Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels

            When researching and considering local and/or state agencies and organizations that foster the well being of children, families, and the field, I realized I am lucky.  I am working with two organizations that I consider my dream jobs, the Partnership for Children and North Carolina Association for the Education of Young Children (NCaeyc).  However my work with these two organizations may not last forever so I looked at other availability.  The first organization inspired my love and passion for advocacy efforts for early childhood education.  The North Carolina Child Care Coalition is an advocacy coalition made of a variety of other organizations and members that support the Coalition’s work such as financially (www.ncchildcarecoalition.org).  The mission behind the Coalition is to promote high quality, accessible, and affordable childcare in North Carolina.  The job that interests me the most with the Coalition is that of the Executive Director (ED), which is currently filled.  The ED has the responsibility of running the Coalition and being the face of advocacy efforts on the Coalition’s behalf.  Since I love to advocate and build relationships, this would be an interesting job for me.  Skills and experience needed for this job include having excellent communication skills and previous work experience within the early childhood field such as teacher or professional at another agency or organization. 

            Another organization I researched that I am interested in is a nationally nonprofit agency, Child Care Services Association (CCSA) (www.childcareservices.org).  The CCSA also works to ensure affordable, high quality, and accessible child care for children through research, services, and advocacy.  Some of the services provided by the CCSA include free child care referral services to families, technical assistance, and educational scholarships for professionals through the T.E.A.C.H. scholarship, and salary supplements for providers through the WAGE$ Project.  My interest and current job openings at the CCSA involve technical assistance.  Through technical assistance, one can help improve quality in programs by giving the providers tools and resources to use in their classrooms.  The first opening is for a regional Healthy Social Behavior Specialist (HBS).  The HBS is responsible for providing behavior management technical assistance to child care programs.  When programs are having social or behavior problems with children, the HBS can work with the program to come up with techniques to help the teacher best work with these children.  Requirements of the job include at minimum a Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood or related field, knowledge of North Carolina licensing rules, knowledge of social and emotional development, and communication skills.

            Another job with the CCSA is the Regional Infant Toddler Specialist.  The Infant Toddler Specialist works with programs to improve the quality of their infant and toddler classrooms.  Qualifications include a minimum of a Bachelor’s Degree, at least two years experience in delivering technical assistance, knowledge of the Infant Toddler Environment Rating Scale (ITERS), and excellent communication skills. 

            Another job that I have been interested in is a licensing consultant.  A licensing consultant ensures that programs are meeting the requirements set forth by the state to ensure the quality and safety in child care.  In North Carolina a licensing consultant works for the Division of Child Development of Early Education (DCDEE), which is a division of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) (http://ncchildcare.dhhs.state.nc.us).  The mission of DHHS is to protect the health and safety of everyone in North Carolina and provide essential human services.  Licensing consultants meet this by protecting the health and safety of children in quality programs.  They provide technical assistance to programs, evaluate the education of providers, issue stars in the star-rated system, investigate complaints, and are the regulatory compliance agency in which they write up programs not following child care rules and laws.  Currently there are not any openings in North Carolina.  Qualifications include at least a Bachelor’s Degree, experience in technical assistance, knowledge of childcare rules and laws, and communication skills. 

References

http://ncchildcare.dhhs.state.nc.us/general/mb_aboutus.asp

http://www.childcareservices.org

https://www.ncchildcarecoalition.org