Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels

In searching for communities of practice within my area, I found the following organizations to be of interest to me.

http://www.taeyc.org

The Tennessee Association of Education of Young Children seems to offer many professional development opportunities with membership availabilities. This community of partners is made up of a board of members and I believe that this could open up an avenue for relationships with a community of learners that share the same interests and concerns. On a more local level, the AAEYC, located in Anderson County, works directly with Roane County and offers that same type of assistance. While you can become a member of these organizations, at times there are opportunities for working as a board member. There are opportunities to work as an advocate for early childhood education with other members of this organization to help become a voice for our children and their families with a variety of issues.

TAEYC Mission Statement

TAEYC exists to provide members with professional development opportunities and to advocate for best practice in the care, development, and education of all Tennessee’s young children.

TAEYC Vision Statement

Reaching potential together.
Value Statement

TAEYC values...

Collaboration with all members of the community
High performing organizational strategies
Inclusive environments for all children and adults
Leadership in child advocacy and public policy
Diversity in the early childhood community
Relationships with children and their families
Early care and education professionals who use best practices
National, regional and local alliances

http://unitedwayroane.org

United Way – United Way is an organization the helps children and their families in a variety of ways. This organization works toward bringing the communities together while focusing on what is most needed. Every day, United Way supported programs help provide a nurturing environment for children, health care for seniors who might otherwise go without, food and shelter for those facing tough times, safe havens from physical and psychological abuse, therapy for those coping with special challenges and so much more.

I have served as the representative for United Way at my school and have had the opportunity to be a part of meetings where we discussed needs for our children and their families. United Way of Roane County brings people together to focus on the most important needs in our community. Through our allocation process, trained volunteers determine the most efficient use of the community’s resources to meet local needs. The money that we as a county give, when designated, stays in our county and helps our children and their families. This program has been able to provide monetary supplements for a number of programs that are used for our very own children and their families. I think that it is great to be able to serve as a volunteer with United Way and even more wonderful to be able to see the money that we have given help those right here in our community. As far as skills needed for this opportunity, as a volunteer working with United Way, I was responsible for bringing a list of needs to the meeting so that we could discuss them and make decisions based on what was brought to the table.

https://www.secondharvestetn.org/

Second Harvest Food Bank of East Tennessee - Food for Kids - “Food for Kids is a collaborative effort between Second Harvest and area schools, with the goal of fighting hunger among young children in our 18 County East Tennessee community. Food for Kids provides backpacks filled with kid-friendly food for elementary aged children to take home after school or on the weekends.”

Second Harvest Food Bank of East Tennessee - Kids Cafe - “Kids Cafe is a collaborative effort between Second Harvest and various youth service providers.” In Rockwood, the Kids Café is held on Mondays at 5 PM at the Rockwood Housing Authority with the collaboration of the Rockwood Ministerial Association and the First Christian Church. “On Mondays at 5PM you can find a group [of volunteers] serving a free meal, and offering homework help, games, and friendship to children and youth.”

As the wife of a minister in the area, I am able to work directly with the ministerial association that takes care of the Second Harvest Backpack Program for our children. This is all volunteer and my job for this program is to help identify what children would benefit from receiving assistance through the Second Harvest Food for Kids Program.