Passionate about early ed, educator voice and leadership, panAfrican cultures, eBay bidding and thrift stores. All opinions are my own.

Joined March 2020
3 Photos and videos
Compensation is tied to quality. We know that the well-being and expertise of early childhood educators who care for young children have an impact on the quality of services children receive. This has been reemphasized through the data from the @wevisionearlyed initiative.
Early childhood educators — we hear you and we stand with you. As a funder focused on creating a society where all children thrive, equitable compensation for early childhood educators has and will continue to be a priority for us. Read our full statement here: bainumfdn.org/bainum-family-…
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QRIS & state systems won’t fund educator compensation or professional org accreditation, but fund raters & coaches from private companies. Who’s profiting off state systems? What is their proximity to young children and the profession? Proximity comes with a pay & power penalty.
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Marica Cox Mitchell retweeted
Lack of accessible child care costs the nation $120 billion and Virginia $3.1 billion annually in foregone wages, lost productivity, and unrealized tax revenue.
Replying to @Hunt_Institute
It’s time to talk #EarlyEd! After @DavidBulova’s opening remarks,  @mcoxmitchell sits down with @CindyCisneros8, @AmySDoran, and Jason El Koubi to unpack the business case for early childhood investment. #VES23 @BainumFdn
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Marica Cox Mitchell retweeted
TOMORROW at 12:30pm! We’ll be joining the Campaign for Grade-level Reading in a #F2F webinar conversation engaging in dialogue around the role philanthropy can play in supporting early childhood educators. Join us! Register ➡️ow.ly/oIcO50PMf8y

Join us alongside @readingby3rd, @trustfrlearning, @fcdusorg Heising-Simons Foundation for a #F2F webinar 11/21 at 12:30pm for a conversation about strategies for bolstering the vital Early Learning Workforce. Register ➡️ ow.ly/oIcO50PMf8y
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Excited to be the keynote speaker for Boston University's Institute for Early Childhood Well-Being 2023 Keynote Lecture!
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If we are really rethinking QRIS, perhaps we should also be open to questioning its existence. Other industries/professions don’t have QRIS because they are expected and funded to meet their industry-led/profession-defined standards. These standards are the baseline for all.
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ECE advocates - Nearly every profession has industry standards. It’s hard to co-create & unite under them, but it’s impossible to deliver consistent quality & demand respect w/out them. Without industry standards, professions (& those they serve) are play-dough for the powerful.

ALT Cookie Dough Bustle GIF

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There’s a shortage of truck drivers with CDLs. Let’s hire cyclists since they know how wheels & brakes work. Insane idea, isn’t it?🤯 Just as insane as hiring non-teachers to fill teacher vacancies instead of using policies & public funding to fix the teacher pipeline issues.🙄
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QRIS can destabilize the early ed sector it’s funded to support by 1) supplanting early ed standards & codes, 2) paying the rating industry well & educators poorly, 3) giving a few govt staff the most power to define & assess quality, 4) constantly shifting for new trends.
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Thank you! “Child care”, “daycare”, and “providers” oversimplify the intellectually, physically, and emotionally complex work that early childhood educators do. These labels also oversimplify child development. Reimagining or fixing “child care” means reframing the language.
6 Apr 2022
Read an unfortunately framed news story this morning about inflation’s effect on #childcare costs. Like many recent stories, the piece makes extensive use of the term “daycare” and includes a prominent reference to the rising price of “watching your child.” 🧵
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Telling early childhood educators to practice “self-care” w/out giving them what they’ve asked for (like planning time, wellness & PD days, compensation & benefits, autonomy & respect) is gaslighting. Ain’t no amount of candles & tea will do what policies & public $ ought to do.
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On one hand “child care systems” have limited $$ & can’t pay educators. On the other hand, they duplicate national profession-driven systems, accreditation, certifications & standards…then fund “crosswalks” to show the duplication and fund research that reveal the same gaps.😵‍💫
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Family Child Care “providers” are not a monolith. Some want to be unlicensed, others want to be licensed. Some see themselves as educators & want K-12 compensation, others want to “watch kids”. Some want networks/shared services, others view these as pricey & paternalistic.
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Is anyone caring for a young child *automatically* an early childhood educator? If yes, then there’s no distinction between a “babysitter” and an early childhood educator. If no, then who is an early childhood educator? Define your profession or accept any definition (or label).
Yes, infrastructure should be centered around women. But to get to work, you don't just need a bridge — you also need a babysitter. It's vital that we pass a reconciliation bill that expands childcare and other 'human' infrastructure.
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Caring for young children doesn’t automatically make one an early childhood educator. Discomfort making this distinction 1)presents all “childcare” as homogeneous “daycare”, 2)creates the illusion of family choice & equity, 3)weakens the case for early childhood educator $parity.
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Marica Cox Mitchell retweeted
"We’ve seen over the past year how essential family child care is. We’re the economic driver, the economic engine for communities. We’re the workforce behind the workforce.” Lanette Dumas, @NAFCC
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Marica Cox Mitchell retweeted
"We are being called to ensure that investing in child care means its affordability and profitability do not continue to be built on the backs of early childhood educators, who are primarily women and women of color." Lucy Recio, @NAEYC
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Marica Cox Mitchell retweeted
Replying to @DCEarlyEdX
@DCEarlyEdX knows how to get a party started!! Most amazing start to a PD day ever! #ECErocks #ntoy20 #dcearlyedx
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DC is giving love to the ECEs who pour love into young children. Awesome video to kick off the day. Goosebumps!
More than 1,500 people are gathered virtually today for the first-ever #DCEarlyEdX, a celebration of D.C.'s early childhood educators. Watch and listen as our community sends a special thanks to these essential hometown heroes. youtu.be/M_JiZbdLMbw
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The $$ and time spent regulating PD “clock hours” for early childhood educators (ECEs) can be repurposed. ECEs in center & home settings are overly regulated & under-resourced. Most states do not have PD trainer approval systems for elementary schools. Reimagine regulations.
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