The Heising-Simons Foundation announced support to researchers at the University of Oregon’s Center for Translational Neuroscience with a $300,004 grant to help identify the most critical challenges facing families with young children in the United States during the COVID-19 health and economic crisis.

“There is very limited actionable science-based, data-driven information to inform federal and state policy about the best ways to manage the situation in order to buffer children from long-term toxic stress effects,” principal investigator Philip Fisher explained. “The situation is extremely fluid, with new information about the state of the pandemic and local, state, and policy decisions being made on a daily basis.”

The main goals of the project, Fisher said, are to gather essential information on unmet needs and health-promoting behaviors for the well-being of children and families, and to distribute that information immediately to key stakeholders, advocacy groups, family facing organizations and affected families. Potential concerns include: physical and mental health and well-being; changes in employment for parents; changes in child care; and the interrelated challenges of accessing overburdened safety net programs.

To learn more about this project, please see the University of Oregon’s announcement.