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