Together Growing Strong

Together Growing Strong (TGS), established in 2017 through a partnership between the Bezos Family Foundation and NYU Langone, supports the health, wellbeing, and development of children and families in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, from prenatal stages through age 5. Using a health equity lens, TGS focuses on enhancing school readiness by working with families as well as the educators, social service providers and healthcare providers who support them, ensuring that families can make choices that work for them. TGS implements culturally relevant programs in healthcare settings, schools, and the community, based on conversations with community members, teachers, administrators, and healthcare professionals. These collaborators help interpret data and co-plan programs that are most useful to families. Examples include a digital messaging program and a workshop series covering early childhood development, health and safety, parental skills and family dynamics, as well as other topics covered are directly informed by community needs. TGS also implements programs for parents and children embedded in the healthcare and education systems. TGS partners with local schools and preschools to support system-level approaches, including racial equity professional development, PreK-to-elementary school transition strengthening, and a pilot program aiming to help preschool parents access necessary special education services. Partnerships with the healthcare system include an initiative to strengthen the mental health and well-being of pregnant and postpartum women, and a program that focuses on the needs of the whole family while addressing behavioral health needs of children. Collaborations with the social service system focus on addressing food insecurity by strengthening the community’s safety net.