About Us

About Us

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Our Mission

LENA is a national nonprofit on a mission to transform children’s futures through early talk technology and data-driven programs.

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Our Vision

A world where every child benefits from positive relationships full of responsive interactions.

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Our Work

We care about conversational turns. The more conversational turns a child has, the better their outcomes will be. To accelerate the increase of conversational turns, we:

  • Serve children and their caregivers through our programming, in partnership with trusted community organizations.
  • Support the replication of the conditions we know are best for children’s engagement with adults.

The results are positive changes in children’s early language, early literacy, and social-emotional development; strengthened caregiver-child relationships; improved classroom quality; and increased teacher satisfaction and reduced caregiver stress.

Our Commitment to Diversity

Seeking and embracing diverse perspectives is essential to achieving our mission of transforming children's futures. The lived experiences of the children and adults who use LENA, our community organizations with which we partner, and the team we’re growing all inform the work we do — and how we do it. 

We're committed to:

  • Improving LENA programs' ease-of-use to make it more accessible throughout the early childhood community, leveraging user-centered design processes. 

  • Evaluating our programs to ensure they’re effective regardless of children's, teachers’, or caregivers’ backgrounds. 

  • Translating program materials and resources for a wider reach and ensuring cultural sensitivity. 

  • Ensuring our age-referenced norms reflect the populations we serve.

  • Listening closely to our Community Advisory Board, which represents a broad range of roles from the many communities we serve. 

  • Regularly evaluating our hiring and onboarding practices to focus on recruiting , retaining, and supporting a wide-ranging pool of candidates at all levels. 

  • Continuously learning as an organization and as individuals on topics relevant to supporting the diverse communities we serve.  

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Our Values


LENA’s external and internal commitments to diversity are explicitly woven into our core values. These values are embedded in our daily decision-making. We know that to make our vision a reality, our values must be lived by all of us every day, building sustainable momentum toward a more just society

PROACTIVE THROUGH DATA

We value the power of data to reveal truths, inform decisions, and advance our mission.

GET IT IN THE IRON

We’re entrepreneurial risk takers who are okay operating with incomplete information: let’s find out if we’re right and then change course when we’re not.


WE’RE MORE THAN JUST TECHNOLOGY

Real change only happens through people. We come alongside our partners to blend technology, people, and setting to pursue a more just society together.

PERSEVERE TO SIMPLE

We try to make things simple no matter how difficult that is.

HIGH STANDARDS, LOW EGOS

Together, we are greater than our sum as individuals. We are committed to seeking missing perspectives and supporting a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, identities, and skills because the more inclusive we are, the better our work will be.

Join us in making a difference:

...Or read more about the research behind LENA.