Saturday, September 28, 2013

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


The Office for Child Care

 

The organizations that I would like to be part of in the future are: 1) The Office for Child Care, I chose them because they have goals that are similar to mine for children and families in my community and beyond. The office for child care supports low income working families by helping them with financial issues and promotes children’s learning by making centers raise their quality for all children. By helping families with the expense of child care parents are able to obtain better jobs and move forward in their lives which helps them leave the low income bracket behind.

No vacancies found at this time.

To work within the Office for Child Care I would need to have excellent communication skills, the ability to work with a group of peers and be knowledgeable about the various diverse backgrounds of families in need. Having my Master’s degree is a plus, but I will need further experience with my communication skills.

National Education Association

The second organization I am interested in pursuing is the National Education Association. They are the nation's largest professional employee organization, is committed to advancing the cause of public education. NEA's 3 million members work at every level of education—from pre-school to university graduate programs. NEA has affiliate organizations in every state and in more than 14,000 communities across the United States. I am interested I them because they have so much influence in what happens with children and education. I did not find any jobs in my area that I could do at this time; I will need more experience with running a center or other organization.

Children’s Defense Fund

My last place of interest is the Children’s Defense Fund because they are after the same things I am when it comes to children living in circumstances that they cannot control. Their goal is to make things better by improving programs for children and making policies that truly help the families that are often overlooked. The Children’s Defense Fund works to help all children regardless of their race, income, or where they come from. I would like to work for them as an advocate and by working with children that are under privileged. The skills I would need for a job with this organization are to be able to run meetings, communicate with government officials and have a better understanding of computer skills. At this time I did not find any jobs that I am qualified for-but hope to change that as I continue working on my professional skills after finishing my degree.

 

The National Association For the Education of Young Children

The National Association for the Education of Young Children is an organization that I have belonged to for many years and have always wanted to be a part of by working with the accreditation team. By working with them I can help build more quality programs for children everywhere. I would like to work with them after graduating and at this time I have the skills to carry through on this goal. This organization is what it means to help families and children be successful in the early years because of the quality of centers that are required to be part of the organization.

I did not find a job listing, but I would like to be part of this group in more than volunteering for conferences and activities that I do right now. I have helped in previous years for my local chapter and plan on talking with the representatives they will have at the conference this year. I believe I have all the requirements to work for them at this time, but am willing to do whatever training I might need.

 

 

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Week 2 Post


Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels

I am interested in this agency because they will be able to help me contact more people that can help me with my goal of helping families in the low-income bracket. They have a wide range of agencies that focus on different areas of need. The social services department works to make every family and individual gain independence from any problem that could happen. This agency does not cost anything for families which makes it appealing to everyone. There are no jobs available at this time in this local area.

Even though there are no current jobs I think I would be a good fit for this agency because of my training and diverse background from living in many places. I could see myself working in the areas of teaching parents about how to get involved with the schools and other groups in their community. Sharing resources with families would be a great way to expand my knowledge and help the families at the same time. Skills I will need to continue improving will be speaking in a group and writing proposals.

Virginia Department of Social Services, www.dss.virginia.gov

Another great agency is the National Association for the Education of young Children (NAEYC), I have belonged to this for many years and it helps me to gain new information from their site by listing new information that is important to the field of early childhood. It has helped me connect to professionals across the United States during conferences and online interactions. They now offer learning opportunities online that are focused on areas that change often. Job opportunities (both paid and unpaid) are available at most times.

National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) http://www.naeyc.org

This agency is great because they work with the problem that I am interested in pursuing during this class and beyond. This Office of Child Care (OCC) supports low-income working families by providing access to affordable, high-quality early care and afterschool programs. OCC administers the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) and works with state, territory and tribal governments to provide support for children and their families juggling work schedules and struggling to find child care programs that will fit their needs and that will prepare children to succeed in school. Even though they work toward helping families in the low-income bracket more help is needed and I hope to be part of their team. I have contacted them already and look forward to starting a new phase of my career, adding it to my full time job at the center I currently work at. I would be doing volunteer work to start and continue learning new ways to help in my community.

Office of Child Care, www.acf.hhs.gov

All of these agencies and many more are available to me and I plan on looking into more as time goes on so that I will have more CoP’s for resources.