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

Below are a few national and/or federal organizations/communities of practice that sparked my interested are below.

NAECTE- This is an organization from across the US to around the globe. It is a group of people who come together with the same single passion, they are all early childhood teachers and educators. I have never heard of this organization, but I am so glad that I stumbled upon it this week for this assignment. They provide conferences, journal articles, quarterly publications, ideas on grants, job announcements, and a community of likeminded individuals to grow and learn from. This is something that you have to pay for to join, but the cost seemed worth what you get from it. More information can be found here: https://naecte.org 

 U.S. Department's Early Learning Web Site- This is a sub-group of the US Department of Educations main page. This page is dedicated to early learning and providing information and resources that would be helpful in the field. I also was able to subscribe to a newsletter that provides information and updates right to your inbox that are relevant to new information and changes. On the website itself, they offer many different videos and articles with helpful information. This is a free organization/ resource and I am so glad that I found out about it as I think it will be helpful to receive weekly updates to my email on relevant topics. More information can be found here: https://www2.ed.gov/about/inits/ed/earlylearning/index.html 

Association of Early Learning Leaders- Their  goal is to strengthen the knowledge, skills, and abilities of early care directors, owners, emerging leaders, and other early learning pro­fessionals to ensure quality child care programs for young children. This organization was exciting to stumble upon because I often feel like there isn't a whole lot of support specifically in place for early childhood administrators. There are many resources specifically for teachers in the field, and then organizations for K-12 administrators, but I haven't found much specifically for us leading this THIS field. More info can be found here: https://www.earlylearningleaders.org/

In my searching, I found a landing page for a local university, that provides a ton of organizations that provide relevant support and resources for early childhood educators/administrators. I am going to share that landing page below, because I think it might be valuable for many other peers in this course and in the field: https://guides.emich.edu/early/orgs 

Job opportunities that interest me on the federal/national level. Though I didn't find any specifically, I think it would be awesome some day to sit on a board or in a role that works with the US Department of Education. I want to be able to be a part of the bigger picture that sets the expectations of early childhood from the national level. I want to be a voice advocating for the change that we need to see as a country in early childhood, because we need people who have been hands on in the field who really know where the disconnect is, and have the early childhood background and experience to know how to do it right and with DAP in mind. This is a lofty goal, but what an incredible position this would be for me down the road. 

Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels

Below are a few local organizations/communities of practice that sparked my interested are below.

Oakland Family Services: This is an organization run by the next county over from me. Oakland county is a very diverse area. They have some of the poorest areas in the area but also some of the most affluent communities in the metro-Detroit area. This is what interests me most about the programs and communities that they offer. They offer wide ranges of resources for families. From finding safe childcare, to helping parents find ways to pay for it, to parenting classes. For early childhood professionals they offer wonderful training opportunities as well as quarterly meetings where they invite people to come together and just connect, share, and brainstorm together. 

Great Start Collaborative- Macomb: This organization's vision is to provide a great start for every child in Macomb County: safe, healthy and eager to succeed in school and in life. They do this by offering resources for parents and families, as well as partnering with the community and businesses to work together to provide a strong and collaborative community to help support these families. They provide many resources and trainings for teacher, staff, and leaders in the early childhood field. Additionally, they have trainings and meetings regularly to bring professionals and the community together to share and collaborate on ways to help fulfill their organizations vision. 

MiNAEYC: They offer so many different opportunities and resources to early childhood professionals. I belong to the Southeastern MI chapter and am trying to get more involved in all that they offer. They have different advocacy groups that people can join based on what you're most passionate about. Also, they have director meetings every other month which are a great time to share and collaborate with other leaders in the field on important topics and decisions. 

MISD: Our intermediate school district for our county offers meetings for people to together and collaborate. They have times specifically for teachers, times for parents, times for the administrators, and then times when all parties are welcome to come together to work through current issues, concerns, etc. 

Job Opportunities of Interest: I have had many great opportunities to grow in my roles in this field over the last 18 years. I started my career as an assistant teacher, then lead teacher, director, and now multi-site administrator. Every step of my career has taught me so much, and really helped me to see the bigger picture of each role which I think helps me in my current role. I love that in my current role, I oversee my own program/school with almost 300 preschoolers while also getting to oversee 5 other latchkey sites held in our districts elementary schools. It provides me so many different opportunities to help families, students, and staff and quite honestly keeps me busy. 

As I thought about job opportunities that are of interest to me, only a few came to mind. All of which would require years of experience in the field and in different roles and capacities to provide diverse knowledge in all things early childhood. I've always wanted to teach college courses in Early Childhood. Once I complete this degree, I believe it'll open up some options at the community college level or allow me to teach CDA level programs.  I'd also love to be an a role at some point that works at the state level to advocate for all things Early Childhood. I want to use my passion and experience to help further this field for many years to come.