Early Childhood Institute Brief: Three Crucial Steps for Early Childhood Emergency Preparedness in Mississippi

DEC. 11, 2006 | The State of Mississippi can set an example of early childhood emergency preparedness by taking three crucial steps, the authors of a new brief from the Mississippi State University Early Childhood Institute suggest.

Those steps are to share core data about early care and education services, establish a joint protocol for disaster response and recovery planning for the child  care sector, and deliver advanced emergency preparedness training to child care providers in high-risk areas of the state.

Read the brief, Three Crucial Steps for Early Childhood Emergency Preparedness in Mississippi, here.

The Early Childhood Institute (ECI) launched the Early Childhood Emergency Preparedness Initiative earlier this year to study ways to improve disaster readiness of early care and education nationwide. Cathy Grace, Ed.D., professor and director of the institute, explained, “Our goal is to ensure that young children are not overlooked in disaster response, and that early childhood programs are not overlooked in disaster recovery.”

The new brief is the latest product of the initiative. The authors are Elizabeth F. Shores, M.A.P.H., coordinator of the emergency preparedness initiative; Erin Barbaro, M.A. and Michael Barbaro, M.A. of the Early Childhood Atlas and the Community Information Resource Center, Rural Policy Research Institute, University of Missouri; and Jamie Heath, a graduate student in public policy and administration at Mississippi State University and a graduate assistant for ECI.

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