NAEYC Candidate's Statement(Governing Board candidates were given five topics to respond to - my responses are provided here and on the following four pages.)
1. Tell us a bit about yourself and yourefforts related to high-quality earlylearning and the early childhoodprofession.
My commitment to our profession began 45 years ago in the fields of California, recruiting migrant farm
workers’ children for Head Start. Those were times of great promise. Then, the first 20 years of my career were spent in New Mexico developing, working in, and
directing just about every type of early childhood program. These included child care, home visiting, preschools funded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, early
intervention, Head Start, and higher education. This in-the-trenches work was invaluable when I was recruited to help start a new department within state government to consolidate services for young children. As an “advocrat” for the past 25 years, I have worked strategically to create and fund a comprehensive, high quality continuum of early childhood programs that are equitably available to each child—especially those most at risk—and to establish public policy and financing strategies that provide professional development opportunities and compensation for the early childhood
workforce.
