A Collective Voice on Capitol HillLawmakers felt the thunder in April 2019, when hundreds of babies, parents and advocates for children converged on Capitol Hill. They had come from around the country to issue an urgent call: make policies that give young children a strong start in life. Paid maternity leave and quality, cost-effective child care and education were essential, the parents implored. And a bipartisan group of lawmakers agreed as they addressed the crowd before the U.S. Capitol Building. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) were there. So were Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Rep. Ann Wagner (R-MO) and Rep. Joe Cunningham (D-SC) as part of the third annual Strolling Thunder run by the nonprofit child development group ZERO TO THREE.
The event brought together more than 100 members of Congress, who met with families, listened to their stories and heard their call to act on behalf of our youngest kids. “As parents, we must advocate, communicate and collaborate with all agencies serving our babies,” said Anna Atkins, a Strolling Thunder parent from Louisiana. “Our babies’ lives are depending on our voices. Let us continue to speak out about all the things that help our babies thrive.”
This month, the U.S. House of Representatives responded to the parents’ continued pleas by passing a $1.5 trillion bipartisan spending package that includes about $18.4 billion in federal funding for key child care and early learning programs like Head Start. And the measure will help millions of child care providers and low-income families. Still, it doesn’t include most of President Joe Biden’s previous proposals for universal pre-K and subsidized child care. It also lacks any funding to support and train our early childhood teachers, in-demand professionals who have been fleeing the field for better-paying jobs.
The shortage of qualified early childhood teachers is a sweeping, systemic problem that plagues our sector—and it’s only getting more severe. Since the start of the pandemic, the early childhood field has lost more than 160,000 teachers, an alarming figure that points to the need for action. We must work together to recruit more staff, retain those who remain and bring back those who have left. I believe that one way to do this is by expanding the reach of the Child Development Associate® (CDA) Credential™. That’s because providers who are skilled, qualified and credentialed have more clout to get the respect and pay they deserve, as the Council has long maintained.
We’re going to broadcast our message this month by going into the advocacy arena—a bold, new step for the Council, as I explained in a recent podcast. Next week, we’ll be hosting a Virtual Capitol Hill Day and over 300 educators across the country are going to join us in making a case for the CDA. We’re setting up workshops and webinars for folks who have registered for the event. We’re going to help them prepare talking points and have them practice role playing on how to speak with public officials. We’re even setting up appointments for them to meet with their members of Congress online.
Granted, our early childhood teachers can’t quite compete with the endearing babies who stormed Capitol Hill in their strollers a few years back. But our educators do have compelling stories to tell and we’re passing them on in CDA State Fact Sheets that we’ve compiled. Each sheet conveys the voices of CDA holders, CDA instructors and PD Specialists everywhere from Maryland to Michigan, and Alabama to Alaska. Many of them will be joining us on our Hill Day to talk about how the CDA changes lives.
And their keen sense of commitment comes across in the fact sheets as they describe the impact the CDA has made on them and the children they serve. “The CDA made me understand what was expected of me as an ECE professional. Without it, I don’t think I would be as far as I am in my career,” a Virginia educator named Jerry told us. “I use my CDA knowledge in my classroom every day, and it also qualifies me to be a leader in my field,” said Sherri, an Iowa teacher who joins in many quality improvement efforts funded by her state. She’s an active advocate for our field, and so is Janna, a New York educator who says, “The CDA not only made me think about how I can support the children better but also about how I can do more to support my staff”—a goal that’s led her, too, to speak out for ECE.
“I want to be part of change in my field, and I’m willing to do whatever it takes,” Janna explains. And a sense of passion like hers can help solve the big problems in our profession. Change begins with one small voice, and the more voices that say the same thing the greater the impact. So, we all need to step up, join the discussion and get our point across to both politicians and the public. They need to know that credentials like the CDA are the keys to better recruitment, better retention and the quality care that families so badly need.
There’s a wide range of ways to do this, the Council has pointed out for years: team up with colleagues to form your own advocacy group, join forces with school boards and other organizations and contribute op-eds to news outlets. You can also join letter-writing campaigns urging public officials to support better child care legislation and invite policymakers to visit your program— tactics we’ve explored in a recent white paper and in our flagship textbook, Essentials for Working with Young Children.
Now we’re taking a bolder approach as we bring our case right to Capitol Hill. We’re going to use our collective voice to tell our story. We’re reaching out to our network of nearly a million CDA holders nationwide and rousing them to take action. Our shared goal is to better the lives of young children and the ECE professionals who serve them. So, we must spread the word about the CDA, a strong lever of change, at this hour of crisis. Now more than ever, public officials need to hear from the well-informed folks who do the daily work in our field. Children and families are depending on us to meet, mobilize and pursue our mission. So, perhaps it’s time to sprint instead of stroll toward our goal of quality, cost-effective child care for all. Together, let’s make our voices resound in the halls of Congress and in communities nationwide.
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Vice President of Product
Mackenzie Pelland serves as Vice President of Product at the Council. In this role, she oversees the Council’s product strategy and portfolio, including credentialing programs, educational publications, professional development resources, and branded merchandise, ensuring offerings are sustainable and responsive to the evolving needs of early childhood educators and the broader early care and education field. Her work focuses on building scalable, user-centered products that strengthen quality and integrity across the Council’s credentialing, educational, and professional learning offerings.
Prior to this role, Mackenzie served as Director of ECE Observation Systems at the Council, where she oversaw the observation portion of the CDA® credentialing assessment process and led the ECE Observation Team. She also worked to support, refine, and strengthen the Professional Development Specialist community to better meet the needs of a diverse CDA® candidate population.
Before joining the Council, Mackenzie was Senior Director of Monitoring and Compliance Systems at Acelero Learning, where she led the development and execution of monitoring systems related to federal grant compliance, child care licensing, health and safety, incident management, and facilities compliance across Head Start programs nationwide. She also previously served as Program Accountability and Policy Implementation Manager at New York City’s Department of Education within the Division of Early Childhood Education.
Mackenzie is recognized as a credentialing specialist by the Institute for Credentialing Excellence. She holds a master’s degree in education policy from Teachers College, Columbia University, a Certificate in Education and Program Evaluation from Georgetown University, and a bachelor’s degree in politics and education from Occidental College.
Vice President of Strategic Alliances
Elisa Shepherd is the Vice President of Strategic Alliances at the Council, where she leads initiatives to advance the Council’s mission and strategic plan through designing, managing, and executing a comprehensive stakeholder relationship strategy.
With over 25 years of experience in early childhood education (ECE), Elisa has dedicated her career to developing impactful programs, professional development opportunities, and public policies that support working families, young children, and ECE staff. Before joining the Council, Elisa held numerous roles within the childcare industry. Most recently, she served as Associate Vice President at The Learning Experience and as Senior Manager at KinderCare Education, where she influenced government affairs and public policies across 40 states.
Elisa’s commitment to leadership is reflected in her external roles on the Early Care and Education Consortium Board of Directors, the Florida Chamber Foundation Board of Trustees, and as the DEI Caucus Leader for KinderCare Education. She has been recognized as an Emerging Leader in Early Childhood by Childcare Exchange’s Leadership Initiative.
Elisa earned a Bachelor of Science in Psychology with a focus on child development from Pennsylvania State University in State College, PA.
Chief Administrative Officer (CAO)
Janie Payne is the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) for the Council for Professional Recognition. Janie is responsible for envisioning, developing, and executing initiatives that strategically manage talent and culture to align people strategies with the overarching business vision of the Council. Janie is responsible for driving organizational excellence through strategic talent practices, orchestrating workforce planning, talent acquisition, performance management as well as a myriad of other Human Resources Programs. She is accountable for driving effectiveness by shaping organizational structure for optimal efficiency. Janie oversees strategies that foster a healthy culture to include embedding diversity, equity, and inclusion into all aspects of the organization.
In Janie’s prior role, she was the Vice President of Administration at Equal Justice Works, where she was responsible for leading human resources, financial operations, facilities management, and information technology. She was also accountable for developing and implementing Equal Justice Works Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion strategy focused on attracting diverse, mission-oriented talent and creating an inclusive and equitable workplace environment. With more than fifteen years of private, federal, and not-for-profit experience, Janie is known for her intuitive skill in administration management, human resources management, designing and leading complex system change, diversity and inclusion, and social justice reform efforts.
Before joining Equal Justice Works, Janie was the Vice President of Human Resources and Chief Diversity Officer for Global Communities, where she was responsible for the design, implementation, and management of integrated HR and diversity strategies. Her work impacted employees in over twenty-two countries. She was responsible for the effective management of different cultural, legal, regulatory, and economic systems for both domestic and international employees. Prior to Global Communities, Janie enjoyed a ten-year career with the federal government. As a member of the Senior Executive Service, she held key strategic human resources positions with multiple cabinet-level agencies and served as an advisor and senior coach to leaders across the federal sector. In these roles, she received recognition from management, industry publications, peers, and staff for driving the creation and execution of programs that created an engaged and productive workforce.
Janie began her career with Verizon Communications (formerly Bell Atlantic), where she held numerous roles of increasing responsibility, where she directed a diversity program that resulted in significant improvement in diversity profile measures. Janie was also a faculty member for the company’s Black Managers Workshop, a training program designed to provide managers of color with the skills needed to overcome barriers to their success that were encountered because of race. She initiated a company-wide effort to establish team-based systems and structures to impact corporate bottom line results which was recognized by the Department of Labor. Janie was one of the first African American women to be featured on the cover of Human Resources Executive magazine.
Janie received her M.A. in Organization Development from American University. She holds numerous professional development certificates in Human Capital Management and Change Management, including a Diversity and Inclusion in Human Resources certificate from Cornell University. She completed the year-long Maryland Equity and Inclusion Leadership Program sponsored by The Schaefer Center for Public Policy and The Maryland Commission on Civil Rights. She is a trained mediator and Certified Professional Coach. She is a graduate of Leadership America, former board chair of the NTL Institute and currently co-steward of the organization’s social justice community of practice, and a member of The Society for Human Resource Management. Additionally, Janie is the Board Chairperson for the Special Education Citizens Advisory Council for Prince Georges County where she is active in developing partnerships that facilitate discussion between parents, families, educators, community leaders, and the PG County school administration to enhance services for students with disabilities which is her passion. She and her husband Randolph reside in Fort Washington Maryland.
Chief Operations Officer (COO)
Andrew Davis serves as Chief Operating Officer at the Council. In this role, Andrew oversees the Programs Division, which includes the following operational functions: credentialing, growth and business development, marketing and communications, public policy and advocacy, research, innovation, and customer relations.
Andrew has over 20 years of experience in the early care and education field. Most recently, Andrew served as Senior Vice President of Partnership and Engagement with Acelero Learning and Shine Early Learning, where he led the expansion of state and community-based partnerships to produce more equitable systems of service delivery, improved programmatic quality, and greater outcomes for communities, children and families. Prior to that, he served as Director of Early Learning at Follett School Solutions.
Andrew earned his MBA from the University of Baltimore and Towson University and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland – University College.
Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
Janice brings more than 20 years of experience in accounting and strategic financial management, with an extensive background spanning global associations, nonprofits, and technology organizations. She most recently served as CFO/COO for a global association advancing women in commercial real estate. Prior to that, she was the CFO at Achieving the Dream, a national nonprofit dedicated to supporting community college success, and Director of Finance at the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and Controller for two technology companies.
A Maryland-licensed CPA, Janice is deeply engaged in the profession through her service on the AICPA Governing Council and leadership roles with the CFO Leadership Council. In 2025, she was recognized as an AICPA Global Woman to Watch. She holds a Master’s degree in International Affairs & Public Policy from UC San Diego and a B.A. in International Affairs & Economics from The George Washington University, bringing both financial expertise and a global policy perspective to her work.
Janice’s journey is uniquely shaped by global and mission-driven experiences. Before transitioning into accounting, she spent a decade managing refugee programs in the United States and abroad, including roles with the International Rescue Committee and the Maryland Office for Refugees & Asylees. She has also lived and worked internationally in both Japan and Uganda.
Outside of work, Janice is a dedicated endurance athlete who completed a full Ironman triathlon in 2024, bringing the same discipline and determination to her personal pursuits as she does to her professional impact.
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