Michigan Parent Leadership
This case study describes Michigan’s parent leadership program model, one that was 30 years in the making. The model, a concept tested over the last eight years, can be replicated within any early childhood system or program.
Click on the following links to access Parent Leadership Blogs.
Effie Alofoje-Carr
Effie Alofoje-Carr is a proud native of Detroit, MI who currently coordinates the Ingham Local Leadership, serving the Lansing, MI area in maternal, infant, and child health and education. She is an author, speaker, and women’s event host, inspiring women to make over their lives to live out their dreams. She has worked as a legal advocate for survivors of domestic violence and as an outreach coordinator of after school programming for young girls. Effie holds a B.A. from Michigan State University. She and her husband are parents of a brilliant and active 7-year-old son.
Monica Gaines
Monica Gaines lives in Wayne County, MI with her husband Nathaniel and their son Nate. She began her journey into home visiting in 2013 when she joined the Healthy Families program in Wayne County. She became a parent leader in 2015 when she joined the advisory board and the Local Leadership Group. She went on to also join the State Local Leadership Parent Leader Team. In 2017, Monica was hired as the Healthy Families Program senior program assistant and most recently has also taken on the role of parent coordinator with the Early Childhood Investment Corporation.
Sarah Zyburt
Sarah Zyburt, mother of a seven-year-old child, is from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and now lives in Flint. She serves on the Michigan Parent Leaders in State Government workgroup, and Postpartum Support International, Michigan. Formerly, she served as a parent leader on her Home Visiting Local Leadership Group, the Great Start Collaborative for Genesee County and the Statewide Parent Leaders group for home visiting in Michigan. Sarah enjoys volunteering as a co-facilitator for a local postpartum support group for new moms as well as with the Parent Coalition in Flint and Genesee County.
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Advocating for Early Intervention Our Passion, Our Future
Archived Webinar April 12, 2024
Parents, advocates, early interventionists, and their partners in four very different states will share their experiences to discuss how they formed new partnerships to strengthen Early Intervention and their struggles and solutions. Key themes including equitable access, adequate funding, workforce recruitment/retention, and family voice in decision-making will be highlighted.
Reducing Disparities for Latino Children and Families: A National Latino Infant Policy Agenda Provides Solutions
Blog April 10, 2024
BUILD believes that to effectively meet the needs of young children and their families, we must recognize existing disparities, including opportunity and achievement gaps. Therefore, we see the urgent need to support policy solutions to better serve Latino infants, toddlers, and families.
Operationalizing High-Quality Dual Language Programming: From the Early Years to the Early Grades
Report April 9, 2024
The aim of this brief, from Children's Equity Project and The Century Foundation, is to operationalize what high quality dual language immersion looks like for infants/toddlers, preschoolers, and students in Kindergarten through second grade. The brief provides an overview important context and core concepts foundational for this work, including a description of emergent bilinguals in the United States, a strength-based approaches to bilingualism, a historical account of bilingual education, and a description of how DLI education is part of a broader, equitable child serving system.