Featured Chapter - As the first affiliate of NAEYC formed in Pennsylvania, DVAEYC leads off our featured chapter segment of the website.
Name: Delaware Valley AEYC
Contact Information: www.dvaeyc.org; 1608 Walnut St., Ste. 1400, Philadelphia, PA, 19103; phone 215-893-0130; Executive Director: Sharon Easterling; Membership Coordinator: Drisana Lashley
Geographic Area: The five counties of Southeastern PA – Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia
Number of Members: 2,000
Board Composition: Our board is comprised of early childhood education practitioners, higher education faculty, and community leaders who bring expertise in legal, financial, and marketing matters. The Board meets in September, January, March, and June.
Delco Social Participants
Board Members:
Gina Ameci, Shareholder, Buchanan-Ingersoll
Patricia Baxter, Educational Consultant
Cheryl Binswanger, Consultant, Huntsman Consulting
Pamela Blewitt, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, Villanova Universty
Joanne Bursich, Project Manager, Nonprofit Finance Fund
Sharla Feldscher, President, Sharla Feldscher Public Relations
Mary Graham, Executive Director, Children's Village
Pamula Hart, Ph.D., Principal, Myers Elementary School
Katherine Hylinski, Ph.D., Professor, Gwynedd-Mercy College
Edward Kozmor, Vice President of Media Relations, PNC Financial Services
Karen Kulp, President and CEO, Home Care Associates
Alice Lindenauer, Director of Workforce Development, SEI Investments
Matt Luchansky, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Novick Brothers Corporation
Maddy Malis, President and CEO, Federation Early Learning Services
Joan McCarthy, Director, Human Resources Communication, Comcast
Jacki Metzler, Director of Programs, Federation Early Learning Services
Hedra Packman, The Director fo Library Services Office, The Free Library of
Philadelphia
Jennifer Plumer Davis, Director, Pre-K Headstart, The School District of Philadelphia
Lynn R. Rauch, Attorney, Manko, Gold, Katcher & Fox, LLP
David Silbermann, Director, School District of Philadelphia
Kathleen Smith, Faculty, Community College of Philadelphia
Sharon Thompson, Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of Liberal Studies, Community College of Philadelphia
John Underwood, Principal, John F. McCloskey Elementary School
Marlene Weinstein, Director of Early Age Education, Middle States Commission on
Elementary Schools
Carol Wong, Director, Chinatown Learning Center
Committees: Development Steering Committee, Finance Committee, Public Relations Committee, and Program and Evaluation Committee
ad hoc committees: Human Resources, Conference, Technology
Annual Activities:
Quality Improvement: DVAEYC provides technical assistance to early childhood programs seeking to improve the quality of their services. Since 1995, DVAEYC has assisted over 150 child centers and family child care homes in reaching NAEYC and NAFCC accreditation standards. DVAEYC provides technical assistance for the Keystone STARS system to the five counties of Southeastern Pennsylvania (Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia). We support the professional development of staff through ongoing community based training and through individualized career advising for child care staff who seek to upgrade their education credentials.
Public Policy: DVAEYC works to expand Pennsylvania’s commitment to quality child care initiatives, which are critical to the healthy development of young children, particularly those at risk from the effects of poverty. We offer leadership and advocacy training for child care staff and engage in grassroots organizing to affect system change. Currently, the campaign is playing a major leadership role in PA QUEST – Quality Early Education through Salaries and Training.
Annual Conference: For more than 30 years, DVAEYC has sponsored a 2-day professional development conference for the early childhood education community in our region. Almost 4,000 participants joined us at the PA Convention Center for the 2009 Conference. April 8-10, 2010 we will partner with the Franklin Institute to “Delight in Discovery”.
DVAEYComputing Solutions: DVAEYC offers affordable technology services to child care programs to help them integrate technology into the curriculum in appropriate ways, utilize the Internet for teacher education and planning, and harness the power of technology for business purposes. DVAEYC also sponsors a GIS mapping project that identifies the location and general information about human service organizations through the region – www.Connect211.org
Membership Services: Membership benefits include: a bi-monthly newsletter, on-line job bank, discounts on educational supplies and DVAEYC services, access to our resource/video library and support for student chapters of the organization.