Montgomery County Commits to Early Care and Education

Montgomery Moving Forward, a coalition of nonprofits, business, philanthropy, government, education, and community leaders, will host a morning symposium about “Our County’s Commitment to Early Care & Education” on March 28 from 7:30-11am at the Universities at Shady Grove. 

At the symposium, leaders of stakeholder groups representing all people and places that touch the lives of parents and young children will determine their respective roles in the collective effort to improve our community now and in the future and to build awareness of the importance early care and education in Montgomery County. The MMF Action Guide serves as a blueprint illustrating how everyone in the community has a role to play in building a strong birth to age five early care and education system.  

Symposium topics will include: rolling up our sleeves for early care and education (ECE), tactical challenges in ECE, county commitment to community-wide ECE, what’s working and what needs to be fixed in ECE, the Georgia experience ECE case study, breaking down ECE silos, pledging to do what we can from where we are, and an employer toolkit launch. 

Symposium panelists and speakers will include: 

JoAnn Barnes, Chief, Children, Youth, and Family Services, Department of Health and Human Services
Mindy Binderman, Executive Director, Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students (GEEARS)
Michael Bobbitt, Artistic Director, Adventure Theatre
Shirley Brandman, Education Advocate
Andy Burness, President, Burness
Tanya Edelin, Director, Community Health and Benefit Strategy and Operations, Kaiser Permanente
Stewart Edelstein, Executive Director, Universities at Shady Grove, Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, University System of Maryland
Marc Elrich, Montgomery County Executive
Michelle Green, Executive Director, Montgomery Child Care Association
Joanne Hurt, Executive Director, Wonders Early Learning and Extended Day
Laura Lanham, Assistant Chief of Police, Montgomery County Police Department
Susan Madden, Chief Government Relations Officer, Montgomery College
Maria Navarro, Chief Academic Officer, Montgomery County Public Schools
Nancy Navarro, President, Montgomery County Council
Manny Ocasio, Executive Vice President, Human Resources, Asbury Communities, Inc.
David Petr, President and CEO, Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation
Jorge Restrepo, CEO & Chief Analyst, EurekaFacts Research and Analysis
Dusty Rood, President, Rodgers Consulting, Inc.
Rhonique Shields, Vice President, Medical Affairs, Holy Cross Health Network
Jack Smith, Superintendent, Montgomery County Public Schools
Katharine Stevens, Resident Scholar at American Enterprise Institute
Crystal Townsend, President and CEO, Healthcare Initiative Foundation
Diego Uriburu, Executive Director, Identity, Inc.
Anita Vasallo, Acting Director, Montgomery County Public Libraries 

 

About EurekaFacts
EurekaFacts is a full-service market research firm in the Washington, D.C., area offering a wide range of quantitative research, qualitative research, and advanced analytics. Our team’s expertise is unmatched in conducting research and recruiting hard-to-reach audiences, including Hispanics, parents, children, and other audiences. Our mission is to equip the people who lead efforts to build a better, safer, healthier world with the insights needed to shape initiatives, brands, communications and campaigns.

 

About Montgomery Moving Forward
Montgomery Moving Forward leverages the collective impact model to address complex community problems. MMF is a vehicle for change, not a service organization or program. We bring leaders together to define a problem and embrace a common agenda. The issues we focus on are selected strategically, based on community needs and the opportunity to achieve systems change utilizing the collective impact model. Their goal: economic opportunities for all and a thriving Montgomery County.