From Epiphany to Culture Change: Reflections on the Promise of Prevention

The author brings to life her first hand experience teaching preschoolers in an early childhood education program in the Henry Horner Homes, and how the evidence gathered from that program 35 years ago finds support today in the latest research on brain development and the importance of capitalizing on early opportunities for growth. She reviews the major primary prevention and family support programs of the 1970s and provides evidence of their effectiveness at reducing multiple social and individual problems. Above all, she takes issue with the culture's longstanding worship of individualism, explaining how this philosophy is implicated in a generalized crisis orientation, as well as a lack of public and policy support for early childhood and family support programs. She makes an impassioned plea for widespread cultural change in the direction of taking collective responsibility for all children and families, and a comprehensive care plan that would not only prevent poor outcomes, but that would promote healthy development starting from the first moments of life. “Americans are uniquely able to respond when a crisis arises. It is only then that tremendous energy is mobilized to respond to the situation. The same talents are not used to prevent it.” - Margaret Mead