Equity in early childhood education begins with health

By Dennis Archambault

Nearly halfway into a leadership discussion on “An Equitable Start: Aligning Early Childhood and K-12 Systems to Maximize Impact” at the 2019 Detroit Regional Chamber Policy Conference, Dr. Nicholi Vitti, superintendent of the Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD), noted that “if we’re serious about children reaching their potential, we have to provide the right wrap-around services in early childhood,” meaning medical, dental, and mental health care, as well as support to address the social determinants of health that can help stabilize an otherwise chaotic world for many low-income children. The discussion at this session had previously focused on various issues involving financial investment in early childhood education and preparing the workforce of the future.

Rip Rapson, president and CEO of the Kresge Foundation, noted that finding the right formula for investing in early childhood is “unbelievably complicated.” Students, he said, are entering the educational system ill-prepared for learning. Vitti, referencing an innovative partnership between DPSCD, University of Michigan, Marygrove College, and Starfish Family Services to develop innovative approaches to pre-kindergarten to college curriculum and teacher training, challenged the audience, most of whom were managerial leaders from the for-profit and non-profit sectors: “If it’s alright for middle-class students to have wrap-around (health and human services), why do we have a debate about why students in poverty should have them?”

Education, as many in the audience experienced a generation ago, is a thing of the past, added moderator Rochelle Riley, director of Arts and Culture for the City of Detroit. The process of preparing young people for school is more than sending them off to kindergarten. Added La June Montgomery Tabron, president and CEO of the Kresge Foundation: “It’s giving them a healthy start” and developing a holistic “ecosystem” for education, which takes into account “trauma-informed” approaches to teaching.

Dennis Archambault is vice president for Public Affairs at Authority Health.