This blog post is part of our regional spotlight series where we’ll highlight key local partnerships and introduce our communities to our amazing teams that work in all ten economic regions of New York State.
Regional Partnerships that Support QUALITYstarsNY Participants
Monroe County Library
Monroe County Library holds regular events for children and families in Monroe County. They have a toy library for rentals, host events like Raising a Reader, Talking is Teaching & Too Small to Fail, and a sensory-friendly space. Tonia Burton, the library’s Children’s Services Consultant, meets with QUALITYstarsNY’s Finger Lakes Quality Improvement Specialist (QI Specialist) team to collaborate and ensure she is connecting quality education within our Quality Standards.
Their connection with Tonia Burton is the driving force behind this partnership. Tonia allows our QI Specialists to use her space to host our providers and show them the toy library, a great example of a high-quality learning environment. The library was 1 of 5 programs recently awarded the “Literacy Without Limits: Empowering Family Childcare Providers” grant from The Community Foundations, in collaboration with QUALITYstarsNY. They are very supportive of all of the events our Finger Lakes team holds, often providing giveaways and books for our participants, and when they host community-wide events, our QI Specialists make sure to promote them to their programs. Monroe County Library provides programs with the opportunity to come to the library for a field trip, and Tonia will create book lists for programs based on their needs. She also gathers the books and has them ready for providers to pick up. Keep an eye out: the Library is taking Raising a Reader on the road for programs across the county.
QI Specialist Rachel Zielinski works with Armett’s Care & Share Family Daycare, a program that participates in the field trip opportunity to visit the Central Library each year in August. The children enjoy the visit to the library, exploring its many features. Not only do these field trips teach the children how to navigate public transportation, but they also allow them to engage with others within the community.
Armett appreciates the opportunity to introduce the children to all the library system has to offer. Each child can invite a family member and can sign up for a library card. This allows children to expand their learning opportunities while bonding with family. Going on these trips with their peers and trusted caregivers allows children with anxiety to have background knowledge and build their confidence in social settings.
Get to Know QUALITYstarsNY’s Finger Lakes Team
Sara Brydges
Sara began her career 23 years ago as a caregiver in a child care center while working toward obtaining a Master’s degree in Early Childhood Education. She started as a UPK teacher and has gone on to hold several roles in Head Start which include Center Director, Area Manager, Program Director, and Program Manager/Education Supervisor.
Amanda Gould
Amanda Gould has been an active member of the education field since 2004. Prior to joining QUALITYstarsNY, she spent five years as the Executive Director of Childcare at the Cayuga Community College Childcare Center; a National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) Accredited and QUALITYstarsNY program. Prior to that position, she was a Universal Pre-Kindergarten teacher at a Montessori school, stayed home to care for her children, and was actively involved in Public Schools.
Meghan Pearce
Meghan has worked in early childhood education for the last ten years at a Migrant and Seasonal Head Start program. There she held many positions such as preschool teacher, Education Disabilities Assistant, Education Disabilities Coordinator and most recently Center Director.
Kristen Torkelsen
Kristen Torkelsen joined QUALITYstarsNY with over 20 years of experience in early childhood education. Over the years, Kristen has dedicated her professional career to improving early childhood practices and ensuring equity in early childhood programs. Her career has included working as a Referral and Special Needs Specialist at a local CCR&R, providing support for providers, children, and their families.
Rachel Zielinski
Rachel Zielinski has been active in the field of early childhood education for about fifteen years, focusing on training and supporting staff professional development in the areas of child growth and development, early childhood environments and curriculum, and family and community relationships. In her career, she has worked as a classroom teacher, education specialist, and education/disabilities coordinator at one of the highest performing Early Head Start/Head Start programs in the country, and was responsible for the majority of the training for the program.
Q&A with the Finger Lakes Team
What makes it unique to be a QI Specialist in your region, or what do you like most about being a QIS supporting your region?
Our team meets every Friday to discuss events, address issues, network, share ideas, and work through problems together. We also meet in person once a month for lunch. We send out yearly needs assessments to our programs so we can tailor our Learning Communities to their needs. As a team, we send out a monthly newsletter and share any upcoming events within the community. We have the best Regional Quality Improvement Coordinator who supports us every step of the way. We offer training for our providers every day of the week. Not to mention our matching team apparel!
What makes your local ECE community unique?
We have many resources in our region that we work closely with to help support our programs. We work with Children’s Institute, PBS Kids, and the Monroe County Library. Wayne County Partnership has an Early Childhood Workgroup that connects the ECE community and provides an Early Childhood Summit yearly.
Tell us about your QI Specialist regional team and any ways you partner together to support the programs in your communities.
We create a yearly needs assessment for both Center Directors and GFCC centers. We host a monthly Learning Community on Zoom for both modalities. We also host two in-person events every year and celebrate Provider Appreciation Day. We also provide our programs with a list of resources and monthly offerings within our community via our partners. We have started a Provider Spotlight to highlight the accomplishments of our programs.
Are there any particular challenges ECE educators/providers face in your region? If so, are there any supports you try to make available to support them?
One of the biggest challenges at present is the uncertainty and quickly changing landscape for those working in ECE. There are a lot of unknowns and new info coming in all the time – Universal Childcare, Universal PreK, federal funding cuts, changes in the availability of DDS funding, and more. Some recent local examples of this are the loss of 6 million dollars in federal funding for Wayne Community Schools and the resignation of the CEO of the Child Care Council. There is a news article every day about something new, but no clear answers yet as to how these changes in funding, policy, and staffing will impact early childhood educators or what steps they need to take. This sense of uncertainty is exacerbated by the fact that there is no one central place to get resources or answers.
The Finger Lakes team attempts to address this challenge in a variety of ways. First and foremost, the Quality Improvement Specialists meet with program leaders regularly. The relationship that grows as a result of this regular contact, information, and support shared during these meetings provides a constant source of support amidst the changing landscape. We write a newsletter regularly and include all the information/resources we can for the region in one place. We conduct needs assessments with the programs we serve on a regular basis to identify training priorities and resources for our participants. We also work closely with a variety of community partners (CCRCs, Higher Ed, Pyramid Model, Wayne Community Schools, etc.). One of the newest collaborations is with Professional Early Education Pals (PEEPS) – a group whose purpose is to launch a community meeting space for early learning partners to connect, share, and grow together so that we can provide more streamlined support to EC educators.
Staffing Shortages is also a big challenge- Quality Improvement Specialists help programs address this issue through discussion and goal setting around budget, marketing, orientation, work environment culture and other factors that impact retention. We connect those who want to further their education with Kristen Rogers, our local Career Development Center representative.
