Evidence on the science of child development has grown exponentially in recent years, highlighting the central role that families, communities, and health, education, and social services听 play in supporting children鈥檚 physical, cognitive, and emotional development. Coupled with enhanced attention to social policies and practices that can expand or restrict the resources and services available for children and families, this has led to the need for more leaders in the interdisciplinary field of child and family policy.
The Center for Child and Family Policy at 涩里番下载, launched in the fall of 2021, is a cross-disciplinary effort between the Lynch School of Education and Human Development and the School of Social Work. Led by Professors Rebekah Levine Coley and Summer Sherburne Hawkins along with a team of affiliated faculty, the center expands research, training, and interdisciplinary collaboration in the field of child and family policy while serving as the hub for a new certificate in Child Policy and Leadership.
The center serves as a hub to:
- engage leaders
- train students
- expand collaborative research and translational initiatives in the child and family policy field
A central component of the mission is a cohort-based training program designed to increase the availability of child and family policy leaders.听
- CCFP Fellows, drawn from a diverse group of master鈥檚 and doctoral students, complete one-and-a-half years of rigorous training in child development, policy analysis and evaluation, and advocacy and leadership.
- This selective graduate certificate program听 prepares fellows for careers in child and family policy and practice and enhances their skills to make sustainable change in the field.
The Center for Child and Family Policy and the training program aims to create a strong network of faculty leaders, community partners, and alumni that will make significant scientific, educational, and policy contributions to support children, families, and communities around the world.听
Interdisciplinarity and diversity across academic disciplines, methods, and expertise drives the Center for Child and Family Policy. The center, in its pursuit to build a strong, engaged, and supportive intellectual community, seeks to collaborate with scholars and practitioners from government, community, and business arenas, welcoming diverse perspectives and arenas of expertise in an effort to increase the synergies that arise from diversity.
The CCFP leadership team is composed of psychologists, social workers, educational policy specialists, community health experts, epidemiologists, lawyers, and political scientists across multiple schools and departments at 涩里番下载. The diverse cohort of faculty, all of whom bring expertise in components of听 child and family policy, engage in collaborative grants, research projects, curriculum development, and student training in a range of combinations, highlighting the center鈥檚 ability to work collaboratively.
- The center is led by Director Rebekah Levine Coley, Assistant Director Summer Hawkins, and a diverse team of scholars focused on building a sustainable and forward-facing research and training institute to promote the development of future leaders, rigorous science, community partnerships, and research translation.
- Adopting a reciprocal model, the center will leverage and expand its relationships with other scholars and institutions interested in child and family policy through collaborative efforts to develop an expanded professional network for its fellows.听
- CCFP will pay particular attention to the local community. As a member of the local as well as the national initiative, the Center engages in broad networks with common goals of expanding national and international capacity in child and family policy training and leadership.
- Master and doctoral student fellows accepted into the CPL certificate program will be integrated in classroom, seminar, and internship opportunities to provide a rich learning experience that transcends typical disciplinary and program boundaries. Fellows drawn from multiple disciplines and programs will bring diverse perspectives based on their level of training and area of focus, ranging from research, community advocacy, policy development, or service provision. By combining diverse perspectives and disciplines, we seek to create a more integrated, holistic training experience for CPL fellows that will broaden their learning, grow a shared CPL identity, and provide deeper skills in individual areas of interest.
- The CCFP broadens the reach and impact of 涩里番下载 research, policy, advocacy, and dissemination efforts in national and international contexts by distributing research and policy briefs and building collaborations and partnerships, heightening impact. The Center鈥檚 collaborations with local, national, and international internship placement sites help to further connections between research, policy, and practice partners, providing venues for broader impact in the field of child and family policy.
涩里番下载 is a member of the at Columbia University, which also includes centers at the University of California at Berkeley, University of Colorado Denver, University of Florida, and University of Washington. This growing consortium of early childhood policy centers across the country hs been funded by the Heising-Simons Foundation, with additional funding from Buffett Early Childhood Fund, Bezos Foundation, and Stranahan Foundation.