How do we find and create the early childhood educators of tomorrow?
The answer is through inspiration and a desire to make a difference, according to Valora Washington, CEO of the Council for Professional Recognition. Her keynote speech at the ECE Summit in Boston addressed a giant crisis in the field: the shortage of skilled, qualified educators for children nationwide.
Her wicked good speech, to borrow Boston speak, offered ideas on how we can “Put the Pieces Together for the Early Childhood Workforce.” And it struck a chord among 200 teachers, experts and program directors who converged at Suffolk University in Beantown.
Action for Boston Community Development (ABCD) Head Start and its partners, Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center, Nurtury and Horizons for Homeless Children held the summit to give early childhood stakeholders a chance to join their voices and find ways to move forward in filling the gap in the early childhood workforce. During the full-day summit, attendees learned about the latest workforce trends, explored issues affecting recruitment and retention and focused on solutions.
The answers aren’t as simple as ABC, but some promising suggestions came from a panel facilitated by Marta Rosa, president of MTR Consulting Services and former executive director of the Child Care Resource Center. The panel — which included Paula Bacon, Amy O’Leary and Maki Park, as well as Rosa — discussed the role advocacy plays, the challenges immigrants face in entering the early childhood workforce and the need for teachers who reflect the races and cultures of the children they serve.
The problems discussed were not new, Rosa said.
Educators have long confronted “low wages, high demands and expectations, coupled with low acknowledgement of the field as a profession,” she said.
Yet Rosa was struck by the alchemy that emerged as attendees met in small groups and traded ideas.
“They left the summit energized, optimistic and inspired to move on the agenda of recruitment,” she said.
Much of the credit for this success goes to the ECE planning committee at ABCD. The team included Sharon Scott-Chandler, ABCD executive vice president, who welcomed attendees to the summit and gave them an overview of the day ahead.
“We’re at a crisis point in recruiting and retaining a quality work force for children, who all deserve the very best,” she said with a sense of passion that fired up the summit from the start.
Kudos also should go to Yvette Rodriguez, ABCD vice president of child services and Head Start, who first had the idea to hold a grassroots forum to discuss the gaps in the education of our nation’s young.
“Our goal was to light a fire,” she said, “and make sure it doesn’t stop.”
A relentless effort is called for because this goliath of a problem has so far eluded our shots at a solution. One promising answer, Rodriguez pointed out, is to help more educators get a Child Development Associate (CDA®) credential, which is a “strong foundation for anyone in the field” and a vital step in “creating a pipeline to build the next generation of early childhood educators.”
Other pieces of the puzzle, as Washington pointed out, include “establishing guiding principles, giving voice to practitioners, innovating pathways and adding resources and support.” The key tactics to keep in mind, she said as she rallied the troops, are to plan, prepare and advance!
“Will we face Goliath as chameleons hiding out?” she asked, “or do we face Goliath as a visible architect of change?”
We can be the leaders our field needs, she said, if we use our heads, hearts and hands to take our best shots at Goliath. We can put the puzzle together if we “advance with insight and revelation about our core vision and identity as educators. The gap between vision and reality is the place where we lead. We create tomorrow by what we do today.”
To hear Dr. Washington’s remarks, click the video below.
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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 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.
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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