Early Childhood Matters Stands in Solidarity with Black Lives Matter, against racism to Black Americans and discrimination in all forms.

Welcome to our page of resources dedicated to helping you raise the next generation of race conscious children.

Read our blog article here - From Talking About Race To Talking About Racism, What Can One Little Family Do?

At Early Childhood Matters we believe that parenting is more than just handing down the beliefs, values and worldviews that were given to us. We believe parenting is about actively thinking and rethinking these norms, and making conscious choices about what we want our children to learn from us, and how we are going to get there. We believe that helping parents and children establish healthy connected relationships from a very early age is a key ingredient in social change and transformation. We also believe that a key piece of social change is teaching skills that help children to be critical thinkers, to be up-standers, to challenge status quo and to fight for change when change is needed. At Early Childhood Matters we strive to be a place where people of color and mixed race families feel supported, heard, and seen. We know that we could do more to support families of color and are actively looking at ways to do so.

We also acknowledge that when coming from a place of white privilege, it is our duty and roll to not be silent or complacent on this issue. It is important to talk to our children early about race, and believe that if we are not raising our children to be anti-racist, we are likely raising them to be racist.

Here’s an extremely detailed article on why we need to support the Black Lives Matter movement and how to get involved: https://www.dnaweekly.com/blog/support-black-lives-matter-reasons/

Educating Ourselves:

Just as the basic philosophy of our organization is grounded in research and educating ourselves as parents, we believe taking steps to educate ourselves on the stories, history, and lives of Black Americans is an important place to start. Our teachers and facilitators are currently reading:

Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad

Mindful of Race by Ruth King,

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo

Please see this link for more fiction and nonfiction books, as well as these TV series and films on understanding Black Lives Matters and systemic racism.

Resources for For Talking to Children About Race

Embrace Race is an amazing resource with workshops, virtual seminars, and info.

10 Tips for Teaching and Talking to Kids About Race

8 Tips for Talking to Your Child About Racial Injustice
I Still Can't Breathe-Supporting Kids of Color Amid Racialized Violence

Read our blog article here - From Talking About Race To Talking About Racism, What Can One Little Family Do?

Books for children about diversity:
https://www.embracerace.org/resources/8-tips-for-choosing-good-picture-books-featuring-diverse-bipoc-characters

Black Lives Matter: Instructional Library with click-on Read Alouds: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/18pOK3roiwPQ9WF7D2wA0o7Ktr8KwAJeZfn-o6O8T__Y/mobilepresent?fbclid=IwAR2sK499Ysa0_WxY9uCmeHi5_VYcwyk4ek19orBUd_TVozXBArXbr35Xg-0&slide=id.p

Lists of things to do now:

https://www.thegoodtrade.com/features/supporting-black-lives-matter

https://www.prettygooddesign.org/blog/Blog%20Post%20Title%20One-5new4

Helpful tools for raising an anti racist:

https://www.tolerance.org/

https://www.adl.org/education/resources/glossary-terms/what-is-anti-bias-education

Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1938113578/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_0Zt2EbAZ5TCQN

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PbFhBrPAfh3e5ZsrqG11RJCkxXr_7PRohDfAUVp5Ibk/edit

https://pinchofyum.activehosted.com/lt.php?s=4a3c0702a161b5102897620b7474475b&i=1628A1884A2A267660

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/lists/coretta-scott-king-book-award-winners

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZJqFGssFb-O9mOuF6nKJNQ

Webinars

"How do I make sure I'm not raising the next 'Amy Cooper'?"

“I [STILL] can’t breathe”: Supporting kids of color amid radicalized violence

Organizations to consider donating to:

SF Black Infant Health

https://colorofchange.org/

https://www.naacpldf.org/

https://www.joincampaignzero.org/

https://8cantwait.org/

https://sisterdistrict.com/

Support Black Owned Businesses throughout the US:

A link to 150 businesses: https://www.websiteplanet.com/blog/support-black-owned-businesses/

Books:

12 Months—3 Years:

Curate books, music, toys and dolls that reflect the wide diversity of races, cultures, and ethnicities that we find in our world

https://www.facebook.com/marcus.books/

https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=50-Board-Books-That-Show-IBPOC-Faces-diversity-baby&utm_source=editorial&utm_medium=SLJTW&utm_term=&utm_content=&utm_campaign=articles

https://www.commonsensemedia.org/lists/coretta-scott-king-book-award-winners

https://recesscollective.org/blog/power-of-books

https://www.blackbirdbooksf.com/shop - has created bundles for kids and adults

https://socialjusticebooks.org/booklists/?fbclid=IwAR27XvzNKNgg8F-eOUBh-Jz-sKJiXntaWyuM70IEmKGAnH8cWydmFSLxnp4

The #1 Black Children's Bookstore! – Ashay By The Bay - Baby-3 and Preschool

Children’s Books with Black Protagonists:

https://www.readbrightly.com/picture-books-featuring-black-male-protagonists/

https://www.readbrightly.com/picture-books-featuring-black-female-protagonists/

https://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=11056

For Schools:

https://www.naeyc.org/sites/default/files/globally-shared/downloads/PDFs/resources/topics/Chap1_Anti-Bias%20Education.pdf

http://www.enidlee.com/

http://sfcess.org/resources/