Child Care Aware® of America Welcomes Four New Board Members

WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Child Care Aware® of America added four additions to our board of directors, of whom have expertise in military child care, nonprofit finance, bilingual education and child health, rounding out the organization’s newly expanded 17-member board.

Child Care Aware® of America’s new board members:   

• Barbara Thompson served from 2006 until her January 2017 retirement as the director of the Office of Family Readiness Policy under the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Military Community and Family Policy. In that position, she oversaw the Department of Defense child development and youth programs, which serve 700,000 children daily at more than 300 locations worldwide.

• Laurie Tarpey is a CPA and Chief Operating Officer at Raffa, P.C., the 3rd largest accounting firm in the Washington, DC region. Laurie provides non-profit services and has led various departments including finance, contracts, and human resources. Laurie was granted her CPA from the Virginia Board of Accountancy. She also attended Harvard Business School where she received her MBA, and Holy Cross where she received her BA in Economics-Accounting.

• Encarni Gallardo is Executive Director of Children’s Service Society, the oldest child welfare agency in Utah. Ms. Gallardo is also a bilingual national trainer for the National Association of Family Child Care, as well as a bilingual observer in the National Accreditation System.

• Taran Schneider is the Director of Healthy Child Care Colorado. In her role, Ms. Schneider leads the Child Care Health Consultation Statewide Network, health-related professional development for early childhood professionals, and advocacy efforts related to health, safety, and wellness policies and practices in early childhood settings across Colorado.

“The knowledge and perspective these leaders bring to our already outstanding board will further strengthen our work to make child care for all a reality,” said Lynette Fraga, executive director of Child Care Aware® of America. “By working with experts like Ms. Thompson, Ms. Tarpey, Mr. Gallardo and Ms. Schneider, CCAoA will remain at the forefront of the child care movement through expanded and focused expert areas. We are excited to welcome the new additions to our board.”

For 30 years, CCAoA has been the leading voice for quality, affordable child care in the United States. While CCAoA continues to pursue our vision of the future in which every family in the United States has access to a high quality and affordable child care system, the sharing of accurate and updated information remains critical.

More than 11 million children under the age of five are in some form of child care in the United States. As the nation’s leading voice for child care, CCAoA is comprised of 125,000 online advocates from across the country and more than 32,000 members. For child care providers, we offer trainings on emergency preparedness as well as technical assistance that emphasize health, nutrition and obesity prevention and more.

To learn more about Child Care Aware® of America’s work, visit childcareawareofamerica.org or follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

# # #

About Child Care Aware® of America
Child Care Aware® of America is our nation’s leading voice for child care. CCAoA works with state and local Child Care Resource and Referral agencies (CCR&Rs) and other community partners to ensure that all families have access to quality, affordable child care. CCAoA leads projects that increase the quality and availability of child care, offer comprehensive training to child care professionals, undertake research, and advocate for child care policies that improve the lives of children and families. To learn more, visit usa.childcareaware.org. Follow them on Twitter @USAChildCare and on Facebook at facebook.com/usachildcare.