An Announcement from Becki Streit, Chair of the Collaboration for Early Childhood's Board of Directors:
Dear Early Childhood Community,
I am writing you today to share some important news. John Borrero will be stepping down from his position as Executive Director of the Collaboration on September 1, 2022. John’s professional path has taken him to an important next step: he has elected to pursue his doctoral degree full time in the coming fall semester at the University of Illinois at Chicago. John and I have spoken often of his desire to take his rich community-level experience to the federal policy arena, and both of us understand that attaining his doctorate is critical to that goal. The opportunity for John’s powerful vision and experience to inform work at the federal level, impacting even more children, families, and providers, makes my heart happy –even though saying goodbye as I will have to do this fall will, indeed, be very difficult.
John will be with us throughout the summer and will continue to lead the Collaboration’s important work up until he passes the baton on September 1. We will be working closely with the Collaboration Board and Staff throughout the transition.
In John’s own words:
“What a difficult decision this was for me to make. I have a great love for the Collaboration and the work that I’ve done here. Some people in the community may know that since 2019, I’ve been involved in work to examine disparities in preschool experiences for children of color. This is a national issue, which has been a career-long passion of mine. I have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to engage in doctoral work with one of only three research labs in the country examining this issue…located right here in Chicago!
Today is not for goodbyes, because I will be in my role all summer. Today is about preparing for the great work that will happen in the future and planning the next steps. There will be more communication to come as we get closer to fall.”
In the past few years, we have developed a strong and adaptable organization, and we will continue moving forward to achieve our mission amidst a leadership transition. In fact, I believe that transitioning to a new ED as we are in the early stages of examining our forward-looking vision for the Collab – and having a chance to align that vision with the skills and experience to implement it – is an opportunity that we should embrace and celebrate.
With gratitude for your commitment to young children,
Becki Streit
Chair, Collaboration for Early Childhood Board of Directors
