The Early Childhood Technical Assistance (ECTA) Center at the UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG) is excited to announce its implementation of a distributed leadership model. The leadership team was inspired by a report from the Building Movement Project, Structuring Leadership: Alternative Models for Distributing Power and Decision-Making in Nonprofit Organizations.

After receiving requests for assistance from state and entity leaders of early childhood systems throughout the country on how to be more intentional in making changes to address disparities in how diverse groups of children and families receive supports and experience positive outcomes through their state or entity Part C and Part B, Section 619 programs, Sherri Britt Williams has led a year-long process of engaging diverse critical perspectives in the development of competencies for equity and inclusion-focused leadership.

Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute Director Brian Boyd was recently appointed president-elect of the International Society for Autism Research (INSAR), a professional society that aims to engage in research and research-related activities in autism.

Trained as a development economist, Sean Sylvia, PhD, associate professor of health economics at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, focuses his work on using economic principles and behavioral psychology to improve the implementation of public health programs and health care delivery. Sylvia is also a faculty fellow at the UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute.

Two new web articles from the Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center (ECTA) the Center for IDEA Early Childhood Data Systems (DaSy) at Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute illustrate how they work to strengthen state systems and increase equitable and inclusive practices.

We are pleased to announce that FPG's National Implementation Research Network, in partnership with Capital City Public Charter School and EL Education, has been awarded one of eight grants by the Research Partnership for Professional Learning (RPPL) to enhance the knowledge base of professional learning in equitable math HQIM that supports Black, Latine, Native American, and students experiencing poverty.

FPG's Equity Research Action Coalition recently collaborated with the Erikson Institute and University of Delaware on The PreK in Family Child Care Project issue series. In four publications, the team explored strategies, successes, and challenges for implementing family child care and publicly funded pre-K across the U.S.

The Start with Equity: NC Early Childhood Education Equity Analyses Project conducted landscape analyses and engaged with community early education partners across the state of North Carolina to identify policies and strategies that show effect or promise in mitigating racial and economic disparities in early care and education (ECE). The research, led by FPG Fellow Iheoma Iruka, also focused on how policies can be more effectively enacted and implemented to advance equity.

Racial disparities continue to exist in autism research, negatively impacting Black autistic children. They are misdiagnosed, receive access to inferior quality services, and are almost twice as likely as white autistic children to have a co-occurring intellectual disability. To examine this void, the National Institute of Mental Health funded the "Racism and Resilience among Black Autistic Children and Caregivers" project.