Background

In 2009, the Museum received support from the Institute for Museum and Libraries Service and funding from the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund, for its Early Childhood Obesity Prevention project to adapt the National Institutes of Health’s We Can! curriculum for young children and parents. The result was the EatPlayGrow™curriculum and a popular exhibit, EatSleepPlay™ that focused on helping families make healthy food and lifestyle choices.

Based on the success of this work, in partnership the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) and Union Settlement Association, the Museum kicked off a pre-K community initiative in 2013 at the Union Johnson Early Learning Center and Head Start facility in East Harlem’s Johnson Houses Community. It was the first such effort in public housing to transform community sites in high-need neighborhoods into early childhood health and literacy “learning hubs,” and to build adult caregivers’ knowledge of early child development to complement pre-K education. Hub content is based on the Museum’s early childhood exhibition, PlayWorks™ as well as from EatSleepPlay™.

Following positive responses from participants and educators, the Museum received a grant in 2014 from the Morgan Stanley Foundation to expand its early childhood health and literacy initiative to additional early childhood centers operated by Union Settlement. The resulting Health and Learning Hubs are designed to reach low-income children at high risk with important health messages. The initiative also ensures the messages are consistent across school, community, and home. Hubs include permanent museum-quality graphics and interactive exhibitry installed in classrooms and public spaces. The Museum also offers participating sites professional development programs for educators, weekly programs for children and parents, fun free festivals at the Museum and an accessible website to ensure the EatPlayGrow™ curriculum is widely available. This community-based pilot model has proven to be a positive influence on behavior and attitudes.

By late 2015, the Museum had established a total of 16 hubs in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan: eight in NYC Department of Education Head Start daycare centers, five in homeless shelters, and one at NYC’s Administration for Children’s Service intake office in downtown Manhattan. A $250,000 Youth Wellness Grant from Target Corporation in 2016 added ten more health and learning hubs to those housed NYC Department of Homeless Services’ homeless and domestic violence shelters, bringing the total number of hubs across the city to 26, with locations in all five boroughs.

In 2018, Target provided a generous additional grant of $100,000 to open two more hubs in family homeless shelters.

Thanks to the support of the New York City Council under the leadership of Speaker Corey Johnson, over the next twelve months CMOM will install early childhood health and learning hubs at four additional homeless shelters serving families with children and will also host family festivals at the Museum. By spring 2019, CMOM anticipates there will be a total of 32 Health and Learning Hubs across NYC.

Support for the hubs was provided by the Institute for Museum and Library Services (a federal agency), the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund, Morgan Stanley Foundation, Target, and Meringoff Family Foundation. Funding for the health and learning hub initiative and related programming was provided by Walmart Foundation, The New York Community Trust, and the Chapparal Foundation. Special thanks also to former NYC Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and former members of the New York City Council.