Field Building
We work to strengthen the field of Children’s Racial Learning, connecting the people, knowledge, and institutions that shape how children learn about race.
Why we need a field of Children's Racial Learning
There have long been child-facing professionals intentionally supporting children's racial learning as part of healthy child development. But the work is very siloed.
That's changing.
How children learn about race has become a public conversation in ways it wasn’t a generation ago.
Parents are asking questions. Educators are seeking better tools. Researchers are producing new insights about how children understand identity, fairness, and difference. Health professionals are recognizing that race is a part of longitudinal care.
Across the country, people and institutions are doing important work.
But much of this work has developed in parallel– often without a shared framework, shared language, or shared infrastructure.
That's where field building comes in.
EmbraceRace works to strengthen the field of children’s racial learning, connecting the people, knowledge, and institutions that shape how children learn about race so that this work becomes part of healthy child development everywhere.
At EmbraceRace, our field building work focuses on strengthening the ecosystem so that many actors can contribute and learn together.
- Convening across sectors - Bringing together leaders from education, research, healthcare, media, and family engagement to develop shared language, strategy, and collaboration.
- Translating research into practice - Connecting what developmental science tells us about children’s racial learning with the practical needs of parents, educators, and communities.
- Building shared knowledge - Documenting what’s working—and where gaps remain—through efforts like the National Parent Survey on Children’s Racial Learning and Reflections on Children’s Racial Learning, helping the field better understand our intersecting work, families' experiences and how children learn about race in everyday life.
- Strengthening connections - Creating spaces where practitioners, researchers, and families can exchange insights, identify gaps, and develop new partnerships.
This work belongs to everyone.
The field of children’s racial learning is not owned by any single organization or profession.
It belongs to everyone who helps shape children’s development.
- A pediatrician discussing identity with families.
- A teacher guiding classroom conversations.
- A parent answering a child’s questions about fairness.
- A researcher studying early childhood development.
- A storyteller creating media that reflects children’s lived experiences.
Each contributes to how children understand race—and to the future they help build.
Field building helps these efforts connect, reinforce one another, and grow in impact.