There’s a great song that sums up how I’m feeling at the start of 2023. “It’s a new dawn. It’s a new day. It’s a new life for me. And I’m feeling good,” as the great Nina Simone sang in 1965. I also sang it at the Council’s last annual conference because it felt good to be with so many of our early childhood teachers. And I can’t wait to see what the new year has in store for early childhood professionals nationwide. Sure, we’ve been through some tough times, but we can overcome them, especially if we take a tip from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose birthday we just marked. “We must accept finite disappointment,” he advised, “but never lose infinite hope.”
And I have high hopes for the future of our field since we’re now getting more support from the states. In Louisiana, Governor John Bel Edwards is determined to advance early learning this year. “I believe if we continue to invest in early childhood education robustly,” he recently said, “that within a generation we will transform our state and achieve those education outcomes that have eluded us for far too long.” And Governor Kathy Hochul in New York is also working to reach this goal by doubling the state’s funding for free pre-K, leading to a total of $1.2 billion a year.
Big money like this is a wise investment in the promise of every child, according to Maryland’s Blueprint for the Future, a plan to increase educational funding by $3.8 billion each year for the next decade. And new Maryland Governor Wes Moore campaigned on a pledge to provide free pre-K for all the state’s three- and four-year-old children in need. “Every student in Maryland will know that there are many paths to success and fulfillment,” Moore said this month in his inaugural address. “Those paths begin with high-quality, highly inclusive schools from pre-K to 12th grade.” And we need to pave the way for them right now, Moore also urged. “Our children cannot wait 10-plus years for the plan’s full implementation.”
Neither can our children’s parents as they wait for the quality child care they need to go to work. And lawmakers are getting the message from the people they serve. In Connecticut, Rep. Robin Comey (D-Branford) says that “there’s rarely a day that I don’t have conversations with constituents or business owners about the importance of having really strong, affordable and quality care for our kids.” And the exchange that especially stood out in her mind took place on New Year’s Eve with one of her neighbors. He was a single dad, Comey recalled, who was having trouble finding child care for his daughter so he could seek a full-time job. And Michigan Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist II could empathize with this dad’s concerns. “As a father, I know the importance of having skilled child care professionals to care for our kids,” Gilchrist explained.
They’re words that remind us that all politics is personal. And they certainly are in Vermont. As the state’s lawmakers grapple with debates about child care, a handful of them are living with the day-to-day roadblocks of raising or bearing infants themselves. A number of young working moms—or moms-to-be—joined the state legislature this year after Vermonters elected more women than ever before during the November 2022 elections.
These political newcomers include Ashley Bartley (R-Fairfax), who had an 11-month-old daughter when she won a seat in the Vermont House. “My husband and I looked at each other, looked down at the baby, and then started laughing,” Bartley recalled. It was nervous laughter as they worried about whether they could get a child care slot. And Jubilee McGill (D-Addison) had similar concerns. She began calling child care centers while pregnant with her now seven-month-old girl but ran into one long waitlist after another. For a while she managed to juggle home and job with a flexible schedule from her employer. But the pressure rose as she faced an impending deadline: her inauguration into the Vermont House early this year. She had to report to the state capital of Montpelier every Tuesday through Friday but still didn’t know what to do with her daughter. “I’ve been emailing everyone I know who’s Montpelier-adjacent, trying to figure something out,” McGill was still fretting by late December last year.
Concerns like this aren’t new to women who hold public office in our nation. Policymakers like Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Penn.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) have long been vocal about their troubles finding child care and how it’s been crucial to maintaining their careers. What’s changed is that men are now getting into the act. Early this month, Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.) brought his four-month-old baby to work on Capitol Hill. In between votes, he changed diapers and bottle-fed his child. And Gomez wasn’t the only one on daddy duty in the U.S. House. Other parents, including Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), also brought their children to work to highlight a problem that plagues America’s parents.
Child care is costly and far out of reach for most families in this country. Our lawmakers are feeling their pain and some are working moms and dads with a personal stake in the search for answers and solutions. There’s a growing recognition in government bodies of the crucial role our industry plays. So, our early childhood teachers are getting some of the kudos they deserve for their sense of caring and commitment. Yes, they’ve had some grim years, but “only in the darkness can you see the stars,” as Dr. King explained. They come out to light the sky while we’re waiting for the dawn. And there are already signs that it’s a new day for the early learning field. That gives me an infinite sense of hope and should make us all feel good.
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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.
Chief Financial Officer
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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