Sixty early childhood program administrators enhance their skills at the United Way Center for Excellence in Early Education

Congratulations to the ECPAI class of 2011

The United Way Center for Excellence in Early Education recently celebrated the graduation of sixty early childhood directors and administrators from its Early Childhood Program Administrator’s Institute (ECPAI). Provided through a partnership with The Children’s Trust, The Early Childhood Initiative Foundation and Miami Dade College, ECPAI offers administrators from all across Miami-Dade County the opportunity to further their knowledge of current early childhood management philosophies, enhance their leadership skills and increase the level of quality in their early childhood programs.
 
Holly Elissa Bruno, an emotional intelligence expert, served as keynote speaker at the graduating ceremony, where graduates and their families and friends enjoyed dinner and a recognition program highlighting their accomplishments from the last year.
 
“These directors and administrators have had an amazing year of learning best practices in the field of early education, and we look forward to hearing about the positive impact they will have on early learners and their families as a result of their completion of the program,” Gladys Montes, vice president, United Way Center for Excellence in Early Education, said.
 
Since the Center launched the program four years ago, 311 directors and administrators have been trained through the ECPAI program, and they have reported many successes, including:

• Early childhood centers expanding their sites, and one center grew its operations to three sites.
• Directors and administrators sustaining their early childhood centers through the economic downturn.
• Numerous centers received Accredited Professional Preschool Learning Environment (APPLE) accreditation, and one center attained the prestigious National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) accreditation – only about eight percent of preschools and early childcare centers across the U.S. receive NAEYC accreditation.
• Some ECPAI graduates have enhanced their technology skills by taking part in United Way’s Comcast Technology Awareness Series, designed to provide early childhood educators with a proper understanding of technology to create more efficient, better managed, and intellectually stimulating environments for the children at their centers.