“A teacher is almost like a prophet in Islam,” Fatima says. And you see what she means by reading this passage from the Koran. “The Prophet Muhammad cared for teachers and showed their elevated standing. Once he passed by two circles of people; the first was supplicating God while the other was listening to a teacher. He commented, ‘The first was pleading to Allah who may or may not give them what they want. The second was learning. I have been sent here as a teacher.’ Hence he joined the second group.”
Fatima has followed the Prophet’s example by enrolling in the Pamoja Early Childhood Education Workforce Program. The goal of this pilot effort in Colorado is to increase the number of early childhood educators who are fluent in multiple languages. They’re essential for meeting the state’s growing need for diverse educators who can serve young children living in poverty, dual-language learners and children with special needs.
Pamoja is the brainchild of Deborah Young, CEO and executive director of Empowering Communities Globally, an organization that works to support women and groups that serve infants, children and families. She teamed up with Lauren Dorn, the women’s integration coordinator at Lutheran Family Services Rocky Mountains, who has worked for over a decade with immigrant and refugee women. These women love their children and want to be even better mothers, as Dorn had come to see. “So, why should we not bring them into the field of early childhood education,” she thought, by helping them earn their Child Development Associate® (CDA) credential.
The program opens doors for women like Fatima, an immigrant from Morocco who was looking to better life for her husband, three children, and herself. “When I came to Denver in 2015,” she recalls, “I was working as a room attendant in a Sheraton hotel. The job kept me so busy I didn’t have time for my children. So, I started thinking about going to work in a child care setting or school. And I was excited when a friend, who is also Moroccan, told me about a program that would give me the training I needed in both Arabic and English. I was very happy to find something that would be good for me and good for my children.”
Earning a CDA, as Fatima points out, would allow her to find a new career and earn money to help her family. Also, it would give her the knowledge she needs to raise her children in a new country. “In Morocco,” she explains, “the culture, education system and community are different than they are in this country. Both parents and teachers are sterner than they are here, and religion plays a bigger role in the classroom. So, I needed to take my experience and adjust it to meet the expectations of my new home in the U.S.”
Fatima already had some knowledge of child care since she had worked at a preschool in Morocco after earning her BA about 13 years ago. She had intended to teach middle school, but all the open positions were very far from her home. So, she changed her plans and then found that she liked teaching young children. She also realized that “teaching them is a big responsibility,” a conviction that is part of her culture. The Koran explains that “a teacher is like a candle that consumes itself to light the way for others.” Or as Fatima puts it: “A teacher takes children from the dark side to the light side.”
The CDA also showed her the light since it gave her more knowledge and know-how for working effectively with young children. “I liked working in child care when I was 23,” she says, “but I’ve learned things in my CDA classes that will make me a much better teacher. And Pamoja made it easy for me to take the classes I needed to earn my credential. They do the program in both English and Arabic, so we understand very well what’s going on in class.” Granted, doing the homework in English posed a challenge, but the Pamoja program helped by sending her to English classes at the Spring Institute, a provider of intercultural services and learning programs. She also has coaching from a mentor who meets with her each week to give her the support she needs to complete her credential.
Fatima has finished her CDA coursework and is eager to gain the 480 hours of experience in a child care setting that’s required to earn the credential. “I’m waiting for funding from the Colorado Child Care Assistance Program,” she explains, “because I have a 13-month-old baby. In the meantime, I’m practicing what I’ve learned on her and my other two children. After taking the CDA classes I know more about how a child’s mind works, and it’s made me a better parent. Now the challenge I face is to help my kids strike a balance between our culture and that of our new country. I don’t want my children to forget our background and lose the sense of community they have.”
Fatima also wants to convey this lesson in diversity and inclusion when she completes her CDA and works in an early childhood classroom. “I want to teach children to accept everybody,” she says. “Whatever our race or religion,” she points out, “we have a lot in common. Our humanity is what joins us, and it should come first when we’re together. Religion is something between you and God, not you and others,” Fatima insists since she knows how it hurts when you feel like you don’t belong.
“When I first came here,” she recalls, “I felt like I wasn’t part of this country. I am a Muslim and faced prejudice. I made mistakes speaking English, and I felt that people didn’t like me. Then I got the job at the Sheraton and started meeting guests. Many of them were good people and we connected. I started to feel more confident,” she says. And she’s now using the life lessons she’s learned to empower other immigrant women like herself.
Fatima is now taking the Spring Institute’s Parents to Advocates Leadership Training Program, where she’s learning to work on her community’s behalf. “I’m collecting interviews and doing research on the problems Arab women face,” as she explains. “The program also gives me a chance to meet state decision makers and social justice advocates who are working on similar issues. And I look forward to increasing my knowledge by talking to different families once I get the funding for child care and start teaching at a preschool.”
Her plan is to work near her home at a center that serves families from several different backgrounds. “They have Spanish, American, African and Arab children,” she says, “and I want to teach them to love, accept and help one another. That’s a good foundation for children, and the Pamoja program has encouraged me to promote inclusion in the early childhood classroom,” she says. So has her background because “the Koran teaches us the value of tolerance for all.”
In his final sermon to the Muslim community, the Prophet said, “All mankind is from Adam and Eve. An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab, nor does a non-Arab have any superiority over an Arab. Also, a white has no superiority over a Black, nor does a Black have any superiority over a white—except by piety and good action” Neither our race nor our religion should divide us, as Fatima knows well. She’s committed to lighting the way for young learners by teaching them that we are all one.
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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.
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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.
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.
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