Dear Colleagues,
“Where do we go from here?” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. asked in 1967 at the annual Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Atlanta. By then four years had passed since King made his “I Have a Dream” speech at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which helped lead to the passage of landmark legislation. In 1964, the Civil Rights Act outlawed discrimination in public places, sought to integrate schools and made employment discrimination illegal. Then in 1965, the Voting Rights Act ended practices like poll taxes and literacy tests that prevented Black people from exercising their right to vote.
These laws did much to guarantee freedom, but the march for jobs had come to a halt, King pointed out in “The Other America,” one of the last speeches of his life. “There are two Americas,” he said, “one “overflowing with the milk of prosperity and the honey of opportunity.” Then “there is another America where thousands of people walk the streets in search of jobs that do not exist,” King mourned. “There are so many people in this other America who can never make ends meet because their incomes are far too low, if they have incomes, and their jobs are devoid of quality,” a dilemma that still dogs us as we honor King this month. We’re still striving to fulfill King’s dream of economic justice in which all Americans “can afford their basic needs, climb the economic ladder and pursue their dreams.”
The many who couldn’t led King to launch the Poor People’s Campaign shortly before falling to an assassin’s bullet in 1968. The campaign brought together leaders of all races in a common call for full employment, livable wages and more opportunities for education, benefits our educators still need. So, we’re exploring the promise of apprenticeships as the early learning field asks where it goes from here.
Apprenticeships follow an earn-while-you-learn model that helps people, especially those from marginalized communities, to build a future. Apprenticeships in ECE also fulfill the goal of education, as King described it: “Education must enable a man to become more efficient, to achieve with increasing facility the legitimate goals of his life.” And there can be no better goal than giving educators the skills to serve young children, the point of Montana’s CDA® apprenticeship program, as you’ll see in this edition.
The program took off in the wake of COVID, says the program’s special projects coordinator, Dawn Zimdars, as child care programs suffered a severe staffing shortage. “We needed a way to bring more people into the early childhood field and give them quality training in an efficient way.” So, Dawn brainstormed with Rhiannon Shook, a child care workforce specialist for the state, on how to build an apprenticeship program. Since then, Dawn has worked on the administrative end, while Rhiannon has helped set the curriculum and make connections with partner organizations to gain their support.
Rhiannon knows firsthand how apprenticeships can advance educators’ careers since an apprenticeship program helped her earn a college degree. “At the time, I was a single mom working in a child care center, and I never expected to be where I am today,” she says. “Now I’m grateful to be able to support the early childhood workforce because I believe all young learners deserve to have high-quality care and education. This is a way for me to be an advocate for children and make some changes in the world.”
The world certainly did change because of King’s ideals, and Dr. Calvin Moore pays tribute to him in a new blog. Dr. Moore also shows how former President Jimmy Carter lived out King’s dream by defying Jim Crow laws, supporting Head Start and doing humanitarian work that advanced King’s vision of a “beloved community” based on a sense of inclusion and belonging. Carter considered King “a prophet to a new and better America,” so he planned to continue King’s work. “I look forward to an America,” Carter once hopefully said, “in which Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream is our national dream.”
In dedication to the dream,
The Council for Professional Recognition
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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.
Vice President of People and Culture
Janie Payne is the Vice President of People and Culture 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)
Jan Bigelow serves as Chief Financial Officer at the Council and has been with the organization since February of 2022.
Jan has more than 30 years in accounting and finance experience, including public accounting, for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. She has held management-level positions with BDO Seidman, Kiplinger Washington Editors, Pew Center for Global Climate Change, Communities In Schools, B’nai B’rith Youth Organization and American Humane. Since 2003, Jan has worked exclusively in the non-profit sector where she has been a passionate advocate in improving business operations in order to further the mission of her employers.
Jan holds a CPA from the State of Virginia and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Lycoming College. She resides in Alexandria VA with her husband and dog.
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