“I think it is most critical for our field to reimagine how we build, retain, and support our workforce—and to place that at the forefront of discussions about the value of early childhood.”
What inspired you to pursue a career in philanthropy, particularly in early childhood?
I fell into early childhood without knowing much about the field, starting my career as a Teach for America corps member in a preschool classroom. From that experience, I have been fortunate to build a career in program and system leadership in community-based organizations and government, ultimately leading me to philanthropy. Across these roles in early learning, I continue to be energized by the transformative power of family support to help parents set and achieve ambitious goals that put their families on a trajectory towards success—finding stable housing, earning a GED and achieving a living wage job, and accessing long overdue healthcare. Now working in philanthropy, those experiences inspire me to support efforts that empower parents as their child’s first teacher and that are intentional about bringing resources out into communities to families that are otherwise not reached by anyone.
What systemic shifts are most critical right now in early childhood and philanthropy?
I think it is most critical for our field to reimagine how we build, retain, and support our workforce—and to place that at the forefront of discussions about the value of early childhood. Our system as a whole treats improved compensation, working conditions and career pathways for the early childhood workforce as a “nice to have” rather than an essential foundation to everything we hope to achieve. Philanthropy has a key role to play in changing this narrative and in directly supporting efforts that make it easier to enter, grow in and build a sustainable career in our field.
We also need to think about how we can better message about early childhood and the needs of the field to an external audience that finds our acronyms, dizzying array of funding streams, and multiple terms confusing—and disengages. Particularly at a time when a national conversation is happening about “efficiency,” we need a clear and compelling way of defining what we are and what we are not. And I think there are opportunities to think about how we partner more closely with (and translate our terms to be understood by) the K-12 education community—and to shift from a conversation about silos to one about how we support families across a developmental continuum before birth through the early elementary years.
Who is a Black leader—historical or contemporary—who has influenced your leadership and advocacy?
My elementary school was named after Coleman A. Young, the first Black mayor of Detroit and one of its longest-serving. He led the city through an incredibly difficult time of population loss, economic crisis, and tension with a large and growing suburban region. Throughout these challenges, he remained a staunch champion and defender for a city that many people had written off.
What advice would you give to the next generation of Black leaders in philanthropy and advocacy?
I’m still early in my philanthropy journey, but I think the importance of partnership has been the greatest lesson that I have learned so far.
I have learned a tremendous amount from participating in networks like ECFC. Every opportunity to partner with peer funders—in aligned funding, joint convening or thought partnership—has so far yielded many times what I could not have accomplished on my own. I would recommend that future leaders prioritize collaborative work and spaces as core parts of their work.
Reflecting on my grantmaking so far, the efforts that have struggled to achieve a broad reach have lacked strong partnerships between the grantee and the CBOs, schools, faith communities, and other stakeholders who each bring their own bucket of resources, partners, and connections to a group of families. Resource scarcity in communities with the greatest need means that there isn’t always adequate time for people working towards aligned goals to ever share space and have real conversations. The specter of competition builds walls that keep resources from flowing to where they are most needed. At its best, philanthropy can be a bridge.