Sejal Kothari testifies on family engagement and navigation support
Sejal Kothari, pediatrician and program director of UMEC, describes using early childhood ambassadors to help families navigate 2K, EI, and other systems. She urges investment in trusted family engagement alongside seats.
Thank you, Chair Gutierrez and members of the subcommittee, for the opportunity to testify today.
My name is Sejal Kathari.
I am a pediatrician and the program director of Upper Manhattan Early Childhood Connect, UMEC, which is a division of Literacy and Community.
So a lot of Literacy and Community here today.
Her family's the years before kindergarten bring many questions.
Is my child meeting their developmental milestones?
Where can I find support?
How does early intervention even work?
How do I navigate 2K or pre-K or 3K?
Families shouldn't need to become experts in New York City early childhood education systems to get the support that their children need.
Yet our city's early childhood landscape can be difficult to parse, particularly for families who are new to New York, speak a language other than English, or are unfamiliar with any of these processes.
For many immigrant families, fear and uncertainty surrounding public institutions creates an additional barrier.
UMAC builds a bridge caregivers can cross to get started.
Our early childhood ambassadors help families build comfort and understanding in key areas of healthy development, ages 0 to 5, from milestones and early learning resources to EI, CPSE, child care, and 2K to kindergarten readiness.
Ambassadors create a partnership with caregivers.
Hand in hand, they make referrals, break down options, assist with complex paperwork, and encourage families to self-advocate and ask key questions.
questions.
As the city expands 2K, this kind of support needs to be part of the investment.
Families do not experience EI, child care, and 2K as separate programs.
They experience it all as one journey, their child's journey.
Our systems are obligated to foster that journey.
We urge the city to invest in 2K seats and the trusted family engagement that helps families find opportunities, access them effectively, and connect to the library of available services in New York City.
Success should be measured not only by how many seats we create, but by whether families can reach these seats and all of their benefits.
Thank you.