1 IssueBRIEF PRINCETON, NJ - ANN ARBOR, MI - CAMBRIDGE, MA - CHICAGO, IL - OAKLAND, CA - SEATTLE, WA TUCSON, AZ - WASHINGTON, DC - WOODLAWN, MD EARLY CHILDHOOD Research shows that the earliest years of life are a critical period of human development. Young children’s earliest relationships and experiences have a strong infuence on brain development and future health and well-being. Young children’s foundational relationships and experiences occur in the context of families and communities. Yet, low-income families— especially families of color and rural families—often do not have access to the basic necessities and resources to foster the nurturing experiences and stimulating environments that young children need to thrive. What is needed are policies that support low-income families to provide stimulating and nurturing environments to promote children’s healthy physical, social- emotional, and cognitive development and their future success in school and life. Developing an Equity-Focused Policy Research Agenda for Low-Income Families with Young Children Diane Paulsell, Jessica F. Harding, Andrew Burwick, and Brittany English OCTOBER 2018 MATHEMATICA-MPR.COM “Health equity means that everyone has a fair and just opportunity to be healthier. This requires removing obstacles to health such as poverty, discrimination, and their consequences, including powerlessness and lack of access to good jobs with fair pay, quality education and housing, safe environments, and health care.” Braveman et al., 2017 1 PROMOTING RESEARCH ON HIGH- VALUE, HIGH-IMPACT POLICY CHANGES WITH RWJF As part of its eforts to create a Culture of Health in the United States, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) seeks to identify and pro- mote high-value, high-impact policy changes that can help low-income families support the healthy development of their young children ages birth to 5. As a step toward better understanding these policies, RWJF worked with Mathematica Policy Research to develop a policy research agenda. Te goal of this agenda is to generate evidence to guide decision making about policy changes that can better support low-income families with young children. Working with Mathematica, the RWJF decided to focus on three policy areas as key supports for low-income families with young children: • Access to Early Care and Education (ECE) • Income supports • Nutrition supports In each policy area, Mathematica reviewed the literature and developed a policy-focused research agenda designed to fll gaps in the following areas: (1) understanding disparities in access and participation by income, geographic location, and race/ethnicity, (2) identifying and assessing innovations to reduce disparities, and for ECE (3) identifying and testing strategies to scale up efective programs. By applying a health equity lens to documenting and addressing disparities in families’ access to these supports, the agenda recog- nizes that access to these supports is often unequal, and seeks to generate evidence on innovations that increase equity. Te agenda prioritizes research that can produce actionable fndings in a short time. Tis brief summarizes the proposed research agenda and presents crosscutting research ques- tions about how ECE access and income and nutrition supports intersect. ACCESS TO EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION Most families with young children need access to ECE to support children’s development and par-