2:00

engagement, teaching and learning,

2:02

and professional development have impacted

2:04

countless educators, children, and families.

2:07

They stand as a symbol of

2:09

quality and commitment to early childhood

2:11

education with the belief that

2:14

early educators have the power to

2:16

change children's lives and ultimately the

2:18

world. Lilio, the

2:20

building blocks for high quality childcare.

2:23

Learn more at

2:25

www.lilio.com. On

2:36

this show, we talk a lot

2:38

about valuing early childhood educators and

2:40

how crucial it is to the

2:42

healthy development of young children. This

2:45

idea of taking care of the

2:47

people, taking care of our children

2:50

by investing in them, offering benefits

2:52

and a livable wage. An

2:55

idea that unfortunately isn't happening

2:57

enough. We've

2:59

put so much energy and effort

3:02

and dollars into the systems and

3:04

structures around early childhood education. But

3:06

the number one driver of whether or not

3:09

we're going to deliver on the promise of

3:11

quality is early childhood educators,

3:13

like period, full stop. Today,

3:16

we're going to spotlight a preschool

3:18

that values its early childhood educators

3:20

and the founder who figured out how

3:23

to do that through business innovation and

3:25

creative thinking. We've got

3:27

this marketplace that is broken and I do

3:29

have two business degrees and I just started

3:32

thinking, God, there's got to be a better

3:34

way to make the economics in this field

3:37

work. I'm

3:41

Gloria Rivera, and this is No

3:43

One Is Coming to Save Us,

3:45

a show about America's childcare crisis.

3:48

In this bonus episode, we're talking

3:50

to early education and childcare expert

3:52

Rian Alvin. After decades

3:54

working in policy and advocacy, Rian

3:57

saw positive changes in the field.

3:59

But with. still really

4:01

frustrated. We've made so

4:04

much progress in early childhood education

4:06

in the last 25 years since

4:08

we've had neuroscience, very compelling, irrefutable

4:10

neuroscience behind kind of what we've

4:12

all felt and known that these

4:14

first five years of life are

4:16

important. And yet, most

4:18

children are not in high quality settings

4:20

and early childhood educators are kind of

4:22

left behind. So

4:25

she made a hard pivot. About a

4:28

year ago, Rhian opened Brynmore Early Education

4:30

and Preschool for children ages six weeks

4:32

through five years old. The

4:35

first center opened in Virginia, a second

4:37

in Washington, D.C. this past July. And

4:39

they're delivering on things that have been

4:41

lacking in the field for so long—quality

4:44

care, a diverse student

4:46

body, and staff that feel

4:48

valued. Just prior to

4:50

doing this, Rhian spent almost a

4:53

decade in Washington, D.C., leading an

4:55

organization devoted to valuing early childhood

4:57

educators. She was the

4:59

CEO of the National Association for

5:01

the Education of Young Children. It's

5:04

a big name, so it goes by

5:06

its acronym, NACI. NACI

5:08

is the professional association for early

5:11

childhood educators. NACI is to early

5:13

childhood educators as the

5:16

American Academy of Pediatrics is

5:18

to pediatricians. And I

5:20

wanted to be part of figuring

5:22

out how do we invest in

5:24

the early childhood education workforce and

5:27

connect the fact that you've got this

5:29

most profound period in developmental growth for

5:32

young children and educators who are making

5:34

poverty-level wages and have no health insurance

5:36

or retirement benefits. So during

5:38

my time there, I spent an

5:41

enormous amount of time on the Hill

5:43

and working on federal policy. Through that

5:45

work, Rhian helped almost double federal child

5:47

care development funding from $2.8 billion to

5:49

$5.2 billion in 2018. Rhian was also

5:51

at the helm of the organization during

5:57

the start and peak of the pandemic. I

6:01

mean, the childcare field imploded during

6:03

COVID. And I think NACI played

6:05

a really important role with

6:07

all of its polling data, with the work

6:09

we did to get $50 billion in ARPA

6:12

funding. And it was just after kind of

6:14

the COVID crisis kind of started to die

6:16

down a little bit that I wrapped up

6:19

my time at NACI. I mean,

6:21

you've just listed some pretty remarkable

6:23

accomplishments for those nine years. So

6:26

I'm curious, what

6:28

happened during year nine? What made you

6:31

think, hmm, okay, my work is done

6:33

here. What do I do next? Because

6:35

it sounds like things were going pretty

6:37

well at NACI. So why leave? Yeah,

6:39

I loved NACI and I still love

6:41

NACI and I'm a proud member of

6:43

NACI. But I guess

6:46

it got increasingly frustrating

6:49

for me to just be marching

6:51

on with this very decisive neuroscience

6:53

and to know that

6:56

we still only have

6:58

7% of childcare centers in the country

7:00

that are NACI accredited. And

7:02

to know that over 50% of

7:04

the early childhood education workforce qualifies

7:07

for public health benefits and fewer

7:10

than 15% have

7:12

employer sponsored health insurance. And

7:15

I mean, you can probably count on

7:17

a couple hands like how many folks

7:19

have any kind of retirement benefits. And

7:21

so I just it was

7:23

my background, I do have two

7:25

business degrees. And I just started thinking, God,

7:27

there's got to be a better way to

7:29

make the economics in this field work.

7:32

And how is it that we

7:34

can't solve this? And so

7:37

for me, it was

7:39

looking at the market in early childhood

7:41

education and to say, I will always

7:44

care deeply about policy and advocacy. And

7:46

we'll continue to advocate from my new

7:48

vantage point. But it

7:50

was really getting to me that we've

7:53

got this marketplace that is broken. And

7:55

even, you know, we're always going to

7:57

need more public dollars. But the market...

8:00

itself has choices to make in how it

8:02

shows up for young children and for early

8:04

childhood educators and for families. And

8:06

why aren't we doing better? And

8:08

so I just started like weekends

8:11

just kind of running various profit

8:13

and loss scenarios. And like, could

8:16

you do this differently? Like, could this look

8:18

differently? And I think one

8:20

of the issues in early childhood education

8:22

in terms of the economics and the

8:25

financing of early childhood education is that

8:27

90% of the market are one site

8:29

programs. And some of them are

8:31

super high quality, like a lot of

8:33

them are really high quality, a lot

8:36

of them are not. But regardless of

8:38

quality, even if you wanted to, it's

8:40

really hard to make the math work

8:42

because there's no economies of scale, you're

8:44

not being able to spread your HR

8:46

function out over multiple sites or spread

8:49

your accounting function out over multiple sites.

8:51

And so the fact that these are

8:53

single site programs makes the

8:55

math not impossible, but tricky. Most

8:58

childcare and preschool programs, whether it's

9:01

in someone's house or in a

9:03

center, have only one site programs

9:05

with multiple locations are not the

9:07

norm. And those programs come with

9:10

their own unique challenges. When you're

9:12

that large, you also have investors

9:15

that care about what your returns

9:17

are. And if you're publicly traded,

9:19

you have a marketplace that cares

9:21

about what your returns are. And

9:23

it's hard not impossible. It is

9:25

hard to get the kind of

9:27

returns that those entities demand and

9:29

still make the investments in the early childhood

9:32

education workforce. So it's like, how do you

9:34

do this differently? And what's the sweet spot?

9:36

And how do you build the economies of

9:38

scale, but invest back

9:40

in your workforce? And so that's what

9:43

I started really, I always got to try

9:45

to do this. I have to try to

9:47

do this. And so that was the birth

9:49

of, of Brynmore. Brynmore

9:52

has two sites, the first

9:54

in Lorton, Virginia, and the other in

9:56

the heart of Washington, DC. The

9:58

preschool stands out for a few

10:01

reasons. The two biggest pieces of

10:03

the Brynmore model are having

10:05

children across socioeconomic spectrum who can

10:07

afford childcare, who have access to

10:10

high quality, and then secondly, the

10:12

investments we make in the workforce.

10:14

So we're paying for really generous

10:16

health insurance. We match a retirement

10:18

plan. We have FSA accounts.

10:20

We do four 10-hour days as part

10:23

of our model. We have really doubled

10:25

down on, and it's an experiment, like

10:27

what we're hoping will attract and retain.

10:29

We're trying to pay wages and salaries

10:31

that are like at least at the

10:33

bottom of what early childhood educators going

10:35

into the K-12 system could make. You

10:38

opened its first location in 2023, and

10:41

I'm curious what it was like for

10:43

you to shift from all your years

10:45

in policy work to running a preschool.

10:48

And I'm thinking, are

10:50

you there seeing these kids come through the

10:53

doors every day? I mean, that's adorable. What

10:55

was that like for you? It's been

10:57

humbling because it's really, really hard, Gloria. But

11:01

so I'm where I'm supposed to be, and

11:03

I'm loving it. And

11:05

there's a part of me that has

11:08

an operational brain, so being able to get

11:10

in the weeds in the operations of an

11:12

entity like this has been really exciting too.

11:15

So yes, we opened

11:17

our first center this last October,

11:19

and the first center is here

11:22

in Northern Virginia, and

11:24

it was a 100-year-old maximum

11:26

security prison. Yeah,

11:28

you heard that right. Rean's child

11:30

care center in Lorton is part

11:32

of a development that was once

11:35

an overcrowded prison. It was

11:37

built in 1916, and the last prisoners were

11:40

removed in 2001. Now

11:43

it's a mix of single-family

11:45

homes, apartments, recreational facilities, and

11:47

Brynmore. I have to

11:50

tell you, from the day I left

11:52

NACI until when the Lorton location opened

11:54

was about 18 months, which

11:56

by all accounts was fast. Like

11:58

it was, we had a cold, dark, It was

12:01

an old prison from, oh my gosh,

12:03

we're using 100-year-old blueprints. Is

12:06

the plumbing going to be the way it says it's

12:08

going to be when we break open the floors? And

12:10

all these things, I mean, still to this day, I

12:13

look back and I was like, oh, wow. I'm

12:15

glad that worked out because that was a super

12:18

risky decision to do. And I'm just, I have,

12:20

I had a lot of partners who were cheering

12:22

me on and supporting me in so many ways.

12:24

It was just everything from the ground up. So

12:27

for the first six months of Brynmore,

12:30

in addition to doing all of the

12:32

external work and that sort of thing,

12:34

I literally opened up the center every

12:37

morning and was the receptionist and the

12:39

operations associate. And very gladly

12:41

turned that roll over to one of

12:43

our amazing team members who is now

12:46

doing that. And then we opened our

12:48

second center the first week of July.

12:52

We began operations on July 5th at Diplatot's

12:54

in Washington, D.C. I

12:56

mean, these are not small things. I mean, can we

12:58

talk about how much you did have to raise for

13:00

the Lord Insight? Is that like public knowledge? It

13:03

is not, but it is it is multi-millions of

13:05

dollars I had to raise for the Lord Insight.

13:08

Yeah. Okay. But now you know, now you know what it

13:10

would cost, right? Like that's a helpful

13:12

piece of information. Right,

13:14

right, right. Well, so a year and

13:16

a half, blood, sweat and

13:18

tears. The first summer I

13:20

was really trying to raise the money in the capital.

13:24

Oh my gosh, like I'll never forget that summer. My

13:26

husband calls it the Valley of Sorrows because I was

13:28

like, I just I'm not going to

13:30

find this money. What was I thinking? Like, why did I

13:32

think I could do this? Like, oh, and so it

13:34

has been such a personal emotional journey

13:37

as well doing this. And

13:39

then you have the Washington, D.C. location to

13:41

open. I mean, what was that like? Was

13:43

it as rough as opening the first one?

13:46

With Diplatot's, the previous provider

13:48

moved out on a Friday.

13:51

And then we had one week to load and train

13:53

our staff. And

13:55

then we started serving children again that following

13:57

Monday. So

13:59

it was literally a week. transition with

14:01

about a two-month runway working

14:03

with the board to get licensed

14:05

by DC and all of the

14:07

things. And so monumental

14:10

difference in time. We were so

14:12

fortunate, you know, we brought most of

14:14

the team from the previous provider. We

14:16

got resumes and letters of reference and

14:19

interviews. They just had a stellar team.

14:21

And so we brought a lot of

14:23

them over with us. And so it

14:26

couldn't have been two

14:28

more polar opposite experiences.

14:31

Both experiences involved finding unique partners.

14:33

That's part of Bryn Mawr's business

14:36

model. We'll hear more on that

14:38

after the break. Hey

14:46

listeners, so if you're like me, you

14:48

probably have some pretty fond memories of

14:50

going on vacation as a kid. Maybe

14:53

it was just a simple camping trip. I

14:55

did a lot of those. I'm sure whatever

14:57

it was, it was memorable. For

15:00

me, my favorite outdoor childhood memory

15:02

was definitely going to Idaho. Hiking,

15:04

picnics by the Big Wood River, the

15:07

ice skating rink, the mountains, and

15:09

so much more. To this day, my blood

15:11

pressure drops as soon as we get there.

15:14

As a mom, I want to share

15:16

with my kids everything I loved about

15:18

summertime and nature growing up. The

15:21

parks, beaches, and camping trips. But

15:23

with all of these heat waves,

15:26

wildfires, and storms, unnatural

15:28

extreme weather events caused by

15:30

fossil fuel pollution, the

15:32

places we love are being threatened. The

15:35

Science Moms are a nonpartisan group of

15:37

scientists who are, like many of you,

15:39

moms. Whether it's understanding the

15:41

real cause of extreme weather or simply

15:43

talking about it with your friends and family,

15:46

the Science Moms want you to know

15:48

that a better future for our kids is

15:50

possible. Human-made problems

15:52

require human-made solutions, and

15:55

no one is more equipped and motivated

15:57

to lead the charge than our nation's

15:59

million- millions of moms. Science

16:02

shows us pollution is causing unnatural

16:04

disasters that are making our world

16:06

more dangerous. That's

16:08

why I'm joining the millions of moms

16:10

who are taking action to protect all

16:12

we love. Join us

16:15

at sciencemoms.com. A

16:18

golden future starts with our youngest Californians

16:20

and the people who care for them.

16:23

The early years are the most consequential

16:25

in human development and young children and

16:27

families need support to thrive. By

16:30

investing in child care, all of us can

16:32

live and raise a family in the state

16:34

we love and call home. To

16:36

help make that a reality, the

16:39

Stein Early Childhood Development Fund is

16:41

educating and inspiring action from the

16:43

public to support quality care and

16:45

education for prenatal to three-year-old children,

16:47

their caregivers, and their families.

16:56

Part of Bryn Mawr's business model involves

16:58

finding intriguing partners. For

17:01

Lorton, it was a developer, it was

17:03

investors who are willing

17:05

to have smaller returns than

17:08

what typical private equity requires.

17:11

In D.C., it's the federal government. Through

17:13

a contract with the State Department,

17:15

the federal government pays the occupancy

17:17

costs of diplatots, Bryn Mawr's second

17:19

location. That allows Bryn Mawr

17:22

to put funding she'd otherwise pay for

17:24

rent towards employee benefits. Part

17:47

of Bryn Mawr's business model involves

17:49

finding intriguing partners. Brynmore

24:03

currently employs about 60 staff members

24:05

at both sites. That number will

24:07

grow when they're fully staffed. And

24:09

Brynmore has the capacity to serve

24:11

262 students,

24:13

the majority at Lorton. Nearly

24:16

half the kids at Lorton receive a subsidy

24:18

or some kind of tuition assistance. I'm

24:21

curious what it

24:23

looks like in each classroom. Who are

24:25

the students? How do you find them?

24:28

How do they find you? Yeah,

24:30

it's a great question. And

24:33

I would say the

24:35

source of sleepless nights too, Gloria, quite

24:37

frankly. If I could think of the

24:39

things like what keeps you up or what kept me up

24:41

at 2 AM. I've been sleeping better these days cuz it

24:44

is not for the faint of

24:46

heart. But the children, that was the other

24:48

reason I picked that space cuz it's along

24:50

the I-95 corridor and it's

24:52

a place where there is a lot

24:54

of gentrification. There's also a

24:56

lot of new immigrant families. There is

24:59

a lot of multi-generational families that have

25:01

been in that area. And there's a

25:03

lot of military families. And while I

25:05

am an enormous fan of Head Start,

25:07

I absolutely am. I also think if

25:10

at all possible from a policy

25:12

perspective, it's really good to have

25:14

kids from across socioeconomic means

25:17

in a classroom together. It builds social

25:19

capital. It's just, I think it's good

25:21

for everybody. And so I really wanted

25:23

to try to make that happen. And

25:26

I'm so proud of what we've been able

25:28

to do with that. We take Virginia Child

25:30

Care subsidy. We have Department of Defense families

25:32

that get child care aware of America money.

25:35

We have full fee paying families. And

25:38

then we also have a scholarship program

25:40

through a very generous partner. And so

25:42

I literally have children who

25:44

live in deep poverty to children whose

25:46

families are paying more

25:48

than college tuition for their infants to be

25:50

at Brynmore. And so

25:53

the classrooms, they're so

25:55

joyful and they have so much life

25:57

and energy in them. And we do

25:59

a lot of family. engagement events to

26:01

really intentional bring families together. And

26:04

we've very intentionally sought after and hired

26:06

a workforce that represents that same level

26:08

of diversity as the children who are

26:10

in the classroom. When

26:13

we come back, Rian tells us how she

26:15

knows she's doing something right. The

26:19

Conrad N. Hilton Foundation's Early Childhood

26:22

Development Initiative in the United States

26:24

supports the well-being of caregivers and

26:26

their young children, prenatal to age

26:28

three. The Hilton Foundation

26:30

does this through investing in caregiver

26:32

and parent education and well-being, supporting

26:35

local organizations, and strengthening the

26:37

early childhood field. Most

26:41

of us know what it feels like to be frustrated with

26:43

the U.S. health care system. If you've

26:45

ever had difficulty getting a doctor's appointment,

26:48

struggled to understand confusing follow-up orders, experienced

26:50

a lack of communication between providers, or

26:52

received an overwhelming medical bill, you understand

26:54

why health care reform is one of

26:57

our country's most pressing issues. This

26:59

much-needed change is happening, as the

27:01

health care industry is working hard

27:03

to move away from outdated, fee-for-service

27:05

payment models towards a system that

27:07

pays providers for the quality of

27:09

health care, not the quantity. Called

27:11

Accountable Care, this new approach prioritizes

27:13

improved care coordination, convenience, better outcomes,

27:15

and expanded access to care. Simply

27:18

stated, accountable care puts the patient first, the

27:20

way it should be. Accountable

27:22

for Health is a national, nonpartisan organization

27:24

working with policymakers to accelerate this movement.

27:26

To learn more and to join our

27:29

efforts, visit accountableforhealth.org. It

27:33

sounds to me like Bryn Moore seems to be

27:36

addressing some of the frustrations that you experienced

27:40

watching child care and how it operated

27:42

in the country. The undervalued workforce, the

27:44

lack of quality care. How

27:48

did you figure that out? Let me be

27:50

super clear. I can't confirm that nine months in,

27:53

I figured it out. I would say this is

27:55

a really

27:57

important experiment in this

27:59

field. that I'm compelled to

28:01

do that I'm hoping we get largely

28:03

right and we'll see. I

28:06

am really proud of the team that we've been

28:08

able to build. And seeing

28:11

them gel together, seeing them work with

28:13

children and families, our director of people

28:15

and culture, she is amazing at hiring

28:17

folks. But it is like finding a

28:19

needle in a haystack. Like even with

28:22

the benefits and for 10-hour days and

28:24

salaries that are competitive, it's

28:26

a tough market because it's

28:28

not as enticing as other markets.

28:31

And so it's hard work and

28:33

our team does an amazing job. Thank you for saying, no,

28:35

I haven't figured it out. I would be worried if we

28:38

were talking to you and you were telling me that

28:40

you've solved the child care crisis. We

28:43

are in the process of solving it. And

28:47

you are very much entrenched in that. Are

28:50

there things that you have seen at

28:52

Brynmore that tell you you're doing something

28:55

right? There are. And I

28:57

want to read to you an

29:00

email I got from a family. Hang

29:02

on one second. Oh my

29:04

gosh. Yay. We're having a reading listeners.

29:11

So let me just make sure. OK, so this is from a

29:14

mom. I

29:18

just wanted to drop you both a quick

29:20

note to thank you for everything and especially

29:22

thank you for the environment you've created at

29:25

Brynmore. We are so happy that our son

29:27

is thriving. And while it

29:29

kills me sometimes, ha ha, it's awesome to see

29:31

how much he hates leaving school and how excited

29:33

he is to go in the mornings. The

29:36

real reason I wanted to send you

29:38

a note is because our speech pathologist

29:40

joined our son in class yesterday and

29:43

texted us after singing your praises.

29:46

She said Brynmore is absolutely top tier,

29:48

one of the best daycares I've been

29:50

in in a long time, from the

29:52

teachers to the facilities. It's pretty amazing.

29:55

We knew there was something special about Brynmore, but

29:57

it was lovely to hear from someone who is.

30:00

in and out of schools all across the area. And

30:02

I wanted to make sure you all receive

30:05

the feedback as well. Rhian, you did that.

30:07

Your team did that. I know. That's

30:09

so amazing. Really, it's our team. It's

30:12

our team, yeah. I mean, that's incredible

30:14

to hear from an outside source. Yeah.

30:17

The affirmation, right? Absolutely.

30:19

We are doing, every six months, we

30:21

do a family experience survey and we

30:24

did our first one in February. I

30:26

asked seven questions on a Likert scale

30:28

from one to five. And

30:31

the very first question I ask is,

30:34

does your family feel a sense of

30:36

belonging at Bryn Mawr? And we received

30:38

4.8 on average out of five that

30:42

our family feels a sense of belonging at

30:44

Bryn Mawr. And to me

30:46

in any situation, having a sense

30:49

of belonging is the most

30:51

important feeling a human being can have. If it's

30:53

a six month old or a 50 year old

30:55

or an 80 year old, like

30:58

if you feel like you belong, then

31:00

we're doing something right. Are there

31:02

any in-person moments of connection that

31:04

you carry with you that also

31:06

tell you you are doing

31:09

something right? Oh yeah. I was touring

31:11

a couple of guests we had and I

31:14

always take them and introduce them to our

31:16

educators. And one of

31:18

our infant educators, unprompted, she

31:21

just said, I just want you to

31:23

know this is the most amazing place I've

31:25

ever worked. I've been in the field for

31:27

decades. I will never work anywhere else. The

31:29

people here are so caring. They know me

31:31

personally, they love me, they know my family

31:33

and they care about who I am as

31:35

a human being, not just if I show

31:37

up to take care of kids. Yeah. I

31:40

love that your story of affirmation

31:43

is about an employee, right? Because

31:46

we've had a lot of lovely

31:48

conversations about these incredible

31:51

young people, young little humans

31:54

that are in these early

31:56

education centers, but it's lovely to

31:58

hear that you've created a space.

32:00

where your workforce feels seen

32:03

and cared for, right? And

32:05

I would, unfortunately, or fortunately, I think it's

32:08

both, it's a both and, put that in

32:10

the radical category, right? I will say whenever

32:12

we do, I do an onboarding with a

32:14

new team, which is all the time right

32:16

now, because we're hiring, hiring, hiring. I

32:19

always say like, the model

32:21

at Brynmore is super simple and it

32:23

is about children, it's about families, and

32:25

it's about early childhood educators. Our children

32:27

loved and thriving and safe and healthy

32:29

and getting what they need in a

32:32

high quality early childhood environment, including experiencing

32:34

joy. Our families feeling like

32:36

they have peace of mind when they drop

32:38

their children off here and they can go

32:40

to work with peace of mind and they

32:42

feel like partners to us and they know

32:45

their children, and their wellbeing are our primary

32:47

concern. And three are educators, that centering

32:49

early childhood educators, they're all super important,

32:52

but I feel like the one this

32:54

field has not paid nearly enough attention

32:56

to since the beginning of time, is

32:59

educators and it can be an afterthought and we

33:01

have got to flip the script on that. Like

33:03

we have to flip the script on that. I

33:07

know you've said it's early days yet,

33:10

but do you think about what's next?

33:12

Are you actively looking to

33:14

open more sites and where would

33:16

that be? And

33:18

what challenges now that you've been

33:20

through two very different openings of

33:22

two different centers, what do

33:25

you think the biggest challenges would be as you look

33:27

to grow? I think about what's next

33:29

all the time, that is how my brain works,

33:31

but I have to say to you, part

33:34

of my thinking about what's

33:36

next is not just growth. It's about

33:38

knowing that we have to be relentless

33:42

about the operating model of Bryn

33:45

Mawr and staying true to why

33:47

we started, who we

33:49

wanna partner with and never compromise

33:51

our ideals in how we do

33:54

that. Because if growth at

33:56

any moment is about

33:58

compromising, exist or

34:00

we're letting the details go because

34:03

we want to grow quickly, then

34:05

we will have failed. And

34:07

so, yes, thinking about what next

34:09

is really important, but it says as

34:11

much about, okay, did

34:13

every team member this month get a

34:15

note on their birthday who had a

34:17

birthday? Did we celebrate accomplishments? Are we

34:19

paying attention to the details about how

34:22

we're communicating with families? Did

34:24

every child who's transitioning from a toddler

34:26

room to a preschool room, did we

34:28

do that with

34:30

patience and love and have the family involved

34:32

in how we do the transition? So I

34:35

feel like those

34:37

operating details really matter and you can

34:39

grow and keep those in place, but

34:41

it's hard to do well. And so

34:43

there have been a couple of opportunities

34:45

that I have, it's been kind of

34:48

painful, but that I've said no to, because I'm

34:50

like, okay, this is exciting, but it's

34:52

going to make us go sideways on what our

34:55

plan is and we don't want to do that.

34:57

And so I am definitely not

34:59

in the camp of growth at all

35:01

costs, but also, yeah, if we believe

35:03

in what we're doing, we want as

35:05

many children and educators as possible to experience

35:08

that. So do we want to grow? Yes,

35:10

absolutely. I'd

35:12

love to see Brynmore grow. Like

35:15

Rhian says, she hasn't figured it

35:17

all out yet. Brynmore, with its

35:20

business model and priorities, is an

35:22

experiment, but Rhian is doing

35:24

something. And as

35:26

Brynmore expands, or as the

35:28

model replicates, that's more children

35:30

in high quality programs with

35:32

staff who feel valued. We

35:35

need more experiments and solutions like

35:37

this in the childcare and early

35:40

education field. More staff

35:42

getting paid professional wages and receiving

35:44

benefits who are offered incentives to

35:46

continue their path in early childhood

35:49

education. As the

35:51

industry struggles to retain quality staff,

35:53

we need investments in these educators

35:56

so it makes sense for them

35:58

to stay in the industry. and

36:00

in their jobs. Because

36:02

the more educators who stay, the

36:05

better it will be for children to

36:08

thrive in the earliest stages of life.

36:30

Lemonada Original, produced with Neighborhood

36:32

Villages. I'm your host, Gloria

36:34

Rivera. Muna Danish

36:37

is our senior producer. Lisa

36:39

Fu and Hannah Boomershine are

36:41

our producers. Bobby Woody is

36:43

our audio engineer. Our music

36:45

is by Hannes Brown. Jackie

36:47

Danzinger is our VP of narrative

36:49

content. Executive producers are

36:52

Stephanie Whittles-Wax and Jessica Cordova-Cramer,

36:54

along with me, Gloria Rivera.

36:57

This series is presented by

36:59

Imaginable Futures, the J Willard

37:01

and Alice S. Marriott Foundation,

37:04

the Bainum Family Foundation, and

37:06

the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.

37:09

If you like the show and you

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believe what we're doing is important, please

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help others find us by leaving us

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37:28

we'll be back next week. Until

37:30

then, hang in there. You can do

37:32

this. This episode is presented

37:35

by the J Willard and Alice S.

37:37

Marriott Foundation and the Bainum Family Foundation.

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