Early Childhood Institute to Provide Technical Support to Save the Children

AUG. 17, 2007 | The Mississippi State University Early Childhood Institute will provide technical assistance to Save the Children as it expands its domestic emergency programs.

“We are grateful for the confidence of Save the Children, one of the oldest and most respected child relief organizations in the world,” Cathy Grace, Ed.D., professor and director of the MSU Early Childhood Institute, said. “This partnership will help us expand the innovative early childhood services research on disaster risks that we began after Hurricane Katrina of 2005, at the same time that we provide technical assistance to Save the Children for disaster response and recovery planning.

“By contracting with Mississippi State University, Save the Children demonstrates the crucial role that philanthropic and nongovernmental organizations play in university service and research,” Grace added. Grace will advise Save the Children’s domestic emergency unit on a variety of issues in disaster response.

The MSU Early Childhood Institute also will support Save the Children with mapping and spatial analysis of disaster losses in the early childhood services sector. The institute operates the Early Childhood Atlas, an interstate database of locations, capacity, and operating hours of several types of child care facilities, in collaboration with the Community Information Resource Center of the Rural Policy Research Institute at the University of Missouri.

Save the Children responds to any emergency around the world that puts at risk the survival, protection, and well-being of significant numbers of children. With a US-based emergency response team, combined with regional technical teams, Save the Children immediately responds to sudden-onset emergencies such as earthquakes, hurricanes, and wars. The organization also helps communities in the United States and around the world to improve resources for children.

The organization was a major partner in an interagency campaign to reopen child care facilities in the Hurricane Katrina region of Mississippi, working with the MSU Early Childhood Institute to assess needs and repair and refurnish damaged and destroyed centers. It also commissioned the institute to perform the first post-Katrina assessment of child care facilities in Orleans Parish, Louisiana.

Elizabeth F. Shores, M.A.P.H., coordinates the Early Childhood Atlas and the Early Childhood Emergency Preparedness Initiative for the MSU Early Childhood Institute. Five geographic information specialists at the Community Information Resource Center will participate in technical assistance to Save the Children: Erin Barbaro, M.A., Michael C. Barbaro, M.A., Michelle Flenner, M.S., Dave Connett, and Jeff Pickles. Lynn Bell also will participate in the project.

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