Dear Colleagues,
Child care providers and moms are partners, as you know from working in the early learning field. They work in tandem to help young children bloom. So, it’s nice that they both received well-deserved kudos this month nationwide. Provider Appreciation Day took place on May 10, shortly before Mother’s Day on May 12, when we honored all the effort and love that moms pour into their kids. And many working mothers depend on providers to help ensure that their children are happy, learning and secure. So, child care providers serve the public good and boost the economy for us all by letting more women hold jobs.
“Child care providers do the work that makes all other work possible. They keep our children safe, nurture their curiosity and prepare them for a lifetime of learning and growth,” said Michelle McCready, deputy CEO of Child Care Aware of America, a Virginia nonprofit and a leading voice for the child care workforce. “Together with our network of child care resource and referral agencies, and nonprofit and business partners, we invite you to join us in thanking and celebrating providers across the nation.”
And in the spirit of the season, special thanks should go to those who are both providers and moms. So, this month, we feature two early childhood professionals who have fulfilled this dual role. They have something else in common because they both began their careers by earning a Child Development Associate® (CDA) Credential™ and have close ties to Head Start.
Danielle Evans is a mom of seven and a home visitor for Early Head Start in Sandusky, MI, where she serves families in a very rural part of the state. Danielle’s reason for earning a CDA® was to advance her professional life. Then she found that it also had an impact on her personal life. “The behavior classes I took as part of my CDA,” she says, “showed me what certain behaviors mean in the classroom. They also helped me understand my own children’s behavior better, so the CDA improved me as a mom.”
Dr. Kay Hamlin had a similar thought while earning her CDA in the early eighties. “Knowing the reasons why you do certain things with children makes you a better parent,” as Hamlin came to see as a Head Start mom in Booneville, NC. “The CDA also opened doors for me,” Hamlin says, “and I became a Head Start teacher supervisor and district education coordinator by the time my sons were ready to attend college.” She, too, began college at age 39 and earned her Ph.D. at the age of 50. Her dissertation was on Head Start parents who became teachers, and it reflected her own journey from mom with a high school diploma to a professor of education who has opened doors to many promising early childhood teachers.
Their work doesn’t just make a positive impact on individual children and families. Our educators contribute to communities and help build the future for us all, an idea that increasingly makes the news. Yet it isn’t new. Eleanor Roosevelt made the point in the 1940s as an advocate of government-sponsored child care and education. Roosevelt’s views reached millions since she wrote a popular column, My Day, from 1935 to 1962. And in 1953, she called on readers to give teachers more of the credit and compensation they were due. “Next to parents, they are the most important people in our communities,” Roosevelt declared. And she convinced Congress to set aside a special day for honoring teachers. Over time, that day has become Teacher Appreciation Week, as Dr. Calvin Moore relates in his blog.
This month, as usual, communities nationwide marked the week by bringing teachers flowers, muffins and mugs. But teachers need more, as Dr. Moore points out. They’re now fleeing the teaching field at record rates due to stagnant pay and few avenues for career advancement. So, it’s time to do more than give kudos and act on the belief that teachers serve the public good. We need to give our teachers what they really want: the respect, raises and room for professional growth that will really make their day.
With our appreciation for you,
The Council for Professional Recognition
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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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