A critical aspect of the Fellows experience is mentorship by an experienced leader in the field of early childhood. Fellows have established mentor relationships with a broad variety of individuals, including grantmakers, people in host organizations, and other experts in the field. In particular, leaders and partners in each of the host organizations serve as formal mentors to the Fellows.

Mentors for Melanie Garrett at HealthConnect One are Laura McAlpine (left) and Wandy Hernandez (right).

Laura McAlpine, consultant to HealthConnect One, is the Principal of McAlpine Consulting for Growth, LLC which offers management and leadership expertise to non-profit health and social service organizations. Laura is a licensed clinical social worker and a skilled policy advocate with a special focus on health access, maternal and child health, adolescent health, reproductive rights and anti-gay violence. She is Board President of the Illinois Safe Schools Alliance and a community advisory board member of the Amundsen and Lakeview High School Health Centers.

A nationally recognized speaker and advocate for community health workers, Wandy Hernandez is Lead Trainer at HealthConnect One. She is a Certified Lactation Counselor, a DONA-Certified Doula Trainer and a Certified Childbirth Educator. A national leader in the community health worker movement, Wandy recently completed two years as President of the National Lay Health Workers/Promotores Network, and currently serves on the steering committee of the American Association of Community Health Workers.

Mentoring Angela Hubbard at the Ounce of Prevention Fund are Diana Rauner (left) and Bela Moté (right).

As President of the Ounce of Prevention Fund, Diana Rauner is a leader in the field of early childhood education. Diana oversaw the expansion of the Ounce's Early Head Start program and the advocacy work that preserved state funding for early childhood programs during the worst economic crisis in Illinois history. Her prior work includes a decade in investment banking and private equity investing, after which she joined Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago, where she worked on the evaluation of programs that support early childhood development.

Bela Moté is the Vice President of Bounce Network, an LLC of the Ounce of Prevention Fund, working to ensure strategic expansion of the Educare model. Her previous positions include Director of Government & International Programs at Teaching Strategies and Senior Program Officer at the McCormick Foundation. She has been a teacher and administrator in early childhood programs for low-income children, including Early Head Start. Bela is part of the Global Leaders for Young Children project and was the chair of the NAEYC Council on Accreditation from 2009 to 2010.

Mentors for Artishia Hunter at Positive Parenting DuPage are Jeanna Capito (left) and Michel Frendian (right).

Executive Director Jeanna Capito of Positive Parenting DuPage has managed child care programming, Early Head Start, Head Start, Healthy Steps, Healthy Families, and Department of Children and Family Services programming. She has helped create community-based collaboration through social services agencies, home visiting services, public health programming, and healthcare systems. Jeanna is adjunct faculty at Erikson Institute and has co-chaired the Infant Toddler Committee of the Illinois Early Learning Council for several years.

Michel Frendian, a board member of Positive Parenting DuPage, is Dean of Enrollment at the Erikson Institute. He provides leadership for the departments of Admission, Financial Aid, and Registration & Student Records, coordinates all recruitment and retention efforts, and serves as Teacher Certification Officer for the Illinois State Board of Education. His background in educational administration includes positions at the San Francisco Art Institute, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and DePaul University.

Mentoring TeeNeka Jones at Health & Disability Advocates are Amy Zimmerman (left) and Kakuya Shakur (right).

Amy Zimmerman directs the Chicago Medical-Legal Partnership for Children at Health & Disability Advocates. Amy has spent her legal career focusing on issues that impact children, including individual and class action representation and legislative initiatives. Previously, Amy served as the Children’s Policy Advisor to Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, and worked at the Chicago Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights under Law and the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago. She serves on several committees and boards devoted to protecting children’s health.

Kakuya Shakur is a social worker at the Center for Healthy Families at University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital, where she specializes in family-centered practice and promoting positive early childhood development. She served internships at Children’s Memorial Hospital and the University of Chicago Dialysis Center, and worked as a researcher at the University of Chicago Center for Interdisciplinary Health Disparities Research. She has also worked with low-income people seeking employment at the CARA Program.

Mentors for Liliana Martin at Latino Policy Forum are Sylvia Puente (left) and Martin V. Torres (right).

Executive Director of the Latino Policy Forum since 2009, Sylvia Puente’s twenty-five year career includes serving as Director for the Center for Metropolitan Chicago Initiatives for the University of Notre Dame’s Institute for Latino Studies and as Director of New Community Initiatives for The Resurrection Project. She was appointed by Gov. Quinn to serve as chair of the Education Funding Advisory Board and has been recognized as one of the “100 Most Influential Hispanics in the US” by Hispanic Business Magazine.

Martin V. Torres is a Policy Analyst with the Latino Policy Forum. Prior to joining the Forum, he was a Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Public Policy Fellow, serving on the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans, and has also worked at the Alliance for Excellent Education and the Ounce of Prevention Fund.

Mentors for Saleem Hue Penny at Illinois Action for Children are Maria Whelan (left) and Choua Vue (right).

As President and CEO of Illinois Action for Children, Maria Whelan leads the organization's mission to support strong families and powerful communities where children matter most, through the advancement of innovative human services programs and responsive public policies that improve conditions for children and families in Illinois. A leader in the early care and education field for more than 35 years, Maria’s many roles have included founding executive director of the Carole Robertson Center for Learning, Director of Children’s Services for the Chicago Department of Human Services, and Senior Program Officer at the Chicago Community Trust. Maria was honored as a Leadership Greater Chicago Fellow in 1985.

Choua Vue currently serves as the Assistant Director of Community Engagement for Illinois Action for Children. In this position, she directs and oversees community engagement campaigns that aim to increase community voices in policy, advocacy, community organizing, and services in the early care and education field. Previously, she worked as the Policy Coordinator for Education and Child Welfare for the Coalition of Asian American Children and Families in New York City and as the Program Director of the Outreach and Interpretation Project for Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. Choua has extensive experience advocating for social justice issues in and with underrepresented communities.

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