Erikson Institute Executive Fellows Service Day

Preschoolers at Metropolitan’s North Children’s Center and Midway Learning & Wellness Center recently welcomed a few new friends for the morning: members of Erikson Institute’s current cohort of McCormick Foundation Executive Fellows.

The McCormick Foundation Executive Fellowship Program, part of Erikson’s Early Childhood Leadership Academy, is designed to provide highly influential leaders from multiple sectors with a credible, up-to-date, and research-based understanding of child development. Equipped with this information, leaders can make the most informed decisions about policy setting and resource allocation in their respective fields.

Part of this understanding of child development comes from time volunteering in the field; during the program’s Service Day, the fellows visited 14 early care and education site locations across Chicago.

In Metropolitan’s second year as a host organization, Director of Early Learning Jennifer Alexander (a 2017 Fellow of Erikson’s Barbara Bowman Leadership program) and Program Supervisor Rhonda Freeman were on hand to capture photos:

Learning & Wellness Center

Avery Bourne (IL. State Rep. 95th District) and Shawn Jackson (President of Truman College)

North Children’s Center 

Andrea Buford (Circuit Court Judge) and Felice Hybert (Kankakee School District Asst. Supt. of Curriculum & Instruction)