National Black Child Development Institute (NBCDI)

National Black Child Development Institute (NBCDI) NBCDI's mission is to improve and advance the quality of life for Black children and their families
(1)

06/02/2026

Say That With Love Episode 8 is here — and it asks a question our policies must answer: when does a Black child stop being seen as a child?

Dr. Leah Austin is joined by child & adolescent psychiatrist Dr. Byron Young to talk about adultification — "projecting onto children the qualities, characteristics, and consequences of adulthood" — and how our systems strip innocence from Black children far too early.

The data is sobering: it can begin as young as five for Black girls and around ten for Black boys. And it carries real consequences — Black children face harsher school discipline, higher rates of police involvement, and less protection across the very systems built to serve them.

As Dr. Young puts it: "At what point does that dehumanization start? It happens so early, so quickly. And it's a real travesty."

That's why Is Seen as a Child is one of NBCDI's Eight Essential Outcomes. Affirming Black childhood means building policy and practice — in schools, child welfare, and health care — that protect Black children's right to simply be children.

📺 Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/j8iRuHzOe00
🎧 Listen now → nbcdi.org/podcast

NBCDI is hiring a vendor — and we'd love your help spreading the word. 💜Our Family Empowerment Program (FEP) has long be...
05/27/2026

NBCDI is hiring a vendor — and we'd love your help spreading the word. 💜
Our Family Empowerment Program (FEP) has long been a space where parents and caregivers of Black children build their leadership and advocacy power to navigate the systems their children move through every day — health, education, nutrition, and more.

Now we're ready to evolve it.

We're seeking a vendor to reshape the 12-week curriculum into a 10-week program aligned with our Afrofuturism & Systems Change framework and Eight Essential Outcomes — including fresh content on environmental health, digital safety and AI, public policy, and advocacy & organizing.

The vendor will also design and deliver a 20-hour facilitator training and support two pilot sites running September through November 2026.

Curriculum updates are due July 17, with training wrapping by August 31.

📄 Full RFP, scope details, and submission instructions: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vXfDlUjQz6pkM1A8jbHptOUV9gIeNnJG/view?usp=sharing

Reviewed on a rolling basis. Know someone perfect for this? Tag them below.

"Clean air and clean water are not amenities. They are the conditions under which children grow, learn, sleep, and dream...
05/27/2026

"Clean air and clean water are not amenities. They are the conditions under which children grow, learn, sleep, and dream."

Think about the children in your life. The ones you tuck in. The ones you pack lunches for. The ones who run barefoot in the yard and ask a thousand questions before breakfast.

Now think about what they're breathing. What's coming out of the tap. What's in the soil where they play.

For too many Black families, those answers are not safe ones. Not because of anything our children did — but because of decades of decisions made about where plants get built, where pipes get replaced, and whose neighborhoods get prioritized.

"Breathes Clean Air and Drinks Clean Water" is one of NBCDI's Eight Essential Outcomes because we believe environmental justice and child development cannot be separated. A child's right to thrive begins with the air in their lungs and the water in their cup.

Share this if you believe every Black child deserves both. 💛

05/22/2026

NBCDW 2026 was made possible by a Village.

This week, parents, caregivers, educators, advocates, and community members showed up - sharing content, taking action, and centering what Black children deserve. From our Village Network to the Dream Forward • Act Now Digital Advocacy Hub, you were part of something real.

Dr. Leah Austin said it best - thank you. The work continues.

The future Black children deserve is not a distant vision. It is being built right now — by the families who show up eve...
05/21/2026

The future Black children deserve is not a distant vision. It is being built right now — by the families who show up every day with knowledge, love, and an unshakeable belief in what their children deserve. 💜

Black families are not the problem. They are the solution. They hold the expertise, the power, and the vision to build the future their children need — and our systems need to be designed to support that, not work against it.

That is what National Black Child Development Week is about. That is what this movement is about.

Dream Forward. Act Now. 👉🏾 nbcdi.org/actnow

Across the country, Black families are doing what they have always done — showing up for their children with everything ...
05/19/2026

Across the country, Black families are doing what they have always done — showing up for their children with everything they have. 💜

But 1 in 3 Black children still lack consistent access to healthy food. Not because of what their families don't know or don't do. Because of food systems, economic structures, and policies that have never been designed to serve them.

This is the national reality NBCDI is committed to changing. Every Black child deserves to enjoy meals with vegetables — not as a privilege, not as a program outcome, but as a given. A standard. A right.

Black families have always held the knowledge. It's time our systems caught up.

Dream Forward. Act Now. 👉🏾 nbcdi.org/actnow

05/18/2026

Today marks the beginning of National Black Child Development Week 2026 — and NBCDI Elder Michael W. is speaking directly to our community.

In the wake of the Supreme Court's April 29th ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, which dealt another blow to the Voting Rights Act, Elder Michael W. reminds us that our Council of Elders is paying attention — and that the protection and affirmation of Black children cannot wait.

Our children are rooted in this land. The evidence is in our hands. And NBCDI will not rest until that truth is reflected in policy and practice, in every place a Black child grows.

Join us May 18–22 as we Dream Forward and Act Now.

🔗 nbcdi.org/actnow

05/04/2026

NEW EPISODE ALERT! 🚨🎙️

Say That With Love Episode 7: Breathes Clean Air and Drinks Clean Water is out now!

In this episode, Afrofuturist writer and community advocate Binta Dixon sits down with Dr. Leah Austin and gets real: "My family lived close to this processing plant — we were not only smelling, but we were breathing in these toxic fumes that they were potentially getting into our water."

But Binta doesn't stop at the harm. She also holds onto this: "The joy that comes from the country, that comes from these spaces — that cannot be erased and that cannot be undermined, even by the toxicity and the climate issues that we face."

This is the both/and Black children deserve us to hold. Environmental justice is child justice — and this conversation goes deep.

🎧 Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and iHeart:
🍎 podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/say-that-with-love/id1863432597
🟢 open.spotify.com/show/6DkftJfFl1V9ysgv7wXs8r
📦 Amazon Music
💜 iheart.com/podcast/314198884

Protecting the futures of Black children has never been simple — it has always required showing up in the rooms where de...
05/01/2026

Protecting the futures of Black children has never been simple — it has always required showing up in the rooms where decisions are made, challenging systems that were not built with our children in mind, and refusing to accept anything less than full equity.

At NBCDI, that is not a response to a moment. That is our mandate.

As the school year wraps up, a lot of families are sitting with report cards and assessments — trying to figure out what...
04/30/2026

As the school year wraps up, a lot of families are sitting with report cards and assessments — trying to figure out what they mean and what comes next.

Here's what we know: many of those tools weren't designed with Black children in mind. They can miss the cultural strengths our kids bring every day. The We Know Best Toolkit helps families make sense of what's on the page, ask better questions, and walk into kindergarten season ready to advocate for the full picture of their child's brilliance.

Download all three components free: https://www.nbcdi.org/we-know-best/

Address

8455 Colesville Road, Suite 910
Silver Spring, MD
20910

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5:30pm
Tuesday 9am - 5:30pm
Wednesday 9am - 5:30pm
Thursday 9am - 5:30pm
Friday 9am - 5:30pm

Telephone

+12028332220

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when National Black Child Development Institute (NBCDI) posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Organization

Send a message to National Black Child Development Institute (NBCDI):

Shortcuts

Featured

Share

Category