Panu Lucier, director of Alaska SEED at thread, was recently chosen by the Exchange Leadership Initiative as an outstanding leader providing vision, passion and stability to the field of early childhood education and Alaska’s families.
Since 2014, the Exchange Leadership Initiative has been making leadership more visible in the field of early care and education, working to assist in stabilizing families and communities through supportive services.
Lucier joins 400 nationwide Exchange Leaders and was chosen for her advocacy and work around issues affecting Alaska’s children, families, and communities, including wage compensation for early childhood educators.
“The nomination was particularly meaningful because it came from my peers and my association and partnerships with state Registry Directors across the country,” Lucier said.
In the past 20 years, Lucier has advocated for Alaska’s children, families and the early childhood/school-age workforce in a number of capacities, including as executive director of the Alaska Children’s Trust and Friends of the Alaska Children’s Trust where she helped spread the message of child abuse prevention. She was also a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) volunteer, advocating for Alaska Native children and their families.
“Serving as a CASA volunteer was an opportunity to glean knowledge and understanding of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) and to work with the Tribes who represented their families and children,” Lucier said.
Lucier’s vision for early childhood education is that all families have access to high quality, affordable child care and that early educators are fairly compensated for their hard work.
Read how Lucier realized she was a leader in the early childhood education sector by checking out the Executive Leadership Initiative’s latest online publication here.
To learn more about the Exchange Leadership Exchange program, click here.
On behalf of thread and Alaska SEED, congratulations Panu!