Background: Universal Prekindergarten (UPK) programs often expand by offering Pre-K in both public schools and in community-based providers (CBOs). This approach gives families more options and allow UPK programs to increase access more quickly. However, little is known about which CBOs select into these systems. This is an important gap in the…

This article presents the story of Youth Hub, a grassroots, neighborhood-based initiative in Boston, Massachusetts, highlighting its use of participatory action research (PAR) to amplify youth voice, cultivate leadership, and promote change. The article includes an explanation of the need from which Youth Hub emerged; a discussion of Youth Hub's…

Parents and caregivers across Boston continue to face immense challenges to find quality, affordable childcare and this crisis is having a far-reaching impact on our society. Neighborhood disparities continue to exist, but families in all 15 neighborhoods face this challenge -- child care in Boston remains unaffordable for the majority of…

This is the first of two briefs the Birth to Eight Collaborative will publish following their 2019 first annual landscape of early childhood education and care programs in Boston (see ED606431). In this brief, the authors report on important questions to help monitor the long-term impact of the COVID pandemic on the child-care sector local to the…

This article describes a senior capstone, Neighborhoods and Health, which used community-based research (CBR) as its primary pedagogy. Students in the course drew upon multiple research methods and forms of data to provide our partner, the Urban Farming Institute of Boston, with an array of research products in support of the revitalization of a…

School choice policies necessarily impose registration timelines, constraining access to schools of choice for students who register late. Drawing on administrative data, survey data, and interviews with 33 parents in Boston, we find that late registration is common and highly stratified: Nearly half of black kindergarteners miss the first…

Neighborhoods constitute a microsystem theorized to be of great importance for immigrant families, with the potential to support and facilitate families' transitions to life in the United States. Yet, few studies examine immigrants' perceptions of their neighborhoods and the extent to which different aspects of these neighborhoods, such as safety…

Universal public prekindergarten programs have been expanding in recent years, but not all eligible families apply to these programs, for reasons that are not well understood. Using two cohorts of students (N = 8,391) enrolled in Boston Public Schools, we use geographic information systems to combine administrative records with census data to…

Introduction: Social support is important for behavior change, and it may be particularly important for the complexities of changing multiple risk behaviors (MRB). Research is needed to determine if participants in an MRB intervention can be encouraged to activate their social network to aid their change efforts. Methods: Healthy Directions 2, a…

In the fall of 2009, the Boston Foundation announced a new strategic framework, "Thriving People, Vibrant Places", to guide much of its work for the next five years. The framework had its roots in a larger strategic direction first taken by the Foundation's Board of Directors in 2001. At that time, the Board believed the Boston…

The present study explored the influence of psychological stress on the development of purpose among youth of color living in urban, low-income communities. A qualitative approach based on grounded theory was used to understand how stress-related experiences influence the development of youth purpose in participants' own words. Findings revealed…

Intra-district open enrollment policies are increasingly implemented as a means of expanding children's educational opportunities and promoting greater racial integration in urban schools. However, racial segregation continues to endure in many choice-oriented urban school districts, to the extent that schools are often more segregated than their…

By tracking longitudinally a sample of American children (n = 1,097), this study examined the extent to which enrollment in private schools between kindergarten and ninth grade was related to students' academic, social, psychological, and attainment outcomes at age 15. Results from this investigation revealed that in unadjusted models, children…

Though a significant portion of the conversation around "play provision" focuses on the quality and availability of community playgrounds, the majority of children's play occurs in transitional spaces: sidewalks and other spaces not designed for children but used by children daily. This Perspective from the Field briefly reviews the late…

Over the past three years, the Boston Birth to Eight Collaborative has convened more than 200 individuals and organizations from across the early childhood field--center and family-based providers, pediatricians, public health researchers, hospitals, family engagement organizations, and parents--to ensure all children are ready for sustained…