Exploring Roles
in the ECE Community: Minnesota
Children’s
Defense Fund – Minnesota’s mission is to ensure every child a Healthy
Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start,
and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the
help of caring families and communities.
Although there are not any current positions available, this
organization appeals to me due to the fact that they focus solely on the needs
of the children. The Children’s Defense
Fund collaborates with families and the community for the benefit of
children. There are many programs and
campaigns to help raise awareness about the significant challenges that
children in the state of Minnesota face on a daily basis. You can find additional information about
this organization at http://www.cdf-mn.org.
Minnesota
Association for the Education of Young Children, also known as MnAEYC,
serves and acts on behalf of early childhood care and education professionals
in Minnesota. MnAEYC strives to enhance quality training opportunities, support
program improvement, as well as advocate to public change in early childhood
education. Again, there were no current
jobs posted on their website, however, there was a link for applicants
interested in teacher positions throughout the state on Minnesota. You can find additional information about
this organization at http://www.mnaeyc-mnsaca.org.
The Minnesota
Center for Professional Development (MNCPD) goal is to provide professional
development to raise the competencies for those providing early care and
education. I am currently a registered
trainer in the state of Minnesota, but unsure how to utilize this. Reviewing the website, I have become more
informed on how to utilize this asset. I
have the ability to create trainings, get them approved and list them in the
registry in order to present them. This
is a process that I would like to learn more about in order to tap into my
ability as a trainer. Outside of
personal and professional resources, I could not find any job postings. You can find additional information about
this organization at http://www.mncpd.org.
All
of these organizations interest me for future job opportunities. Each of them
has vision and goals built around creating better lives and education for
children. I have twelve years’
experience working in early childhood management as well as training
adults. I feel strongly that my passion
and strength align during training adults.
I have a desire to build awareness and partnerships while being the
voice for children.
Dear Erika,
ReplyDeleteI found similar organizations in Florida, most of which I was not even aware of. I believe that these organizations can be a huge help in pointing me in the directions of individuals/groups who may benefit from my trainings. Through this research, I also realize that many of resources shared on these web pages can be incorporated into my own workshops.
Maybe once this class is over, we could network on a workshop; I think we could learn a lot from this experience. It would be fun, too.
Erika,
ReplyDeleteI am interested in the Defense Fund as it sounds somewhat similar to Great Start in Michigan. I am curious about the efforts to give both a fair and moral start. These two areas are not directly addressed in Great Start but I see them as having great value. I would imagine that advocacy is involved in giving young children a fair start with equitable opportunities. A moral start is especially intriguing to me as it seems like more often it is an unaddressed area of high need. Thanks for this information!
Hi Erika,
ReplyDeleteChildren's Defense Fund sounds like a great one in helping chidden and families in the community. I will have to check that out later. I like the mission of Children's Defense Fund, as I can tell they are thinking from children's perspectives to do what is the best for children. I have to admit that more people than ever start to realize the importance of early childhood education in a child's life, but there are still people around who do not believe the potential of small children. I believe Children's Defense Fund has seen that, and is willing to change people's attitude towards early childhood education.
Thanks for the information, and that is a great one.
Xiyue
Erika
ReplyDeleteWhat are registered trainer in? Are you able to perform assessments for early interventions with children who have special needs? I was not aware of the Defense Fund and would like to learn more about it. It would be interesting to see if the Children's Defense Fund would be willing to collaborate on a CoP.
Wanda,
ReplyDeleteI am a registered trainer in early childhood education for adults. It is something that I have had limited use of, except for training adults within the company I work. I would like to broaden that and offer my services to the community. I am not able to perform assessment for early interventions with children who have special needs. I do not feel I have the qualifications to do that. Thank you for your post.
Erika, I know you explained above what you do as a registered trainer but I am interested in how you obtained this title/position and what are some of the methods you use for training within your company?
ReplyDeleteI was surprised that the MNAEYC does not have job listings. On CTAEYC's site they have listings for several jobs and also post from other search firms for jobs. Last year when I was looking for a new program I signed up for their alerts and I am emailed all new listings.
I am very interested in finding out more about becoming a registered trainer but I cannot seem to find much information here in Connecticut.
Jill
Jill,
DeleteCheck out http://www.ctcharts.org/index.cfm?module=1&navID=nav1
This appears to be the CT comparison to MN. Hope this helps.
Erika
Hi Erika, your post was a great read. You selected 2 local affiliate chapters of two of my favorite organizations. The Children Defense Fund and the National Association for the Education of Young Children are two highly effective organizations. It's quite amazing when you think about all of the advocacy efforts that both of these organizations implement on a yearly effort, especially considering that they too started out as a "local" initiative that has grown to be a national organization representing many local efforts and communities of practice. Oh yeah...please subscribe to my blog. I just submitted my blog link on the blog links board. Here's the link: http://journeytoknowledgetake2.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteErika,
ReplyDeleteEach organization that you have been around for many years and are committed to serving families. It seems that you will be a great candidate for each of these organizations because of your experience and knowledge of the early childhood field. I hope to gain more experience with leading indiviudals and providing training. I am eager to take on a leadership role in the field of early childhood. I will do some research to find out if Illinois has a Professional Development Orgnization, or something similar to MNAEYC because it seems that working with these organiztions will provide the experience that I need to be a successful leader in the field.
Hi Erika,
ReplyDeleteWonderful post! There are truly some extraordinary organization in Minnesota. The organization that you share has there best interest in the child and the parent as well. These organization focus on the quality of early childhood education and want the best for children and the childcare facilities. I really enjoyed reading you blog and thanks for sharing.