Congratulations to Early Childhood Inclusive Leader Award Winner Miriam Calderon!

Miriam Calderon 's personal story shares her path of dedication to our earliest learners, paving the way for their lifelong success. In addition to the Inclusive Leader Awards dinner, Miriam is participating throughout the 2 days of ECE programming at GlobalMindED including this panel:?Culturally Responsive Education in Early Childhood: Knowledge from Across Inclusive Audiences, Populations, Geographies, and Circumstances,?June 8th at 2:30.

Miriam Calderon 's story is one of determination, advocacy, and a passion for social justice. For over two decades, Miriam has advocated for young children and families, especially Latine, immigrant, and dual language learner children. Her work has been driven by a firm belief that our country can do better to create opportunities for all children, particularly in the earliest years of their lives, most critical to their development.?

Miriam’s uncompromising approach to advocacy was informed by her experiences growing up in an immigrant family. As a dual-language learner and the first in her family to graduate from college and obtain an advanced degree, Miriam experienced firsthand the challenges many families and children face in this country.

Miriam's early childhood work began with Head-Start , a project born out of the civil rights and farmworker movements, with the aim of empowering families and communities to support the development and learning of young children. Many of the policy issues that Head Start spearheaded continue to influence Miriam's work today, including bilingual education, greater economic security, wealth, and well-being for parents of young children—support for caregivers and early educators who are predominantly women of color and immigrant women.

As the Director of Early Childhood Education for District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) , Miriam oversaw Head Start and pre-kindergarten programs in her hometown, helping to implement universal pre-k, which resulted in?Head Start services for all children attending Title I schools. Several years after the city implemented universal preschool, Miriam was fortunate to lead efforts to address the needs of infants and toddlers and their families across the District, as the senior director for early childhood at the? Bainum Family Foundation . She shaped a significant philanthropic investment that helped to scale Early Head Start services and secure passage of?landmark legislation—the Birth-To-Three Act—setting the stage for high-quality, affordable early learning and health care opportunities for the city’s babies, and wages for early childhood educators that are commensurate with public school teachers.?

As the Early Learning System Director for the State of Oregon , Miriam shepherded the largest early childhood expansion in the state’s history, including greater access to Early Head Start and mixed-delivery preschool for Oregon’s children and families, along with raises for all Head Start teachers in the state. Under her leadership, the state?developed and made significant progress on its vision for a comprehensive, equity-centered early childhood system, outlined in Raise Up Oregon.?

Miriam's hard-earned career success illuminates the important role organizations rooted in communities of color play in building leaders in the field. She strongly believes that without organizations like? UnidosUS (@WeAreUnidosUS) , where she served as Associate Director of Education Policy, it is challenging for people like her to get a seat at policy tables. This experience taught her how to influence public policy at the federal level through a civil rights lens. She also authored?Buenos Principios: Latino Children in the Earliest Years of Life, which helped bring more attention to the early education needs of Latine babies and toddlers, released shortly after she became a mother of twins (spoiler—her babies are on the cover). Miriam had a high-risk pregnancy and difficult birth, so an important part of her care story became the supportive employer she had in UnidosUS; this experience drives her to fight for more support for families.??

Miriam served in the Obama Administration at the? U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ?and at the? Domestic Policy Council at The White House . Most recently, she was the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Early Learning at the U.S. Department of Education advising on early learning policy, including universal paid family and medical leave, preschool education, and child care that were included in the Build Back Better Act.???

In her current role as Chief Policy Officer at? ZERO TO THREE , Miriam continues to fight for families’ right to thrive. Her story is a powerful testimony of how one person's dedication and advocacy can make a difference in the lives of so many children and families—now and for generations to come. Her work points to the importance of prioritizing early childhood education and care and of the urgent need to address the racial and economic disparities that exist in our society. By supporting policies and initiatives that promote equity and justice, we can create a nation where the circumstances of your birth don't determine whom you will become.