Tabitha has long used her skills as a certified nursing assistant to help seniors stay safe and healthy in their homes. Her attention switched to a different age group when she went through a family crisis. “In 2016, my five-year-old daughter almost died from a severe asthma attack brought on by dust in my home,” Tabitha recalls. She knew about the risks of lead and unsafe water, but she didn’t realize that her own home in Grand Rapids, MI, could be a danger zone.
“As a parent, I was upset that I couldn’t protect my daughter,” Tabitha says. “And I was really upset because I knew that people were talking about lead, and I wanted to know why parents weren’t part of those conversations—why solutions were being considered without hearing from parents. As a young Black mother, the biggest challenge for me was looking for that support to have a seat at the table where change was supposed to happen.”
Tired of systems that led to unsafe homes, Tabitha founded Parents for Healthy Homes. Her parent-led group launched a campaign for funding to address the lead problem in homes across Grand Rapids. They collected signatures from families citywide, met with local officials and attended public meetings. After six months of advocacy, Tabitha and the parents received the funding they needed to test more homes and protect more children.
Families also face other challenges in the low-income community where Tabitha lives. That’s where she recruits parents by going door-to-door, providing food and holding events that build trust. “For example,” she says, “we throw a strong family celebration that gives community members the chance to engage with each other and the members of my group. The families play basketball, eat snow cones, get to know us and talk about the changes they’d like to see.”
The parents also bring their concerns to the monthly meetings that Tabitha holds. “We have policy, community involvement and education groups,” Tabitha explains. “Parents can choose one group depending on what interests them most.” The parents commit to dedicate 10 to 15 hours a month to volunteering for Tabitha’s group and attending training. They’re willing to do the work, but a major roadblock stands in the way, as Tabitha has seen. “Child care is the number-one barrier that prevents parents from being active in our meetings and events” she says, “so I wanted to reduce that barrier in parents’ lives.”
Many parents in Grand Rapids face the same issue, and that got Tabitha interested in helping folks earn their Child Development Associate® (CDA) Credential™. “I learned about the CDA® from one of the members of my group. She’s a CDA holder who provides child care at Baxter Community Center in Grand Rapids, and she told me there was a lot of funding to help people earn their CDA. And it turned out that Vibrant Futures, a local nonprofit, provides scholarships to help people build careers and offers courses for the CDA. “We received our CDA books early this year and several parents in my group are now doing the training online,” as Tabitha explains.
Tabitha is also enrolled in the program since she would like to switch from caring for the aged to caring for the young. And she believes her experience with seniors has prepared her in some ways to work with children. “You have to show the same sense of dedication and love,” she says. “You also have to work with family members, and I’m learning to do that even better by earning my CDA. In my courses at Vibrant Futures, they’re not just teaching us to care for the child. They’re teaching us to take care of the whole family, too, and this holistic approach is very important to me.”
She knows the stress that many families in her community face, so she has become a mental health ambassador at Calvin College, where she helps to raise awareness of mental health stigmas and the issues that produce then. She has also partnered with Community Organizing and Family Issues (COFI), a Chicago nonprofit, to provide parents with mental health training in a Grand Rapids church. “COFI’s model for community change teaches people how to set realistic goals and how to deal with stress,” as Tabitha explains. “That’s important because you can’t be at your best, as either a parent or a teacher, when you’re feeling stressed out.”
And Tabitha makes attending the training stress-free for the parents by providing them with transportation and child care when they meet in the church. “The church has a day care with qualified teachers,” she says, “and I assist them with the children while the parents attend training. Doing this has allowed me to gain some of my experience hours toward the CDA,” she explains. “Now I hope that I and the other members of my group can gain the rest of our experience hours at Baxter Community Center. We’re now working out the details on how we can partner with Baxter to help the parents complete their credential.”
After Tabitha earns her CDA, she plans to open a child care center while continuing to expand her organization. And these plans are intertwined in her ultimate goal to build more vibrant futures for families in Grand Rapids. “We have to stop thinking in siloes,” she explains. “Mental health, lead-free housing and quality early learning are all essential for healthy homes. I’m working to get that message across, and the bonds I’ve built with parents in my community will help me succeed in pushing for needed reforms. Change moves at the speed of trust.”
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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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