The Advocacy Network’s Reception for Reflection

Last week, we held the an inspiring Reception for Reflection event celebrating the second cohort of Strategies for Children’s Advocacy Network.

We want to thank our advocates for sharing their stories. And we want to thank our special guest Massachusetts Secretary of Education Patrick Tutwiler for participating and sharing his thoughts.

Here is some of what the second cohort advocates said.

Jayd Rodrigues: “This group is instrumental to my learning opportunities. We were able to come together to learn more about what we do. Even though we might have different titles, there were a lot of common interests in what we discovered about each other. We all care passionately and deeply for the work that we do alongside the folks that we work with.”

Shauna Trick: “Something that I learned through this is that you need to know who you can turn to, and it might be someone you already know, but to step outside of your comfort zone and ask different questions and build that relationship to a different capacity.”

Nola Glatzel: “I joined the Advocacy Network and started to do more advocacy work because as I became a family child care provider and came to know the system we work within, I experienced firsthand the ways our current system let down early educators, parents and children.

“It became clear to me that there was a gap between the amount that families can pay for child care and the true cost of child care… I wanted to take actions to improve the quality of care for children and the accessibility of care for parents and guardians and also the feasibility of working in this field for the teachers of our youngest children, myself included.”

Adrienne Armstrong: “The fact is that the Advocacy Network has pushed me to be more present and more intentional. From the community level up to the state level. That’s been inspiring. I think a lot of us can attest to not realizing how much we can contribute and at what level we can truly get involved in.”

To hear more, please watch the video posted above. The event’s slides, program, and Zoom background are all available here.

Congratulations to all the advocates in the second cohort!