New Bedford's The Basics, Southcoast Connects With Families

Many of us ignore or take for granted the importance of early education is in the life of a child. That is a serious mistake, and an organization in New Bedford is doing all it can to get the word out to young families in our region.

The Basics, Southcoast and its partners are providing information to families about building an educational foundation for their young children.

Jose Santos Cardova, the program's Implementation Manager, joined Townsquare Sunday this week. He said the program really started in 2017 when officials at Northstar Learning Centers began discussions about early childhood education.

What followed was the creation of the Southcoast Coalition for Early Childhood Education and the Basics Program itself, developed by professors at Harvard.

As Cardova explained, the Basics is designed to give infants an early start in learning.

"Scientifically we know that 80 percent of a child's brain is developed by the age of three, and following these steps will ensure that all parts of the brain will be developed and not go away," he said.

For parents, it means maximizing love and and managing stress with their young child, talking, singing and pointing, counting, grouping and comparing, exploring through movement and play, and reading and discussing stories.

Cordova said its partners are doing great work as well, such as Southcoast Health, which provides the parents of every newborn child with information about the Basics. He added that local business owners are now inviting Basics personnel into their buildings to provide information to their workers, and Basics information is available now to parents via text messaging.

The Townsquare Sunday interview with Jose Santos Cardova is available here:

Townsquare Sunday is a weekly public affairs program heard Sunday mornings at 6 and 11 a.m. on 1420 WBSM and 99.5 FM.

The program highlights individuals and organizations seeking to make Greater New Bedford a better place to live and work.

If you would like your organization featured on Townsquare Sunday, please e-mail the host at jim.phillips@townsquaremedia.com.

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