Priska Neely

Ohio has some of the highest infant mortality rates in the nation. Community organizations are working to give parents tangible tools to help, with a focus on dads.

The Castlemont neighborhood in East Oakland is known as a Best Babies Zone. The idea of the initiative is that improving life for all residents will ultimately save babies.

Experts say one of the reasons black babies are more likely to die is because of a tendency to ignore one of the underlying causes: systemic racism.

After Raena Granberry lost her first baby, she turned her grief and anger into action. Now she does community outreach for a group that's working to close the gap.

Black babies in the U.S. are twice as likely to die before their first birthday as white babies. KPCC's Priska Neely has a personal connection to this issue.

Black infants die before their first birthday at twice the rate of their white counterparts. Over the next few weeks, reporter Priska Neely will be sharing stories of people in Southern California and across the country who are trying to change that statistic.

Early childhood advocates have been working for years ahead of the election to make sure the top candidates are thinking about the state's youngest constituents.

In the L.A. Unified School District, 28,000 preschoolers are getting hands-on training in how to build friendships, be empathetic and self-aware.

More state leaders are putting funding into preschool programs, but the quality of those programs isn't keeping pace with the quantity, according to a new report.

"Reading and play really does change the way your child approaches their feelings, their behavior and, ultimately, their readiness to learn," said researcher Alan Mendelsohn.

In L.A. County, black babies are three times more likely than white babies to die in the first year of life. The county has a new five-year action plan to reduce that disparity by 30 percent.

While more than half of babies and toddlers in L.A. County are eligible for state subsidized care, only 6 percent are getting them.