Dr. Valora Washington is a pioneering force in early childhood philanthropy, co-founding ECFC and leading transformative efforts to advance equity and leadership in the field. As CEO & President of The CAYL Institute, she has shaped national policy, credentialing, and leadership development, fostering systemic change in early care and education. A trailblazer at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and beyond, Valora’s visionary leadership continues to inspire the next generation of changemakers committed to justice and innovation in early childhood philanthropy.
“The next generation must be bold and willing to build upon—without feeling beholden to—historical narratives and strategies. I advise us to expand our personal courage, systems thinking, and willingness to engage in strategic action.”
What inspired you to pursue a career in philanthropy, particularly in early childhood?
The W. K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) recruited me as a program director and a subject matter expert in 1990. I resonated with Kellogg’s philosophy of “investing in people.” However, I was more inspired by the WKKF’s vision for the future: “The Kellogg Foundation will renew its commitment to youth, family, and community—an inseparable entity of three—during the 1990s.”[i]
As Kellogg expanded its resources and reorganized, one year later, in 1991, I became vice president of programs with a portfolio of youth and education. At that time, I was the first Black Vice President of the organization and highest ranking African American staff person.[ii] The Foundation’s growth facilitated opportunities for our team to hire a larger and increasingly diverse staff in terms of social background and expertise.
Joining Kellogg was an excellent match for my equity and early childhood education interests. My previous work in early childhood and higher education involved exploring the fields’ growing interest in social policy and deepening collaborations across sectors.
What systemic shifts are most critical right now in early childhood and philanthropy?
Reflecting on my tenure in philanthropy, I recognize that systemic shifts and persistent challenges exist.
- The good news is that the number of Foundation staff identifying as Black, Indigenous, and people of color is slowly increasing.[iii] Nevertheless, there continues to be a need—now more than ever—for grantmaking to reflect equity and inclusion values. A diverse staff is key to this focus, especially when accompanied by tools such as equity audits, investment strategies, capacity building of community groups, and meaningful engagement of communities.[iiii]
- Core challenges in philanthropy reflect the intractable nature of many of the field’s challenges, mainly due to the economic structure and systemic inequalities on which the field rests (flashback to Martin Luther King). As a case in point, we continue to recognize that transforming the field will require fundamental shifts in the field’s financing and staff support.
Indeed, I recall that the ECFC’s very first collaborative project in 1997 was Taking the Lead through Wheelock College, a collaboration of about 15 funders that cost $2,687,193 for two years.[v] Taking the Lead intended to build the field’s capacity to develop and implement high-quality leadership and professional development programs and strengthen state and local systems to support them. This need—if not the strategy—is all too familiar today.
Who is a Black leader—historical or contemporary—who has influenced your leadership and advocacy?
I was influenced by Martin Luther King’s wisdom that “Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary.” Further, throughout my childhood and youth, I have witnessed the incredible generosity of everyday people in African American communities who have used their resources—no matter how meager—to build churches, support schools, advance community organizations, and enhance collective power. Injustice made mutual aid and shared investment a necessity in my community.[vi] As a WKKF program director and later vice president, I anticipated that our team could support critical programming and collaborate with others to change economic, social, and political systems. The potential for systems change is precisely the core challenge of the early childhood education field that our Kellogg team could influence. The opportunity to join Kellogg and the role’s responsibility demanded significant and urgent attention. I hoped planned investments in the field’s professional communities would make a difference.
How do you see your work contributing to the legacy of Black leaders in early childhood philanthropy?
In my small way, I intended my work to generate innovation while strengthening the Foundation’s impact. By the time I left WFFF in 1999, about $86 million had been invested; we hoped this would illustrate how philanthropy working with community and advocacy groups could activate developmental principles, focus on justice, drive social change, and attain measurable impact. We created new tables to center our ECE interests, and tackled issues that disproportionally affect children and families of color. Here are two examples:
- With others, WKKF created two organizations that continue to be well-sustained. With the leadership of the Skillman Foundation, we formed Michigan’s Children, a statewide advocacy group. We launched the Early Childhood Funders Collaborative in 1992 with Michael Levine at Carnegie and Stacie Goffin at Kaufmann.
- Harnessing the connection between early childhood and child welfare issues, the Families for Kids initiative supported 18 states in framing essential change in how young children were identified and treated in adoption and foster care—a bipartisan effort signed into law by President William Clinton.
What advice would you give to the next generation of Black leaders in philanthropy and advocacy?
Next generation leaders must continually recognize that the systemic challenges facing African Americans and early childhood educators persist mainly due to circumstances of economic and social injustice. Our engagement with public policy has deepened, and as a result, we often feel “seen” in ways that may not have occurred in the past. The next generation must be bold and willing to build upon—without feeling beholden to—historical narratives and strategies. I advise us to expand our personal courage, systems thinking, and willingness to engage in strategic action.
What gives you hope for the future of early childhood philanthropy, and how can ECFC members be part of the change?
ECFC must continue to highlight the economic value and the economic structural issues that influence the field. Leadership development must be a continual focus to address ongoing field-wide concerns as they change and face complex policy environments. ECFC might also help facilitate movement-building, rather than fragmentation in the field, by collaborating among themselves as well as facilitating collaboration among grantees.
Over the past 20 years, I have led fellowship programs[vii] for early childhood education leaders and coached many of them. Interacting with this new generation fills me with hope because they are well-educated, increasingly savvy about public policy, strategically agile, tech-savvy, and committed to creating or managing change. They desire to hear the stories and learn the lessons from legacy leaders. At the same time, they wish to have greater balance among the various aspects of their lives, valuing the importance of collaboration, expressing their identities, and acknowledging the importance of rest from the struggles. The next phase of early childhood education is in good hands with them.
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[i] Programming for the ’90s: The Continuity of Change, W.K. Kellogg Foundation 1990 Annual Report 60th Anniversary
[ii] At Foundations, the Voice of Women and Minorities Remains Faint – The New York Times
[iii] IA Generosity of Spirit: The Legacy of Black Philanthropy – NCFP
[iiii] https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/diversity-at-u.s.-foundations-is-increasing-but-slowly-study-finds
[v] Fifteen funders were partners in this initiative: Carnegie, Danforth, Ford, Haas, Hasbro, Heinz, Kaufmann, Mailman, Moriah, Packard, Penn, Rockefeller, Travelers, and Tribune, later joined by the Foundation for Child Development and the Schumann Fund for New Jersey.
[vi] Homepage | ABFE | A Philanthropic Partnership for Black Communities
[vii] Communities of Practice – The CAYL Institute