Join us for the third public listening session with the Early Years Climate Action Task Force.
Need an audio-only version? See below or listen on your preferred podcast platform.
Capita and This is Planet Ed (the Aspen Institute) have co-convened the Early Years Climate Action Task Force to draft the U.S. Early Years Climate Action Plan. The plan will recommend ways the country can help young children, zero to 8, flourish in the face of climate change. It will be published in late 2023.
The task force’s work is supported, in part, by the W. Clement and Jessie V. Stone Foundation.
Co-chaired by Diana Rauner, former First Lady of Illinois and President of Start Early, and Antwanye Ford, President and CEO, Enlightened, Inc. and Chair, District of Columbia Workforce Investment Council, the Task Force includes 19 other distinguished representatives from the education and health sectors, current and former elected officials in state and Tribal government, parent leaders, and early childhood advocates.
This third, public listening session of the Early Years Climate Action Task Force will focus specifically around the questions: How will climate change impact early care and education systems?
About the Speakers
Corey Zimmerman is the Chief Program Officer at the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. In this role, she is a member of the senior leadership team and also directs the Center’s strategy for making the science actionable. She is currently leading the Center’s efforts to connect the science of early childhood with those working on climate resilience. To this work Corey brings nearly 20 years of experience shaping social policy on behalf of young children and families. She has previously worked at United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley, the MA Dept. of Early Education and Care, and at Nurtury, Inc.
Sara Mickelson is the Director of Early Childhood Initiatives for Harris County, Texas, where she leads work to support children and their caregivers, primarily through child care and other early learning-focused strategies. This includes creating proof points for county investments in direct access to high-quality care and building community systems to support quality in early learning. She was previously the Chief of Programs for the Oregon Early Learning Division, led early childhood policy work at the Bainum Family Foundation and early childhood workforce initiatives at the Rhode Island Department of Education. She holds a BA from the University of Minnesota and an MA in Urban Education Policy from Brown University. She began her career in Harris County as a Head Start teacher.
Yasmina Vinci is the Executive Director of the National Head Start Association. Prior to joining the National Head Start Association she spent several years as principal and founder of EDGE Consulting Partners. At EDGE, Yasmina pursued local, national and global projects that utilized the knowledge, experience, and connections of her years in human services and early education, to enhance the capacity of organizations to thrive as competent, strategic entities capable of influencing policy. Yasmina founded EDGE after receiving her Master in Public Administration degree from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. Yasmina was also executive director of the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies which organized the national campaign that was instrumental to securing the funding for child care in the welfare reform legislation.
Lois Kedrick is the President of Florida Family Child Care Home State Association whose mission is to represent a united voice on behalf of all children, to promote and encourage quality professional family child care through education, legislation, advocacy, mentoring, caring and love. Lois works to support a child’s desire to be a life-long learner, and encourages families with young children to value diversity and commonalities that connect us all. Involvement with early care is important in order to nurture relationships with active learners and to support families.
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