Early Childhood Leadership Academy
Joint venture started by United Way and CDM

United Way and Creative Discovery Museum are partnering to improve early childhood education in Hamilton County.

The two organizations began working together in 2007 when they created a joint position working with early childhood education programs and hired Lu Lewis to fill this position.

Now that partnership has led to the creation of the Early Childhood Leadership Academy. This new leadership development program provides professional and leadership training for 22 directors of childcare programs in Hamilton County. Funding has been provided by the Community Foundation of Greater Chattanooga.

“There is a growing body of evidence that quality early childhood education has positive and long-term effects on children’s cognitive and social-emotional development and academic achievement,” said Lu Lewis, who will direct the Early Childhood Leadership Academy. “The quality of an early childhood program is very dependent on the leader of that program. By providing opportunities for directors to learn how to be the educational leaders that child care centers need, we can improve the quality of early childhood education in Hamilton County.”

The 22 childcare directors participating in the Academy were selected to represent a diverse cross section of childcare centers in Hamilton County, including centers of varying sizes as well as non-profit, for profit, and church-operated centers.

The Academy curriculum consists of monthly day-long programs from April through November at Creative Discovery Museum. In addition to day-long programs, the Academy includes an overnight trip to Vanderbilt University, where they will visit exemplary early childhood education sites and meet with early childhood experts and community leaders.

During the program, participants will:

• Study best practices in early childhood education and visit exemplary sites where best practices are demonstrated
• Increase their personal leadership skills
• Assess their own centers’ needs and plan with CDM staff for use of outreach lessons
• Design and implement a leadership project to examine their own programs’ quality and develop plans for leading their staff in the implementation of best practices

“Research tells us that prevention is the most efficient way to tackle expanding social needs, and that's why partnerships with organizations like Creative Discovery Museum and projects like the Early Childhood Learning Academy are so important,” said Eva Dillard, President and CEO of United Way of Greater Chattanooga. “If we can help preschool caregivers become stronger in the practice of their profession, then they can better prepare children to be successful in school. These children can then become successful, productive adults. Successful children lead to a well-educated workforce and economic stability. It’s really about shoring up our community's foundation for the future and creating real and lasting change.”

“We are very excited to be partnering with United Way on this project.  It has been very helpful to have one person working in both organizations and developing ways that we can collaborate and use our resources to most effectively benefit early childhood education in our community.  We hope this program can serve as a national model of how children’s museums and United Way can work together,” said Henry Schulson, Executive Director of Creative Discovery Museum.

The early childhood educators selected to participate in the Academy are:
Debbie Aldridge, St. John UM Preschool
Yolanda Besley, Cradle to Crayon II
Tonia Bowling, First Centenary Children's Enrichment Center
Makeesha Burriss, Rainbow Daycare
Kathy Campbell, Lookout Valley Elementary
Gail Clingam, Hixson Learning Center
Cathy Creed, Brainerd Baptist
Jacqueline Fluellen, Canaan Land Village Academy
Vicki Headrick, Chattanooga State CDC
Cindy Knox Hornsby, UTC Children's Center
Penny Horton, Shiney Penny
Tracie Lane, Home Away Home
Susan Leamon, Ridgedale Baptist Child Development Center
Dollie Montgomery, Kid's World
Yolanda Mayotte, Children's Home/Chambliss Shelter (a United Way-funded program that manages four other UW-funded child care programs)
Sandra Nicholson, EDU Care
Darlene  Nichols, Tree of Knowledge
Delane Ogden, Dogwood Cottage
Maurice & Pat Taslimi, Best Beginnings Early Learning School/Lilyland
Anneda Woodall, House of Hugs
Maria Watley, Love me Tender
Carey Wise, Tot Block at Normal Park

For more information about the early childhood learning academy and preschool education, call Lu Lewis at United Way at 752-0323 or at the Creative Discovery Museum at 756-2738.

United Way of Greater Chattanooga funds local programs that create opportunities for people to care for themselves and each other, making our community the best at helping people achieve their potential. Thanks to an endowment fund that covers all overhead and administrative expenses, all contributions (100 percent) go directly to services in greater Chattanooga, north Georgia and northeast Alabama.

Creative Discovery Museum is recognized as one of the top children’s museums in the nation. It is a non-profit educational organization dedicated to educational enrichment for children ages 4-months to 12-years-old through interactive, hands-on experiences that foster creative and critical thinking. Creative Discovery Museum is a funded agency of Allied Arts and Tennessee Arts Commission.

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