Establishing a Neuro-Nurturing Community to Support Flourishing Families
Now Available On Demand
Research repeatedly shows that the first two to three months of an infant’s life have a major impact on neurodevelopment that sets a trajectory that impacts life-long well-being. This webinar focuses on how a community can scale up an ecosystem strategy to powerfully and positively impact that critical stage in enough children to transform community wellbeing. A panel of expert speakers will share some of the “secret sauce ingredients” of a Neuro-Nurturing Community Ecosystem and how that recipe can be refined and implemented.
With the growing appreciation of the importance of early childhood development–especially in the first few months of life–many organizations, government entities, funders, and coalitions are striving to find the best interventions for improving the lifelong trajectory of infants.
This webinar suggests that the best approach is a robust, multi-faceted ecosystem of interventions that can be tailored for different communities and families. This webinar goes beyond the broad–and well-researched–recommendations for parents to read, sing, talk, point, play, maximize love, and manage stress. The presenters will share promising “secret sauce ingredients” that can be part of a locally customized recipe that engages many different organizations in aligned, mutually reinforcing early brain development that enhances resilience and lifelong well-being for disadvantaged families and the neighborhoods they live in.
This webinar will focus on one innovative pathway for scaling up positive impact: An ecosystem for Neuro-Nurturing Community Baby Showers that introduce important innovations and modes of collaboration that allow a large share of the community’s most vulnerable infants to be strengthened in the most influential months of their lives.
If you’d like to attend, please click the register button and fill out a brief form and we’ll save you a spot (unless we’ve hit our capacity limit).
This webinar is the first in a series of several webinars that will feature some of the most respected experts in early childhood development.
Presenters (and collaborators) for the series will include:
George Halvorson, former CEO of Kaiser Permanente (mini-bio shared below)
Diana (“Denni”) Fishbein, Ph.D., Senior Scientist, Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at UNC-Chapel Hill, President & Co-Director of the National Prevention Science Coalition to Improve Lives.
Christina Bethell, Ph.D., Professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Founding Director of the Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative.
And many more.
Register for this first webinar and you’ll be invited to the subsequent ones in the series.
Speakers
George Halvorson, former CEO of Kaiser Permanente, Chair & CEO of the Institute for InterGroup Understanding, author of Three Key Years. He was past Chair of First 5 California Commission for Children & Families for a term which ended in 2021. The Commission uses money raised from tobacco taxes to provide support and education to children in California from birth to five years old.
Deborah McNelis, Founder of Brain Insights, LLC. where the Neuro-Nurturing® model was developed. She started her career as a kindergarten teacher. She then created a community-based organization called Family Network and was the president of The Partners organization. She also coordinated an Even Start Family Literacy program and was an instructor for the early childhood associate degree at a technical college.
Bill Barberg, President and Founder of InsightFormation, Inc., a Minnesota-based consulting and technology company that helps communities, regions, and states address complex social and health issues that require multi-stakeholder collaboration.
Bill was selected to write the chapter on “Implementing Population Health Strategies” for the book, “Solving Population Health Problems through Collaboration” (Routledge, 2017). His recommendations for using strategy maps is featured as a core recommendation in the new report by the National Academy of Public Administration. Bill recently co-authored a paper for the Journal of Change Management on “Leading Social Transformations to Create Public Value and Advance the Common Good”. He is also a co-author of the paper, The Future of Public Service and Strategy Management at Scale, feature in Policy Quarterly.
Susan Darrow, CEO of Music Together Worldwide. Ms. Darrow started teaching Music Together in the early 1990s. Since becoming CEO in 2015, she has led the organization through initiatives including curriculum redevelopment and the formation of the Song Advisory Board, a rotating panel of experts in ethnomusicology, music history, music education, and culture, to advise on song selection. B.A., Theatre Arts, Pennsylvania State University. M.A., Parent/Child Development, Bank Street College, NYC.
Folami Popoola, MD is a clinical research professional with a passion for advancing healthcare innovation and improving patient outcomes. With a strong background in clinical data management, project leadership, people management and health systems operations, he brings over a decade of diverse experience.
As the Founder and Managing Partner of Folanda Health, the Georgia based company specializes in delivering strategic solutions in clinical project management, pharmacovigilance, population health research, and healthcare technology. He is deeply committed to mentorship, community engagement, and fostering collaborations that drive meaningful impact in the healthcare sector.
Clarence Jones, MA, is the Hue-MAN Partnership's Executive Director and Community Engagement Strategist. He was the former Director of Community Engagement at an FQHC in Minneapolis. He serves as an Adjunct Instructor of Medicine for the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science and formally as an Adjunct Professor at Saint Catherine University in the School of Public Health.
He served as a member of the CTSI Executive Leadership team and the Public Health Disparities Research Board (PHDR) at the University of Minnesota. His past experiences include being the Mayor's Representative and co-chair for the Public Health Advisory Committee (PHAC) for the City of Minneapolis and also as a National Community Representative for the National Children's Study (NCS).
Sam Simmons, is licensed as an Alcohol and Drug Counselor who has over 30-year experience as a behavioral consultant specializing in practical culturally sensitive trauma informed work with African American males and their families with a focus on chemical dependency, interpersonal violence and historical trauma.
In 2014 Sam was awarded the Minnesota Fathers & Families Network Excellence in Fatherhood Award for his work to advance fatherhood policy and practice throughout Minnesota. He received the 2016 Healing the Hidden Wounds of Racial Trauma award and the Black Tear Drop Award for his vision and leadership in culturally sensitive trauma informed work in the community and around the country. In 2017 he received the Champions for Children Award for his work in making the world a better place for children from the Minnesota Communities Caring for Children. In 2018 he received Public Health Hero Award for his unique, innovative, and culturally specific trauma informed work from the City of Minneapolis. And was honored by the NFL for his work to end violence against women and interpersonal violence.
Carey Sipp, is a dedicated community builder and solutions journalist focused on positive and adverse childhood experiences (PACEs) and their impact on brain development and health. As a volunteer, she directs strategic partnerships for PACEs Connection (PACES Connection.com).
Carey recently started a new position as the director of nonprofit partnerships for Creating Healthier Communities (CHCImpact.org), supporting health equity through workplace giving and community-based initiatives.
For almost a decade, Carey has engaged communities in addressing childhood trauma, linking it to systemic issues such as poverty and racism. Since 2020, she has emphasized the importance of positive childhood experiences (PCEs) in preventing adult mental illness.
Passionate about early brain development and preventing developmental trauma, Carey advocates for preconception education and improved support for pregnant women and caregivers during critical developmental periods, in particular, the “fourth trimester”.
Carey believes workplaces can help prevent child abuse and neglect and domestic violence by providing living wages and supports such as paid family leave and supported childcare, ultimately benefiting the businesses, their employees, and their communities.
Her 2007 book, “The TurnAround Mom”, a re-parenting and parenting guide for survivors of addiction and abuse, was published by Health Communications, Inc., publishers of “The Chicken Soup for the Soul” series. She regularly speaks on PACEs science, recovery issues, and the importance of asking for help. She is the deeply grateful mother of two adult children living their dreams in Montana.
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