The Early Years Climate Action Task Force is exploring the impact of climate change on our youngest children and their families. Ankita Chachra and Dr. Claudia Benitez-Nelson, a member of the Early Years Climate Action Task Force, delved into the biogeochemical cycling of nutrients and carbon influenced by climate change, their shared passion for creating a sustainable future, and how the Task Force has led Dr. Benitez-Nelson to reconsider how she communicates her work to a broader audience.

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Ankita Chachra is a Senior Fellow at Capita committed to creating sustainable, just, and vibrant cities for young children and families. She has over ten years of global experience working on her mission through partnerships with city agencies, and the private, non-profit, and philanthropic sectors. 

Dr. Claudia Benitez-Nelson is the Senior Associate Dean for College Initiatives and Interdisciplinary Programs and a Carolina Distinguished Professor & Endowed Chair in Marine Studies in the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of South Carolina. As a Senior Associate Dean, Dr. Benitez-Nelson has direct oversight of a number of interdisciplinary units and institutes as well as college initiatives that encompass faculty scholarship grants, fellowships, and mentorship programs. Her research focuses on the biogeochemical cycling of phosphorus and carbon and how these elements are influenced by both natural and anthropogenic processes.

The Early Years Climate Action Task Force is exploring the impact of climate change on our youngest children and their families. In June 2023, Joe Waters and Task Force member Barry Ford discussed the importance of considering the impacts of climate change on young children and their families. They emphasized the need for local leaders to take practical actions such as creating safe environments, improving transportation systems, and leveraging policies to address climate change and protect the well-being of their communities. 

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Joe Waters is the co-founder and CEO of Capita. An independent, nonpartisan think tank with a global focus, Capita works to build a future in which children and families can realize their full potential in a just, peaceful, prosperous society on a healthier, cleaner, and safer planet.

Dr. Lynette M. Fraga is the former CEO for Child Care Aware of America and is a passionate practitioner, advocate and leader in the field of child care and early learning, working to advance the accessibility of quality child care experiences for all children. Dr. Fraga has over 25 years of experience as an educator, program director and executive leader working on behalf of children and families.

The Early Years Climate Action Task Force is exploring the impact of climate change on our youngest children and their families. In June 2023, Joe Waters and Task Force member Barry Ford discussed the importance of considering the impacts of climate change on young children and their families. They emphasized the need for local leaders to take practical actions such as creating safe environments, improving transportation systems, and leveraging policies to address climate change and protect the well-being of their communities. 

www.capita.org | www.thisisplaneted.org

Joe Waters is the co-founder and CEO of Capita. An independent, nonpartisan think tank with a global focus, Capita works to build a future in which children and families can realize their full potential in a just, peaceful, prosperous society on a healthier, cleaner, and safer planet.

Barry Ford is the President and CEO of Council for a Strong America. He is chair of The National Collaborative for Infants and Toddlers Steering Committee and a board member of the Afterschool Alliance. Barry is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School.

The Early Years Climate Action Task Force is exploring the impact of climate change on our youngest children and their families. In June 2023, Elliot Haspel and task force member Angie Garling discussed the need to incorporate climate resilience and sustainability in early care and education settings, the potential for co-locating housing and child care facilities, and how the task force can potentially influence community development policies and raise awareness among climate activists about the specific vulnerabilities of young children. 

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Elliot Haspel, a child & family policy expert and commentator, is the Director, Climate and Young Children for Capita. He specializes in early childhood & education issues and the intersection between early childhood development and climate change. He most recently served as the Senior Program Officer for Early Childhood Education at the Robins Foundation.

Angie Garling is the Vice President, Early Care & Education, for the Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF). Angie joined the Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF) in 2019. At LIIF, she oversees the organization’s national ECE footprint, which currently includes robust programs in California, New York City, Washington, DC and most recently Atlanta. Through national and state policy advocacy and forging public-private partnerships, she has continued to grow this sector at LIIF, which to date has invested more than $251 million to create and preserve 308,000 ECE slots nationwide. With her team she spearheaded a COVID response effort for the ECE sector that marshalled over $40 million for ECE women of color-owned small businesses. She also serves as the Co-Chair of the National Children’s Facilities Network.

https://www.liifund.org/justgoodcapital/2023/04/05/flood-risks-in-new-york-citys-child-care-system-using-spatial-analysis-to-identify-water-vulnerabilities-in-family-child-care-homes/

The Early Years Climate Action Task Force is exploring the impact of climate change on our youngest children and their families. In April 2023, Joe Waters and Leah Austin met in Atlanta to talk about lessons from the Task Force's listening sessions, the multiplied impact of climate change on Black children, and how we can think about partnering with local government to improve outcomes for kids and their communities.

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Joe Waters is the co-founder and CEO of Capita. An independent, nonpartisan think tank with a global focus, Capita works to build a future in which children and families can realize their full potential in a just, peaceful, prosperous society on a healthier, cleaner, and safer planet.

Dr. Leah Austin is an accomplished, multi-faceted and visionary leader who has been working on behalf of Black children and their families for over two decades. Leah began her career as a public school teacher in southeast DC teaching kindergarten and first grade. More than “just” a teacher, she found herself working with parents to ensure their children received the resources they were due while butting up against a system that wanted to prematurely label them. Forever the educator and advocate she went on to work for several nonprofit and philanthropic organizations over her career.

Held on March 20th, 2023 - This sixth, public listening session of the Early Years Climate Action Task Force will focus specifically around the question: How can we support parents and early years providers in advocating for a sustainable future?

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Lois Martin is the President/Director of the Community Day Center for Children.

Shaina Oliver is State Coordinator for Mom’s Clean Air Force, a tribal member of the Navajo Nation from Shiprock, New Mexico, and an advocate for Indigenous Peoples’ Rights.

Anya Kamenetz is an advisor to the Aspen Institute on a new initiative to end climate silence in children’s media and an author of several acclaimed nonfiction books. She has covered education as a journalist for many years including for NPR, where she also co-created the podcast Life Kit:Parenting in partnership with Sesame Workshop.

Chelsea Clinton, vice chair of the Clinton Foundation, works alongside the Foundation’s leadership and partners to improve lives and inspire emerging leaders across the United States and around the world. This includes the Foundation’s early child initiative Too Small to Fail, which supports families with the resources they need to promote early brain and language development; and the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U), a global program that empowers student leaders to turn their ideas into action. A longtime public health advocate, Chelsea also serves as vice chair of the Clinton Health Access Initiative and uses her platform to increase awareness around issues such as vaccine hesitancy, childhood obesity, and health equity.

Held on February 10th, 2023 - This fifth, public listening session of the Early Years Climate Action Task Force will focus specifically around the questions: How do local and state plans to address climate change include children? 

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Joel Moffett, a former vice-chairman of the Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee now serving as the Director of Environmental Projects for Native Americans in Philanthropy

Marta Segura, Chief Heat Officer for the City of Los Angeles

Adam Freed, a principal at Bloomberg Associates and former Acting and Deputy Director of the New York City Mayor's Office of Long-term Planning and Sustainability

Heather McTeer Toney, former mayor of Greenville, Mississippi and Vice President, Community Engagement at Environmental Defense Fund

Held on January 9th, 2023 - This fourth, public listening session of the Early Years Climate Action Task Force will focus specifically around the question: How can investments in early childhood help communities build resilience to climate change?

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Adrián Cerezo is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Maine and an advisor to UNICEF Pacific and Asia Regional Early Childhood Network on climate change.

Joe Fretwell is the Manager of Advisory Services at the Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF).

Susan Gilmore is the President & CEO of North Bay Children’s Center in California.

Victoria Chavez Barriga is the Urban95 Officer within the Knowledge for Policy Team at the Bernard van Leer Foundation.

Mario Cardona is with the Domestic Policy Council at the White House.

Held on December 12th, 2022 - This third, public listening session of the Early Years Climate Action Task Force will focus specifically around the questions: How will climate change impact early care and education systems?

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Corey Zimmerman is the Chief Program Officer at the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. In this role, she is a member of the senior leadership team and also directs the Center’s strategy for making the science actionable. She is currently leading the Center’s efforts to connect the science of early childhood with those working on climate resilience. To this work Corey brings nearly 20 years of experience shaping social policy on behalf of young children and families. She has previously worked at United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley, the MA Dept. of Early Education and Care, and at Nurtury, Inc.

Sara Mickelson is the Director of Early Childhood Initiatives for Harris County, Texas, where she leads work to support children and their caregivers, primarily through child care and other early learning-focused strategies. This includes creating proof points for county investments in direct access to high-quality care and building community systems to support quality in early learning. She was previously the Chief of Programs for the Oregon Early Learning Division, led early childhood policy work at the Bainum Family Foundation and early childhood workforce initiatives at the Rhode Island Department of Education. She holds a BA from the University of Minnesota and an MA in Urban Education Policy from Brown University. She began her career in Harris County as a Head Start teacher.

Yasmina Vinci is the Executive Director of the National Head Start Association. Prior to joining the National Head Start Association she spent several years as principal and founder of EDGE Consulting Partners. At EDGE, Yasmina pursued local, national and global projects that utilized the knowledge, experience, and connections of her years in human services and early education, to enhance the capacity of organizations to thrive as competent, strategic entities capable of influencing policy. Yasmina founded EDGE after receiving her Master in Public Administration degree from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. Yasmina was also executive director of the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies which organized the national campaign that was instrumental to securing the funding for child care in the welfare reform legislation.

Lois Kedrick is the President of Florida Family Child Care Home State Association whose mission is to represent a united voice on behalf of all children, to promote and encourage quality professional family child care through education, legislation, advocacy, mentoring, caring and love. Lois works to support a child’s desire to be a life-long learner, and encourages families with young children to value diversity and commonalities that connect us all. Involvement with early care is important in order to nurture relationships with active learners and to support families.

Held on November 4th, 2022 - This second, public listening session of the Early Years Climate Action Task Force will focus specifically around the question: How can our health systems adapt to help children build resilience?

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Malaika Ludman is a birth doula and certified lactation counselor who holds a master’s degree in public health. She is Program Coordinator for Birthmark Doula Collective’s Infant Ready program, which provides tools and information to promote perinatal emergency preparedness.

K. Ron-Li Liaw, MD is the Cannon Y. & Lyndia Harvey Chair in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Chair of the Pediatric Mental Health Institute at Children’s Hospital Colorado. Dr. Liaw is a Professor, Vice Chair of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and Division Director of Child and Adolescent Mental Health in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. She serves as the inaugural Mental Health In-Chief at Children’s Colorado to help shape and oversee child mental health vision and strategy, operations, quality, safety, and workforce development system-wide.

Rupa Basu, PhD, MPH, is currently the Chief of the Air and Climate Epidemiology Section at the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) of the California Environmental Protection Agency.

Parinda Khatri, PhD is chief clinical officer at Cherokee Health Systems (CHS), a comprehensive community health care organization in Tennessee that is a Federally Qualified Health Center and Community Mental Health Center. In her role at CHS, Khatri provides oversight and guidance on clinical quality, program development and management, workforce development, clinical research, and clinical operations for blended primary care and behavioral health services within the organization.