Welcome, New Board Members

The Child Care Council of Westchester is proud to announce the addition of five professionals to our Board of Directors.

Stephanie Ebanks Ashmeade of Stamford, CT is the Director of Finance and Administration at eScholar LLC in White Plains, where she is responsible for the financial operations and all functions of the human resource department. eScholar is the United States’ leading innovator in education data solutions that support personalized education to over 20 million students across the country. Prior to joining eScholar, Stephanie worked at Nine West Footwear and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. She earned her MBA from the University of Connecticut and her Bachelor of Science from Atlantic Union College. She has been committed to the advancement of children since she was a child herself, starting as a peer tutor and continuing to mentor through the years. Stephanie is very active in her church and with youth organizations such as Pathfinders, Adventurers and Girl Scouts.

We congratulate the 28 dedicated and determined child care providers who graduated from our 7-month, 120-hour Child Development Associate (CDA) course in June, taught by CDA instructor Cecilia Scott-Croff. They are now eligible to receive the CDA credential from the Council for Professional Recognition.

This credential, which satisfies New York State licensing requirements, is a training standard for national organizations including the National Association of Family Child Care and the National Association for the Education of Young Children, and a key stepping stone in the path of career advancement for child care providers.

Our CDA course graduates are now better equipped to nurture the emotional, physical, intellectual, and social development of the children in their care, who are the real beneficiaries of this effort.

This professional development opportunity is funded by the Westchester County Department of Social Services Office of Workforce Investment. Our thanks to Donnovan Beckford and OJ Yizar for their support.

ADVOCACY VICTORY! The "Thriving Families Resolution" unanimously passed the Board of Legislators last night. We hope you will click below and read the entire resolution, but the key is that the Families Task Force will be developing strategies and programs to ensure more of Westchester's families have access to the high quality housing, child care/after school care, employment and job training, schools and home supports, transportation, and medical and mental health services in our county.