May 13, 2025

NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State University School of Education faculty Dr. Michelle Brunson, Dr. Debra Jo Hailey and Dr. April Giddens collaborated with Brett Brunson, Natchitoches Parish District Defender, and University of Louisiana Monroe faculty member Dr. Amy Weems to publish a chapter in Southern Early Childhood Association’s Voices of Early Childhood Educators: Conversations about Change in the U.S. South.

The publication highlights important work early childhood professionals are doing to address poverty, inequality and educational gaps in the southern United States.

“This chapter is the culmination of truly meaningful interactions and relationships, and it is certainly a highlight of my career,” Michelle Brunson said.  She is professor of early childhood at NSU and, with her husband Brett, has spearheaded the Cradle to College initiative, which provides literacy materials to at-risk youngsters and their families.

“Brett has worked for decades with other key stakeholders to intervene in Louisiana’s Cradle to Prison Pipeline, successfully lobbying for important criminal justice reform,” Michelle Brunson said. “We met in 2002, later married, and then passed our passion for advocacy on to our son, Cameron. From the age of three, Cameron began making and distributing family literacy bags as part of the Early Childhood Education service learning project I created at NSU to remap our local Cradle to Prison Pipeline to a Cradle to College Pipeline.”

Brett, Michelle and Cameron Brunson

“I’ve learned that it doesn’t take a big organization or a monumental task to make a meaningful difference in families’ circumstances,” said Cameron Brunson, a junior at the Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts.

Brett Brunson met Hailey in 2000 at First United Methodist Church-Natchitoches, where they both actively engaged in projects to support families living in poverty. During this time, he incorporated the Natchitoches Habitat for Humanity affiliate, and Hailey and her husband, Tommy, were active volunteers.

“Promoting early literacy as a vehicle for change to increase children’s school readiness and helping families build a foundation for their child’s future success are worthwhile tasks,” said Hailey, assistant professor of Child and Families studies, who also created Natchitoches’ Reading on the River family literacy festival and continues to support families through family literacy projects. “Acting as a community volunteer and instilling in others the power of community alliances is equally worthwhile.”

“This meaningful collaboration demonstrates how family literacy programs not only support children’s success in school but also equip families with the tools to foster learning at home,” said Giddens, interim director of the School of Education. “These initiatives lay a powerful foundation for lifelong learning, benefiting today’s students and positively impacting generations to come.”

“Interestingly, Brett has known my colleagues much longer than I have,” Michelle Brunson said. “He first met April in 1981 when he served as a public defender in Sabine Parish and her mother worked for him. Later, April taught Brett’s boys in middle school and then joined the faculty at NSU in 2017,” Michelle Brunson said.

While presenting her service learning project at the International Literacy Association conference in New Orleans, a ULM education major approached Brunson to inquire about the project and to tell her about his professor, Dr. Amy L. Weems, associate professor in ULM’s School of Education, whose research also focuses on Louisiana’s Cradle to Prison Pipeline. Brunson recalled that Giddens and Weems knew each other because both are former Louisiana Teachers of the Year. This connection led to a professional collaboration.

“I am incredibly thankful to be included in this important work as we examine the positive impact of family literacy partnerships and programming to support brighter futures for the students in our classrooms and the next generation of our families,” Weems said.

Dr. Amy Weames, ULM faculty

To support the project, email Michelle Brunson at faziom@nsula.edu. The book, edited by Dr. Kenya Wolff, former NSU faculty member Dr. Karen Walker and Dr. Diane Bales, can be purchased at https://www.seca.info/pre-orders.