Thursday, January 15, 2015

NYSPEP Member Spotlight: Wales Brown Selected for Zero To Three Fellowship

Mr. Wales Brown, NYSPEP Member and Tier III Credentialed Senior Parenting Educator (NYSPEP-CSPE), was recently selected as a Fellow for the Zero To Three Fellowship Program. NYSPEP warmly congratulates Mr. Brown. A press release appears below. 


Washington, DC – January 2015 – Wales Brown of Schenectady, New York was recently selected as a Fellow with the ZERO TO THREE Fellowship Program – a prestigious fellowship that engages, enriches, and inspires leaders who are dedicated to advancing the health, development, and well-being of infants and toddlers. Mr. Brown has dedicated his life to helping parents build stronger, healthier connections with their children throughout upstate New York and beyond. He brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the fellowship program from his over 30 years’ experience and leadership as a parent educator with the Northeast Parent & Child Society.

Mr. Brown is joined by nine other fellows who are from eight states across the country and Australia. The fellows bring a diversity of experience from such fields as psychology, child development, law, pediatrics, parent education, mental health, social work, research, and public health. ZERO TO THREE is pleased to welcome Mr. Brown as a fellow and we are excited about the expertise, knowledge, and perspective he brings to the fellowship,” said Matthew Melmed, ZERO TO THREE Executive Director. “His work as a parent educator and a trainer of parent educators to promote the healthy development of infants and toddlers brings a unique and important contribution to the fellowship experience.” he added.

During the fellowship, Mr. Brown will work in collaboration with a diverse group of professionals in the judicial and child welfare systems, as well as parents and community members, to develop a plan to increase the number, skills, and capacity of parent educator teams who work with the children and their families in the foster care system and those at-risk. “The availability of parent educators in juvenile courts can provide support services to help prevent out-of-home placement for infants and young children at-risk or aid in reunification of young children with parents after being placed in foster care”, said Mr. Brown.

The ZERO TO THREE fellowship program, which began in 1981, is guided by the principles that babies do better when the professionals who serve them and their families are work together across areas of expertise, are knowledgeable about the latest child development research, and are well equipped with the leadership skills to advance change in programs, systems, and policies that impact the well-being of infants and toddlers. ZERO TO THREE is a national nonprofit that provides parents, professionals, and policymakers the knowledge and know-how to nurture early development to ensure that all infants and toddlers have the strongest start in life. For more information about ZERO TO THREE, please visit www.zerotothree.org