Our Focus on the First Five Years

Why do we focus on the first five years?

Because it’s the most critical growth and development stage! The first five years of a child’s life significantly impact their health and overall well-being at all ages. Parenting isn’t easy, especially in these early years. Our support to parents during their child’s earliest addresses a serious need and supports healthy brain growth while benefiting the entire community.

The Need

Tennessee ranks 36th in child well-being compared to all other states in the country. This shows that there are thousands of children in the state that are suffering, whether from abuse, neglect, unsafe environments, or otherwise. Despite low rankings nationally, Tennessee has seen a slight improvement in these numbers from previous years and has seen ranking improvements in some areas related to child well-being. Still, it has never been more expensive to raise a child, which makes further improvement even more of an uphill battle.

According to the Wall Street Journal, it now costs $300,000 to raise a child in America: a middle-income family might spend more than $18,000 a year on average for a single child, as inflation hits food, housing, haircuts, and sports, a Brookings analysis finds. These ever-increasing costs makes it all that much more important to provide support for parents so their children can grow up healthy and secure.

Brain Development

In the first five years of life, experiences and relationships stimulate children’s development, creating millions of connections in their brains. During no other time do we learn faster or retain more information in such a short period of time. As much as 80% of brain development happens by age 3, and 90% by age 5. This is the time when the foundations for learning, health, and behavior throughout life are made, which is why it’s crucial to provide parents with support in helping nurture brain development in their children.

Achievement Levels

In Tennessee, there are some serious concerns about children’s level of achievement. Within the state, 65% of third graders are not proficient in reading, a truly staggering statistic.

Why is third grade reading level important? Early reading proficiency is a key indicator of future academic success, which is directly correlated with improved lifelong socioeconomic and health outcomes. However, low literacy is associated with poor adherence to medical treatment, knowledge of basic information on health or the health system, pre-teen alcohol use, depression, the likelihood of engaging in a physical fight that requires medical attention and carrying a weapon to school. A national study released in 2022 shows that students who do not read proficiently by third grade are four times more likely to leave high school without a diploma than proficient readers.

School Readiness

To help address this gap in achievement, our programs coach and empower parents to raise lifelong learners by instilling confidence, understanding development milestones, and building emotional intelligence. Together, these skills build ready students who are better prepared to meet the educational and social challenges of school and life beyond. Learn more about our work on school readiness.

Lifelong Gains

Nurture the Next is the largest provider of evidence-based home visiting programs in Tennessee, where we help parents lay the foundation for healthy physical, cognitive and emotional development in their children. And it works. Decades of research show that serving families in the home leads to these significant, positive outcomes for American families: fewer preterm births, fewer injury-related emergency room visits, increased kindergarten readiness, more economically independent families, and overall reduction in child maltreatment.

Economic Impact

Our home visiting programs aren’t just effective, they’re economical, yielding significant savings for taxpayers over time through reduced criminal justice costs, decreased dependence on government support, and increased employment. Returns are as high as $5.70 for every dollar invested in prevention services at Nurture the Next.