The ECSATA Board of Directors meets regularly to plan the future activities of the organization. Committees within the organization are headed by Board members and are continually recruiting organization members. MECSATA plays an active role at the statewide trainers' conference "Sharing The Wisdom" which includes the annual meeting and a display table.

View 2007-2008 Meeting Dates

Board Profiles:

Katy Chase Hello! My name is Katy Chase. I am the executive director for the Minnesota Licensed Family Child Care Association. We are part of the Umbrella Strategic Alliance (USA). USA has four partnering membership organizations. One of our newest projects is the Accreditation Facilitation Project which assists providers and centers in the accreditation process. I have been in the childcare and education field for 30 years. I have two amazing children; Ellie is 21 and David is 20. I enjoy cooking with family and friends, dancing, reading, digging in the dirt, music and sports.

Tammy Wachter I have been in the early child care profession for nearly thirty years and have owned and operated state licensed child care facilities as well as family child care.  I currently own and operate Kidsville Family Child Care in Spicer, Minnesota.  I have also been involved with early care education for over 10 years as a trainer and speaker, consultant, mentor, and conference planner.  I am dedicated to the promotion of quality early care through education and is a vocal advocate for children, early care, and professionalism in the child care profession.

Vicki Hawley After spending many years in the classroom and home visiting, Vicki began working with adult learners in 1991 with an inclusion training project in North Dakota.  Working with early education practitioners became a passion, and she soon built that into her “day job” by coordinating the ND Infant-Toddler training project using the Program for Infant Toddler Caregivers.  In the past fifteen years, she has coordinated projects in ND, WI, and MN in the areas of parent partnerships (Parents as Teachers), and infant-toddler development, and early literacy.  Along with coordination, Vicki continues to actively train and coach and desires to contribute to the professional development arena by seeking and using promising practices that support relationships and skills between adults and children.  Vicki currently works at the Center for Early Education and Development, University of Minnesota in early literacy and professional development.  She has an undergraduate degree in Elementary & Early Education and a Master’s in Child Development Family Science.  Vicki has three adult children and continues her “hands on” work with children by caring for her three-year-old granddaughter one day a week.

Huda Farah Huda Farah has a Masters degree in Molecular Biology of Infectious Diseases from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Harvard University training in improving health care services for the developing countries and Maternity Child Health epidemiology of Emory University. She is a researcher in public health, educator, cultural competency trainer, mentor, coach and a leader in public health and early childhood education. She is a dynamic national and international speaker, producer of many educational material videos and host/producer of TV and radio shows. For the past 10 years worked in early childhood education and for the past 4 years has been involved with children with special needs and mental illness as an advocate trainer of trainer of many curricula for child development and children with special need. She has a passion for giving back to her home country Somalia with emphasis on education and maternity and child health issues, therefore took part in many initiatives in rebuilding schools and building universities from ground zero.

Nancy Kaczrowski  I have been in early childhood for over thirty years. My husband, Bob, and I are the proud parents of four out of the nest children, three in-law children, and soon grandparents of two. I have taught early childhood and parent education both face to face and online. I currently coordinate three programs for the Bloomington/Richfield school districts that are early language and literacy focused for English language learners and/or low income young children and their families. My passion and advocacy lies with young children and their families!

Nancy Miller

Dan Wielinski I have been in the field of early childhood education for more years than I care to admit to. My background includes direct care in my early years ranging from school-age program coordinator to “special needs coordinator” to “center director. My direct care days were spent working with low income and at risk families.  In recent years I have been involved with professional development for practitioners at MnAEYC. I am now the Registry Coordinator for The Minnesota Center for Professional Development Center at Metropolitan State University.  I have found that my great stress reliefs are cooking and listening to music.

Denise Schumacher I have been in the field of early childhood for more than 15 years.  My background consists of teaching parent education in New Ulm and Mankato and working with Region 9 Child Care Resource and Referral for over 12 years in the capacity of Training Coordinator, Referral Specialist, Acting Director and now Community Outreach!    In my “spare time” I co-coordinate the Brown County Early Childhood Initiative and train primarily in the areas of Infant/Toddler and Ounce. I enjoy quilting, hardanger and going to movies/eating out with my college-aged son.  I look forward to being an ECSATA Board Member and focusing especially on the area of regional networking groups, so call or email me if you would like to set one up in your region!

Erica Fenstad Since my career in the Early Childhood and School-Age profession began 12 years ago, I have had the opportunity to serve as a 21st Century Grant Program Coordinator providing enrichment opportunities for 80 children from low socio-economic backgrounds who struggled academically.  This position provided the blessing to travel to Haiti to begin an After-School Program for children living in extreme poverty.  This experience led me to Texas where I was a Child Care Director serving over 1,000 children and responsible for training nearly 900 staff each year.  Ultimately, I returned to Moorhead, Minnesota to be closer to family and now am the Professional Development Coordinator for Lakes and Prairies Child Care Resource and Referral serving 21 counties in Northwest Minnesota.  I look forward to being a part of an organization that is committed to promoting and supporting early childhood and school-age trainers in the areas of professional growth and development, leadership, and advocacy.

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