By Joanne Loeb and Susan Perkins, New York Zero-to-Three Network Co-Presidents

September represents new beginnings for many of us, the start of a new school year and a new work year for NYZTT. As we look ahead, we continue to grapple with some of the same challenges as last year in the form of the Covid pandemic and issues of racial justice. Although the challenges are the same, we also see how the early childhood workforce has mobilized to address these challenges and developed new strategies and innovations in their work with young children and families. For example, child care providers have learned to engage emotionally with infants and toddlers while wearing masks, therapists have found innovative ways to interact with children and parents through the screen, and many early childhood settings have begun addressing issues of racial bias and diversity. In the coming year we look forward to hearing about how early childhood programs, providers and clinicians have adapted to the pandemic and how they are incorporating the mandates of diversity, equity and inclusion into their work with families. NYZTT will share these new ideas in our monthly newsletter and through our trainings and annual conference.

Over the past year, NYZTT has also created a new Diversity Equity and Inclusion Committee which has been helping the organization address issues of racial justice as they arise within our organization and in our work with families. We look forward to the guidance of the DEI Committee as it will help guide and inform the future of NYZTT.

NYZTT continues to provide state-of-the-art trainings which address the challenges involved in working with infants, toddlers, and their families. Our membership is multidisciplinary, including educators, therapists, clinicians, administrators, early childhood providers, early interventionists, policy experts and more, and we strive to provide trainings to meet the needs of all our members. Please feel free to reach out to us to let us know of your interests and preferences. Please check out the 2021-2022 calendar of workshops listed in our newsletter and on our website NYZTT.ORG which will cover topics such as parent-child relationships, trauma, grief, identity development in young children, and sensory integration.

We are grateful for all the work you do to support young children and families. We look forward to a year of reflection and growth.