Valora Washington is a recognized authority in early childhood care and education. Valora has organized and developed initiatives targeting policy change in different areas of early care and education, including higher education and local, state or federal government.
Valora Washington, President of the CAYL Institute, directs several leadership programs for practitioners, including the Schott Fellowship in Early Care and Education, and the Principals Fellowship for Elementary school principals with prekindergarten programs---both of which offer new models for leadership development. She also has co-created several institutions, such as Michigan's Children, a statewide advocacy group, and the Early Childhood Funders Collaborative.
Frequently tapped for senior-level service, she has been Co-Chair of the Massachusetts Governor's School Readiness Commission; Board Chair for Voices for America's Children; Secretary of NAEYC; chair of the Black Caucus of the Society for Research in Child Development; Co-Chair of the National Head Start Association Commission on 2010; and a member of the current governor's Readiness Commission subcommittees. She currently serves as a trustee of the Boston Children's Museum and Wheelock College. Since 2005, she has co-led workforce development initiatives in Massachusetts; In July 2008 she completed service as one of three co-chairs on the Massachusetts Task Force on the early Education and Out of School Time Task Force.
Valora is a former Vice-President of the Kellogg Foundation, where she led a process to develop over $18 million in grants related to early education and child welfare, and $86 million overall. She has held executive and teaching positions at institutions including Antioch College and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
She is a co-author or co-editor of over 50 publications, including Children of 2010 and Keeping the Promise: a Study of the Massachusetts Child Care Voucher System. Advocacy for the voucher system led to 52,000 children in Massachusetts having opportunities for a one year certification period, effective last fall. Ready or Not: Early Care and Education Faces New Challenges, her latest writing venture (with Stacie Goffin) was published by Teachers College Press in June 2007.
She was educated at both Indiana and Michigan State Universities and holds honorary Doctorate degrees from both the Bennett College and the Meadville Lombard Theological School. She is a Certified Association Executive with the American Society of Association Executives.
Valora Washington is a recognized authority in early childhood care and education. Valora has organized and developed initiatives targeting policy change in different areas of early care and education, including higher education and local, state or federal government. 
