Early Care & Learning Council

Contact: Jessica Klos Shapiro

Public Policy and Communications Coordinator

518-690-4217 ext 32

jklos@earlycareandlearning.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

1/23/13

Director of Development joins Early Care & Learning Council

As Early Care & Learning Council’s new director of development, Jessica Mansmith is particularly excited about working with the Early Care & Learning Council’s network of 35 child care resource and referral agencies throughout New York State.

Jessica began her nonprofit career at the age of 16. Through her high school and college studies (University at Albany ‘99), she worked with youth at the YMCA of Fulton County, Fulton County YWCA’s Bebee Taylor Daycare Center, the Fulton County Jewish Community Center, David S. Van Santen Day Camp, and Albany Center Gallery.

In 2005, Jessica moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where she worked for Silicon Valley Community Foundation (Peninsula Community Foundation, pre-merger). She managed a multi-million dollar portfolio of over 100 donor advised funds, advised high-net worth families on their philanthropic goals, made discretionary grants to nonprofits focused on glaucoma and ovarian cancer, garnered collaboration among fund holders to pool their resources on special projects, and served on a committee granting English and Journalism scholarships to promising female students in need of financial assistance. Jessica credits her mentors at Silicon Valley Community Foundation for influencing her decision to make the nonprofit sector her lifelong career.

Jessica graduated with a Master’s in Nonprofit Administration from the University of San Francisco in 2009. Prior to moving back to New York in 2012, she was the assistant director of financial development for the YMCA of San Francisco, director of development for the Alisa Ann Ruch Burn Foundation, a consultant for The Marine Mammal Center, and the director of development for Clausen House in Oakland. Jessica volunteered for the Association for Suicide Prevention, Root Division, and SF Open Studios. She was a member of ACLU, The Commonwealth Club, the Association of Fundraising Professionals, the Northern California Planned Giving Council and the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network. Before joining Early Care & Learning Council, she was the director of development for Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Capital Region and consultant to The Pride Center of the Capital Region. She volunteers with the Women’s Fund of the Capital Region and sits on the board of directors for Albany Center Gallery.

“It’s a gift to work such an immensely knowledgeable and professional network dedicated to creating positive change in child care across New York State,” Jessica says of her new position at ECLC. “They do it incredibly well; being able to point to a nonprofit’s high-caliber work and measurable impact is a fundraiser’s dream.”

“The creation of the Director of Development position and our hiring of Jessica – who is a talented and successful fund raiser – is a giant leap forward for the Early Care and Learning Council,” said David Voegele, Executive Director of the ECLC. “We expect to generate substantial new resources in support of the Child Care Resource & Referral programs, so they can better serve the families and children of NY”.

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Early Care & Learning Council: For more than thirty-five years, the Early Care & Learning Council has been a leading voice for early care and education in New York State.  With its statewide network of child care resource and referral agencies, the Council has successfully fought for increases in funding to support early childhood programs and for the reform of child care laws, regulations and policies to improve safety and quality in child care settings. The Council and partners work to increase the quality, affordability and capacity of the early care and learning field and does so through training and technical assistance, data management and advocacy initiatives. For more information, please call (518) 690-4217 or visit www.earlycareandlearning.org.