Health & Well-Being Sector

"I think we need to start early with pediatricians in their training—even before they get

into medical school—to start giving them a desire to understand children and to understand

what they contribute in the way of biases and past experiences. Then, if they understand

themselves by the time they get to medical school, they’ll begin to want to be a pediatrician

who understands children. And then somewhere along the way I’d like to bring in parents and let

pediatricians begin to care about parents as well as the children. And I’d like to teach

pediatricians about child development and about parent development. I’d like every pediatrician to have an exposure to child development!"

T. Berry Brazelton, M.D.

"I think we have to educate everybody about how important the parent is for a child and

how much the child depends on both the parent and the caregiver. And if we do that, I think the

workplace will become more family-friendly. If we can get workplaces to become more family friendly, they’ll begin to support child care situations right around them. I would like for every business community to have a child care center right there in the workplace so parents can go back and forth and feed their babies when they need to; take care of the baby; when the baby cries, the child care person can come and get the mother or the father to come and support the baby. If we can set this up that way, then we could train child care people to pay attention to parents and how important they are, and to understand their gate keeping (that they’re bound to have) and then begin to support the families and the children. Give them the best opportunities that they as a team can give that child! I think we can do that."

T. Berry Brazelton, M.D.


"I had a built in passion that it was important to make a real contribution to the world, and to fix all of the injustices that existed in the world.  And I wanted to do that through teaching.  It became my life long work, early child hood education, and the passion to make sure all children were taught in environments and ways that truly nurtured their ability to grow and develop to their fullest ability."

Louise Derman-Sparks
Professor Emeritus
Pacific Oak College, CA

Child Care Sector

"My hope is that the early childhood field will begin to recognize and challenge the cultural standards of leadership that silence many of our most creative and dedicated colleagues. We can challenge the internalized low value placed on child care work in the greater society that is reflected in the limited presence of teachers and providers as our acknowledged leaders and spokespeople. By so doing, we can develop a group of leaders who are willing to question the status quo and to take the necessary risks to make working with young children a career that people can afford to pursue and a career that is respected."

Marcy Whitebook Ph.D.

"When I think of the word passion and the meaning to the word passion, what comes to mind are;  what are my values, what are my beliefs.   What are the ideas that lead me to action.  What do I do so naturally, that perhaps seems so natural to me but may be challenging to others.  What's in my heart."

Leticia Lara LCSW
Regional Manager
Outreach and Professional Development