ECRC Participates in Upcoming Statewide Early Childhood Workforce Initiative

The ECRC would like to commend faculty members Michele Pullen and Katherine Jordan for their participation in the Early Childhood Education Statewide Workforce and Talent Team (ECE SWATT), a statewide initiative focused on strengthening Kentucky’s early childhood education workforce.

ECE SWATT represents the effort led by Team Kentucky’s Kentucky Workforce Innovation Board to bring together early childhood employers and workforce partners from across the Commonwealth to better understand workforce needs, identify system-level challenges, and support more coordinated approaches to workforce development. It emphasizes listening to the perspectives of early childhood educators and employers, ensuring that workforce strategies are informed by the realities of the field. As the initiative moves forward, participants will help lay the groundwork for future regional collaboration and action.

Pullen and Jordan’s involvement reflects the Early Childhood Research Center’s ongoing commitment to supporting Kentucky’s early childhood education community through research, partnership, and engagement—and highlights the meaningful role ECRC faculty continue to play in shaping conversations that impact the field statewide.