Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: National/Federal Level

The three national and federal organizations that appeal to me are:

1.     National Head Start Association

2.     The National Child Care Association

3.     National Association of Early Childhood Specialists in State Departments of Education (NAECS-SDE)

The reason the three organization appeal to me is because they share similar visions on ways to provide children the opportunity to have early childhood learning experiences. The first organization is the National Head Start Association goal is the success of generations of children who might otherwise struggle throughout their lives. NHSA has created the NHSA Knowledge Center to facilitate our vision of reaching the most vulnerable children with the Head Start model. Their future success rests on the knowledge, commitment and collaboration of families, programs, researchers, and policymakers.

I would love to work for the NHSA as an advocate for quality early childhood education and support for families. I have a personal passion for this organization because it has made a positive impact in my family’s life when I need support at my lowest life struggle. I believe in this organization but I feel I would be able to empower others that do not really understand how excellent this organization is for the children and families in our communities.

The next organization that I would add to my community of practice is the National Child Care Association(NCCA) because it supports policies that are beneficial to children, believes there should be equal participation with regard to funding for all providers of Early Care and Education Birth through 5, regulations should be equitable, across the board, for all providers, public or private and right to work environment for early care and education professionals. I know that many times this issues are not addressed in the appropriate manner which causes children that need childcare are not be served and professional are not getting the support they need to ensure they have the education needed to teach children. I know that educators need the appropriate educations to provide services for the children but it will take supporters and people that understand and share that vision as I do.

The third organization I would like to have in my community of practice is National Association of Early childhood Specialist in the State Department of Education (NAECS-SDE) which also promotes high quality services to young children and their families through improvement of instruction, curriculum, and administration programs. They work with others to share ideas and suggestions to find solutions to common problems that occur in the early childhood field. I would like to work for this organization because I am very familiar with trying to create strategies and ideas of how to better serve the children in our community.

Reference

www.nhsa.org

www.nccanet.org

www.naecs-sde.org/aboutus

Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels

The three places I would be interested in working for are:

1.      The Department of Social Services: The Child Day Care service provides subsidized child day care for eligible families who are working or in job training and need assistance with caring for their children age birth through age 12. Parents are issued vouchers to cover all or a part of the fees.   Care is provided in licensed Child Day Care Centers and Family Care Homes. The parent's fee for care is based upon the number of family members and the gross family income. This programs has assisted many families which gave parents the opportunity to work and/or attend trainings that will help them become self-sufficient.

2.      Work Family Resources: This organization provides families with scholarships that will cover the full cost or part of childcare for children. They also provide the following:

·         Working with parents to locate quality child care programs

·         Helping income eligible parents access financial assistance to pay for child care

·         Providing on-going professional development opportunities and support to improve the quality of child care programs

·         Maintaining a database of legally operating child care options

·         Collecting and distributing information on the supply of and demand for child care

·         Providing on-site training and enhanced services to individuals and businesses.

3.      Early Head Start/Head Start: This is a federal funded program that provides early childhood educational services for families that are at or below the poverty level of living. Early Head Start serves families with children ages birth through three and low-income pregnant women The program provides comprehensive preschool program designed to meet emotional, social, health, nutritional and psychological needs of three and four year olds and their families. Children have the opportunity to attend a high quality learning environment at no cost to the families. This program is available for working or non-working families but parents must meet the requirements established by federal guidelines. Head Start is a federally funded. One main focus of the program is trying to the meet the goal of helping low-income children to be better prepared for school.

I would like to work at either of these organizations because they focus assisting families with securing affordable early childhood care. But of the three I think the position I would be interested in applying for is: Director of Child Development for a Head Start program.

The Director of the Child Development Division is responsible for assuring all the Head Start and Early Head Start program mandates and standards for excellence are met on a daily basis. This position develops the structure, systems and procedures to facilitate this. In addition to operating responsibility for fiscal, legal, and programmatic aspects of the program, it bears the responsibility of assuring that the program is strategically positioned for the future.

This position stood out for me because it aligns with my goal of assisting families acquire quality affordable early childhood care for their children.

I will have a master’s degree in Early Childhood Education I have over 20 years’ experience in child development and early childhood education; orientation to the concept of the total family. I am able to work effectively with corporate executives, board members, community leaders, volunteers, board committee members and division staff to achieve optimum results and I have excellent interpersonal and communication skills to work as a part of a team sharing the same goals and outcome