Note from Co-Presidents

Joanne Loeb & Susan Perkins

Hello to New York Zero-to-Three Network members and early childhood professionals across the state and beyond! 2023-2024 has been a productive time for NYZTT. Over this past year we have worked on strengthening the connection with our membership, providing trainings that meet the varied needs of early childhood professionals and becoming more active in advocating for policies supporting young children and families. 
We have continued to release bimonthly newsletters featuring reviews of recent and upcoming events, profiles of esteemed colleagues working with babies and toddlers (“Angels in the Nursery”) and a policy corner with insight into relevant policy decisions. Our workshops have addressed the diversity of families in our communities, including one workshop on supporting children of incarcerated parents and our annual conference which helped us to understand the trauma and loss experienced by undocumented and mixed-status families. Other workshops offered clinical insights including one focused on working with complex families and another discussing how to solve problems collaboratively with young children. We also presented a workshop focused on the HealthySteps program, highlighting the importance of embedding mental health and child development into pediatric practice. On June 20th we look forward to our first fully live event which will be our Friendraiser (6-8 pm) with special guest Jennifer Gutierrez, NYC Council Member. (Visit nyztt.org for more information).

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This year NYZTT has also been pleased to partner with other organizations to provide educational training. With the New York Parenting Education Partnership, we co-sponsored a two-part workshop on child development for parent educators. We will also partner with NYS Association for Infant Mental Health on the upcoming Breakfast for Babies event: Harmful Effects of Climate Change and Air Pollution on Children's Health taking place on June 7 (9:30-11am) (visit nyztt.org for more information).

This year NYZTT presented two awards honoring important contributors to the early childhood field. At the Hedi Levenback Memorial evening hosted by Dr. Gil Foley, we honored Dr. Serena Wieder, an innovator and leader in the early childhood field. At our annual conference we honored Dr. Elaine Geller with the Emily Fenichel award, recognizing her contributions as an educator and mentor. 

Another significant initiative for our organization this year was to actively support the need to increase reimbursement rates for New York State’s Early Intervention providers. NYZTT joined with the Kids Can’t Wait campaign and many other early childhood organizations to strongly encourage the State Legislature – and the Governor – to approve this much needed increase. We are pleased that at least a modest percentage rate hike was included in the final budget and proud to have played a small part in this accomplishment.

As we finish out this program year, we welcome your ideas for innovative ways to connect to our membership. We will continue to provide a variety of educational and networking opportunities as we expand the scope of our outreach to meet the needs of this strong, diverse group of early childhood professionals. We look forward to hearing from you!