McCormick Institute for Early Childhood

BY Jane Humphries, Aim4Excellence Specialist | April 22, 2019

A woman wearing glasses and a suit is smiling in front of a flag.

Sim Loh is a family partnership coordinator at Children’s Village, a nationally-accredited Keystone 4 STARS early learning and school-age enrichment program in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, serving about 350 children. She supports children and families, including non-English speaking families of immigrant status, by ensuring equitable access to education, health, employment, and legal information and resources on a day-to-day basis. She is a member of the Children First Racial Equity Early Childhood Education Provider Council, a community member representative of Philadelphia School District Multilingual Advisory Council, and a board member of Historic Philadelphia.


Sim explains, “I ensure families know their rights and educate them on ways to speak up for themselves and request for interpretation/translation services. I share families’ stories and experiences with legislators and decision-makers so that their needs are understood. Attending Leadership Connections will help me strengthen and grow my skills in all domains by interacting with and hearing from experienced leaders in different positions. With newly acquired skills, I seek to learn about the systems level while paying close attention to the accessibility and barriers of different systems and resources and their impacts on young children and their families.”

This document may be printed, photocopied, and disseminated freely with attribution. All content is the property of the McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership.

For many in early childhood leadership positions, recruitment is and has always been one of the greatest challenges! However, know that it is possible to take charge of the recruitment process and cushion the impact of turnover on everyone involved in your program. To do this, you need to intentionally choose a different model for your employment practices. This new paradigm reflects a shift from recruitment as an isolated event to recruitment as an ongoing continuous process of community outreach and engagement.


Choosing a new paradigm is not like choosing to wear a new brand of shoes versus the ones that have always been most comfortable to you. Choosing a new paradigm is a new mental model that requires the practice of self-awareness. As an early childhood leader, you need to pay close attention to the assumptions, values, and beliefs that influence your behavior. Consider these two questions as they relate to you:


  1. What are the assumptions, values, and beliefs associated with a view of recruitment as an isolated event?
  2. What are the assumptions, values, and beliefs associated with a view of recruitment as a continuous process?


If you think about recruitment as an isolated event, you are also likely to think of your organization as static—frozen in time like a snapshot that captures your image at one particular moment. Just as you want to be at your best when posing for the camera, you want your early childhood program to always be at its best. Close your eyes for a moment and think about your program “being at its best” when staffed. Waves of images of being fully staffed may have immediately entered your thoughts! Perhaps you took it a step further and thought not only about being fully staffed but also with highly qualified, degreed teachers, all of whom have taught in your program for more than five years. Looking through this still-camera lens, the picture is clear. This picture is then framed, placed on the wall and represents ‘being at its best’ with stable, near-permanent staff, with little need for honing your recruitment practices.


If you think about recruitment as an ongoing, continuous process, you are also more likely to think of your organization as a living, growing, and always changing entity. This shift in viewing of your program captures it as a dynamic social system in which all the component parts (the people, structures, culture, processes, external environment, and outcomes) as all inter-dependent. This mental model of your program is now best captured by a streaming video rather than just a framed photograph on the wall.


From the streaming video perspective, close your eyes and think about your program as a dynamic social system. What does “being at its best” mean now? You may have thought about the staff facilitating children’s learning and development or responding sensitively to the needs of families. Or you may have thought about the staff working together as a team, supported by a positive organizational culture and work environment. Watching this streaming video on your computer or phone allows you to visualize your program in motion—staff interacting with others and the environment to include staff both responding to and influencing the organizational culture. With this new mental model, perhaps you can begin to see that it is neither possible nor desirable for staff to remain permanently in place, no matter how well-qualified they are. To truly embrace the idea of recruitment as a continuous process you must change the way you conceive a high-quality program being “at its best.”


At its best, an early care and education program is always anticipating change, both from within and without. A high-performing early childhood program has systems in place to fill vacancies quickly as they occur because it implements a model of continuous recruitment, selects the best candidate based on right-fit criteria, and orients new staff right from the start so they are more likely to commit to the organization for a considerable length of time.


One resource to explore these concepts and ideas of enhancing leadership’s influence is the McCormick Center’s online module, Recruiting, Selecting and Orienting Staff, which is based on Kay Albrecht’s, The Right Fit (2002). This module is part of our online national director credential, Aim4Excellence™. You can learn more about the credential on our website, or directly by accessing the Recruiting, Selecting and Orienting Staff module here.


REFERENCES:


Albrecht, K. (2002). The Right Fit. Lake Forest, IL: New Horizons.

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Building Community Partnerships for Lasting Impact

By Cara Murdoch and Sherry Rocha • December 12, 2025
By Cara Murdoch and Sherry Rocha Community collaborations can strengthen your early childhood program, expand services for families, and increase your visibility and credibility as a trusted resource in the community. But effective partnerships don’t begin with a phone call—they start with a plan. Start with internal planning Before reaching out to community members or organizations, gather insights from your internal team. Hold a brief planning meeting to discuss goals, identify needs, and build a shared vision for collaboration. Consider including: Members of your board of directors or advisory board Program staff members Interested family members and parents of enrolled children. REVISIT your mission and goals A clear, shared understanding of your program’s purpose will guide effective partnerships. Before reaching out to community members or organizations, gather insights from your internal team. Hold a brief planning meeting to discuss goals, identify needs, and build a shared vision for collaboration. Consider including: What is your mission? What strengths and expertise do we bring to the community? What challenges do our enrolled families face? What support or resources would be most helpful? What can we offer potential partners in return? Clarity about these questions will ensure that your outreach to community members and organizations is focused and meaningful. Learn about local resources Begin exploring the services and organizations that exist in your community. These may become valuable referral partners or direct collaborators. Examples include: Early intervention services Family support agencies Mental health providers Multilingual tax-preparation volunteers Knowing these resources helps you connect families with the help they need. share your space and services Your early childhood center may be a valuable asset for other groups. Consider offering your space to other programs or groups to strengthen your role as a community hub. Possibilities include: Scouting America or Girl Scout meetings Parenting workshops or support groups Health screenings or nutrition programs Community committee meetings participate in community events Raising visibility in your community opens doors to partnership. Become involved in: Neighborhood clean-up days Local fairs or festivals Library literacy events Cultural celebrations School district events These types of interactions naturally build trust and relationships. build and expand your network Partnerships often begin with small conversations or shared goals. Stay curious and connected—the more people you meet, the more opportunities arise. Potential collaborators include: Museums Public libraries Human services departments Colleges and universities Local schools Cooperative Extension services Hospitals and clinics Banks and financial advisors Mental health agencies Early intervention programs Remember: partnerships are mutually beneficial Successful collaborations are built on: Clear communication Shared goals Appreciation for each other’s strengths A commitment to supporting families and the community Whether the support you receive is financial, advisory, or educational, strong partnerships help everyone thrive. A final thought Community partnerships don’t happen overnight. With the proper planning, your early childhood program can become a powerful and connected resource in your neighborhood. Start small, stay open to ideas, and let relationships grow.
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