30 journalists from 18 countries attend the global Early Childhood Global Reporting Institute covering trauma, resilience and the developing brain hosted by the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma at Columbia University’s Journalism School in New York.
The Jacobs Foundation has helped funding the institute. It corresponds with our thematic priority «Early Childhood», with which we help to formulate comprehensive early education policies in Europe. The reporting institute runs from June 28 to July 1, 2018, and aims to help journalists and news organizations around the world to improve their reporting on early childhood and brain development.
Early years are vital! Experiences in the years from 0 to 5 are directly connected with the ability to thrive in later life. A child’s brain grows to 90 percent of its adult size by age five, forming complex connections that are the basis for strong health, emotional relationships and cognitive functioning.
The reporting institute tackles advancements in neuroscience and their implications for child development with a special emphasis on vulnerable children living in extreme poverty or unstable environments. It also addresses programs and policies on education and health, and it informs the participants on the crucial role of parents and caregivers in the development of children.
Nadine Burke Harris, a pediatrician, author, and Founder and CEO of the Center for Youth Wellness, gives a keynote talk on «How childhood trauma affects health across the life course», and Lynne Jones, a child psychiatrist, writer, and humanitarian worker talks about «Them and Us: What’s the best way to deliver humanitarian aid?».
In addition to these two remarkable keynote speakers, many of the world’s leading experts in neuroscience, social policy, and public health are present to address the pressing questions in child development. Journalist-to-journalist seminars focus on how to translate these issues and themes into meaningful stories and relevant, captivating news coverage.
This four-day program is the first Global Reporting Institute on Early Childhood Development held at Columbia Journalism School in New York City in 2018. Subsequent workshops are planned for Amman, Jordan; Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire; Mumbai, India; and Rio di Janeiro, Brazil.