulsion that acknowledges the role of many critical programs, such as child care assistance; quality rating and improvement systems; workforce and professional development; licensing; behavioral and mental health.
Center of Excellence for Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation
September 2019 With its new website launched in September 2019, the Center aims to IMPACT the field of IECMHC by supporting the GROWTH and ADVANCEMENT of the profession. IECMH consultants support professionals in early care and education, home visiting, early intervention and other early childhood settings. The CoE provides technical assistance to programs, communities, states, territories, and tribal communities, and individual mental health consultants to increase access to high-quality mental health consultations throughout the country.
  • What is Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation? Find out what IECMH Consultants do?
  • Equity Learn about disparities in the experiences of young children of color and children from other marginalized communities in early childhood settings; discover strategies for IECMHC to impact early childhood professionals’ beliefs, attitudes, and practices to support more effective caregiving for all children, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, class, or a myriad of demographic characteristics; and better understand policies and procedures, including data collection and analysis procedures, to bridge disparities. The web page includes research, position statements, guidance and applications and tool kits.
“Float” – Full Spark Short Pixar (Video)
Disney | February 26, 2021 | Length: 7:17 mins

Pixar Animation Studios and the SparkShorts filmmakers of FLOAT are in solidarity with the Asian and Asian American communities against Anti-Asian hate in all its forms. We are proud of the onscreen representation in this short and have decided to make it widely available, in celebration of what stories that feature Asian characters can do to promote inclusion everywhere. Pixar Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pixar/

Head Start ECLKC: Disabilities Services Newsletters
The Head Start Early Childhood Learning & Knowledge Center (ECLKC) Disabilities Services Newsletter is produced monthly by the National Center on Early Childhood Development, Teaching, and Learning (NCECDTL). It is dedicated to staff working with young children with disabilities and their families. This page provides current and past issues of the newsletter.
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
New website as of summer 2017 Welcome to the U.S. Department of Education’s Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) website, which brings together IDEA information and resources from the Department and our grantees. Whether you are a student, parent, educator, service provider, or grantee, you are here because you care about children with disabilities and their families and want to find information and explore resources on infants, toddlers, children, and youth with disabilities.
IDEAs That Work: Preparing children and youth with disabilities for success- Career and College Ready Standards (CCRS) from the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS)
The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) promotes inclusion, ensures equity and creates opportunity to improve results and outcomes for infants, toddlers, children, youth and adults with disabilities to actively participate in all aspects of life. This Department of Education sponsored website links to resources in alignment with the Career and College Ready Standards (CCRS) for teachers and families for both academic and social, emotional, and behavioral skills. It links to the National Center on Intensive Intervention (NCII), The IRIS Center, The Schoolwide Integrated Framework for Transformation (SWIFT), The Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports Center (PBIS) and the Center for Parent Information and Resources (CPIR).
Learning for Justice
Formerly Teaching ToleranceFounded in 1991 by the Southern Poverty Law Center, Teaching Tolerance is dedicated to reducing prejudice, improving intergroup relations and supporting equitable school experiences for our nation's children.
NAEYC: Advancing Equity Initiative
Creating equitable learning opportunities for young children is at the core of NAEYC’s mission. These opportunities help children thrive by recognizing and building on each child’s unique set of individual and family strengths, cultural background, home language, abilities, and experiences. Our profession, however, cannot achieve this mission unless we face head-on the longstanding inequities that prevail in our field. Learn about recent NAEYC initiatives, including the Position Statement on Advancing Equity and the summary of the 2018 Leading and Working toward Equity Leadership Summit. This website holds various articles on ways that equity can be supported in early childhood settings.
NAEYC Position Statement on Equity
All children have the right to equitable learning opportunities that help them achieve their full potential as engaged learners and valued members of society. Thus, all early childhood educators have a professional obligation to advance equity. They can do this best when they are effectively supported by the early learning settings in which they work and when they and their wider communities embrace diversity and full inclusion as strengths, uphold fundamental principles of fairness and justice, and work to eliminate structural inequities that limit equitable learning opportunities. Position statement available in English and Spanish.
National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)
The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) is the nation’s largest organization of early childhood professionals and others dedicated to improving the quality of early childhood education programs for children birth through age eight. NAEYC’s primary goals are to improve professional practice and working conditions in early childhood education and to build public understanding and support for high-quality early childhood programs.
Pyramid Model Consortium: Suspension and Expulsion Resources
On this website find key resources the use the Pyramid Model in addressing equity, how to eliminate expulsion and a webinar to explain it all including: Pyramid Equity Project Fact Sheet, Expelling Expulsion Fact Sheet, and Webinar.
Resources for Trauma Informed Care
The wild fires in California, the mass shootings in Las Vegas, hurricanes and their aftermath, violence and racism, and families experiencing homelessness or being threatened by deportation are all tragedies we have been exposed to. Our children, including children with disabilities, are watching the news, watching adults reacting to what they see and hear, or they may be directly affected by a crisis. We all need to be aware of the impact that these events may be having on children and on us as parents, caregivers, and educators, whether we are directly involved in a traumatic event or experiencing secondary trauma from just hearing about the trauma of others.
Sharing Our Journey, UC Davis MIND Institute (Videos)
September 2019 This set of 11 videos, produced by the UC Davis Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities and funded by the Department of Developmental Services Disparity Funds Program, is aimed toward increasing equity and access to services for all families of children with developmental disabilities. Videos are available in English and Spanish.
Significant Disproportionality: Essential Questions and Answers (PDF)
Published: March 2017 The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) has released Significant Disproportionality: Essential Questions and Answers (PDF) (March 2017), which provides guidance on the Equity in IDEA Final Regulation released in December 2016. OSERS has also released a Model State Timeline (PDF) outlining different streams of work and the timelines that states should consider as they implement the new rule.

Anti-Bias

Cultivating Mindfulness for Educators
Published: New York Times, Sept 2017 In this article you’ll find an overview of mindfulness and practical strategies compiled by Alison Cohen, a certified mindfulness teacher and secondary school leadership and instructional coach, for bringing mindfulness into your life both inside and outside the classroom to support your own well-being and, in turn, the well-being of the young people in your care. She ends the post with resources for introducing students to mindfulness too. Below are some links found within the article that highlight some of the benefits of mindfulness.
  • Who Me? Biased? (Video) Length: 2:27 mins This video shows how implicit biases are thought processes that happen without us even knowing it — little mental shortcuts that hold judgments we might not agree with. Sometimes those shortcuts are based on race, ethnicity or gender. These biases can cause educators to engage with students, colleagues and other school community members in destructive ways that are misaligned with their conscious values. Mindfulness can help us act more thoughtfully in the moment and rely less on those automatic shortcuts.
  • Mindfulness Mitigates Biases You May Not Know You Have
  • Mindfulness Can Literally Change Your Brain
  • CARE for Teachers (Video) Length: 3:07 mins Study suggests that mindfulness-based interventions can “increase teacher social and emotional competence and the quality of classroom interactions.”
Early Childhood Expulsion / Suspension and Opportunity Gaps for Boys of Color
These two briefs are part of a series of issue briefs commissioned by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Forward Promise Initiative.
Greater Good Science Center (University of California, Berkeley)
The Greater Good Science Center studies the psychology, sociology, and neuroscience of well-being, and teaches skills that foster a thriving, resilient, and compassionate society.
Hands and Voices
Hands & Voices is a non-profit, parent-driven organization dedicated to supporting families of children who are deaf or hard of hearing. We are non-biased about communication methodologies and believe that families can make the best choices for their child if they have access to good information and support. Our membership includes families who communicate manually and/or orally. From American Sign Language to cochlear implants, our organization represents people from all different approaches to, and experiences with, deafness or hearing loss. We have local chapters comprised mainly of parents along with professionals. If you're interested in opening a Hands & Voices group in your area, just contact us via this website for more information.
How People’s Misconceptions Of Disability Lead To Toxic Microaggressions
Feb 2019 In general, society and the media have two extremely polarizing views on people with disabilities. They are viewed as either remarkable and heroic or victims and pitiful. Since disability falls on a wide range of a spectrum, these stereotypes are very limiting and can lead to severe repercussions for the disabled community and their views of themselves. For the outside, able-bodied population, these biases cause them to set forth unconscious microaggression toward their peers with disabilities.
National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)
The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) is the nation’s largest organization of early childhood professionals and others dedicated to improving the quality of early childhood education programs for children birth through age eight. NAEYC’s primary goals are to improve professional practice and working conditions in early childhood education and to build public understanding and support for high-quality early childhood programs.
Preventing Suspensions and Expulsions in Early Childhood Settings: A Program Leader’s Guide to Supporting All Children’s Success
The purpose of this guide is to provide relevant, specific recommended policies and practices that are actionable. The recommended policies and practices are based on the most important research for eliminating suspensions and expulsions in early childhood settings and were developed with guidance from a panel of national experts. There are many resources for early childhood caregivers, educators, and program leaders on supporting social-emotional development, reducing challenging behavior, recognizing the role of cultural differences and implicit biases, and eliminating suspensions and expulsions. This guide organizes these resources into a coherent and comprehensive framework that is easily accessible. To help you prioritize what recommended policies and practices are most necessary and timely to implement in your program, we have developed a self-assessment. The self-assessment is an optional tool that includes a brief questionnaire to help you reflect on your program’s policies, practices, and needs. The results of the self-assessment will help you reflect on your strengths and needs and provide you a roadmap to navigating the guide.
Pyramid Model Consortium: Suspension and Expulsion Resources
On this website find key resources the use the Pyramid Model in addressing equity, how to eliminate expulsion and a webinar to explain it all including: Pyramid Equity Project Fact Sheet, Expelling Expulsion Fact Sheet, and Webinar.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
These two briefs are part of a series of issue briefs commissioned by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Forward Promise Initiative.

Anti-Racism

Cultivating Mindfulness for Educators
Published: New York Times, Sept 2017 In this article you’ll find an overview of mindfulness and practical strategies compiled by Alison Cohen, a certified mindfulness teacher and secondary school leadership and instructional coach, for bringing mindfulness into your life both inside and outside the classroom to support your own well-being and, in turn, the well-being of the young people in your care. She ends the post with resources for introducing students to mindfulness too. Below are some links found within the article that highlight some of the benefits of mindfulness.
  • Who Me? Biased? (Video) Length: 2:27 mins This video shows how implicit biases are thought processes that happen without us even knowing it — little mental shortcuts that hold judgments we might not agree with. Sometimes those shortcuts are based on race, ethnicity or gender. These biases can cause educators to engage with students, colleagues and other school community members in destructive ways that are misaligned with their conscious values. Mindfulness can help us act more thoughtfully in the moment and rely less on those automatic shortcuts.
  • Mindfulness Mitigates Biases You May Not Know You Have
  • Mindfulness Can Literally Change Your Brain
  • CARE for Teachers (Video) Length: 3:07 mins Study suggests that mindfulness-based interventions can “increase teacher social and emotional competence and the quality of classroom interactions.”
How Racism Can Effect Child Development (Infographic)
Center for the Developing Child, Harvard University | 2020

It’s time to connect these dots. This infographic explains in basic terms how racism, in particular, gets “under the skin” and affects learning, behavior, and lifelong health. There is much more to say, but by starting with a shared understanding, we can work together toward creative strategies to address these long-standing inequities. More information and resources are available in this article:

More information and resources are available in the article Connecting the Brain to the Rest of the Body: Early Childhood Development and Lifelong Health are Deeply Entwined.

Learning for Justice
Formerly Teaching ToleranceFounded in 1991 by the Southern Poverty Law Center, Teaching Tolerance is dedicated to reducing prejudice, improving intergroup relations and supporting equitable school experiences for our nation's children.
Resources for Trauma Informed Care
The wild fires in California, the mass shootings in Las Vegas, hurricanes and their aftermath, violence and racism, and families experiencing homelessness or being threatened by deportation are all tragedies we have been exposed to. Our children, including children with disabilities, are watching the news, watching adults reacting to what they see and hear, or they may be directly affected by a crisis. We all need to be aware of the impact that these events may be having on children and on us as parents, caregivers, and educators, whether we are directly involved in a traumatic event or experiencing secondary trauma from just hearing about the trauma of others.
We Need to Talk About Ableism

Ableism is the favoring of able neurotypical people, and the exclusion and devaluation of people who are disabled and neurodivergent.

Ableism may not be intentional (in the same way that racism or sexism may not be intentional) but that doesn't mean it's not harmful.

Take the many media stories that often use words that communicate the underlying message we are a "burden" on society.

The following are existing resources posted throughout the MAP website that contain further information relating to Equity, Anti-Bias or Anti-Racism