The APH Early Childhood Team does public health education, prevention and promotion focused on young children, their families and the early childhood workforce.
The Early Childhood team:
- Coordinates a public health training series for child care providers
- Shares public health guidance and resources with child care programs and schools through regular meetings and emails
- Conducts community outreach to families with young children
These activities focus on a range of topics, such as communicable diseases, immunizations, healthy child development, safety and injury prevention and emergency preparedness.
In addition, the team does systems-level planning work to support the healthy development of young children. This work includes actively participating in the community’s Success By 6 coalition and staffing the City’s Early Childhood Council. Team members serve as community representatives on the Austin ISD and Child Inc. Head Start Policy Councils. The team also collaborates on early childhood public health initiatives with other City departments such as Austin Public Library, the Economic Development Department and the Parks and Recreation Department.
Austin-Travis County child care providers and pre-K through 12th grade schools can find resources on a range of public health topics on the APH Child Care Providers and Schools page, which is maintained by the Early Childhood Team.