From Melissa Larson Busby, AzAEYC Board President

Many of you may have noticed that NAEYC has made some major membership changes in the last several weeks.  As the nation’s leading voice for high-quality early childhood education, NAEYC is working hard to strengthen our professional organization to better support children and early childhood professionals for years to come.

With NAEYC’s announcement of four brand new membership categories at new, better-than-ever prices, no organization is poised to better serve the early learning field. Watch as NAEYC CEO Rhian Evans Allvin introduces the brand new membership structure:

What’s new: Membership changes in Arizona

Here in the Grand Canyon State, this restructuring means there will now be two Arizona NAEYC Affiliates: the Southern Arizona affiliate and the Arizona Association affiliate. The Arizona affiliate, or AzAEYC, includes three affiliate chapters: the Northern Arizona Chapter, the Valley of the Sun Chapter, and the Yuma Chapter. These local chapters will continue to focus on serving you, our members, in the local communities where you live, work and learn.

Our new structure will allow us to more effectively and efficiently serve our members as we work together to advance a diverse and dynamic early childhood profession, and support you as you care for, educate, and work on behalf of young children.

Working together as partners

SAZAEYC and AzAEYC are committed to maintaining  a strong collaboration to provide one voice for advocacy, to provide meaningful membership events, and high quality professional development to support you in your work.

Recently, AzAEYC and SAZAEYC Board members partnered to present  “Advocating for Children: Let’s Do This!” at a session during SAzAEYC’s annual conference. The photo at the beginning of this post reflects the solid partnership and strong relationship of our two state affiliates and our firm commitment to working together for Arizona’s children and their families. AzAEYC’s VP of Policy and Advocacy Ben Alteneder (left) joined with SAzAEYC’s Co-VPs of Public Policy and Awareness Serina Holmes and Emilie Pechuzal, along with former Congressman Ron Barber, who served in the United States House of Representatives from 2012 to 2015.

Let’s connect!

We welcome your participation in your professional organization and look forward to hearing from you. Find us on Facebook and Twitter where we share the latest news and research, all in one place, for the early childhood professionals of Arizona.  Find upcoming events on our social channels and on our events page on this website. Have an event for our calendar? Send us an email.

Please join us for our Annual Membership Meeting on October 27 at Phoenix Children’s Hospital where we will celebrate the official launch of our brand new shared resources platform, #AzToolkit. Guest speaker Cellissa Hoyt, Director of the State Early Learning Alliance (SELA) of New Hampshire, will speak on cutting-edge shared services models that help early childhood programs strengthen business practices and enhance program quality in order to give children a better start. 

So much to look forward to as we begin this new membership structure! Thank you for your hard work as a professional in our field, and my deepest gratitude for all you do for young children and their families.

Warmly,

Melissa