Week 2 Communities Of Practice

Communities of Practice

1)   Northern Virginia Association For The Education Of Young Children

• Offering professional development opportunities to those serving in the field of early childhood education through conferences, workshops, newsletters, leadership seminars, and resource materials;
• Raising public awareness as to the necessity for:
  (1) age-appropriate and developmentally-appropriate education and;
  (2) high quality care in meeting the needs of both young children and their families;
• Providing leadership and advocacy to the community by identifying and responding to issues related to the needs, rights, and well being of young children and their families.

**This organization was chosen because of its wealth of research and information provided to teachers and staff who work with young children.

2)   Children's Defense Fund

The Children’s Defense Fund Leave No Child Behind® mission is to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities. 

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See more at: http://www.childrensdefense.org/about/#About

**This organization was chosen as it provides all aspects of information in a variety of areas. This organization not only informs the reader on the "methods" and "best practices" for educators, but provides information in regards to nutrition, safety, and character building for young children.

3)   FECEP/Early HeadStart Fairfax County Virginia

 

Family and Early Childhood Education Program FECEP/Head Start provides a high quality early learning experience for income-eligible three and four year-olds, including children with disabilities. Program staff works with parents to provide comprehensive services, which support children’s physical, social emotional, and intellectual development.

**This department of Fairfax County Public Schools was chosen as I hope to move out of kindergarten and into the FECEP/Early HeadStart department next year.

Jobs 

---- Care Specialist II
Job # 16-00295 Located in the Pennino Building, Fairfax, VA. Serves as an instructor and mentor to provide educational support to early childhood professionals. Provides professional development instruction to early childhood educators enrolled in the Office for Children's Institute for Early Learning. Provides on-site coaching and technical assistance to early childhood programs to ensure quality experiences are provided to children. Requires flexibility in scheduling including some evening and Saturday hours. Fluency in Spanish (written and spoken) preferred. Duties are performed under the supervision of the Child Care Administrator I.

----Community Outreach Coordinator

Job location: Washington, DC

Date posted: February 18 2016

• Communicate benefits and obligations of KaBOOM! programs to community organizations to build interest in applying for a grant opportunity.
• Cultivate and manage ongoing relationships with non-profit child-serving organizations.
• Facilitate conference calls with key decision makers and community leaders to set appropriate expectations for KaBOOM! playground builds, educating community groups on the community build model while deciphering strengths and weaknesses of a particular group for a project.
• Present all applicable information about a potential Community Partner to an internal review panel to determine final viability and alignment to a funding opportunity.
• Prepare written recommendations to funding partners for potential Community Partners.

Skills Needed

In order to move into one the above jobs, I would need to work on my resume. Additionally, I would need to do some type of volunteer/summer work in the community to build that aspect of my experience.

I would also need to do some online study of "grant writing."