Goshen College Music Together and Triple P of Elkhart County have partnered to form a collaborative providing support for early relational health for infants and caregivers. In October, thanks to this new partnership through Horizon Education Alliance, GC Music Together and Triple P Elkhart County were selected as recipients of the Early Years Initiative grant through Early Learning Indiana. The three-year grant will support programs that help meet the developmental needs of infants and toddlers and surround Hoosier families with the resources to make the most of the crucial years of learning from birth to age 3.
This is the second round of grants in the Early Years Initiative, which began in 2023 and is made possible by $60 million in grants from Lilly Endowment Inc. The goal of the initiative is to ensure Indiana’s infants and toddlers develop the foundational knowledge and skills needed to support their future learning and development. In total, the initiative has awarded 154 grants to 133 organizations.
Through this grant, HEA and Goshen College will partner to increase alignment and coordination of two internationally-recognized, evidence-based practices serving families in Elkhart County – the Triple P (Positive Parenting Program) and Goshen College Music Together. The collaboration aims to bring Positive Parenting Program strategies alongside Music Together® sessions for parents of babies and toddlers to strengthen the early relational health of families with infants and toddlers. This collaborative effort will expand access to both programs to serve more families with young children in our community. Through the combined focus on early relational health, the grant aims to increase parental confidence and knowledge of healthy child development while growing the parent-child bond through musical connection and supporting brain development in the earliest stages of children’s lives.
“Music Together® and Triple P have both had a tremendous positive impact on families across Elkhart County in the last decade or so since both programs started here, and we are thankful to Lilly Endowment for recognizing the good we can do together to empower families with young children,” said Aliah Carolan-Silva, VP of Research at HEA. “Both programs work with so many partners throughout the community to reach parents where they are, and we are grateful to be part of an ever-strengthening system of parent and family support for everyone.”
The Early Years Initiative places special emphasis on serving families in low-income households, within communities of color and where very young children are multi-language learners. Both HEA and Goshen College are committed to reaching out to and making a meaningful impact on the lives of Elkhart County families.
“Research is clear that a child’s brain develops most between birth and age 3, and that the neural pathways formed in these earliest years of life form the basis for all future learning and development,” said Maureen Weber, president & CEO of Early Learning Indiana. “That’s why the work of the Early Years Initiative is so critical. We must ensure supportive environments and responsive interactions between infants and toddlers and their caregivers to set the trajectory for their overall development and lifelong learning.”