New York Early Childhood Professional Development Institute

In May, our very first cohort of Spanish-language Child Development Associate (CDA) certificate students graduated from the CUNY School of Professional Studies! "The launch of our first Spanish-language cohort reflects a long-standing goal to remove barriers to professional learning and create more equitable pathways for early childhood educators," said Claudine Campanelli, our senior director of career development and higher education. Felicitaciones a las graduadas!

Congratulations to Christine Webb, our Career Development Center's Southern Tier regional coordinator! Christine (right) was honored with the YWCA Binghamton's Elizabeth Dickenson Award, which recognizes women whose leadership and commitment empower other women.

CONGRATULATIONS to our CUNY School of Professional Studies graduates! 🎓🎉 This year we celebrated the commencement of our first set of NYC Early Childhood Apprenticeship Program participants and one of our largest Child Development Associate (CDA) certificate cohorts. And for the first time, Children's Program Administrator Credential graduates had the opportunity to walk at commencement! We're so proud of these early childhood educators and the impact they'll continue to have on our profession for many years to come.

Our executive director Dona Anderson calls early childhood educators the "linchpin" of the mayor's universal child care plans in this Politico article:

Mamdani is touting universal child care. He still needs to find staffers to run it. The city must hire at least 30,000 additional workers to achieve a truly universal program, advocates say.

Let's talk about your career in early childhood! Come to an engaging, uplifting online session with our career advisors to discuss your journey. Check out our upcoming sessions: https://earlychildhoodny.org/cdsc/event.php?eventID=15155&lang=en_US

In the book "Teacher Well-Being in Early Childhood," well-being is synonymous with "flourishing" — growing in a healthy way. And springtime is an apt time to think about flourishing! Some members of our Early Childhood Leadership Initiative will be discussing the "Teacher Well-Being" book this spring and summer 🌷🌼

If you or someone you know is thinking about earning a Child Development Associate (CDA) credential, come to an information session to hear more about the CUNY School of Professional Studies' credit-bearing program! Register at https://earlychildhoodny.org/cdsc/register.php?eventID=15545

If you've ever taken a course or workshop through New York Works for Children's Aspire Registry, you've benefited from the work of our director of professional development quality assurance, Tinnycua Williams, who was recently honored by the New York State Network for Youth Success with their Insight and Impact Award!

Accompanying Tinnycua (third from left) are (from left to right) Olivia Lasala, the director of the Aspire Registry; Dona Anderson, PDI's executive director; Abby Okon, New York Works for Children's senior director; Kathleen Luk, the senior PD quality assurance associate; and Sarah Gould-Houde, a QUALITYstarsNY Quality Improvement Specialist.

Our team had an outstanding time at last week's New York Association for the Education of Young Children - nyaeyc annual conference! We facilitated more than 20 workshops and connected with so many dedicated, enthusiastic early childhood practitioners.