The devastating toll of the pandemic has underscored the critical importance of connecting what science is telling us to the lived experiences of people and communities. In March of 2020, we recorded episodes exploring the impact the coronavirus pandemic could have on child development. Now, a year later, we wanted to continue these conversations and discuss what we've learned, what needs to change, and where we go from here.


Contents
Podcast
Speakers
Additional Resources
Transcript


In the third episode in this 4-part special series, host Sally Pfitzer speaks with Dr. Renée Boynton-Jarrett, the founding Director of Vital Village Networks at Boston Medical Center and an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine. They discuss the cost of failing to address structural inequities with sustainable and comprehensive policy changes, the vital role community leaders played during the pandemic, and why health care systems need to demonstrate trustworthiness.

The next and final episode of this special podcast series will focus on the pandemic's impact on the mental health system.

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Speakers


Sally Pfitzer, Podcast Host

Dr. Renée Boynton-Jarrett, Founding Director of Vital Village Networks at Boston Medical Center and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine




Additional Resources



Vital Village Networks
The Brain Architects Podcast: COVID-19 Special Edition: Creating Communities of Opportunity
Thinking About Racial Disparities in COVID-19 Impacts Through a Science-Informed, Early Childhood Lens
Early Childhood Adversity, Toxic Stress, and the Impacts of Racism on the Foundations of Health
Brief: Moving Upstream: Confronting Racism to Open Up Children's Potential
Infographic: How Racism Can Affect Child Development
Re-Envisioning, Not Just Rebuilding: Looking Ahead to a Post-COVID-19 World
Working Paper 15: Connecting the Brain to the Rest of the Body: Early Childhood Development and Lifelong Health Are Deeply Intertwined
InBrief: Connecting the Brain to the Rest of the Body
A Guide to COVID-19 and Early Childhood Development






Transcript
Sally: Welcome to The Brain Architects, a podcast from the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. I'm your host Sally Pfitzer. In March of 2020, we recorded episodes exploring the impact the coronavirus pandemic could have on child development. You may remember we discussed the importance of self-care for caregivers, and the importance of physical distancing, not social distancing.  And now a year later, we wanted to continue those conversations and discuss what we've learned, what needs to change, and where we go from here.

On today's podcast, we have Dr. Renée Boynton-Jarrett, who is the founding Director of Vital Village Networks at Boston Medical Center and an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine. So good to have you with us, Renée.

Dr. Boynton-Jarrett: Delighted to be here. Thank you, Sally.

Sally: Renée, in March of 2020, we spoke with Dr. David Williams, who explained that many of the disparities that we saw in the early stages of the pandemic were predictable and the result of longstanding social policies and systemic racism. From your perspective, as an expert in the field, in the past year, what have we learned about these disparities?

Dr. Boynton-Jarrett: I think what Dr. Williams shared is absolutely correct. What we saw happen with the COVID-19 pandemic is it took advantage of the existing inequities and just widened those. So actually, our existing structural racism created a broader opportunity for the pandemic to disparately impact the lives, the well-being, and the health of communities of color and communities that are disproportionately impacted by structur...