Profiles in Leadership
Periodically in this e-newsletter, we profile Gateways’ leaders to acquaint you
with their work and to illustrate through their experiences the range of career
options and paths available in early care and education.
This issue of Inside Gateways profiles two individuals who work for advocacy
and public policy organizations in Illinois.
Joyce Weiner
 Joyce Weiner is a Policy Associate for the
Ounce of Prevention Fund in Chicago. Her formal education prepared her
for a career in public policy. Joyce’s undergraduate degree from the University
of Kansas was in social work with a focus on child welfare issues, and her
graduate degree from the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service
Administration emphasized public policy. But Joyce’s interest in child and
family policy systems can also be traced to an elementary school experience.
On a school field trip to a historical fort in her home state of Minnesota,
Joyce “buddied-up” with a friend who was an Ojibwa Native American. The docent
who guided the class praised a renowned general who had fought against the
native people as the land was being settled by Europeans and who had also
served as an early leader and politician in Minnesota. Following the docent’s
remarks about the general, Joyce’s friend said that her family told very
different stories about the general based on atrocities committed against the
Native Americans in the state. This experience helped Joyce recognize that
there are varied perspectives and multiple truths in our society and history.
That realization piqued her interest in hearing people’s stories and set Joyce
on her current path of wanting to create public systems that can meet the needs
of children and families.
Years later, while working for the Evanston 4-Cs (Community Coordinated Child
Care)—known today as the Evanston Child Care Network—Joyce developed a deeply
rooted appreciation for the impact of the early years on children’s future
social-emotional and cognitive success. It was there that she first had the
opportunity to observe high-quality birth-to-3 and preschool programs and
become aware of the value of supporting nurturing parent-child interactions,
professional development, and staff mentoring. Joyce’s experiences at the
Evanston 4-Cs influenced the rest of her career path and eventually led her
back to early education and systems-building work with the Ounce of Prevention
after many years in child abuse prevention.
After her children were born, Joyce spent much of her career in the field of
child abuse prevention. She worked as a trainer for Parental Stress Services
with area schools, community-based and governmental organizations, hospitals,
and the Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) program. She also investigated
DCFS child abuse hotline calls for Catholic Charities and served as an evening
and weekend social worker in the Children’s Memorial Hospital emergency room.
Joyce’s experience in child abuse prevention provided a good overview of how
various organizational systems and policies affect children and their families.
However, she recognized that very often even productive interventions provide
only temporary solutions to real crises in children’s and families’ lives.
After nearly 20 years in child abuse prevention, Joyce became interested in
refocusing on the early childhood years and in helping to build systems that
could enhance those critical years.
In the summer of 2005, Joyce joined the public policy and advocacy division of
the Ounce of Prevention’s Kids PEPP (Public Education and Policy Project). In
this position, she works with others on developing policies and programs that
can give children in Illinois access to high-quality early care and learning
opportunities. Joyce works on a variety of projects. She staffs the Workforce
Development Committee of the
Early Learning Council (ELC) as well as two related joint work groups:
Cultural and Linguistic Diversity/Workforce Development and Infant &
Toddler/Workforce Development. Joyce supervises the Kids PEPP student intern
program, through which she is able to influence the professional direction of
others who share her commitment to improving the lives of families in Illinois
through public policy grounded in what is best for children. She also sits on
the Professional
Development Advisory Council (PDAC) Steering Committee and serves with
Peggy Patten as co-chair of the PDAC Access & Outreach Committee.
Renee Deberry
Renee Deberry is the Director of Provider Resources at
Illinois Action for Children in Chicago. Renee works with a staff of 16
to administer services that fall within the core programming for the Cook
County Child Care Resource and Referral Agency, which is part of Illinois
Action for Children.
Renee’s interest in the field of early care and education can be traced to her
college years, when she wanted to be a preschool teacher. Renee decided to
study child development at Malcolm X College in Chicago because they had a
child care program through which students could get practical experience
working with children. However, during her college years, Renee developed other
interests and graduated with a BA degree in marketing communications. Upon
graduation, Renee worked on public relations, marketing, and fund-raising for
Junior Achievement, a nonprofit organization that helps to prepare young people
to succeed in a global economy. That position reawakened Renee’s interest in
working more directly with children and youth. She went back to school and
received a master’s degree in elementary education with teaching certification
from Loyola University Chicago. While completing her graduate study, Renee
worked part time at the Boys and Girls Club, an after-school program in
Chicago. When she completed her graduate program, Renee became the director of
an after-school faith-based program located at the Ebenezer Lutheran Church
called After Three Connections. That position put Renee in touch with the MOST (Making the Most of Out of School Time) initiative
at Illinois Action for Children.
In the 11 years since she has been at Illinois Action for Children, Renee has
held a number of positions and worked on various initiatives. “I work on the
program side, aligning our work with public policy,” says Renee. “I see myself
as an advocate, but not promoting a particular legislative agenda. I try to
instill in my staff the public policy agenda related to our work, because it
affects our ability to provide more enhanced services to the providers, youth,
and families we serve.”
Renee acknowledges the value in educating providers about the policy issues that
affect their work and lives. “We make sure we are abreast of what is happening
on the policy side so we can give providers current information, the language
to use, and a comprehensive vision of what quality means so they can become
effective advocates.”
Keeping track of the “big picture” in early care and education in Illinois is
part of Renee’s day-to-day work. Occasionally she travels to national
conferences to learn more about national issues affecting early care and
education and to share Illinois experiences. Renee had an opportunity to do
just that when she held a workshop on the state’s new Quality Rating System (QRS) at the recent NACCRRA
(National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies) Conference
in Washington, DC. “My workshop was packed with participants even though there
had been other sessions on QRS and despite the lateness of the hour—we were the
last session on a Friday. Everyone wanted to know what Illinois was doing in
this area. There was an amazing energy level.”
Renee finds that meeting with others around the country helps to put our work in
Illinois in a new light. “I’m very positive about our work in school-age and
youth programming, the development of the
Illinois School-Age Youth Credential (I-SAY), and the related work
around professional development for staff who work with youth. Services
transitioning youth from school-age to youth programs have traditionally been
lacking for youth 12, 13, or 14 years of age, a critical time for youth
development,” says Renee. “We are fortunate in Illinois to have the Gateways
system around which to build school-age and youth professional development
work. That is not the case elsewhere.”
Renee also sits on the
Professional Development Advisory Council (PDAC) and serves with Kathy
Kloppenburg as co-chair of the I-SAY Qualifications & Credentials
Committee.
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