Today’s Author: Alexis Oberdorfer is Vice President of Community Engagement and Partnerships for Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota. With Alexis’ leadership, LSS of MN and the St. Paul Area Synod have launched a new partnership to create a specialized childcare facility to serve children and families in East St. Paul. She is also the daughter of PoP member Betchen Oberdorfer.
Not all children have a positive and supportive start to life like our Goddaughter. Many children, especially Indigenous, black, and brown, are often born into families and communities that deeply care about their children but lack access to adequate resources to support a child to their full potential.
In Minnesota, communities of color are far more likely to experience poverty, be underemployed, or experience wage disparities that directly contribute to food insecurities and inadequate nutrition, housing, and education. Children of all races face adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) such as abuse or neglect, domestic violence, divorce, parental substance abuse, mental illness, or incarceration. Individually or layered together, we know that these variables of trauma and nutrition can be disruptive to a developing child. ACEs can cause toxic stress and have a negative impact on the brain and body’s response, especially those of young children that are immature and vulnerable. Brains that develop under toxic stress are more likely to be disorganized, inefficient, wired to respond to fear and lack emotional regulation. As the toxic stress continues, these neuropathways are fortified and may negatively impact learning, memory, inhibitory control, and mental flexibility.
Children that grow up at the intersection of poverty and trauma we see fall behind not being able to compete with their peers who were afforded nurturing and positive connections, access, and adequate resources. This challenging start often manifests in cognitive delays and maladaptive behavioral expression. Early interventions are critical to helping children improve their social-emotional learning and take advantage of the enormous neuroplasticity that young children have to reduce early insults that manifests as learning delays.
The Saint Paul Area Synod’s capital campaign, Planting Hope, commits to partnering with LSS to expand our reach on the East Side of Saint Paul, to invest in preschool children that have experienced difficult starts. This neighborhood is incredibly diverse and has a budding population between birth to age six, and has long had a historical presence of the most recent immigrants. Many families who call the East Side of Saint Paul home have experienced economic and educational achievement gaps. Investment in the Families Together Therapeutic Preschool will help transform the lives of the children and families it touches and is a long-term investment in the community, social justice, and racial equity.
Let us pray-
Dear God,
Our children, a precious gift, need us to follow your lead and love one another unconditionally as you have loved us.
Help us understand our responsibility to ensure the safety and prosperity of our children as we are called to help the vulnerable and give a voice for those who are not able to speak for themselves.
Through your love and grace, help our children and families heal from the trauma that they have suffered and protect them in the future.
Help us put our trust in you, be good neighbors, and turn to you for strength.
Amen