“Tonight, more than 22,000 children will be trying to fall asleep in the (New York) City’s family shelters. While other children are playing with friends, learning math and reading, and developing social skills, children in City shelters are being damaged daily in ways that harm their brain development, plague their lives with poor physical and …Read More

by Ileen Schwartz-Henderson, National Director of Bright Spaces ACEs  are defined as Adverse Childhood Experiences such as exposure to physical abuse, neglect, violence, substance abuse, and/or incarceration.  According to article  Traumatic Experiences Widespread Among U.S. Youth, New Data Show, more than 46 percent of children under 18 have had at least one ACE. ACEs contribute to …Read More

by Ileen Schwartz-Henderson, National Director of Bright Spaces I recently returned from a thought-provoking, highly informative and engaging trip to Haiti to visit a home and school for children in Port-au-Prince sponsored by the nonprofit, Hope for the Children of Haiti (HFC) . The school, which has very high standards of education, provides education to the children in …Read More

by Ileen Schwartz-Henderson, National Director of Bright Spaces As the Bright Space program has evolved over its 15 + years of creating safe play spaces for children in crisis, we have learned the importance and impact of trauma on the children and families we serve. The global term ‘trauma’ has evolved to become a spectrum of …Read More

by Joe Willard, Vice President for Policy at People’s Emergency Center Philadelphia’s homeless advocates, early childhood educators, and developmental scientists created a project to support young children experiencing homelessness to access early learning programs. Called Building Early Links for Learning (BELL), the project aimed at two main goals: (1) to enhance the developmental friendliness of emergency …Read More

Free Resources to Promote Children’s Early Brain & Language Development through Bright Spaces By Jane Park Woo, Deputy Director, Too Small to Fail Too Small to Fail is proud to partner with the Bright Horizons Foundation for Children® to promote children’s early brain and language development in Bright Spaces across the country. Decades of research reveal …Read More

by Diane Nilan, HEAR US Perfect timing! In my HEAR US travels across highways and byways, I inevitably lose the magnet signs advertising my unique nonprofit effort, giving voice and visibility to families and youth experiencing homelessness. My loss coincided with recently released estimates of the extent of family/youth homelessness, giving me the opportunity to …Read More

by JT Fest, JT Fest Consulting We all know how important it is to ensure young people’s safety. Maslow’s “pyramid” of needs identifies safety as being second in importance only to physiological needs (air, food, water, etc.). But when we talk about safety for youth, particularly in our communities and our schools, we tend to focus …Read More

Ellen L. Bassuk, M.D., President, Bassuk Center Family homelessness has emerged as a public health crisis with no ready solution. Although this problem was negligible in the 80’s, families experiencing homelessness now comprise 36% of the overall homeless population—with more than 50% of the children less than 6 years old. Both mothers and children are getting …Read More

by Ileen Schwartz-Henderson, National Director of Bright Spaces Thanksgiving is a time to reflect and to be grateful for our health, our family and friends, and for all of the good that exists in the world.  (In fact, check out this great article about the scientifically proven benefits of gratitude.) I recently wrote a blog about how we …Read More