OCTOBER 22, 2026 / 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM ET
TOPIC: Federal Advocacy and updates – Head Start / Higher Education
REGISTRATION: bit.ly/3UVhQJL
Presenter Biographies
Paola Andujar is the Senior Policy Specialist with NAEYC’s Policy and Professional Advancement team. In this role, she is responsible for providing capacity-building support, resources and policy guidance to key federal decision-makers and advocacy leaders to advance the early childhood education profession. Paola has dedicated her career to advancing early childhood policy by collaborating with stakeholders and policymakers at the local, state, and national levels. Previously with ZERO TO THREE and the University of Maryland School of Social Work, her work focused on improving mental health systems for the prenatal-to-five population, Tribal home visiting, maternal health promotion, and infant mortality prevention. She began her career as an Early Head Start home visitor serving expectant families and young children in Pennsylvania.
Erin Speer Smith has been part of the ECE profession for over 30 years serving in roles working directly with children and families in various programs as a teacher, child care center administrator, and Child Life Specialist (in hospital settings). In addition, she has spent many years supporting ECE professionals in roles such as a CCR&R Provider/TA Specialist, and in the NC Community College System (NCCCS) as ECE faculty, an ECE higher ed program director, and within the NCCCS office as the state’s Early Childhood and Public Services Program Coordinator. Erin graduated with her B.S. in Human Development-Child Care Teaching & Administration from Radford University and her M.A. in Human Development from Pacific Oaks College. As a long-time NAEYC higher ed. accreditation peer reviewer and having led statewide accreditation efforts including her own college program, she now serves as the Higher Ed Accreditation Training Specialist and supports work within the Policy and Professional Advancement team at NAEYC.
OCTOBER 22, 2026 / 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM ET
TOPIC: Federal Advocacy and updates – Head Start / Higher Education
REGISTRATION: bit.ly/3UVhQJL
