Funded Projects

Optimizing Black Early Childhood Relational Health 

Project Year

2025

City & State

Rochester, Minnesota

Program Name

CATCH Planning

Topic

Early Relational Health/ACEs Mitigation

Program Description

Problem: This proposal addresses gaps in early childhood relational health in Black/African-American families in Olmsted County, MN. Early relational health is a framework that explores the role of early safe, stable, and nurturing relationships and experiences in healthy development across a child’s lifetime. These early childhood relationships are necessary to build a foundation for the child’s future developmental progress, academic success and long-term health. Reading with adults and/or exposure to parks/nature are potential mechanisms to cultivate early childhood relational health.    Primary setting: The project will take place at The Place, the main Head Start and Early Head Start (EHS) site in Rochester, MN. We will also host focus groups at the low-come Gage East apartments and the Homestead Community Center, both located in Rochester, MN.   Number of children affected: This project could directly impact 46 Black/African American children enrolled in Early Head Start (30% of total enrollees) and 94 Black/African American children enrolled in Head Start overall (39% of enrollees). There is an outlying Head Start/EHS site at the Empowerment Center which is located adjacent to Gage East apartments where there are 32 Black/African American children enrolled (55% of total enrollees).   Project goal: Improve participation of Black/African American parents in activities that promote positive early relational health in early childhood  Proposed interventions:   The main intervention of this proposal is to organize and analyze the results of focus groups of African American/Black parents in Olmsted County, MN, who will discuss current facilitators and barriers with reading/early childhood literacy, exposure to local parks, and other methods of optimizing early childhood relational health for their young child. One-page flyers will be created and distributed at the focus group sites and we will recruit personally using site leaders who are involved with the project. The flyer would indicate the study inclusion criteria of: 1) Parent of one or more children age 0-5 years, English speaking, Black/African American status, born in the United States and current resident of Olmsted County. Participants will receive a $30 cash card, a meal at the focus group event, free onsite childcare and transportation to the event (if needed). The focus groups will last 45-60 minutes, involve 4-8 participants (average of 6 participants) per session, contain approximately 12 questions per session, and will be run by experienced focus group facilitators at Mayo Clinic with extensive training and experience with focus group compilation and analysis. Secondly, we will create an asset map of resources that can promote early childhood relational health in Olmsted County, MN. Lastly, we will list potential intervention plans to improve early relational health in our local Black/African American community that can be undertaken after this planning grant.   Anticipated outcomes: We will complete an asset map of community resources/agencies that can aid with early childhood relational health. Secondly, we will develop a list of facilitators and barriers to connect Black/African American families with positive early relational experiences including reading and nature exposure. Lastly, we will develop a list of potential action plans to aid with increasing the frequency and quality of early childhood literary/reading and park exposure in our local Black/African American community that can be implemented in the future.   

Project Goal

Improve participation of Black/African American parents in activities that promote positive early relational health in early childhood

Project Objective 1

Develop one asset map of resources/agencies in Olmsted County, MN, which can optimize early childhood relational health between Black/African-American parents with children under age 5 years with 4 in-person meetings from our local early childhood taskforce (created prior to this project) within 12 months after starting grant. 

Project Objective 2

Understand the barriers that Black/African American parents have with engaging in activities with their child that promote positive early relational health, including reading to young children and connection to local parks. We will complete the 4 focus group sessions and the analysis within 12 months after starting the grant. 

Project Objective 3

By May 2026, identify at least one specific project/intervention that could be implemented in the future to connect Black/African American families and their preschool-age children with local parks with 3 meetings with local Parks Rx team and to identify at least one specific project/intervention to connect children to reading opportunities. 

AAP District

District VI

Institutional Name

Mayo Clinic 

Contact 1

Brian Lynch, MD