As an early childhood education leader and Executive Director at The Child and Family Network Centers, I have seen first-hand the powerful effects of investing in little ones and have created innovative education programs designed to close the equity gap. Getting young children excited about learning allows them to thrive throughout their educational experience in an environment that can be dismissive at best and racist at worst towards BIPOC students.Currently thrilled to be leading The Child and Family Network Centers (CFNC), an innovative agency that provides free, high quality, multilingual early education to under-resourced children and their families. CFNC fights to achieve equity on three levels. First, we create happy little learners, armed with a love for learning that will serve them throughout their lives. Second, we build quality relationships with our parents, in their own language, partnering with them to address societal barriers to success. Third, we hire teachers from the same neighborhoods as our children and provide the education and training necessary to advance them as professionals. My career began as an attorney. As the daughter of a labor leader who taught me to speak truth to power, advocacy came naturally to me, and I was deeply passionate about being a voice for those who didn’t have one. After a brief career practicing law, it was time to become directly involved with helping those without a voice and found that opportunity in early childhood education. I quickly realized that the system was difficult for parents to navigate, and designed workshops to help them build the necessary skills to learn the system and advocate for themselves and their children.What started out as an idea on paper became the turning point in my career. I designed and embedded an early childhood and parenting program in a family homeless shelter. It was a simple concept, everyone learns together and everyone is valued. To date, that program has served 250+ children with no access to early childhood education.There is no substitution for the power of strategic partnerships. A program can expand its reach exponentially by building and nurturing these relationships. With a high level of emotional intelligence and an ability to intuit people, creating and nurturing relationships is my specialty. My collective action work spans three states, five separate municipalities and focuses on both early childhood education and race equity. Would love to connect! Reach out to me directly at bmclaughlin@cfnc-online.org