Good news for the moment: your PACEs Connection social networking site is safe for another three months, through June, 2025, thanks to the generosity of a foundation that recently gifted PACEs Connection – via our fiscal sponsor, the National Prevention Science Coalition (NPSC) – with $10,000.
This covers for one quarter our largest expense – the fee for the learning management system (LMS) on which the social network lives.
Some of you may have noticed that on on March 6, service for PACEs Connection was interrupted by a glitch with our domain name services (DNS) provider, GoDaddy. There was a mixup on login and due date information during the asset transfer from our previous fiscal sponsor, TSNE, to our current fiscal sponsor, NPSC.
Fortunately, our learning management system, Crowdstack, provided a workaround uniform resource locator (URL) or web address, which is https://www.pacesconnection.com
You may still reach the site via our regular web address of pacesconnection.com.
In the meantime, our business plan is complete and has been well received.
The site is safe again until July 1, 2025, when the next payment of $9,534 is due. Starting this week (March 24, 2025), we are circulating the plan and looking for donors and corporate sponsorship. If you have suggestions, connections, or recommendations, please let us know!
How you can help.
Each time there has been a funding deadline, with help from you, our members, we’ve been able to nurture PACEs Connection forward and protect its valuable assets. This includes raising about $15,000 last November for a Crowdstack payment, and another $2,500 to pay for the Resources Center and its separate platform, LibGuides.
If you’ve made a donation during this challenging time, we are grateful to you. If you’ve not yet decided to make a monthly gift, or to make a one-time gift, we welcome your support now.
You are the most valuable part of PACEs Connection. We’d love the benefit of your thoughts via our PACEs Connection Members’ Survey
We hope you’ll make a donation and share information. Finding out how to make PACEs Connection more valuable to you and for you will help us engage more of our members in investing in the work of catalyzing, convening, connecting, and keeping alive the happenings and history of you, our members, and our movement.
To that end, we want to know what you want. Please share with us what you believe would help keep this movement moving forward, what’s important to you, what you would like to see more of, what you’d like for us to add to, and what you’re willing to invest on a monthly basis to help keep the work of PACEs Connection going.
Please invest about five minutes now to complete this brief survey, which gives you an opportunity to share ideas about how we could generate income. Here’s the link again: PACEs Connection Members’ Survey.
By this time next year, we’re hoping to have achieved sustainability.
Your gifts of time and treasure will help ensure you can still rely on PACEs Connection for updates, ways to connect with others doing the work in more than 500 geographic and topical communities, and our vast Resource Center.
If you’ve not visited the resource center, please check it out. It’s filled with decades of research on positive and adverse childhood experiences, the impact of positive childhood experiences (PCEs) and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), and ways of preventing and healing ACEs; ways of promoting and amplifying PCEs.
With tremendous gratitude, Carey Sipp and Dana Brown
Can a 10-minute-old-baby actually learn something?
Can such a new and tiny being figure out “I’m like you and you’re like me?”
Beatrice Beebe, PhD, Columbia University and New York State Psychological Institute psychologist, shares research showing that babies can imitate expressions at 10-minutes-old!
“Early infancy is a critical developmental period,” says Dr. Beebe.
We’ll be sharing more of her video and wisdom in our Neuro-Nuturing: Advancing Powerful Strategies for Lifelong Health and Black Birthing and Decade of the Child Initiatives webinar this Thursday!
Join us May 22 from Noon – 12:30 p.m. ET for this free CHC: Creating Healthier Communities CHC University webinar featuring internationally-recognized subject-matter experts in early relational health.
🌎 How important is this information to the health of your organization? Your community? Our nation? The world?
🧠 How can learning more about how a baby’s brain develops help you and your team create healthier communities?
💕 Join us and learn how and why early relational health is the foundation of emotional, mental, and physical health and wellbeing — for improved lifelong health and wellbeing — and how an infant’s experiences literally shape the architecture of his or her brain for future trust, curiosity, ability to connect and relate, or, conversely, be more likely to experience fear, mistrust, and isolation.
We’ll also explore strategies for your organization, faith community, health care system, child- and family-serving organization to create and leverage “Neuro-Nurturing Ecosystems”, and engage more fathers in the birthing journey and early relational health.
“This webinar emphasizes proactive Neuro-Nurturing as a vital intervention for infant neurodevelopment and early relational health,” said Deborah McNelis, M.Ed., author of “The First 60 Days: The Most Influential Days of Infant Brain Development”, who will highlight how early experiences shape lifelong health. Curated videos by Beatrice Beebe, PhD, Psychologist at Columbia University Department of Psychiatry and New York State Psychiatric Institute, will be shared — including one of a 10-minute old infant already mimicking his father — demonstrating the the importance of parent-infant attunement.
In a proven example of scaling successful strategies for maternal and child health, Demetrius Geiger, MPH, program manager for CHC: Creating Healthier Communities (CHC), will share about the impact of CHC’s Black Birthing Initiative.
Christina Bethell, Ph.D., MBA, MPH, the Director of the Child & Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative (CAHMI) and public health professor at Johns Hopkins University will share frameworks and tools such as the Well Visit Planner, that show how to integrate Neuro-Nurturing and Whole Child Health Policy into healthcare systems across a state.
Bill Barberg, population health and system change expert, will share valuable approaches to implementing pragmatic, collaborative strategies for achieving positive impact at a community scale, highlighting strategies for engaging fathers in Neuro-Nurturing. Barberg is also founder of the Population Health Learning Collaborative.
Joshua Liston Zawadi,founder of Dad Doula University, will share his approach for engaging fathers in the birthing journey and in supporting early childhood development.
The webinar will be moderated by Carey Sipp, webinar convener, director of nonprofit partnerships for CHC: Creating Healthier Communities, and volunteer director of strategic partnerships for PACEs Connection.
“This webinar promises to engage participants with expert insights and actionable strategies. We are thrilled to have assembled these nationally recognized leaders dedicated to early relational health, systems change, and child and parent advocacy for this event,” said Sipp.
(Author’s note – Deborah McNelis and I were dear friends, partners in advancing the concept of Neuro-Nurturing, and webinar buddies, having created and or participated in about 40 webinars since we met in April, 2023. We only knew each other for two-and-a-half years, but spent many hours together on the phone, Zoom, and on webinars as hosts, panelists, speakers, raising awareness of the lifelong protective value of advancing healthy early brain development. I loved and respected Deb deeply; she is sorely missed. All involved with PACES Connection appreciated her generosity, enthusiasm for the mission, and support. We were on a parallel track to create a movement ensuring that all children – and inner children – thrive by lifting up pregnant and newly-delivered mothers, new fathers, foster parents, caregivers, and community members by helping them understand their vital role, as emotionally regulated adults, in Neuro Nurturing healthy brain development. While I am not yet sure how her work will be continued, I know it will continue. As long as I am involved in PACEs Connection, the concept of Neuro Nurturing will be advanced to help prevent child abuse and neglect; to help promote positive maternal, infant, child, and community experiences. Greaterlikelihood of health and wellbeing across the lifespan begins with the foundational and consistent safety, stability, and nurture so vitally important to healthy infant and child brain development.)
Friend and supporter of PACEs Connection, and author of The First 60 Days (which highlights the importance of “Neuro-Nurturing” infants in the first two months of life), Deborah McNelis passed away last Friday after a sudden and brief battle with cancer. She had recently turned 70.
After discovering PACEs Connection via Twitter and LinkedIn, Deborah’s “The First 60 Days” booklet, now a book, was reviewed on PACEs Connection. She began posting on the social networking site, sharing opportunities for fellow members to learn more about “what babies need most” (for adults to understand the importance of early brain development) in her monthly e-newsletter, and participated in multiple webinars in support of PACEs Connection programs.
Her 2023 PACEs Connection conference presentation, “What if Babies Ran the Workplace,” explored how the world might change if babies were the CEOs: people wouldn’t come to work when sick or when they needed to care for a loved one, and they’d demand universal health care, paid family leave, and access to high quality childcare. In that talk, she made a compelling case for affordable, brain-boosting childcare, urging that childcare workers be treated as professionals they are.
A central tool in her work was her signature series of ringed books (“packets”), each containing 40 age-appropriate, developmentally matched activities paired with the neuroscience rationale behind them. Canadian publisher Redleaf Press contracted her to adapt materials to support infant’s and children’s transitions—from one activity to the next—with brain-friendly strategies.
Deb often said: “Most people don’t realize the signals babies give about overstimulation or boredom. It is important to honor their rhythms and make transitions—feeding to napping, play to rest—smooth and respectful of their internal states.”
Deborah’s career as an early childhood brain development expert spanned nearly 50 years. She often recalled that at age 19 she had a moment of clarity that started her on this path.
“I was watching a concert with little children. They were obviously adored and nurtured and enjoyed making music together. And I realized in that moment I wanted all children to experience being loved, expressive, and appreciated for their own uniqueness, and it dawned on me that not all the adults in children’s lives know what children really need most from them – that unconditional love and acceptance,” Deb said.
Her journey began as a kindergarten teacher. When parents asked how they might support their infants and toddlers at home, she first jotted ideas on 3×5 cards. Over time, she refined them into the handy pocket-sized ringed booklets—each offering activities and the “why behind the action”—to help parents and caregivers engage knowledgeably and confidently.
“For example, sorting sticks and rocks by size, shape, and color may not seem important. But sorting helps children develop the skills to be able to write, or develop other hand-to-eye coordination based skills. Every activity has a purpose,” Deb said.
Late in 2023, Deb was contracted through PACEs Connection and Healthy Blue (North Carolina) to deliver a project supporting foster parents of young children. Over the course of 27 webinars (in collaboration with Carey Sipp, now volunteer co-director of PACEs Connection), she introduced participants to Neuro-Nurturing principles. The feedback included 100% of participants reporting at least some degree of increased confidence in parenting, and 97.4% saying they would recommend the webinar to other parents.
Deborah McNelis was born in Minnesota on September 1, 1955.
A beloved mother, educator, author, and visionary founder of Brain Insights, Deb coined and popularized the term Neuro Nurturing—a philosophy of promoting early relational health and healthy brain development grounded equally in science and compassion.
As her daughter, Tracy Thompson, who collaborated with Deb from the very beginning, helping with research, writing, creating content and supporting her goals behind the scenes, said, “Through her writing, speaking, and workshops, she translated the miracle of early brain development into insights and doable practices. Her mission was always to make nurturing relationships and responsive care central to how we support every child and caregiver.”
Deb founded Brain Insights, LLC, in 2008. She launched the First 60 Days Movement about three years ago to emphasize the profound impact of the first two months of brain development after a study on the timing of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) was published in 2019 and then written about by Bruce Perry, MD, in his 2021 book co-authored by Oprah Winfrey, “What Happened to You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing”.
Her Neuro Nurturing Interaction Packets, along with books and toolkits, reached families, educators, and communities across the U.S. and around the globe. According to braininsightsonline.com research, a total of more than 250,000 of these ringed booklets and packets – in English and Spanish – are in use worldwide.
Her first fiction book, The Reminder, released just months ago, “speaks to the core of who we are—interweaving themes of essence, memory, and love. Her creative voice enriched many lives,” Tracy wrote in Deborah’s obituary.
Beyond her professional achievements, Deborah was cherished for her warmth, steady faith in human potential, and her rare ability to make complex science accessible and full of hope. She served on the boards of organizations including The Powerful Project, The Global Presence, and the Wellness for Children Initiative.
Deborah is survived by her daughters, Tracy (Schmid) Thompson and her husband, Jason, and Trisha (Schmid) Helchinger and her husband, Franz; her cherished grandchildren Benjamin, Zachary, Levi, Ava, and Max; and a wide circle of family and friends—siblings, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, and their families.
The family requests that those who wish to honor Deborah do so by making a gift in her name to early childhood development programs, PACEs Connection, or The Powerful Project.
As Tracy said,
“Her memory will live on in the countless children whose early lives were shaped by her vision—and in the many adults she inspired to nurture with purpose and love. Her legacy is a generation of children who know they are worthy of love, from the very beginning.”
What others who worked with her on the Neuro Nurturing webinars are saying about the passing of Deborah McNelis:
I join you in the shock, grief and sadness at Deb’s passing.I met Deb as a co-traveler on the long journey to anchor our systems in the truth that early life nurturance is how we can thrive even as life brings natural struggles.May we stay the course in her honor and light and continue to build an inescapable movement for transformation.
With gratitude for Deb and deep awareness of the mystery and profundity of this life we seek to nourish and protect!
– Christina Bethell, PhD, founder of the Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative, professor, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Deborah McNelis was an amazing force of goodness and positivity. We will try to carry on with her work, with humility and homage in Deb’s honor.
– “Denni” Diana Fishbein, PhD, founder, director, and president of the National Prevention Science Coalition to Improve Lives,Senior Scientist in the FPG Child Development Institute at University of North Carolina
Carey Sipp 4/3/2510:00 PM
Carey Sipp 
