Our History Baby's Space at Little Earth
Under the direction of Dr. Terrie Rose, nine Minneapolis organizations came together in 1998 to pool resources and know-how to help low-income families catch up with the requirements of the nation’s sweeping 1996 welfare-to-work policies. Proscribing training and paid jobs for parents on public assistance, the new legislation created a huge gap between the supply and demand for good childcare. The new policies offered some childcare funding but no standards about quality and consistency of care.
Like many communities, Minneapolis’ Phillips neighborhood at that time had no high-quality childcare centers. According to the Urban Institute (2000), Minnesota had the largest percentage of children under the age of five in multiple childcare arrangements per week. The resulting gap between demand and supply presented most local families with the enormous new challenge of managing parenting, childcare, and work demands at the same time. Within the contexts of community violence, substance abuse, and domestic violence, that challenge appeared almost insurmountable.
Forty years of research and experience has proven what every baby already knows: loving, consistent relationships; basic food and shelter; a place to turn in crisis; and safety from toxic substances and violence make it possible for them to develop relationships, manage their emotions, and learn. The key is to provide extraordinary, research-based, culture-specific services to children and their families.
The nine-organization collaborative came up with a common-sense solution to the childcare shortage as well as to persistent, generational poverty on the local Little Earth Indian reservation: design and practice early childhood education from the baby’s point of view. Based on the group’s recommendations, Dr. Rose founded Baby’s Space in 2000 at the Little Earth Neighborhood Early Learning Center (NELC), the heart of the Minneapolis American Indian community. The University of Minnesota, Dr. Rose’s employer, served as the fiscal agent. Baby’s Space became an independent nonprofit in December 2006.
Baby’s Space responds to the cultures, values, and needs of local families by linking quality childcare and education to family services and parent education. Beginning as a top-quality childcare site, Baby’s Space now offers year-round child and family services from pregnancy to third grade, including year-round, full-day childcare and year-round public K-3 education through Tatanka Academy, a contract school within the Minneapolis Public School District. Baby’s Space also serves as a community service site for students from area schools, youth groups, and colleges.
Baby’s Space expanded in 2003 into a partnership of four childcare centers that have implemented the Baby’s Space infant/toddler/family service model and an ongoing research study conducted by the University of Minnesota. In response to parents’ requests, the program expanded in 2005 to serve children and their parents from pregnancy through age five. Minnesota’s Social Venture Partners—a group of social entrepreneurs investing together in best practice solutions to systemic social problems—made Baby’s Space a 2009 and 2010 investee to support replication of the Baby’s Space model to other Minnesota neighborhoods and villages.
In 2012, Baby’s Space Environments, LLC was created to respond to the demand for training materials and consultation. Baby’s Space Environments seeks to improve the social and emotional health of infants and toddlers by providing effective and compelling resources to the adults and communities who care for them.
Like many communities, Minneapolis’ Phillips neighborhood at that time had no high-quality childcare centers. According to the Urban Institute (2000), Minnesota had the largest percentage of children under the age of five in multiple childcare arrangements per week. The resulting gap between demand and supply presented most local families with the enormous new challenge of managing parenting, childcare, and work demands at the same time. Within the contexts of community violence, substance abuse, and domestic violence, that challenge appeared almost insurmountable.
Forty years of research and experience has proven what every baby already knows: loving, consistent relationships; basic food and shelter; a place to turn in crisis; and safety from toxic substances and violence make it possible for them to develop relationships, manage their emotions, and learn. The key is to provide extraordinary, research-based, culture-specific services to children and their families.
The nine-organization collaborative came up with a common-sense solution to the childcare shortage as well as to persistent, generational poverty on the local Little Earth Indian reservation: design and practice early childhood education from the baby’s point of view. Based on the group’s recommendations, Dr. Rose founded Baby’s Space in 2000 at the Little Earth Neighborhood Early Learning Center (NELC), the heart of the Minneapolis American Indian community. The University of Minnesota, Dr. Rose’s employer, served as the fiscal agent. Baby’s Space became an independent nonprofit in December 2006.
Baby’s Space responds to the cultures, values, and needs of local families by linking quality childcare and education to family services and parent education. Beginning as a top-quality childcare site, Baby’s Space now offers year-round child and family services from pregnancy to third grade, including year-round, full-day childcare and year-round public K-3 education through Tatanka Academy, a contract school within the Minneapolis Public School District. Baby’s Space also serves as a community service site for students from area schools, youth groups, and colleges.
Baby’s Space expanded in 2003 into a partnership of four childcare centers that have implemented the Baby’s Space infant/toddler/family service model and an ongoing research study conducted by the University of Minnesota. In response to parents’ requests, the program expanded in 2005 to serve children and their parents from pregnancy through age five. Minnesota’s Social Venture Partners—a group of social entrepreneurs investing together in best practice solutions to systemic social problems—made Baby’s Space a 2009 and 2010 investee to support replication of the Baby’s Space model to other Minnesota neighborhoods and villages.
In 2012, Baby’s Space Environments, LLC was created to respond to the demand for training materials and consultation. Baby’s Space Environments seeks to improve the social and emotional health of infants and toddlers by providing effective and compelling resources to the adults and communities who care for them.
