Resources — Events
Early Years Listening Session IV
Join us for the fourth public listening session of the Early Years Climate Action Task Force.
The fourth public listening session of the Early Years Climate Action Task Force will take place on January 9th at 12 PM ET. The conversation will focus on the question: How can investments in early childhood help communities build resilience to climate change?
Panelists Include:
Susan Gilmore, North Bay Children's Center
Susan Gilmore is President and CEO of North Bay Children’s Center and is responsible for the oversight of the entire organization, which includes board development, fund development, program development, community relations, budget and finance, and the supervision of the administrative team. Ms. Gilmore has been with the agency since 1986. She holds a degree in Child Development and has more than 35 years of experience in the child development field.
Susan serves on various boards and commissions throughout the North Bay further linking NBCC to numerous resources in Marin and Sonoma County. Susan chairs Petaluma’s Health Action Cradle to Career work group, serves on the QRIS consortiums for Marin and Sonoma County, and is actively involved on committees for both counties on establishing strategies that support early education investments. Susan’s ability to make connections, network and build relationships with different community sectors creates a win-win situation for all involved. Her entrepreneurial spirit and passion inspires those around her, and encourages collaboration toward system change.
Adrián Cerezo, Center for Early Years and Sustainable Development Research - University of Maine
Victoria Chavez Barriga, Bernard van Leer Foundation
Victoria is the Urban95 Officer within the Programme Support & Learning Team in the Foundation. She is responsible for advice and technical assistance to partners implementing project at scale within Urban95 cities; with a particular focus on sustainable mobility, public space, neighborhood planning, air quality, climate change, social justice and monitoring and evaluation, through early years lens.
She holds a Msc. in Socio Spatial Planning from the University of Groningen, The Netherlands and a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University of Cuenca-Ecuador. Before joining the foundation, she co-found Huasipichanga, an organization focused on urban development with participatory and co-creation methodologies where she has developed urban concepts and strategies aligned to the principles of sustainability and child friendly cities in Latin America, Europe and Africa.
Constantly driven by the idea that better cities are possible by citizen engagement and participatory planning, for her it is important to be involved in current social discussions seeking for citizen-centric approaches that focus on engagement and collaboration where research and technology are the enablers in reaching governmental, economic and societal goals. For the last 5 years, Victoria is based in the Netherlands, experiencing the cultural and diverse city of Utrecht. Lately her time is also filled with reading AI books, sketching new places and watching dystopian movies.
Joe Fretwell, Low Income Investment Fund
Joe Fretwell is the Manager of Advisory Services at the Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF). At LIIF, he works with state and local agencies, child care providers, developers, and researchers on efforts to expand supply of high-quality early childhood programs and facilities. Joe is particularly interested in strategies for prioritizing the needs and abilities of young children and their caregivers in affordable housing construction, community and economic development finance, climate policy, and urban design and planning.
Prior to joining LIIF, Joe worked in federal early childhood policy and advocacy at EducationCounsel and state affordable housing development with the Georgia Department of Community Affairs. He holds a Master of Public Administration from the University of Georgia and a Bachelor of Arts from Furman University. Joe is based in Washington, DC.
Mario Cardona, White House Domestic Policy Council
