Momentum Builds for Early Childhood in Oregon, Federally: An Interview with Miriam Calderon

by Rafael Otto | Apr 29, 2021 | Podcast, Federal Policy, Oregon Policy

On this episode of The Early Link Podcast, host Rafael Otto talks with Miriam Calderon, the Early Learning System director at the Early Learning Division in Oregon’s Department of Education. Miriam has been a long time advocate for early childhood and is leaving Oregon for a new position in the Biden-Harris administration.

Guest:

Miriam Calderon has been the Early Learning System director overseeing the Early Learning Division in Oregon for the last 4 years. Previously, Calderon has worked on policy at the BUILD initiative and served as a political appointee in the Obama administration. She also served as the director of Early Childhood Education at DC Public Schools, where she oversaw Head Start and pre-kindergarten programs, including helping to implement universal pre-kindergarten in DC.

Summary:

Miriam discusses her role as Early Learning System director and the vision she has for Oregon’s early childhood system. She also shares the negative impact of undervaluing childcare providers and describes the tension that exists between access versus quality, when trying to solve problems in the early childhood field. Looking forward, Miriam explains how we can continue to build the early childhood education system to support children and their families, and the importance of making big, institutional changes over small, program adjustments. Finally, Miriam shares what she is hoping to accomplish at the federal level in her new role in the Biden-Harris administration.

Children's Institute · Momentum Builds for Early Childhood in Oregon, Federally: An Interview with Miriam Calderon

Transcript

Rafael Otto: [00:00:03] This is the Early Link Podcast. I’m Rafael Otto. As usual, you can catch us on the airwaves on 99.1 FM in Portland on Sundays at 4:30 PM or subscribe and listen, wherever you find your podcasts. Today, I’m talking with Miriam Calderon, who is the Early Learning System Director at the Early Learning Division in Oregon’s Department of Education and has been in that role since 2017. She has been a long time advocate for Early Childhood and has worked on policy at the BUILD initiative and in the Obama administration.
And soon she will be leaving Oregon for an exciting new role in the Biden-Harris administration. Miriam, you’ve been on the podcast before, welcome back. It’s great to have you here. How are you today?

Miriam Calderon: [00:00:45] Thank you, Rafael. I’m really happy to be back. I’m doing okay. It’s my last week at the Early Learning Division, my last week in this role, coming off of my last all staff meeting saying goodbye to many colleagues at ELD. So…

Rafael Otto: [00:00:59] A big week

Miriam Calderon: [00:01:01] It’s emotional. But yeah, a big week.

Rafael Otto: [00:01:03] And you don’t have any time, really. You’re starting.. you’re moving into your new role right away next week.

Miriam Calderon: [00:01:07] Yeah. Start Monday.

Rafael Otto: [00:01:09] Well, I appreciate you carving out some time in your schedule to talk with me today. It’s great to have you back on here. One of the questions that I wanted to ask you is just to kind of look back, if you think about the last four years, and thinking about the development of the Early Learning system in Oregon, and how has that changed and evolved since you started?

Miriam Calderon: [00:01:32] Yeah, that’s a great question, a big question. Um, I guess, I think back to when I was considering whether to take on this role of Early Learning System Director, I was really trying to figure out what was needed at the time from a leader. I consider these positions to be really important.

It’s an honor and a privilege to sit in the seat, to have this responsibility. It’s really important that you’re the right match at the right time. I think it’s about also timing. And, it’s not about, kind of, me necessarily having a job, right? I can go work at many places. It’s what I can contribute.. um, really the right fit for what’s needed kind of at this moment.

So I talked to a lot of folks, folks inside the governor’s office, the Early Learning Council, our chair at the time, particularly Sue Miller – spent a lot of time with her – folks inside the division, advocates… And I had a lot of the same questions, like “What’s the ideal candidate look like?” “What are you looking for in the next Early Learning System Director to bring?

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Oregon Legislature Announces Members of a Child Care Task Force

by Melissa Duclos | Jan 24, 2020 | Child Care, Oregon Policy, Announcements

Children’s Institute President & CEO Swati Adarkar will serve on a legislative task force charged with evaluating Oregon’s current child care system and proposing solutions that will ensure all families have access to stable, quality child care that meets their needs by 2025. The Joint Task Force on Access to Quality Affordable Child Care, formed following last year’s passage of HB 2346, includes state lawmakers, early care and education providers, early childhood and family advocates, business leaders, and parents.

Senator Tim Knopp
Senator Kathleen Taylor
Representative Cedric Hayden
Representative Karin Power
Swati Adarkar, President & CEO, Children’s Institute
Miriam Calderon, Early Learning System Director, Early Learning Division
Brenda Comini, Early Learning Hub Director, Better Together Central Oregon
Josie Emmrich, Owner & Lead Teacher, Loving Beginnings Preschool and Child Care
Regan Gray, Child Care Policy Advisor, Family Forward
Dan Haun, Self-Sufficiency Program Director, Oregon Dept. of Human Services
Ron Herndon, Director, Albina Head Start
Natalie Jackson, Child Care Director, SEIU503
Jenny Lee, Advocacy Director, APANO
Yolanda Morales, Parent, Eastern Oregon Child Care Resource & Referral
Marie Simonds, Program Manager, Wild Rivers Coast Alliance
Elanna Yalow, Chief Academic Officer, KinderCare

The child care task force was approved last year in response to Oregon’s growing child care crisis: the entire state has been designated a child care desert for kids ages 0–2 and the median price of full-time care for an infant is more than a year of public college tuition.

HB 2346 also directs Oregon’s Early Learning Division to examine our child care system. The ELD recently released the first of three reports, “The State of Early Care & Education and Child Care Assistance in Oregon.”

Highlights from the South Coast: Working Together for Kids and Families

by Melissa Duclos | May 22, 2018 | Community Engagement, Featured Programs, School Readiness

CI staff and others visit the Lincoln School of Early Learning in Coquille, Oregon.

On May 3 and 4, Miriam Calderon (director, Oregon Early Learning System), Martha Richards (executive director, James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation), and Ericka Guynes (principal, Earl Boyles Elementary School) joined Children’s Institute staff to visit early learning sites in Coos Bay and Coquille.

Our first stop, the Southwestern Oregon Community College (SWOCC) Family Center operates a preschool and serves as an incubator for regional early childhood programs and services. According to professor Maidie Rosengarden, “The SOCC Family Center is a rare place. There aren’t any other community colleges that operate a preschool, train teachers on-site, and offer distance learning with mentorship from master teachers for early childhood educators.” In addition to providing early childhood education and training early childhood educators, the Family Center has also become a resource network for childcare providers. Danaye Gonzalez, Program Manager for CARE Connections Child Care Resource and Referral, told us about the Inclusive Child Care Program: “We brought together parents and providers to make sure children with disabilities and delays were meaningfully included in early education and childcare. Highlights from the South Coast: Working Together for Kids and Families Parents talked about their children and their experiences, and providers listened to better understand the needs of developmentally disabled young children and their families.” This training is necessary everywhere but is extremely important in a region experiencing a severe childcare crisis.

The South Coast, like many other parts of Oregon, is experiencing a critical shortage of preschool and childcare options for young children. The level of crisis has been a motivator for innovative thinking. In Coquille, Superintendent Tim Sweeney and his team made preschool a priority and created an early learning program in the district. Sweeney and Principal Sharon Nelson took us on a tour of the Lincoln Early Learning Center which houses four full-day kindergartens serving 80 students, two-half day preschool classes enrolling 50 3- and 4-year olds, and a Head Start class with 20 children. “If we give young kids meaningful opportunities to learn and grow, we’re setting them up for success throughout their lives,” Tim Sweeney says.

After visiting Lincoln, we met with 20 early childhood providers and partners from around the South Coast to learn about early childhood concerns in their communities. They told us about the key issues that could use more attention and what they were excited about. The group highlighted the severe lack of childcare for infants and toddlers, the need for better wages for childcare and early education providers, and the housing crisis gripping their communities as concerns that need to be addressed so young children and their families can have stability. For South Coast Early Learning Hub Director Heather Baumer, the challenges have driven the region to be more strategic. “The silos are starting to come down and we all have a ‘can do’ attitude. We’re seeing more collaboration between early childhood and K–12; people are starting to see the connections. It’s exciting,” she said.

All over the state, families are grappling with the lack of safe and affordable childcare, few high-quality preschool options, and rising housing costs. These factors are exacerbated in rural Oregon where public transportation can be inconsistent and incomes stagnant. With 47 percent of children born in Oregon relying on Medicaid for healthcare coverage and nearly 129,000 kids ages birth to 5 living at 200 percent or below of the Federal Poverty (FPL), Oregon needs an early care and education system that fosters healthy parent-child relationships, supports access to affordable, quality childcare, and provides high-quality early learning experiences. Highlights from the South Coast: Working Together for Kids and Families

Oregon’s young children need to be a priority. The families, teachers, and providers of the South Coast know there is no time to waste.

A Vision for Early Learning in Oregon with Miriam Calderon

by Rafael Otto | Feb 14, 2018 | Instructional Alignment, Oregon Policy, Parents and Families, Podcast, Preschool Landscape, School Readiness

Miriam Calderon is the early learning system director of the Early Learning Division in the Oregon Department of Education. Before returning to Oregon in 2017 to lead the division, she helped build a birth-to-three system and universal preschool for the District of Columbia. She was also a senior fellow with the BUILD Initiative leading work pertaining to dual language learners and universal preschool, and served as a political appointee in the Obama administration.