The 2011 UCLA/Johnson & Johnson Advanced Management Institute was held from January 12-15, 2011.
Reflection and Conversation on 20 years of Growth, Change, and Achievements
We proudly celebrated 20 years of the Head Start Management Fellows Program during this year's Advanced Management Institute. This is truly an enormous accomplishment and the J&J Fellows, now over 1200 strong, are clearly established as leaders in the Head Start community.
During the Public Policy Forum of this AMI we took a moment to reflect on what was, what is, and what could be for the Fellows program and the families and children we have chosen to serve through Head Start. We were joined by folks that represented our past, present and future.
Dr. Joan Lombardi, Deputy Assistant Secretary and Inter-Departmental Liaison for Early Childhood Development. Dr. Lombardi, one of the key architects of the Head Start Bureau and the J&J Fellows program, shared her thoughts and insight on the Head Start and Early Head Start program at this critical time in history.
We were also joined by our key sponsors from Johnson & Johnson, Curt Weeden, former Vice President of Corporate Contributions, and Conrad Person, Director of International Programs and Product Giving. Without Johnson & Johnson and especially these two individuals, the Head Start Management Fellows Program would not have reached this important milestone.
We also welcomed Dr. Celia Ayala, CEO of Los Angeles Universal Pre-K. Dr. Ayala, a former Head Start leader herself, spoke of the emerging role of UPK in early childhood education reform.
And last, but not least, Yasmina Vinci, Executive Director of the National Head Start Association, who is an important bridge and strong advocate for the future of Head Start.
During the afternoon, we welcomed the National Center on Program Management and Fiscal Operations, as well as our very own Gayle Cunningham and Aubrey Nehring who shared how they set the course to be named Centers of Excellence.
We ended the day with our very first MIP Poster Session.
