With new people at the helm of the Early Childhood Action and Grow Our Own networks, the groups are set to move ahead.
Shelby Smith is the coordinator of ECAN and Kendall Gray the coordinator of Grow Our Own. Gray is also working on redesigning the Partnership’s website and working on social media.
The Early Childhood Action Network meetings will start this month on a bimonthly basis.
Both organizations are under the umbrella of the Education Partnership of the Permian Basin.
The Education Partnership recently completed a strategic plan.
“We’re looking to improve the quality of childcare seats, the quantity of seats that we have in our area … as well as kindergarten readiness, ensuring that students in our area are entering kindergarten ready and prepared. If you think about it, the ECAN network is like the big table when you think of that birth to 5 space. The ECAN is pediatricians, childcare centers, other community members, like nonprofits, other resources that our community has access to, and then the school districts as well,” Smith said.
“Within the ECAN we’ve also started child care coalition meetings. The Midland County Child Care Coalition has been up and running for, I would say, the last year. They meet monthly, and so that’s with the school districts, other community partners, and then childcare centers. It’s an opportunity for those centers to come and receive different things once a month. We’ve had people with the school district present ideas that they can take back to their classroom; just different things like that,” Smith added.
The Ector County early childhood coalition has met a couple of times, but it will start meeting monthly this month as well on the first Thursday of every month.
Smith said the make-up of the committee will depend on what’s needed.
“It just depends on what feedback we get and what they would like to get from these meetings. We don’t ever want to just make it feel like another meeting. If there’s a resource that they feel that they’re lacking, we want them to be able to get that for them,” Smith said.
For Grow Our Own, Gray said there is a lot to go after.
“I think our overall goal is just that when students graduate they are ready to enter college or whatever postsecondary education path they choose, or they’re ready to enter the workforce. We’re working a lot on building out those pathways because we recognize that there’s kids that a four-year college degree is not what they want … so we’re focusing a lot on getting a credential or certification in high school. So when they do graduate, they can have these higher paid jobs. Really overall, we need to create a workforce and that’s why we’re growing our own because we need a workforce here,” Gray said.
It’s typically easier to get people to stay close to home if they have grown up here.
Gray said they have started a College, Career, Military Readiness Professional Learning Community.
“We’ve invited all of the districts that we serve, so Region 18 (Education Service Center), plus any of the districts that the PSP (Permian Strategic Partnership). … We’ve hosted two meetings so far and we invited the superintendents. We’ve had a lot of them come together, and then they tell whoever else on their teams to join. We just get to talk about the data and how to use it because we’re trying to get everyone on the same path because we all have the same problems,” Gray said.
Both Smith and Gray have been with the partnership for a short time, but they have roots the area.
Smith said she has worked for both Ector County and Midland ISDs. Much of her background is in special education.
Gray worked for Midland Development Corporation before joining the Education Partnership. Since she doesn’t have a background in education, Gray said she has been learning a lot and hopes to help people decide to stay here.
“I never thought I would stay here after I left for college. I graduated during COVID, so that really put a damper in all my plans. I ended up getting a job here and now I’ll probably never leave because I love it so much,” Gray said.
Both want to give back to the community that has given so much to them.
“But also coming from it (from) a perspective of I have an opportunity to make an impact on children’s lives. I probably wouldn’t have had that opportunity. When I was at the school district, yes, I was able to make a difference but I feel like this could really make some big changes for students entering the school districts and childcare,” Smith said.
Smith started out as a speech assistant, taught third grade, special education and from there became a diagnostician. Her last role with MISD was as Child Find coordinator where she identified children 3 to 5 years old who met eligibility requirements for special education.
“Early childhood has always been my heart. That’s where I started as a speech assistant and that’s just always been where my heart is,” Smith said.
Gray added that they both now get to serve not only their hometown of Odessa, but the broader community as well into Eastern New Mexico.
Smith and Gray are Permian High School graduates.
Smith earned a bachelor’s degree in communication science disorders from Abilene Christian University and a master’s in special education from Sul Ross State University.
Gray earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Texas Tech University.
“We don’t have a direct impact on the students, but we have access to those who do,” Gray said. “So if we can help them figure out the best way to use their resources to make an impact it’s going to improve quality of life. Education as a quality of life thing and it’s just going to make everything better.”
There is a culture in the Basin that you don’t need to finish high school when you can work in the oilfield and make a lot of money. But Smith and Gray are trying to change that.
“We’re working on a project right now with Wonder (Strategies for Good). It’s called the Pathways Narrative Project. We’re trying to shift the narrative of I don’t need any postsecondary education to make a good living in the Permian Basin. But we think that you need some sort of post secondary education whether that’s a six-month certificate through OC or community college, or that’s an associate degree, but you need something to be able to have those employability skills. We’re working on that right now and it’s very interesting. … We have a grant for that. When I started, that was one of the things that I really enjoyed. That’s what I really love doing right now is shifting that narrative. Again, we’re trying to get people to come back and work here. It all leads to the same thing,” Gray added.
Smith said she thinks a lot of that mindset is where we live and that the workforce is linked to energy.
“But we also need people in those jobs that aren’t energy. We need nurses and teachers. There’s a need for all of it here,” Gray said.
She added that things aren’t going to change overnight.
“We’re both here now and we’re both in our roles. Finally, someone doing both of our jobs, so now we get to help make that change,” Gray said.
Especially in education, she said, something is always changing.
“Creating the buy-in from our stakeholders to want to have part in that change is big,” Smith said.
