# Multi-level evidence-based intervention to reduce health and education disparities among children of color in high-poverty schools in historically disinvested neighborhoods hardest hit by the pandemic

> **NIH NIH R01** · NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE · 2022 · $724,004

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
This study evaluates the enduring protective impacts of a multi-level evidence-based intervention, ParentCorps,
in high-poverty schools with pre-Kindergarten (pre-K) programs serving primarily Black and Latino children in
New York City (NYC) neighborhoods hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. To date, Black and Latino children in
NYC are more than twice as likely as White children to lose a parent to COVID-19. COVID-19-related financial
and social stresses have been especially hard on households with young children. Reports on the well-being of
families with young children document substantial increases in adversity in many areas, including lack of
household basic needs and loss of economic security, physical and mental health impacts on caregivers and
household members, lack of access to early learning and childcare, and wide-ranging concerns about child social
emotional well-being. Structural racism, poverty and other social determinants, combined with a surge in
exposure to new adverse childhood experiences (e.g., parental depression, illness or death of a family member,
threat of eviction) that disproportionately affect Black and Latino children, may sharply exacerbate existing
educational and health disparities. In historically disinvested neighborhoods, the pandemic is set to erode
protective factors, such as family-school connections and emotionally responsive home and classroom
environments that support child mental health and school performance. A culturally-responsive intervention that
promotes and maintains positive family-school connections and home/classroom environments in communities
hard hit by COVID-19 may prevent the worsening of racial and ethnic health and education disparities. This study
has the following specific aims: 1) Test the enduring impact of ParentCorps professional development for
educators (2017-2019) on family-school connections as experienced by parents of pre-K students in school
years during and after COVID-19, relative to pre-COVID-19 years; 2) Examine the long-term impact of
ParentCorps programs for children and families on developmental trajectories of the 2019-20 cohort of pre-K
students on mental health and school performance, and test whether intervention impacts on child outcomes
vary by neighborhood-level susceptibility to COVID-19, race, gender and home language; 3) Understand school
assets and unmet needs not addressed directly by ParentCorps; develop and integrate crisis mitigation
strategies into the ParentCorps model; and assess feasibility and benefit. Capitalizing on public investments in
scaling ParentCorps in schools in historically disinvested neighborhoods, strong partnerships with policy makers
and practitioners, and a robust research infrastructure, this study offers an unparalleled opportunity to advance
science and a promising systems-level scalable strategy to prevent cascading negative effects of COVID-19 for
Black and Latino families.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10494116
- **Project number:** 5R01HD106547-02
- **Recipient organization:** NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
- **Principal Investigator:** Laurie Miller Brotman
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $724,004
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-09-24 → 2025-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10494116

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10494116, Multi-level evidence-based intervention to reduce health and education disparities among children of color in high-poverty schools in historically disinvested neighborhoods hardest hit by the pandemic (5R01HD106547-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10494116. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*