{"id":96,"date":"2021-05-24T16:28:25","date_gmt":"2021-05-24T21:28:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/ecinstitute\/?page_id=96"},"modified":"2026-06-17T22:23:39","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T02:23:39","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/ecinstitute\/about\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"<h3 aria-level=\"5\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #397885;\"><b>Mission<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p aria-level=\"5\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #5f6463;\">To research and transform early childhood\u00a0nurturing\u00a0ecosystems\u00a0locally\u00a0and globally\u00a0to mitigate the impact of\u00a0all types of adversity, including\u00a0Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)\u00a0and broad social disadvantage.\u00a0Early childhood adversity can cause trauma and toxic stress which in turn\u00a0creates\u00a0an\u00a0enduring public health\u00a0burden, increasing the risk of mental and\u00a0physical illness in adulthood\u00a0and contributing\u00a0to socioeconomic and racial health disparities.\u00a0We are dedicated to creating holistic nurturing\u00a0ecosystems integrated across disciplinary boundaries to maximize child well-being, prevent trauma,\u00a0improve\u00a0inequities in\u00a0health and education,\u00a0and\u00a0build resilience.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:200,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #b94d41;\"><b>How we define early childhood well-being<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<blockquote><\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #5f6463;\">We define early childhood as the period from birth to eight years of age.\u00a0Early childhood well-being means having the requisite physical, cognitive, and social-emotional capabilities necessary for realizing\u00a0one\u2019s\u00a0full human potential.\u00a0In addition to its intrinsic value, child well-being is instrumental to the well-being\u00a0and health\u00a0of societies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335559739&quot;:200,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #b48a00;\"><b>How we think about early childhood nurtur<\/b><b>ing<\/b><b>\u00a0ecosystems<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #5f6463;\">In the broadest sense,\u00a0early childhood nurturing ecosystems\u00a0encompass\u00a0parenting and\/or\u00a0caregiving within the household; public and private health, education, and social services; and community\u00a0and economic\u00a0support systems. Nurturing\u00a0ecosystems also include the policy space in which decisions relevant to early childhood are made.\u00a0Unlike nurturing ecosystems, dysfunctional ecosystems often confer risk to the very children who are already most at risk from\u00a0adversities such as\u00a0interpersonal and systemic\u00a0trauma and other ACEs.\u00a0Building\u00a0nurturing ecosystems\u00a0plays\u00a0a critical role both in preventing\u00a0early adversity\u00a0and in\u00a0fostering resilience in children who have experienced\u00a0them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/give.bu.edu\/campaigns\/58261\/donations\/new?designation=instituteforearlychildhoodwellbeingfund\" class=\"donate-btn\">Donate<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mission\u00a0 To research and transform early childhood\u00a0nurturing\u00a0ecosystems\u00a0locally\u00a0and globally\u00a0to mitigate the impact of\u00a0all types of adversity, including\u00a0Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)\u00a0and broad social disadvantage.\u00a0Early childhood adversity can cause trauma and toxic stress which in turn\u00a0creates\u00a0an\u00a0enduring public health\u00a0burden, increasing the risk of mental and\u00a0physical illness in adulthood\u00a0and contributing\u00a0to socioeconomic and racial health disparities.\u00a0We are dedicated to creating holistic [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19292,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":3,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-templates\/no-sidebars.php","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/ecinstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/96"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/ecinstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/ecinstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/ecinstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19292"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/ecinstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/ecinstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/96\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1448,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/ecinstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/96\/revisions\/1448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/ecinstitute\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}