History of Illinois AEYC
The Illinois Association for the
Education of Young Children was initiated in 1969 by the Chicago
Association for the Education of Young Children for the purpose of
increasing the impact of professionals in the field of early childhood.
The organization has grown from a loose network of highly motivated
individuals gathering from all over the state to discuss issues
effecting children to a professional organization with bylaws, a
constitution and a strategic plan. When the history of the organization
is reviewed, a vision of an organization steadily pushing towards
greater professionalism, increased networking and collaboration, and a
strengthened voice for children in the state of Illinois is revealed.
Fall 1969
Chicago Association for the Education of Young Children agreed to
spearhead the development of a state group so that advocacy efforts
undertaken by CAEYC could have state impact.
December 1969
An Organizational Meeting is held in Champaign/Urbana. Those in attendance appoint a Steering Committee to develop by-laws.
June 1970
The ILLAEYC Board established the use of a logo and set dues. They
emphasized the goal of establishing a statewide group that does not
reflect the political division typical of the state of Illinois. The
CAEYC Board requested the ILLAEYC Board to
- Build an organization with an effective group structure with special membership rates for affiliate groups.
- Call for representatives fromeach affiliate group.
May 1971
The first statewide conference is held in Champaign/Urbana. By-laws,
affiliation with NAEYC, approval of individual membership, and the use
of the acronym ILLAEYC are approved.
October 1971
Fall Conference held at Holiday Inn East in Springfield
April 1972
Spring Workshop held at Holiday Inn in Effingham
October 1972
Fall Workshop held at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
April 1973
Workshop at Northern Illinois University – “Learning in the Out of Doors”
October 1973
Fall Conference held at Sheraton Inn, Springfield titled, “Be Proud of Local Resources”
February 1974
Study Session at U of I in Urbana - “Maximizing Our Effectiveness – Cooperating With Other Organizations”
April 1975
Spring Conference held at Illinois State University, Normal titled - “Who Am I?”
October 1976
“Elect The Best For Kids ‘76” Conference held at Sangamon State University and Lincoln Land Community College, in Springfield
February 1984
Eighteen affiliate groups have organized around the state. The
organization prioritized the goals of Public Policy and Professionalism
July 1984
Revised by-laws and the use of a new acronym, Illinois AEYC, are approved.
July 1988
The Long-Range Planning Committee developed an ISSUES FOR ACTION
plan designed to generate major concerns held by the membership and
those in the field of early childhood.
September 1988
“Play in Peoria” Conference – Peoria Civic Center and Pere Marquette Hotel
October 1990
“Caring For Our Future” Conference held at University of Illinois in Champaign
August 1991
A consultant, Joan Clark, is hired to assist the Organizational Review Committee.
There are 25 affiliate chapters in the state.
October 1992
“A Child’s Reach For The Future” Conference – Prairie Capital Convention Center, Springfield
September 1994
Full year Government Consultant is hired for representation before
the Illinois General Assembly and for public affairs and public
relations services.
Fall 1994
Illinois AEYC received its first grant: The Illinois Department of
Children and Family Services funded a three-year study of collaboration
between 2 and 4 year teacher training programs, “Building Bridges"
October 1994
First Fall Symposium was held in Peoria
March 1994
The revised by-laws, a result of the Strategic Planning Committee’s
work, presented to the membership for passage. Regional Vice Presidents
and Executive, Professional Development, Public Policy, Finance,
Communications, Organizational Development and Nominations Committees
were added.
1995
Team Building Training for affiliate leaders held on Friday evenings of State Board meetings.
October 1996
Illinois AEYC received a three-year grant from the McCormick Tribune Foundation for organizational development.
January 1997
Management firm of Burnison Chasnoff & Associates
hired to act as the office.
July 1997
Illinois AEYC hosted Strategic Planning weekend in Chicago.
October 1998
Statewide Illinois AEYC conference held at Crowne Plaza, Springfield, IL.
1998
Completed Salary Survey for McCormick Tribune
Foundation Grant.
September 1999
Illinois AEYC hired a staff person, Donetta Braner, and opened an office in Springfield, IL.
October 1999
Illinois AEYC is awarded a three-year grant from the Illinois
Department of Human Services to provide financial and technical
assistant for child care providers seeing NAEYC accreditation. “SAM”
project.
October 2000
Statewide Illinois AEYC Conference held in Peoria, IL.
Endowment was made of Lillian Katz Guest Lectureship.
Spring 2000
Restructuring Task Force is formed, chaired by Pat Steinhaus to
guide Illinois AEYC through a three-year restructuring process launched
by NAEYC.
Illinois AEYC web site was re-established with address of http://illinoisaeyc.org.
2001
Illinois AEYC newsletter is upgraded and edited by the office staff. Advertisements are accepted.
April 2001
Illinois AEYC began Annual Fundraising Letter campaign.
August 2002
Illinois AEYC adopts the Combo model for re-affiliation to NAEYC.
The state will have Affiliate Chapters and Chapters of the State. There
are 22 affiliates.
October 2002
Statewide Illinois AEYC conference, Springfield, IL.
Summer 2003
Affiliate Chapters go through re-affiliation process with the state or vote to become Chapters of the State.
Winter 2003
Illinois AEYC finished the five-year re-affiliation process with
NAEYC. The affiliates as well at the state successfully re-affiliated
at the Bronze level. Accreditation project continues to grow.
Office assistance approved for $4800 annually through INCCRRA/DHS - SAM Project Budget
Cave Interactive Media hired to manage and develop website, e-mail and technical services.
January 2004
Fiscal year changed to Calendar year.
Board voted to remain affiliated with Midwest AEYC at the
winter/January 2005 board meeting
March 2004
Rosalind Frye, (President), Lori Longueville (President Elect), Lois
Malone and Teri Bobko (Public Policy Chairs) and Blakely Bundy (Chicago
Metro AEYC President) attend NAEYC Public Policy Forum in Washington DC.
August 2004
Annual retreat:
- Recognition and Appreciation Celebration
- Executive Committee begins meeting between meetings
October 2004
Conference at Pierre Marquette Hotel, Peoria Illinois:
- Karen Hughes, NAEYC Affiliate Relations is keynote speaker
- Leadership Discussion prior to Board Meeting presented by Karen Hughes
- Public Policy Committee announces Quad Cities AEYC as recipient of Lana Hostetler Grant
November 2004
Illinois AEYC submits Membership Scholarship Grant proposal to NAEYC
January 2005
Meeting format change.
Written Public Policy Agenda is set for 2005 after first annual
Policy caucus held on Friday evening of the winter/January Meeting
(very successful)
February 2005
Strategic Plan 1st Year” Annual Report" sent off to NAEYC
Kickoff for “Every Child Deserves a Chance” 50/50 raffle and fundraiser
Illinois AEYC Lobby Day: Members join Public Policy Consultant Betsy
Mitchell in Springfield. Meet with Louanner Peters of Governor’s office
and with local legislators
April 2005
Friday night caucus discussion focuses on “What is Illinois AEYC’s Role / Niche in Professional Development
May 2005
Regional Trainings sessions are held in April as part of Technical Assistance provided by NAEYC:
- Karen Hughes presentation, "Lessons from the Sandbox"
- North, South and Central Region - three trainings. Central session held in conjunction with Board Meeting
Lois Malone,( Public Policy C-Chair); Cindy Mahr ( West Central VP)
Mary Wonderlick ( Chicago Metro Delegate ) Leslie Parello ( Chicago
Metro- Public Policy Chair) attend NAEYC Public Policy Forum in
Washington DC
August 2005
Annual Retreat held at Stoney Creek in Peoria
Drawing for first annual “Every Child Deserves a Chance” raffle. Organization’s proceeds total $5,607
Organizational Development Committee leads Board through consolidation of 21 committees into six
All committee job descriptions updated
Board hires Jan Deissler as Consultant for Symposium
Laurie Rhodes agrees to serve as Symposium Chair
October 2005
Sharing a Vision Pre-Conference session is sponsored by Illinois AEYC
Brains, Trains and Emotional Safety: Ideas for the Classroom
- Early Reading First and Emergent Literacy: Are They
Compatible/What Are Programs Finding? Pat Steinhaus leads a discussion
of Early Reading First Grant goals, their implementation and outcomes
for children.
- Scribble Scrabble. Look through a different
lens with Mary Wonderlick at play and toys that entice children to have
increased and improved prewriting opportunities.
- With
Gail Conway and CIVITAS¹ ³Right On Course² materials, Learn how to
craft emotionally safe classroom environments where children behave
appropriately and learn.
9:30-3:30, lunch and Right On Course included, $85
Fall issue of Impact announces release of “Life is Life” poetry book: by Shirley Dean
November 2005
Fall Board meeting held in Springfield on November
Illinois AEYC Sponsors first ever ECERS-R Institute in Bloomington
Organization Development Committee reviews by-laws for needed changes
December 2005
Kathy Howard (SAM Project Coordinator) and Lori Longueville, (President)
Participate in panel presentation at NAEYC Conference
January 2006
Kathy Howard, (SAM Project Coordinator) presents at Chicago Metro AEYC Conference (Opening Minds) Leadership Breakfast
February 2006
Winter Board meeting held in Springfield on February 10-11th:
- Public Policy Caucus on Friday evening, Public Policy Agenda reviewed and amended
- Business Meeting held on Saturday morning
Board voted to change election of officers to Jan-Dec.
- Board votes to temporarily reduce newsletter budget to balance budget
- Board approves 2006 budget fund development plan
Strategic Plan Year # 2-"Annual Report" sent off to NAEYC
First palm pilot training for SAM mentors held in DesPlaines
Lori Longueville and Donetta Braner meet with Laura Anderson, fund development consultant
March 2006
Current Illinois AEYC President, Lori Longueville, is elected NAEYC
Secretary. Two other elected Board members Jamilah Jordan and Frank
Gettridge also come from Illinois
April 2006
Membership committee arranges and hosts statewide webinar on online
membership system . Karen Hughes from NAEYC facilitates webinar.
Second palm pilot training held for SAM mentors in Springfield
May 2006
New nominations process introduced. Board approves amended by-laws.
Kickoff of “Illinois AEYC at 40” new 3 yr strategic planning cycle.
June 2006
Prairieland affiliate disbands. Illinois Valley affiliate disbands
July 2006
Kathy Howard resigns as SAM Project Coordinator to take a position as an Elementary School Principal, effective 7/31/2006.
July – October 2006
Illinois AEYC Executive Committee works diligently to prepare for
the hiring of a second full time staff person. Job Descriptions were
put in place for Director of Programs and Director of Operations.
Personnel Policies were updated, interview questions and scoring matrix
developed.
August 2006
Annual Retreat held at Stoney Creek in Peoria.
October 2006
First Illinois AEYC Symposium was held at the Crowne Plaza
in Springfield; “Critical Issues Facing Children and Families: Building
Resiliency through Programs”. This was a new format from the Annual
Conference held in previous years and was successful.
Interviews were held during the week of the Symposium for the
Director of Programs position. Approximately 30 applicants apply and 8
were interviewed.
Public Policy Committee announces Golden Corridor AEYC as recipient of Lana Hostetler Grant.
Drawing was held for the second annual “Every Child Deserves a Chance” raffle. Organization’s proceeds total $3,715.
November 2006
Illinois AEYC hires second full time employee,
Tonya Frehner, as Director of Programs. Donetta Braner becomes Director
of Operations. Both Donetta and Tonya attended the NAEYC Conference in
Atlanta.
February 2007
Illinois AEYC enters into partnership with ISBE, Illinois Resource
Center and Chicago Metro AEYC to develop and offer Great Expectations
project to states’ Preschool for All programs
Tonya Frehner, Lois Malone, Cindy Mahr represent Illinois and Lori
Longueville represents NAEYC attends Public Policy Institute in
Washington DC
First annual Illinois AEYC Leadership Day. Louanner Peters from the
Governor’s Office was guest speaker. There were approximately 25 in
attendance.
Spring 2007
Betsy Mitchell, Illinois AEYC legislative consultant became part of
early childhood lobby team and sits in on weekly strategy calls
Several conference calls held with members to update them on legislative session.
April 2007
Illinois AEYC and project partners recruit and conduct initial
training of curriculum coaches.Training held in Bloomington Illinois
for coaches.
May 2007
Illinois AEYC submits letter of intent to Grand Victoria for funding for SAM
May –July 07
Second annual “Every Child Deserves a Chance 50/50 raffle- approximately $5,000 raised
June 2007
Illinois AEYC and partners sponsor 4 Great Expectations Curriculum Institutes for Preschool for All
program staff.
July 2007
Annual retreat held at Stony Creek in Peoria – recognition dinner
for Board members with focus on website revisions. Members “built”new
website concepts through hands on review of other AEYC websites,
updated goals and objectives, created year 2 strategies.
SAM policies and procedures revised
August 2007
Print Guidelines developed by Public Relations Committee and approved by Board
Responsibility for organization’s minutes transferred from Secretary to staff, creating backup system for minutes.
October 2007
Election of new officers: Cindy Mahr, President Elect: Terry White,
Southern Region VP; Laurie Rhodes, East Central VP and Barb Warmoth,
Secretary
November 2007
Approached by Illinois NET to partner on its federally funded grant
project on the development of a new nutrition curriculum/ training
for early childhood professionals and designed to prevent childhood
obesity. Six current leaders of Illinois AEYC serve on the Advisory
group for the Color My Meals Healthy curriculum project
January 2008
Year # 2 of Great Expectations project begins - Curriculum coaching begins for states Preschool for All programs
February 2008
Illinois AEYC Leadership Day. Senator Donne Trotter, guest speaker. Approximately 30 in attendance.
April 2008
Great Expectations Institutes held
After survey of members, Board votes to increase dues.
July 2008
New website launched
August 2008
Annual retreat held in Bloomington – discussion focused on accreditation, membership and member services.
September 2008
Growing Futures, Statewide Early Childhood Conference in Springfield
Illinois , a rousing success. Over $25,000 in sponsorships, several
partner agencies, diverse planning committee almost 800 in attendance
and profit of about $12,000 Illinois AEYC’s co-sponsorship support
allowed us to bring national experts to Illinois and present an
exciting and diverse professional development conference.
Illinois AEYC notified that Great Expectations will be funded for a
third year. On site coaching of programs continues and coaches assigned
additional programs.
Providing high quality professional development and follow up on site
technical assistance to over 90 Preschool for All programs throughout
the state of Illinois (does not include city of Chicago) This was
accomplished through the ISBE funded Great Expectations project, and in
collaboration with partners, the Illinois Resource Center and Chicago
Metro AEYC, Illinois Technical assistance was provided through a
coordinated network of well trained curriculum coaches.
Fall 2008
Election of new Officers. Brenda Wardzala , Treasurer; Brenda
Smith, West Central VP; Deb Clark Chicago Metro VP, Terese Amidei,
Northern Region VP
Donetta Braner successfully was able to resolve cashing of a lost
affiliate check for Illinois AEYC (over $3400) which was mailed in to
Donetta from an old treasurer, 15 years old.
November 2008
Donetta Braner, Tonya Frehner attend NAEYC Conference in Washington DC
Agreement with Illinois Action for Children for joint policy alerts
December 2008
Illinois AEYC submits new funding proposal to Grand Victoria
Foundation Successfully implementing the 2008 Grand Victoria grant
which resulted in five (of ten) programs becoming and/or applying for
accreditation. In addition a total of 33 early care and education
programs who participated in the four group learning cohort groups
documented program improvement and successful in moving their programs
closer to meeting the NAEYC program standards and accreditation
criteria.
January 2009
Accreditation Seminar presented by Agnes Kovacs and sponsored by Illinois AEYC was held in Springfield Illinois
Tonya Frehner, Director of Programs and Betsy Mitchell conduct a session at Chicago Metro’s Opening Minds Conference.
Public Policy Agenda updated
February 2009
SAM grant expanded to include development of webinar and online assessment tool for family child care ($80,000)
Building on its tradition of annual Lobby Days, Illinois AEYC sponsored
a Public Policy Leadership day in February 2008. In addition to
leadership development, and public policy advocacy at the Capitol,
participants met with legislative leaders, Senator Donnie Trotter
(Senate Appropriations Chair) and Senator James Clayborn, to discuss
early childhood issues and funding concerns.. Approximately 35 in
attendance
Tonya Frehner, Terese Amidei, Kim Kernosky, Cindy Mahr and Gail Conway
represent Illinois AEYC at NAEYC Public Policy Institute. Lori
Longueville attending for NAEYC.
Kim Kernosky and Lori Longueville attend QRS meeting preceding Institute.
April 2009
Illinois AEYC receives notice of Grand Victoria funding $74,000 for 18 months for SAM activities.
First “Children’s Champions” Recognition Lluncheon in Springfield. General Assembly proclamation and reading of names
May 2009
Moved to new office space after building was sold. New space was found just blocks away.
Newsletter s began to be sent out electronically instead of hardcopy with a significant savings in the budget.
July 2009
Executive and Finance Committees began holding monthly phone conferences to stay on top of the developing tough budget issues. ( non-renewed grants, state of Illinois budget conditions, etc.)
August 2009
President Cindy Mahr conducts a SWOT Analysis with Governing Board to incorporate with strategic planning for the October Board Retreat.
Donetta and Lori Longueville’s efforts at reaching “lapsed” members for renewal has seen 127 new and renewed memberships since the July process began.
September 2009
NAEYC Affiliate Rep, Gwen Simmons joins the Executive Committee in a phone conference to assist in evaluating ILAEYC’s current board and organizational development, in order to provide “FOOD FOR THOUGHT” in working through the SWOT/Strategic Planning Process.
October 2009
The Board regretfully granted the dissolution requests by the Bi-County and the Western of IL Affiliate Chapters.
Governing Board Retreat held at The Chateau in Bloomington October 23 and 24; Ann Wharf was invited by President, Cindy to help facilitate the strategic planning process.
December 2009
The Board approved a Balanced Budget for 2010 based on the very hard work of Treasurer, Brenda Wardzala and her committee.
The Board approved the move to a re-organized QuickBooks as the ILAEYC office accounting system; based on recommendations from current accounting firm.
Past Presidents
| Term |
President |
| 1969 – 1970 |
Catherine McClelland, Honorary Past President |
| 1970 – 1971 |
Lilian Katz |
| 1971 – 1975 |
Mary Weir |
| 1975 – 1976 |
Joan Braun |
| 1976 – 1978 |
Jane Morpurgo |
| 1978 – 1982 |
Lana Hostetler |
| 1982 – 1986 |
Dorothy Deany |
| 1986 – 1990 |
Deborah Cassidy |
| 1990 – 1994 |
Jan Deissler |
| 1994 – 1996 |
Chalmer Moore, Jr. |
| 1996 – 1998 |
Judy Helm |
| 1998 – 2000 |
Pat Steinhaus |
| 2000 – 2002 |
Jan Deissler |
| 2002– 2004 |
Rosalind Frye |
| 2004 – 2008 |
Lori Longueville |