Where Belonging Begins (with Rebecca Ralston)

In this video episode of Thrive Together, hosts Maya Smith and Jason Lehmbeck speak withRebecca Ralston, Senior Director of Early Childhood and Preventive Health at SpecialOlympics, and an alumna of the Thrive Center’s Innovation Hub fellowship. Young Athletes, theearly childhood program she has led for ten years, reaches about 350,000 children across morethan 170 countries. Roughly 53 million children under five have intellectual and developmentaldisabilities.The guiding theme of the conversation: ask first, then build. When the idea for a Young Athletesapp met resistance inside the organization, Rebecca’s team went back to the drawing boardand ran listening sessions with families, early childhood experts, and health providers. “Let’s notlet the app be the end goal, but let’s see what families need, and if the app meets that, thenwe’ll be able to sort of fit that in.”With Head Start, they mapped their program against the entire set of Head Start standards.With tribal Head Start programs, they were told not to arrive with something already finished, sothey spent years co-building an indigenized Young Athletes. “So instead of just using thosefoundational motor skills to build to soccer, we’re building to the tribal game.”