I came to MSU knowing that I wanted to elevate early childhood policy and integrate that focus with my research interests and my commitment to centering Black children and families in my work. Being selected as a Policy Fellow through the National Black Child Development Institute is an ideal opportunity for me.”
This fellowship is designed to elevate and accelerate Black leaders to ensure leadership at the national level more closely reflects the young children that are being served in education, health, and social service systems. NBCDI’s commitment to equity in education and to supporting the health and wellbeing of Black children and families is the impetus for this Policy Fellowship.
“As an NBCDI Policy Fellow, I am looking forward to learning ways to be more strategic and effective in my advocacy efforts and grow in my capacity as a leader, Eddie said. “I am also excited to collaborate with other colleagues in my cohort to develop dynamic and innovative responses that will contribute to the flourishing and thriving of Black children and families.”
This interactive development training will provide both virtual and in-person sessions and will include opportunities for participants to network with NBCDI stakeholders, mentors, and supporters who are all committed to increasing Black leadership presence at the policy table.
“I'm looking forward to exploring how my scholarship and research can directly inform my policy work. I believe that translating research to inform equitable policy is part of our mandate as scholars, and I hope to help bring a stronger emphasis on the research-to-policy process to MSU's Human Development & Family Studies Department.”
Eddie is a second-year doctoral student studying child development, and her background is in social work. Much of her career has been focused on early childhood policy and early childhood systems.
“In my scholarship, I use cultural-ecological frameworks and mixed methods research designs to study the ethnic-racial socialization of infants and toddlers,” Eddie said. “My goal is that my research will inform policy and advance practice that cultivates inclusive mindsets, promotes radical self-love and disrupts the development of ethnic-racial bias.”
Eddie started her doctoral program after working in the field for 14 years.
“As I reflected on my ultimate career aspirations, I realized that I wanted to develop deeper content expertise, learn advanced research skills, and improve my ability to write and present scientific research effectively across audiences,” she said. “Although I'm only a year and a half into my program, I have experienced tremendous growth in all of those areas already, and I know there is so much more to come. Starting my program virtually due to the pandemic was challenging, but my advisor, Dr. Claire Vallotton, and the entire HDFS department have been extremely supportive and encouraging.”
Eddie works with Claire Vallotton, Ph.D. and Holly Brophy-Herb, Ph.D., associate professor and professor respectively in the combined HDFS Investigating Infants Internal Words Laboratory and the Building Early Emotional Skills (BEES) Laboratory. Through her experiences with faculty and the lab, Eddie has had a chance to learn from others and also share her knowledge and expertise.
“I am currently leading a scoping review project that is focused on the ethnic-racial socialization of infants and toddlers,” she said. “I'm collaborating with several lab members on this project, and they have been an excellent team. I also present what we call a "policy peek" every time our lab meets. This helps motivate me to stay aware of real-time policy developments that impact early childhood, and it helps the lab to make connections to how our collective work is both impacted by and can impact social policy.”
Working with community partners, the lab’s collaborative group of faculty and students work to identify and to understand the roles of behavioral, psychological, biological, and contextual processes that are related to the development of infants, toddlers, and very young children and how families and child care providers can support that development.
“As a full lab, we have been focused on how to make equity actionable in our work by reflecting on and naming our own positionality, applying a critical lens to the way we design studies, and elevating systems responsibility language into our writing.”
Eddie hopes to encourage other MSU students and scholars to get involved with their representatives to have a real impact on our communities.
“Find out who your representatives are, go to their coffee hours, write letters, send emails, and make phone calls. Policy makers work for the people they represent, and students are in a unique position to share their opinions and perspectives with policy makers based on both their lived experiences and what they are learning through their studies and research,” she said. “Everyone's voice matters and there is power in sharing our stories and our work. I want students to know this and feel empowered to participate.”
To learn more about the MSU Department of Human Development and Family Studies, visit https://hdfs.msu.edu/.
By Katie Rose Frey