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

My task for this week was to select at least three national/federal organizations or communities of practice that appealed to me and explain why I chose them.

One of the national/federal organizations or communities of practice that appealed to me was The National League of Cities. The NLC is committed to providing an ethical, proactive voice for city officials on a national level. Helping them to focus on issues of poverty, education, and homelessness by lobbying on their behalf to find funding and affect policy change. The strategic goals of the NLC are:

1. Proactively drive federal policy on behalf of cities, on issues that directly impact them.
2. Promote innovation and provide proven strategies and valuable resources. That address the challenges cities face.
3. Raise the profile of city governments as key leaders and partners in improving the quality of life for our nation.
4. Expand the capacity of city officials to serve as ethical, effective and engaged leaders.
5. Achieve our mission and goals through an organizational structure that is aligned, nimble, accountable and transparent.

To learn more about the NLC you can go to: http://www.nlc.org/

The second National/federal organization or community of practice that appealed to me was The National Resource Center for Family Centered Practice. The NRC is designed to promote family-centered, community-based, culturally competent practice within organizations and across systems. They accomplish this goal through research and evaluation, training and technical assistance, and information dissemination, with an emphasis on translating research and evaluation findings to social work practice. They work with federal, state, and local government, private nonprofit and for-profit organizations to improve outcomes for children and families across the country.

To learn more about the NRC you can go to: https://clas.uiowa.edu/nrcfcp/

The third and final National/federal organization or community of practice that appealed to me was Alternative Family Services. The AFS is evidence based and outcome driven. Their goal is to support children and families that are fostering, adopting or have adopted, and biological families. As children are in families, families are in communities. Their work is sensitive to the social context. As every child and family is unique, so is every community. The work of the AFS reminds us to be knowledgeable and heedful of the distinctive characteristics of the cultures and communities in which our children and families are embedded.

To learn more about the AFS you can go to: http://www.afs4kids.org/home/resources/

The reason I chose all three of these Federal organizations is because they work to advocate for children and families on a national level. Giving a voice to populations that may not know how to navigate the federal political system or advocate for change is one of the main goals of all three of these organizations; as a change agent in the Early Childhood Field this is a personal goal of mine as well.

A job opportunity that is of interest to me within the federal government is: Education Coach & Professional Development Specialist, who will work closely with the Senior Program Manager and the Education Managers to train and work with staff at centers to ensure mock assessments for Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scales (ECERS), Infant/Toddler Environmental Rating Scales (ITERS) and Pre-K Classroom Assessment and Scoring System (CLASS) are conducted throughout the school year. This individual will work with teaching staff to develop and establish individual Professional Development Plans and will also mentor and present trainings on an on-going basis to support teaching staff to improve ECERS, ITERS and CLASS scores. To see the complete job posting go to: https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/hs/careers/Region9/California/Education-Coach-PD-Specialist.html

Another job I found that I would be interested in is a UN Job: Early Childhood Care and Education Minimum Quality Service Standards, Vanuatu. This job posting would give me an opportunity to show my commitment to early childhood education, and show my passion about making a lasting difference for children, by working with the world's leading children's rights organization. To see the complete job posting go to: https://unjobs.org/vacancies/1490915099289

My Master’s Degree would help me to qualify for either of these positions educationally but the experience needed for both of these requires a life time commitment to the early childhood profession and field. I have been teaching or working as a director in early childhood programs on a local, state and national level for almost 20 years. I feel like the knowledge and experience that I possess along with my educational experience help to qualify me for either of these experiences.