About COEC

COEC Mission

To relentlessly lift up infants, young children and their families in programs, practice and policy.

COEC Vision

To be the Academy’s pre-eminent expert in early childhood development, health and well-being, partnering with others to honor young children and their families in the present and ensure an equitable foundation for the future.

What Drives Us

Our work is equity driven and grounded in the science of early brain and child development, the biology of early childhood adversity and resilience, and the recognition of the critical importance of the social determinants of health, particularly poverty and racism. We believe our potential for impact is greatest if we both prioritize, and partner with others.

What we do

We provide an advocacy, research, and learning collaborative network for pediatricians, residents-in-training, medical students, fellows and others interested in promoting the optimal development, health, and safety of young children. We focus primarily on promotion and prevention efforts in the following areas:

• Promoting pediatric primary care efforts to optimize the health and wellbeing of young children and their families, with an emphasis on social-emotional development, early literacy promotion, and early detection, referral, and linkage to services
• Supporting high-quality community-based programs and services for young children and families, including child care, preschool, home visiting, parenting programs, and supports for infant and early childhood mental health
• Collaborating in early childhood systems development across sectors to weave these efforts together to meet the needs of children and families within communities and states

How we do it

• Facilitating connections among pediatricians and our partners to create a national network that learns and grows together
• Providing leadership and engagement opportunities intended to support and influence the profession of pediatrics now, and into the future
• Providing content expertise and a pediatric voice, directly and through linkage to other resources, through
  • Education
  • Policy
  • Advocacy
  • Research
  • Partnerships