Trying Together’s executive director discussed the Your Career, Our Future campaign alongside the Early Excellence Project on Yinz are Good’s latest podcast.

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Cara Ciminillo, Trying Together’s executive director, joined Dr. DaVonna Shannon, director of research and impact for the Early Excellence Project, to discuss the initiative with Yinz are Good host Tressa Glover. The Early Excellence Project champions Black and Brown child care providers by fostering equality, equity, and accessibility in early childhood education.

Ciminillo and Shannon discussed how the Your Career, Our Future campaign has collected stories from early educators and families in the Pittsburgh region with the intention that their shared experiences will inspire more people to answer the call to become early educators.

Making Educators the Centerpiece

The campaign centers around 15 educators and parents, who relay their positive experiences with the early childhood education field. Ciminillo cited several stories from the campaign. One educator entered the the profession at a young age and rose from being a classroom aide to an executive director. Another was a stay-at-home father who become a classroom educator due to his interest in understanding how his child was developing.

“We’re always trying to center the educator,” Ciminillo said. “They are exemplars of people coming into the field. We ask how we can help others to see themselves in these stories to draw other people to the field. You need to help people see what opportunities exist, so making provider stories the centerpiece is important.”

A Need for Investment

Ciminillo and Shannon said the campaign aims to combat an ongoing early educator shortage that has resulted in repercussions for businesses, the economy, and local communities.

“One of the pain points that we’ve heard frequently – it predated COVID and was exacerbated after COVID – is that child care programs are struggling with staffing,” Ciminillo said. “We are a field where wages are suppressed and the reason why is that families can’t pay more. Child care is expensive and it’s a regulated system; it’s based on a child-to-staff ratio. The public system has not invested enough to alleviate that problem.”

Ciminillo said that this lack of investment in early childhood education has resulted in low wages for teachers and, in turn, teachers leaving the profession as well as challenges in recruiting and retaining them.

“What happens is that providers subsidize (a lack of funding) with their own wages,” she said. “As a result, you’re not getting as much interest in going into the field as other fields that are higher income-generating.”

Ciminillo noted that many early childhood educators were making just over $9 per hour prior to COVID-19, but are now earning an average $15. However, she said wages will need to continue to rise due to the profession’s often challenging nature. She said the job’s primary focus is “brain building.”

Shannon added that part of the Your Career, Our Future campaign involves letting families know that early childhood education is not “babysitting.”

“Children are developing in these early childhood programs, which are very high-quality,” she said. “The message to employers is: If you don’t know how to invest in early childhood education, you will lose staff. People won’t be able to work if they can’t afford child care.”

To listen to the entire interview, “Episode 168: Trying Together & Early Excellence Project’s Your Career, Our Future Campaign,” visit the Yinz are Good podcast’s website.