Profile of a Volunteer

Describe the volunteer efforts of the person you have elected to profile.

The person I have elected is my grandmother. My grandmother was an advocate in her community of Queens, NY. She was active with the local police department, the local politicians offices, and also active with youth groups from the community. She was an active member of her church. My grandmother formed the youth groups in Queens and had the majority of the local neighborhood children to participate in the Black History Month programs, and Kwanza programs. During the campaign for mayors and President, my grandmother gathered all the children/teenagers to handout flyers, and give call voters to inform the community about the campaigns. My grandmother network with the local sorority ( Delta Sigma Theta ) for a work study program with high school students. The work study program mentor the high school students about college, study programs, and preparing for career in various fields. The work study program also sponsored the high school students on college tours. 

 
Identify how you feel this person's work has positively impacted others.

 My grandmother work positively impacted others because her grandchildren, and the neighborhood children were able to obtain after school jobs which some turned into careers, educated  us about politics within the community, and learned how to give back to the community we all reside in. My grandmother was able to network and have trusting relationships with the leaders of the community and local police departments which their is a lack of today.
 



Describe what you feel is a vital "take-away" message relative to this work in terms of your 
own volunteer efforts and advocacy work in fostering the well-being of children and families

As I stated at my grandmother's funeral last month, she groomed me to be well-educated, advocate for children and families along with networking. My grandmother prepared me to be a public speaker by providing me the resources I needed to continue my collegiate education. I believe all my grandparents (maternal/paternal) explained their struggles to me so I would not have to endure any struggles in my lifetime. My take-away is continuing my advocacy for my community as well as former communities and continuing to promote education for  all children and families despite their socioeconomic status.  



 Dedicated to my grandmother......... May she rest in peace.....

Using Social Media to Get Connected

Provide a brief overview of your past and present experience with social media.My experience with social media has changed from the past to the present. When I was using certain social media sites such as My Space etc., it was because everyone had an account- did you view the pictures this individual posted. Currently, my social media accounts are be connected with close family and friends. Social media if not used correctly, can be harmful. 

Describe what social media tools you feel lend themselves to effective advocacy.The social media tools I feel lend themselves to effective advocacy are communication with all people from different walks of life. By the advocacy sites able to reach millions of people through social media is really assisting with the cause of advocating.
Identify how you might use these social media tools to educate and inspire others in your advocacy work.
The ways I would utilize social media to educate and inspire others in advocacy work are use the social media free site to create blogs, newsletters, and group pages to discuss the advocacy topic with the community. 

Ask your colleagues for their suggestions and/or their help with using social media as a tool to promote advocacy efforts.
Colleagues- please feel free to provide other suggestions with using social media as a tool to promote advocacy efforts. 

Advocacy Through Advertising

The ads for this blog assignment can be found on my main page.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iO6L8xfOgg ( link for the ad)

http://adcouncil.org/Our-Campaigns/Family-Community/Caregiver-Assistance (link for the ad)


Th ad "Help A Student, "Help A Tribe" discuss how it is important for Native American to attend college. When Native American receives higher education they would be able to education, and provide resources to the reservations.

The Caregiver- Assistance ad is all too real for me. More and more Americans are the caregivers for their parents, as my parents are the caregivers for their parents. With my experience with being part of the caregiver, you have to be mentally and physically prepared for all the emotional stress, and the responsibilities of what being a caregiver is about. Also, when your role as a caregiver ends the caregiver will need assistance/therapy possibly to cope with the passing of a loved and the role as the caregiver has ended.

Having ads to promote collegiate education and caregiver assistance will start making society aware of what is need with to assistance with our children and families.

My Own Capacity

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  Which issues impacting young children and their families and/or the field of early childhood fuel your passion? 
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• The issues impacting young children and their families and/or the field of early childhood fuel my passion are the following:
• Be respected in the field of ECE by society( children and families and ECE professionals- we are not a babysitter), ECE salary/wages, and to continue in promote early childhood education.
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• What special skills do you have that will contribute to your advocacy efforts? How will you incorporate these skills into your work? 
• The special skill I have that will contribute to my advocacy efforts are my professional learning of early childhood, completing my Masters in ECE Studies, and the experience of being an Early Care Education Specialist. I will incorporate all my knowledge of education and professional work experience to my advocacy efforts in order to assistance children and families especially in my community.
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• In what ways do you hope to grow in order to be a more effective advocate? 
• The ways I hope to grow in order to be come effective advocate are studying the legislative aspect of current and new laws that could hinder early childhood education. I also would like to become a member of a nonprofit organization to advocate for early childhood education along with serving the children and families in the communities I resided in. 
  

My Role as an Advocate

What motivated you to start advocating for very young children? 
At a very young age, I volunteered at my church for Sunday school. From there, I developed the interest in wanting to work with children. I expanded on wanting to work with children in my young adult years. As I entered my collegiate years, I decided to major in education in order to understand how to represent children and families.  


Why is it essential to acknowledge and foster advocacy efforts at the micro as well as the macro level? In order to have effective advocacy efforts, we all must comprehend the "root" of advocacy, understanding the pro's vs the con's.

 
What does it take to be a community leader on early childhood issues?
 To me, an community leader must be informed of all early childhood issues at all times. Being knowledgeable with issues in the field will demonstrate to families the community leader knows exactly what is going on.

 What resources does it take to be a state leader on early childhood issues? The resources it takes to be a state leader on ECE issues is to be informed and communicate with the state  CCRR's, the ECE state agencgies, and the state ECE associations. When effective communication are in correspondence with the state leader(s) and state agencies the outcome will demonstrate the results.
 


What tactics or strategies do you use to mobilize others? The tactics/strategies I used to mobilize others is to be involved in effective communication and the art of listening. When we listen to each other we learn a lot therefore listening along with effective communication will give me the opportunity to inform others about ECE.

 
What advice would you give to someone who was interested in taking a leadership role in advocating for young children and their families?
As I reflect on why I have an interest in an leadership role in advocating for young children and families the advice I would give is that the person would have to be a dedicated hard worker, and never give up. I started being active in my community at the young age of 8 yrs old due to my grandmother's involvement in the community. My grandmother was an community leader and activist. Her countless efforts to educate and inform all children and families in the community was priceless.
 After having time to ponder and reflect since the passing of my grandmother, I am grateful to be groomed into a leadership role because my past has definitely prepared me for the present which will now assist me for my future.   

Personal Advocacy Reflection

One day, my friend and I were having lunch together. The family sitting behind us were discussion where to enroll the new baby into child care programs. My daughter kept asking to see the baby so the mother heard my daughter, and told me she can come to the table and say hello. By my daughter being so persistent, this lead me to have the conversations about child care resources and referral agencies. I engaged in small talk with the new mother. I told her how my daughter was born premature and the mother said so was her son. The mother explained she was seeking a child care program but was nervous due to the fact her son was a premature baby. I discussed with the mother about the CCRR'S on how they can assist her with seeking a child care program that will fix her son's needs. I also informed the mother to contact SSI and the health department to see if her son qualifies for any services/ resources programs that can educate the parents on premature babies such as their weight, eye sight, hearing etc. The mother was overwhelmed with all the information I had given her, we exchanged contact information. 
Just to see the look on her face with all the information her or her family was not aware of was priceless. We are all unique individuals but when we work together it is a beautiful color of people. 

Advocacy Action Overview

Tools for Policy Makers: 1/10/15


For this week assignment, I am learning the key elements of characteristics of advocating for  early childhood education. I would like to make more of a effort in learning how to advocate at the local,  state, federal levels for ECE field. I know each system has a process and I want to utilize all tools for advocating to the best of my abilities for ECE providers, professionals, and most of all the children.

Thanks,
Brittney E.