Over the past year, as we have worked to implement our new strategy, we have found it necessary to change how — and how often — we communicate with all the people who are vital to our work: partners, fellow funders, educators, policymakers, business and civic leaders, journalists, community members and other supporters.

That led us to create this blog. It will provide ongoing updates about the work we are doing in four key areas:

• Improving early childhood in the District of Columbia, with a focus on infants and toddlers and their families in Wards 7 and 8
• The Bainum Foundation Farm, which will address food access and quality issues in these same low-income neighborhoods in D.C.
• Seventh-day Adventist education as part of the legacy of our founder (and my father) Stewart Bainum
• Family philanthropy, which includes the ongoing philanthropic efforts of four generations of the Bainum family

Through the blog, we also want to showcase our partners and the important work they are doing, and we want to share timely and relevant articles, reports, videos and other content from a variety of sources. These insights can inform and influence our collective work.

We will be posting fresh content here weekly, so we hope you will make regular visits to see what’s new. We will also share some of the blog’s “greatest hits” quarterly via email.

Watch Our New Early Learning Video

So let’s get started with the first update. Our work in D.C. is focused on improving the systems that serve infants and toddlers and their families. But what exactly does that mean? Our new animated video explains it all — in just five minutes. It’s an engaging look at the work we are doing, with the help of many committed partners, to improve the odds for the District’s most vulnerable residents. I invite you to watch it now.