Manifesto

Engaged Early Childhood (EEC) is...

• an antiracist, LGBTQIA+ inclusive community and space for those interested in early childhood education. 

• a space for early childhood educators (and grown ups with children 5 and under at home) to find activities, lesson ideas, research, and resources that can be utilized in the classroom and beyond. 

• a community of educators who understand children have diverse needs, come from diverse backgrounds and are focused upon utilizing research backed practices in order to support them

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As an early childhood educator, I am exhausted, overworked, underpaid and somehow still driven every single day to provide the absolute best environment possible for the children in my care. Early Childhood Educators are diverse - we are parents, we are college students, we have a variety of educational backgrounds and experiences, we come from all corners of the world and have families that may look nothing like the teacher we work next to, but through all of that, we are a TEAM. Some of us work in large child care centers, some are in school systems, some bring children into their own living rooms to teach them every day and some are home educators teaching their own children. We may have a huge variety of backgrounds and life experiences, but we all have one goal - to provide excellent care to the children who enter our classrooms. 

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As a profession, we have been in crisis for years. Funding is minimal, operational budgets are high, respect for what we do is low and we get very little recognition from the communities we work in for how important the work we do really is. Child care costs are nearly unattainable for families and yet we can hardly pay a living wage in most childcare settings. The system is broken. I don't pretend to have the solutions, however I hope that at EEC we can build a future that is supportive, engaging, empowering and welcoming for all educators in this space while recognizing and addressing the systemic issues within as well. 

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My future goals include providing more access to free resources, grab and go lesson plans with minimal supply costs, creating space for marginalized educators to share their needs and eventually providing high-quality early childhood professional development to the Johnson County, Iowa area and potentially in a larger scope online. 

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Welcome! And if this is a mission you see yourself wanting to drive forward as well, reach out via email to see how you can get involved!