Exploring State and Local Roles in the Early Childhood Education Community

This week has been quiet stressful with the accumulation of all the different responsibilities in my life. I am quiet thankful for my support team who have been great ears to listen, and minds to help bounce ideas off. As I looked into different local and state organizations, I found that Memphis has many different organizations, agencies, and communities of practice that gain my interest.

Metropolitan Inner Faith Association (MIFA) is an organization that supports vulnerable seniors and families in crisis through high impact programs. One particular program helps families who experience an unexpected loss of income and help provide them with housing and food. They also have programs that provide life skills training, counseling, and mentoring. This organization strikes my interest because it falls in line with my passion for helping families of low economic status and provide them with resources that will help them get on their feet as well as support the family. The main aspect that drew my attention to this organization originally, was its top value to welcome and respect all people and act with integrity (MIFA, 2008).  While no current positions are available within this organization, it does state that college degree is required. However, many volunteer opportunities are currently available within this organization such as delivering meals, working alongside a mentor.

Stand for Children Leadership Center is an organization focused on solving problems facing children. It also provides training for other individuals who wish to be a part of standing up for issues facing children by convincing elected officials and voters to invest in vital children’s programs. A career within this field would help provide change in the childhood programs in another avenue outside of being a classroom teacher. This is actually a job I truly feel would fulfill my passion towards childhood education outside of being a classroom teacher. A job within this organization would involve excellent leadership skills, as well as the ability to motivate, manage, and develop a staff that can create proposals to state and district policies. Looking over these qualifications I am lacking the five years experience in the education field at the moment, as well as experience in writing in this form.

Porter-Leath is the primary resource in the Memphis area for at risk children and families (Porter -Leath, 2013). This organization provides the building blocks needed for healthy development along with the tools necessary to make this happen. This organization includes Head Start programs as well as resources to provide training for parents as they teach their children. Many other resources and outreach opportunities are provided throughout the year from this organization. This is yet another program that fuels my passion to help families in the Memphis area in ways beyond working in the classroom. Many positions are available in this organization including an educational coordinator which would oversee all the activities occurring in a Head Start program, and the Parent Educator which will visit with up to 30 families within the program and provide training on parents as teachers.  I am comforted to know that both of these positions fit the qualifications I currently possess, as fall directly in line with a type of position that I can see myself holding in future years.

With these three organizations in mind, I have realized that fulfilling my passion does not simply mean I must remain in the classroom. While I love my job as a classroom teacher, I am aware that within the next few years I will want change. Recognizing that making that change is more possible than I originally thought is comforting.

References:

Metropolitain Inner Faith Association (2008). Our programs. Retrieved from www.mifa.org

Porter-Leather: Better children. Better Families (2013). About Porter- Leath. Retrieved from www. porterleath.org