About Us

The issues that we see effecting black and brown early learning students are correctable. The first step to correcting these are issues are facing them and finding community based, culturally relevant solutions and partnerships.

A few of the issues that the Raze Early Learning and Development center will have the greatest impact on are as follows:

High Infant Mortality Rate

2.5 times more likely to die before their 2nd birthday then their peers

2 times more likely to pass from SIDS then of their peers

Higher Surgical complications

18% higher chance of developing a serious infection 

3.5 times more likely to die within a month after surgery then their peers

Diagnostic disparities for mental physical diagnosis 

There is evidence that suggests that the way in which screening questions are phrased may influence responses by minority youth.

Lack of access to formal mental health services 

Due to implicit bias and cultural views of mental health and their causes providing and receiving access to formal mental health continues to be challenging for many communities of color. 

Maternal depression and postpartum experiences 

Postpartum and maternal health in minorities and the underserved is 30%-40% higher than that of their peers. There are higher chances of emotional and behavioral disturbances of 50% to 80% in children whose mother suffered from postpartum and maternal mental health difficulties.

Implicit Bias 

According to Cabrini University, one of the contributors to the preschool to prison pipeline is implicit bias -the act of unknowingly projecting bias on another. This fact was supported by Yale University in a 2016 study from the Yale Child Study Center that found that teachers despite ethnicity were more likely to look at black boys when behavioral issues are expected in the classroom.

Poverty

Maslow’s Hierarchy of need tells us that a child cannot begin to be taught if their basic needs are not met. When we do not take this hierarchy of need into consideration when dealing with students experiencing poverty, we are negating the very foundation needed to teach our students and instead providing punitive consequences to an often-broken child, unable to learn or implement basic social emotional skills.

High Suspension and Expulsion Rates

 According to the US Department of Education's office for Civil Rights, Black students are suspended, at rates of 3-4 times more often than their white peers. The Center for American Progress  estimates that there are approximately 250 preschoolers suspended or expelled each day nationally, with black twice as likely to receive a suspension or expulsion.