skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Saturday, October 19, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Trump delivers profanity, below-the-belt digs at Catholic charity banquet; Poll finds Harris leads among Black voters in key states; Puerto Rican parish leverages solar power to build climate resilience hub; TN expands SNAP assistance to residents post-Helene; New report offers solutions for CT's 'disconnected' youth.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Longtime GOP members are supporting Kamala Harris over Donald Trump. Israel has killed the top Hamas leader in Gaza. And farmers debate how the election could impact agriculture.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

New rural hospitals are becoming a reality in Wyoming and Kansas, a person who once served time in San Quentin has launched a media project at California prisons, and a Colorado church is having a 'Rocky Mountain High.'

Foundation Awards Grants for Early-Childhood Brain Development

play audio
Play

Monday, January 28, 2019   

HOUSTON — The Episcopal Health Foundation has awarded grants to 12 organizations across Texas for programs that focus on healthy infant brain development. The Houston-based group's $3.4 million investment is aimed at implementing proven practices for early-childhood brain development during pregnancy and through the first three years of a child's life.

Katy Butterwick, program officer with the foundation, said the program is based on the knowledge that a child's first three years of life are critical for building a healthy brain, developing a curious and creative mind, and laying a strong foundation for a healthy life.

"When you have a healthy and fully optimized brain, children are going to have those cognitive and social emotional strengths,” Butterwick said. “It gives you resiliency so that when you are in a stressful situation you can move through that and not stay in a heightened state of adrenal overload. The toxic stress in your system can be mitigated."

Butterwick said the foundation's investments will provide tools and trustworthy information based on solid science. She said programs will include home visits, clinic-based models, community groups, parent education and more.

Grants have been awarded to a diverse group of organizations, including the Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, The People's Community Clinic in Austin, the Palacios Community Hub and the Texas chapter of Prevent Child Abuse-America.

Butterwick said interaction with other humans is essential to early brain construction. She added that a baby or toddler in a strong relationship with at least one caring adult will develop language, cognitive skills and the resilience that allows him or her to face and overcome adversity.

"That means that you're going to have lower levels of inflammation, your chances of developing certain chronic diseases down the line are going to be lessened. So, you have, again, an optimal chance to avoid things like diabetes and heart disease,” she said. “Also, you're going to have stronger mental and behavioral health."

The Episcopal Health Foundation serves 11 million Texans in a 57-county area in the southeast part of the state. It is founded on the principle that all Texans deserve to live a healthy life - especially the poor and those with the least resources.



get more stories like this via email

more stories
The "Young People First" report showed some of the highest rates of disconnected youth are in Bridgeport, Hartford and Windham. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

A new report offers some solutions for at least 119,000 young people in Connecticut who are described as being "disconnected" from work or school…


Environment

play sound

By Rebecca Randall for Earthbeat.Broadcast version by Trimmel Gomes for Florida News Connection for the Solutions Journalism Network-Public News Servi…

Environment

play sound

By Rebecca Randall for Sojourners.Broadcast version by Chrystal Blair for Missouri News Service for the Solutions Journalism Network-Public News Servi…


Loretta Rush, Chief Justice of the Indiana Supreme Court, said the state's protective order registry had more than 1 million protective orders for workplace or domestic violence in 2023. (Adobe stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Loretta Rush, Chief Justice of the Indiana Supreme Court, has released the 2023-24 annual report for the state's courts. The report shows Indiana's …

Environment

play sound

For now, the Environmental Protection Agency can move forward with plans to establish new, federal carbon pollution standards for power plants…

Countries like Chile are major exporters of farmed salmon. (Ludmila/Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

October is National Seafood Month and the fish on your plate might not be coming from where you think. The U.S. imports 90% of the seafood it …

play sound

Artificial intelligence is changing how people learn and work, and universities in North Carolina and across the country are racing to keep up…

Social Issues

play sound

Election Day is less than three weeks away and while the focus for most people is on casting their ballot, Pennsylvania also needs a lot more poll …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021