www.negociosnow.com
47 February 2019
Age: 39
Title: Associate Director
Name of Organization: Erikson
Institute
Bio: Jaclyn is a passionate ad-
vocate for solutions that ensure
young children and their fami-
lies thrive.
As a veteran early childhood
educator in rural and urban
Illinois communities including
Streator, Oak Park, and Brighton
Park in Chicago, Jaclyn witnes-
sed first hand the critical impor-
tance of how a strong start in the
early years sets children up for
success in school and in life.
Jaclyn is credited with ex-
panding the scope of the highly
regarded Child Parent Center
model while she was the mana-
ger of the program at Chicago
Public Schools. Her attention to
facilitating connections between
community resources and inclu-
sion of families into the fabric
of the centers led her to Erikson
Institute where she is the current
Associate Director of the Early
Development Instrument (EDI).
Jaclyn works with community
stakeholders across Illinois to
use data on child well being to
identify strengths and needs of
communities, promote equita-
ble distribution and alignment
of resources, and foster better
coordination across child and
family-serving systems.
She is committed to sup-
porting Illinois leaders by dee-
pening their knowledge around
early childhood policy develop-
ment using a racial equity lens
through serving as a coach for
the Early Childhood Leadership
Academy of Erikson Institute.
Jaclyn also lends her expertise to
Christopher House's Education
Council in Chicago. She holds
a master's of science in litera-
cy education and a bachelor's
degree in early childhood edu-
cation with a concentration in
special education and dual en-
dorsements in English as a Se-
cond Language (ESL) and bilin-
gual education from Northern
Illinois University. She is cu-
rrently completing her doctoral
degree in educational leadership
with a specialization in curricu-
lum and instruction.
Jaclyn Vasquez
Child advocate
connects
communities
to resources
WORDS OF WISDOM:
"I
n order to make real change in
our communities we must bring
the "grass roots" and "grass tops"
around the table to develop a shared
vision and use precise data to align
systems and develop policies that
work for children and families."
