I have learned the following from the program: 1) When pursuing a challenge during our advocacy voyage be sure to carefully consider you intended as well as unintended consequences.  2) There are other organizations that have begun the work to provide quality education for all children 3) The establishment of a Community of Practice is a way to gain knowledge from other organizations and individuals regarding your advocacy efforts.

One long-term goal is to see a parent/child in which I have provided the necessary resources to receive quality education actually come back to report the success of the program.

Dr. Morgan, It has been a pleasure to spend my last class for the Master’s Program with you and my colleagues that have shared in this journey. I have learned quite a bit from the beginning of the program until now, my last Blog Assignment.

I look forward to hopefully seeing some of my colleagues at graduation.

Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: Internationally

Save the Children is the first organization because a portion of what they do is “help children and families help themselves” (Save the Children, 2012).  With my degree I totally believe that advocacy is all about teaching children and families to help themselves.  An advocate is there to support, keep families abreast of changes they may affect them and not only advocate for them but to show them how to effectively apply the resources in their lives.

International Step by Step Association (ISSA) is the second organization because “ISSA promotes equal access to quality education and care for all children, especially in the early years of their lives” (International Step By Step Association, n.d.).  This organization really appeals to me because they support quality education for all and I strongly believe that all children should have access to quality early education regardless of socio-economic status.

The Organization for the Economic Co-operation and Development (OED) is the third organization because they:

look at issues that directly affect the lives of ordinary people, like how much they pay in taxes and social security, and how much leisure time they can take. We compare how different countries’ school systems are readying their young people for modern life, and how different countries’ pension systems will look after their citizens in old age.  Drawing on facts and real-life experience, we recommend policies designed to make the lives of ordinary people better (The Organization for the Economic Co-operation and Development, n.d.)

This organization is concerned about ordinary people.  I think that ordinary people should be considered when developing different policies that will affect all persons not a specific group of people.

JOBS AVAILABLE

Save the Children – Program Specialist, Early Childhood/Location: US-KY – Berea/Division U.S. Programs – Skills needed: I would need to be trained in their policies and procedures as it relates to families, their young children and acceptable and unacceptable practices in their facilities.

There were no positions available for International Step by Step Association.

The positions available for the Organization for the Economic Co-operation and Development were not of interest.

References

International Step By Step Association. (n.d.). Retrieved April 3, 2012, from http://www.issa.nl/index.html

Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (n.d.). Retrieved April 3, 2012, from http://www.oecd.org/pages/0,3417,en_36734052_36734103_1_1_1_1_1,00.html

Save the Children. (2012). Retrieved April 3, 2012 from

http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.6146405/k.C7E9/About_Us.htm         

Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: National/Federal Level

These are four organizations that appealed to me while conducting research These organizations or people were chosen because of their mission, their previous accomplishments regarding their belief in quality early education for all young children. 

• Strategies for Children - they initiated a campaign entitled “Early Education for All Campaign” as result “they received a $50 million federal Race to the Top – Early Learning Challenge grant in 2011” (Early Education for All, n.d.)

·         Virginia’s Office of Early Childhood Development - created “standards of learning for the early years of a child’s development, standards of competencies for early childhood professionals and standards of quality for early childhood programs” (Virginia’s Office of Early Childhood Development, 2012).  It launched Virginia’s Star Quality Initiative (Quality Rating and Improvement System) that:

was created to offer a market-based solution to facilitate quality consistency among early childhood programs, support continuous quality improvement in partnership with public and private early education providers, and encourage a continuum of care and education throughout various provider settings, so that all children arrive in kindergarten ready to succeed. (p. 1)

• Virginia Department of Social Services - It provides a list of licensed, regulated unlicensed and approved services for child care (Virginia Department of Social Services, n.d.).
• Virginia Child Care Resource and Referral Network - is an organization whose mission is “to provide the leadership, resources and advocacy necessary to sustain an effective statewide system of quality child care and early education services that links and supports families, child care providers and communities” (Virginia Child Care Resources and referral Network, 2012). 

I am currently working for a Child Care organization where my advocacy efforts are being utilized daily.  I also participate with The Micah Initiative -http://richmondhillva.org/what/micah.html  it “is a partnership program between churches, synagogues, mosques and other communities of faith in metropolitan Richmond and the Richmond Public Schools for the purpose of supporting the education and the nurture of the children of Richmond” (The Richmond Hill, n.d.)

One other organization is Communities in Schools of Richmond http://www.cisofrichmond.org/ – this organization “helps kids stay in school by identifying and addressing the unmet needs of children and families” (Communities in Schools Richmond, n.d.).

I also co-facilitate a 15-week parenting class. My church in partnership with the City of Richmond’s Early Childhood Development Initiative conducts this parenting class entitled “Nurturing Positive Parenting” this class teaches parents how to foster positive self esteem in yourself and your children and learn how culture and community affect parenting.

The skills and experience that will need to competently fulfill these roles is investment in continual education. As education continues to evolve my goal is to stay abreast of cutting edge information in regards to education by maintaining membership with the National Association for the Education of Young Children and The National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies.

References

Early Education for All. (n.d.), Accomplishments. Retrieved March 24, 2012 from http://www.strategiesforchildren.org/eea/EEA1_accomplish.htm

Strategies for Children. (n.d.), Children are our common wealth. Retrieved March 24, 2012 from http://www.strategiesforchildren.org/

Virginia Department of Social Services. (n.d.) Child care facilities. Retrieved March 24, 2012 from http://www.dss.virginia.gov/family/cc/index.html

Virginia’s Office of Early Childhood Development (2012).  Access. Retrieved March 24, 2012 from http://www.earlychildhood.virginia.gov/access.shtml

Virginia’s Office of Early Childhood Development (2012).  Quality. Retrieved March 24, 2012 from http://www.earlychildhood.virginia.gov/quality.shtml

 

Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels

United Way of Greater Richmond & Petersburg/Smart Beginnings – because they developed a system to improve the quality of early care and education programs; parents of young children – their children are the future and I need the parents to understand why quality early education is so vitally important and lastly, law enforcement officials – they provide information on the end result according to some statistics of children that do not have the quality early childhood education experience. “Economic research shows that investments in children age 5 and younger improve school readiness and decrease crime, teen pregnancy, delinquency, substance abuse, and welfare dependency” (Voices for America’s Children, 2010).

 I am currently working in my career field of choice: Early Childhood Education, but I would like to become more actively involved in the Community.

The experiences that I believe that I need to competently work in the community and develop relationships with the state, local or communities of practice is to conduct firsthand research to ensure that these organizations are consistently pushing to reach the common goal of providing quality early education for all young children.

References

Voices for America’s Children (2010). The impact of high quality early childhood programs on

improving the educational achievement of at-risk children. Retrieved January from

http://www.voices.org/wp

content/uploads/2010/05/Impact_of_High_Quality_Early_Childhood.pdf

Using Social Media to Get Connected

My past experience with social media is the infamous ‘FACEBOOK.’  A friend of mind spoke so highly of facebook that she talked me into creating a facebook page.  Once I created that page I could not wait to log on everyday just to see if I had reconnected with old classmates, family etc.  Facebook is an excellent tool for staying in contact with friends, family, co-workers etc.  However, once I reenrolled in school I discontinued the facebook page as I would be consumed with facebook for hours at a time.  I also have a blog that I have utilized for my studies while at Walden University. I definitely use email.    Now I frequently use youtube to find clips of Sunday Morning Messages, Children’s Choirs singing and to look up information for my headstart classroom.  I do not have any experience with twitter.

The social media that I feel lends itself to effective advocacy are the following: Youtube (PSA’s); online newsletters from credible resources.  I could use Youtube to demonstrate different aspects of the classroom environment for early educators.  For example, we could demonstrate effective strategies to transition three year olds from one area to another.  We could also demonstrate to parents how children learn in the classroom through play.  We could demonstrate to policy makers why children need early childhood experiences to be effective in society in their latter years.

What ways do you think that I could effectively use social media in my advocacy efforts?

ADVOCACY MESSAGES

 “You didn’t give up on sex. Don’t give up on birth control” (Ad Council, n.d.)

“You don’t have to be perfect to be a perfect parent; there are thousands of children in foster care who that will take you just as you are” (Ad Council, n.d.)

I believe that the messages are effective in creating action because they are true.  We must think of possible outcomes when engaging in sexual activity and when becoming a parent there are many children that are waiting to be adopted and being perfect is not one of their requirements.

References

Ad Council, (n.d.).  Retrieved February 4, 2012 from http://www.adcouncil.org/

MY OWN CAPACITY

The issues fuel my passion in the early childhood field: 1) Early childhood education not being available to all young children 2) The low income status of early childhood workers 3) Money being the determining factor as to whether or not a child receives and early childhood education

These are the special skills that I have: 1)Having worked in administration for 10 years gave me an understanding of written and oral communication 2) I have worked as a director for a non-profit child care center for 7 years where I gained an understanding of different state, federal, and local regulations that govern the child care industry 3) Now after 7 years as a director I have been working as a substitute for an Headstart class with children ages 3 to 4 – here I am grasping an understanding of working hands-on with children to prepare them for the next level of their education – I can also relate the teachers and how tedious, but very rewarding their job is. 4) Lastly, my education, obtaining my Masters Degree in field of study for which I have learned first hand through my experience.  These skills coupled together with my degree I believe will help me to continue to thrive as an advocate for young children and their families.

The resources that are at my disposal are: My mentor, partnerships that were developed with other non-profit organizations such as the United Way of Greater Richmond and SMART Beginnings that are all apart of our participation in Virginia’s Star Quality Rating Initiative.

One of my many talents is that I love art.  I love creating things that will open up the minds and creativity of children.

Through this training at Walden University in the Master’s Program I have already gained a wealth of knowledge regarding public policy and what an advocate really is.

MY ROLE AS AN ADVOCATE

What motivated you to start advocating for very young children? My motivation came from a desire to see children from all communities have the necessary tools in their early education to become successful in school years and later as productive citizens in their future communities.

Why is it essential to acknowledge and foster advocacy efforts at the micro as well as the macro level? I believe that fostering advocacy efforts at the micro as well as the macro level is important as it allows you to build a community of advocates from the families and children that are affected to local community leaders and then to government officials.  These are simply building blocks to ensure that everyone involved understands their importance.

What does it take to be a community leader on early childhood issues? 1) Research to ensure that you have an understanding of your community needs regarding families and young children 2) Persistence 3) Established relationship with community organizations such as: civic league, principals in schools and other non-profit organizations within your community – familiarity with other non-profit organizations will allow you to understand their focus so that you are not duplicating efforts but may be able to combine efforts to reach a common goal.

What resources does it take to be a state leader on early childhood issues? In some instances I believe that in order to be a state leader on early childhood issues is similar to that of a community leader.  1) You must have an understanding of issues regarding young children and their families in your state 2) Persistence 3) Be familiar with organizations within your state that may have similar programs for children.  For example: we may be able to take the steps that Elliot Regenstein took in the State of Illinois in implementation of the Preschool for All Initiative.

What tactics or strategies do you use to mobilize others? 1) Build a relationship with the individual 2) Grasp an understanding of who they are 3) Work with them to set goals for themselves 4) Praise them when they accomplish those goals 4) Be honest in correction

What advice would you give to someone who was interested in taking a leadership role in advocating for young children and their families? 1) Be persistent 2) Research 4) Do not get discouraged 5) Stay focused on your overall goal.

PERSONAL ADVOCACY REFLECTION

This person would be my mentor.  She has been consistently consistent in her quest to provide the best quality care for the children in our care.  A few years ago she began by investing in her staff.  She developed a partnership with United Way of Greater Richmond. This partnership allowed us to have mentors from different aspects of Early Childhood whether it is a retired educator or a college professor of early childhood education.  These individuals came into our center and began to share information that would push us forward in our quest for quality.  As a result of her quest she and I along with several other staff members enrolled in a local community college to obtain the credits needed to submit applications for our Child Development Associate (CDA). After completing the program together we all obtained our CDA’s and now we continue with the STAR Quality Initiative there is a push for the staff to obtain their Associates degrees.

She realized that in order to provide quality to the children she had to have staff with credentials that would allow for that provision.  As a result of her passion for young children and quality education I not only pushed to obtain my CDA but obtained my Bachelor’s degree and now a pursuit of my Master’s degree in early childhood education.  Without her belief and push I probably would not have pursued a college degree.  However, through her advocacy efforts and investment in the staff she realized that there was another aspect that was lacking, the parents.  So today, another partnership has been developed with the City of Richmond Early Childhood Initiative.  She sent me to a three day course to learn how to facilitate the classes.  This partnership will allow us to provide parenting classes to parents, grandparents and caregivers of children ages 0-5. 

We will engage in a 15 week series where they will earn to foster positive self esteem in themselves and children and how culture and community affect parenting.  In addition, they will learn how to gain a sense of personal power, handle stress and anger, establish nurturing routines and use effective discipline.  I am so grateful to have such a person in my life.  My mentor.

ADVOCACY ACTION OVERVIEW

I have worked in an Early Childhood setting for seven years now.  Seven of those years I have been director in a non-profit child care center in an at-risk neighborhood.  On this year I have have the most wonderful opportunity to work as a substitute teacher in a three year old Headstart classroom for the same organization.  While this is a great challenge I am enjoying the day-to-day interactions with the students and parents as a teacher versus a director.

During our readings on this week I was really able to hone in on what advocacy really is.  There are so many different facets of advocacy, and to my surprise I have been advocating for individual families and children, and for our program for many years.  I look forward to learning more about informed advocacy during this eight weeks and what else I can do to advocate even more for the families and children that we serve.