For about 10 minutes, Aryanna Vargas sat quietly with her Curious George book. Then Dr. Saul Valencia walked in and began asking questions about the book. “Can you tell me what he’s doing in this picture?” he asked, pointing to a man making a phone call. “Who do you think he’s calling? Do you think he’s calling his mom, his dad, a friend?” Aryanna began laughing and filling in the pieces of the story. As they finished with the story, Valencia said, “That’s exactly how it works in the room.”...

Contents include: Strengthen Economic Supports for Families Change social Norms to Support Parents and Positive Parenting Provide Quality Care and Education Early in Life Enhance Parenting Skills to Promote Healthy Child Development Intervene to Lessen Harms and Prevent Future Risks Sector Involvement Monitoring and Evalution Full document: https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/can-prevention-technical-package.pdf

Our goal as an agency is to get 90% of Washington’s children to be “ready for kindergarten,” and to have race and family income not be predictors of readiness. About 20% of Washington’s children are in families at or below 110% of the federal poverty level (FPL,) or about $24,000 for a family of four. These young people face many challenges in life and are a key part of any rational economic strategy for the state, as well as being part of the paramount duty enshrined in Washington’s...

AS pediatric health-care providers, one of the most powerful tools we can pull out during exams is not a piece of medical equipment, but a book. Investments in a child’s earliest months and years offer the best chance for all children to succeed in life, but not every child has the same access to those investments. Washington state has been missing opportunities to ensure every child goes to school ready to learn. We have 23,000 children who are eligible for the state’s Early Childhood...