Facilitator - Shifting the Child Care Industry, Better Jobs for Better Access Initiative

INITIATIVE SUMMARY

The Shifting the Child Care Industry, Better Jobs for Better Access Initiative (Initiative) is a short-term, grant-funded project of Maryland Philanthropy Network. The Initiative intends to advance equity and job quality in Baltimore’s child care sector.

Women of color who deliver child care services in Baltimore (Child Caregivers) have limited opportunities to participate, as equals or at all, in the development of processes and program design at the systems level. As a result, policies, programs or other supports that directly affect day-to-day job quality in the child care sector are not adequately informed by the workforce itself. This absence of co-creation results in policy and practice decisions that overlook key aspects of job quality, and lead to/exacerbate turnover, workforce stress, and hiring challenges. This project aims to intentionally engage, empower and build agency among women of color who work in Baltimore’s child care system by creating a worker voice campaign undergirded by a facilitated process that supports them in articulating job quality concerns and needs, and by elevating these perspectives and ideas to systems-level decision-makers who are committed to co-designing with them. Ultimately, the Initiative seeks:

• to enable Systems Representatives to integrate a worker perspective into program/policy design in a way that increases job quality, and       
• to advance influence, agency and recognition of Child Caregivers as leaders, subject matter experts and co-creators of a system that works all stakeholders.

To achieve the goals and objectives of the Initiative, MPN will deploy a child caregiver engagement strategy loosely based on an existing national participatory process developed by Nurture Connection. For the purposes of this Initiative, the strategy will involve the creation of 4-7 Child Caregiver Circles (“Circles”), each comprised of approximately 6 Child Caregiver Circle Members and one Child Caregiver Circle Convenor. All Child Caregiver Circle Members and Convenors will be individuals who currently provide child care services to children under age 5 in Baltimore. Through these Circles, Child Caregivers will voice concerns, opportunities, and recommendations focused on job quality for the child care workforce. Insights, opinions and perspectives lifted by these Circles with be authentically bridged to Systems Representatives in Baltimore and Maryland through a collaborative process with the Initiative’s Program Managers.

Please see Glossary of Terms at the end of this document as a reference guide.

FACILITATOR ROLE SUMMARY

Maryland Philanthropy Network (MPN) seeks a Facilitator to play a central role in designing, facilitating, and coordinating the process of leadership development and collaboration among the Child Caregivers participating in the Shifting the Child Care Industry: Better Jobs for Better Access Initiative (Initiative) at MPN. This role supports authentic caregiver voice, builds equity-driven partnerships, and ensures caregivers’ lived experiences are elevated within the Initiative. The Facilitator fosters trust, develops caregiver leaders, and bridges communication between and among caregivers, the Initiative Task Force, and child care system stakeholders.

This position focuses on empowering Child Caregivers as leaders, ensuring they are supported in engaging their broader communities and fostering productive conversations, synthesizing and uplifting what they are discovering, partnering to articulate a set of ideas that will improve child care job quality, and participating in sharing the information with individuals and entities who hold formal positions of decision making and influence, such as state and local elected officials, agency and organization leaders, funders, etc. 

CORE RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Facilitation and Leadership

• Coach a group of 4-7 Child Caregiver Circle Convenors (“Convenors”) representing the child care workforce in Baltimore in a process of developing, then interacting with their own Circle Members to generate insights and commentary based on their Circle Member’s lived experiences.
• Facilitate approximately 5 meetings of the Convenors, ensuring meaningful participation and trust-building.
• Guide discussions among the Convenors, ensuring that their insights, opinions and perspectives are authentically centered and bridged to Systems Representatives in Baltimore and Maryland.  
• Partner with the Convenors and Program Managers to convey the discoveries made throughout the process to individuals and entities in Baltimore and Maryland who are in positions to make decisions on policies, practices and funding/financing.

 2. Relationship and Trust-Building

• Establish strong relationships with the Convenors, providing ongoing mentorship, coaching, and reflective learning opportunities.
• Support the Convenors in navigating challenges, leaning into tension, effectively communicating diverse perspectives, and synthesizing discoveries from community outreach and conversations.
• Recognize and respect individual communication preferences (text, email, phone).

3. Communication and Coordination

• Communicate activities clearly, consistently, and in a timely manner to the Convenors.
• Ensure effective logistical support for the Convenors to engage with their Circle Members, participate in the Convenor meetings, and join other events related to the initiative (refer to Commitments and Compensation section).
• Synthesize and represent perspectives to the Program Managers, as part of project-sponsored events, and in written documents generated out of the project meetings and materials, ensuring equity and clarity.
• Contribute to the development of reports, documents, demographic data sets and frameworks that may be used to help elevate child caregiver voice, the discoveries from the Circle conversations, and the recommendations generated through the process.

4. Child Caregiver Leadership Development

• Coach Convenors on deep listening, synthesizing input from their Circle conversations, shared decision-making, and collaborative engagement.
• Facilitate opportunities for Convenors to translate lived experience into actionable insights.
• Support Convenors in advancing group recommendations, synthesizing input, and articulating insights on how to improve child care job quality.

5. Administrative and Strategic Support

• Provide administrative coordination to gather data about the Circle Members, streamline processes, track commitments, and ensure deliverables are met.
• Develop strategies to address barriers, assess equity in discussions, and proactively solve challenges.
• Maintain a results-oriented approach to leadership, goal-setting, and tracking progress.

QUALIFICATIONS AND SKILLS

Key Competencies

• Strong facilitation and group leadership skills with a collaborative, servant leadership approach.
• Experience mentoring and supporting diverse leaders to build trust, confidence, and capacity.
• Ability to analyze issues with an equity lens and proactively address barriers.
• Ability to understand how the Child Caregiver’s identity, culture, and privilege will shape their participation and ability to reflect on how the Facilitator’s own identity, culture, and privilege will shape interactions with participants.  
• Ability to recognize and leave behind personal biases that may interfere with the elevation of authentic child caregiver voice.
• Familiarity with participatory research or community engagement methods preferred.

Essential Skills

• Excellent communication, listening, and relationship-building skills.
• Creative problem-solving and ability to navigate tension or challenges.
• Culturally proficient facilitation skills.
• Collaborative leadership and ability to empower others.
• Organizational and administrative skills, including meeting logistics and follow-through.

Values and Qualities

• Authentic: Honest, transparent, and reflective.
• Respectful: Embody patience, empathy, and flexibility.
• Dedicated: Committed to supporting underrepresented child caregivers and amplifying their voices.
• Strategic Thinker: Can “see the big picture” and weave connections across systems.

COMMITMENT AND COMPENSATION

• Facilitation and documentation of approximately 5 scheduled meetings with Convenors.
• Participate in monthly debriefs with Project Managers, coaching sessions on implementation of the model, and additional stakeholder meetings as required.
• Availability to participate in one full-day Child Caregiver Convenor training likely to be held during the second or third week of April 2025. (The most likely date would be chosen from these options: April 9, 10, 11, 12 or 17.)
• Potential participation in events/meetings with Systems Representatives, inclusive of culminating event, national initiative site visit in September 2025, and other events, meetings, and/or strategic communication opportunities to be determined as project evolves.
• This is a contracted, part-time position from February through October 2025 with an estimated monthly average time commitment of 17-25 hours.
• Minimum rate: $100/hour

---

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

Child Caregiver Circles are small groups of approximately 7 Child Caregivers. Each Circle represents a distinct demographic or functional type of child caregiver such as caregivers employed in child care centers, in-home (“Family Child Care”) providers, immigrant women in the formal or informal child care market, or child care aides. The Circles come together approximately 5 times over the project period to provide insights, opinions and perspectives on issues related to job quality in the sector.

Child Caregiver Circle Convenors (“Convenors”) are child caregivers selected and compensated to convene Child Caregiver Circles. Convenors, who themselves are representative of the demographic or functional type of their Circle, connect and learn from the voices in their circle. All Circle Convenors come together regularly to share learnings from their Circle with the assistance of the Facilitator.

Child Caregiver Circle Members are Child Caregivers who participate in the Circles. They are the authentic voices of this Initiative. 

Job Quality refers to a comprehensive set of characteristics that define a good job. For this project, we look at job quality in the child care sector through the National Fund for Workforce Solutions’ job design framework (https://nationalfund.org/job-design-framework/) and the Statement on Good Jobs developed by the Good Jobs Champions Group (https://www.aspeninstitute.org/programs/good-jobs-champions-group/). A core component of this project is to understand job quality in the child care sector from the perspective of the child caregivers themselves.

Project Co-Managers:  Marlo Nash, Coordinator of MPN’s Prenatal-5 Affinity Group and Linda Dworak, MPN Director of the Baltimore Workforce Funders Collaborative serve as Co-Managers of the Shifting the Child Care Industry: Better Jobs for Better Access Initiative. As Project Co-Managers, Marlo and Linda provide oversight and direction for the Initiative as a whole. The Facilitator will report to the Project Co-Managers.

Systems Representatives are people who hold formal positional, financial, and decision-making power. They may be public agency administrators, policymakers, funders, employers, or organization executives.