Setting Early Childhood Education Career Goals
SPONSORED BLOG The task of sitting down and writing out all of your early childhood education career goals can feel daunting. Where should you start? How far in the future should you plan? And, once...
“It’s important for us to put ourselves in the shoes of young, immigrant children,” says Najwa Dahdah, CEO of Empowered Child Care Consulting. “We don’t know what they’ve been through, whether it’s trauma or just assimilating into a new country. We need to send them the message: I hear you and I want to support you without judgement or bias.” It’s what she did as owner of a child care center when a young girl hid under a table after a teacher turned off the lights. “I asked the child what was wrong,” Najwa recalls. “And it broke my heart when she said, ‘There’s going to be a bombing.'”
Children like this need culturally responsive educators, like the ones Najwa currently trains through her company in Utica, MI, just a short drive from Detroit—and many miles from where Najwa grew up. “My family immigrated to the United States from Jordan when I was 11 years old,” she recalls, “and it was really hard for me to adjust and fit in, especially since we, as Arab Americans, immigrated into a population that was largely Hispanic. My ESL teacher was Hispanic, and she was welcoming and warm. Still, it was hard to communicate with her and really express my needs. So, I can empathize with what young dual language learners go through when they come to this country.”
The obstacles she faced didn’t stop her from finding success as an assistant manager at Comerica Bank, but a family crisis led her to find her true path in life. “My brother had a bitter divorce,” she recalls, “and I wound up taking care of his two children, as well as two of my own. I needed to watch them all, so I opened a home-based day care.” At first, she thought of it as “babysitting,” but she realized the value of what she was doing after going through the licensing process and earning her Child Development Associate® (CDA) credential. Since then, she has gone on to open a child care center, earn her master’s degree in early childhood leadership/administration and teach at a community college; giving many others the tools they need to succeed in the ECE field.
Twenty years after earning her CDA, she’s guided over 300 students in earning the credential. “I’m a firm believer in the CDA,” she says. “I think it’s the foundation for understanding best practices in early childhood education, and it also provides a great opportunity for climbing the career path in the field. That’s been my goal since I started Empowered Child Care Consulting, and I’m proud to say that over 35 of our CDA students have gone on to earn their associate degree and provide our diverse communities with the culturally competent services that they need.”
It helps that many of her students come from the communities they serve, as she explains. “There’s a large population of immigrants, here in Michigan and other states,” she says. “Many of them come to this country with a good education. But it’s so hard for them to start over and find a job. So, what better way for them to go forward than to be culturally responsive educators. They already understand the language and they know the hardships that families and children are going through as they make a new life in this country.”
Some have been through wars. So have the educators that Najwa trains, including a woman who came to the U.S. from Iraq with her bachelor’s in computer science. “She couldn’t bring her transcript here because of the war,” Najwa explains, “and she wound up working for me when I had my child care center, Creative Kids. When I sold my center to start Empowered Child Care Consulting, she moved on to Head Start. Then she earned her CDA and her associate degree as she kept pushing to advance her career. Besides these educational achievements, she speaks three languages—English, Arabic and Chaldean (the language of Christian Iraqis)—so she brings much value to her current role as a family advocate.”
We need more educators like her who understand different languages and cultures, as Najwa knows well. And she believes that we can find them among the parents of immigrant children. “The parents know first-hand the difficulties and traumas that some of our children have been through. They know the language and the culture. So, I believe in recruiting these parents to be volunteers and training them. And I spread the word about my program through Facebook and in informational sessions we hold with local ESL programs. I also bring donuts and bagels to local churches and mosques, where I hold meetings. I tell attendees about the CDA, relate my story, explain to them what I’ve achieved. And it really excites them.”
Najwa has also made a deliberate effort to enlist men in her program because she knows how important it is for both young boys and girls to have a nurturing male figure in their lives. Granted, “it’s really hard for men from other countries to understand that they can be in the ECE field,” Najwa says. Still, she has enlisted a few, including a man from Yemen who’s now in his sixties. “Like most of the men who buy in to the program, he wants to open a home day care with his wife,” she explains. “The men look on earning a CDA as a chance to have their own small business.” And Najwa encourages them by telling them about her own experiences as a day care provider. “My husband helped me when I had my own home-based program,” she recalls. “He was on every field trip. He was at every event. We loved it, and it was financially sustainable.”
Still, the decision to earn a CDA and work in the ECE field shouldn’t just be about the money. When people choose to enter the program, Najwa, makes it clear in a firm but gentle way that they’re entering a profession. “I tell them that I know they want to work with children because they have children and love children. But they need to know they’re on a different plane now, so it’s not enough to be a person of good character who enjoys being with children. They need to make a commitment to the program.”
The training can be a lot for them to take in, and Najwa gives them the extra support they sometimes need. “The unique thing about us,” she explains, “is we support our students beyond the 12-week training period. If they need extra time, we provide it. We help them with the application process and really meet them where they are. We translate all the materials into Arabic, we work as groups, we role play. And all this really gets them engaged.”
Najwa has also sparked interest in ECE beyond her community by working with organizations that include the New England Arab American Organization and the Cooperative Development Organization in Massachusetts, groups that are committed to diversity and inclusion. “By collaborating with this culturally inclusive team, we have empowered communities and trained them for their CDA, a credential that allows them to build a future as home-based providers or even center owners,” Najwa says. “When you have communities that support such work, it’s awesome.”
And one especially promising project involves a partnership with Maine Roads to Quality to train Somali women in Augusta and Portland, ME. “We have a translator who speaks Portuguese like many of the students,” Najwa says, “and the women are super-excited about the training. They’re not all quite ready for the CDA, so we give them basic training in early childhood care and education. Then they can decide if they want to start working toward their CDA.”
Watching these women take their first steps in the ECE field makes Najwa realize how far she’s come since she first arrived in the U.S. as an immigrant child. “I know now that there’s a purpose for me. It’s working with different cultures, fighting bias and being a mediator who bridges differences in language and culture that hold people back.” So, besides her training work, Najwa also engages with advocacy groups to raise awareness of cultural differences, provide translation services and speak up for the diverse groups in her own state of Michigan and beyond.
“There are immigrant families and children facing challenges in every community,” Najwa says. And as an immigrant herself, she can put herself in the shoes of the people she supports and trains. “We come here to better our lives, to be able to raise children, and afford housing, so the CDA training really gives people the tools to get a job in the educational profession,” Najwa says as she looks back on her journey in life. Now she wants to walk others through their own CDA journey and empower them, too, for success.
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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.
Chief Operations Officer
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.
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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.
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