Session: Purpose-built communities - A compelling case for the Cradle-to-Career pipeline
Dr. Nkechy Ezeh, an international scholar, is currently a tenured Associate Professor of Education and Director of Early Childhood Education Program at Aquinas College. In 2010, Dr. Ezeh was approached by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to conduct a current reality research on children living in the core city of Grand Rapids, Michigan and in 2011 to lead a collaborative process to establish an Early Learning Neighborhood Collaborative (ELNC) for the purpose of planning and designing an intentional preschool service system aimed at providing, expanding and sustaining the capacity of high quality early care and education programs in the vulnerable neighborhoods of Grand Rapids. Her research, recommendations, advocacy and leadership has resulted in millions of dollars to advance early childhood education.