Q&A: Meet Parent & Provider Relations Manager Brittnii Pina
Brittnii Pina has worked throughout early childhood education (ECE) as teacher, peer mentor, administrator and adjunct professor. She loves the field and is passionate about supporting preschool providers and teachers in their work every day.
Now, Brittnii works as Parent & Provider Relations Manager for the Cincinnati Preschool Promise. Through this role, she supports preschool providers throughout Cincinnati that are 3, 4 or 5-star rated by Step Up to Quality (SUTQ).
To get to know Brittnii and her work, we asked her some questions about her ECE experience and passion for preschool.
Tell us a little about your experience in early childhood education thus far.
I started my journey in the ECE field as a Pre-K Lead Teacher and discovered my passion for creating meaningful and fun learning experiences for young children. My passion led to peer mentoring of other teachers with creating purposeful lesson plans in the most optimal approach. My administrator was very enthused with my potential to lead and coach others and encouraged me to move into a supervisory position which simultaneously came with the appointment of preschool site administrator. As one could imagine, the role of an administrator was very compliance driven and mentoring and coaching opportunities were minimum. Because I strongly desired to continue assistance with improving teaching practices, I accepted a part-time position as an ECE Adjunct Instructor for a local college and was able to help aspiring teachers with understanding the fundamentals of best teaching practices and site directors with licensing compliance.
Why did you decide to get involved in the early education space?
I’ve always had the desire to help others and initially wanted to work with rehabilitating juvenile delinquents. This career path required additional training and education and like most recent college graduates, I needed to find work immediately to support myself and begin repaying student loans. Therefore, I sought employment with an organization that provided direct services to people in my community who were living in poverty and learned I had completed a sufficient amount of child psychology coursework to qualify as a pre-k teacher. I gladly accepted this teaching position knowing I could be proactive with influencing children’s pathways to life in a positive manner at a much earlier age.
What do you like about working with local families and preschool providers?
I admire our families’ desire to want the best for their children. This role allows me to support families in a way that’s most meaningful to their individual needs, while ensuring they are able to give their children the best early learning opportunities. I also appreciate the preschool providers for acquiring and maintaining quality programs for young children to begin to develop their learning skills and abilities.
Why did you decide to join the Cincinnati Preschool Promise team?
I decided to join the Cincinnati Preschool Promise team because of the mission to expand access to quality preschool. Being a part of the CPP team will continue to fulfill my desire to proactively improve the lives of others. CPP will help increase student outcomes of fundamental reading skills, graduation rates, and college and employment paths by supporting preschool providers with increasing program quality and assisting with tuition cost. Studies show it is more cost efficient to teach early than to rehabilitate later. Providing a child with quality preschool will prepare both parents and child for kindergarten readiness and most importantly develop the child’s learning skills that will be utilized throughout life.
For more information about how Cincinnati Preschool Promise partners with local providers, visit www.cincy-promise.org/providers. For more information on how families can get involved, visit www.cincy-promise.org/parents.
Categorized in: News
Tags: preschool provider, tuition assistance