Michelle Kang, chief executive officer of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), visited Pennsylvania to tour an accredited early childhood care and learning program and speak at the annual gala of the Pennsylvania Association for the Education of Young Children (PennAEYC).

Kang toured Elizabethtown Child Care Center, which became nationally accredited by NAEYC in the mid-1980s and is also a Keystone STARS level 4 program, demonstrating the site has met a high standard of program quality. As Kang toured the site, she played with the children and learned about the early childhood care and learning services being offered to the children from the teachers and staff.

Elizabethtown Child Care Center serves 100 children age 6 weeks to sixth grade, including children whose families receive child care subsidies. The center employs 31 teachers and staff members. The center director is Christina Kalyan, and the assistant director is Kristi Long.

The day was capped with Kang's keynote during PennAEYC's annual gala to celebrate the 2023 Voice for Children Awards. Attendees at the event included the following PennAEYC staff members: Kim Early, senior director of public policy and advocacy; Annette Searfoss, executive committee president; Rose Snyder, senior director of education and operations; and Jen DeBell, executive director.

The event included the presentation of the following awards: Voice for Children Award - Jean C. Allison, Ph.D., associate professor of early childhood, Delaware County Community College; Voice for Children Award - Linda D. Grinage, founder and chief security officer, Blessed Assurance Christian Early Learning Center; Voice for Children Distinguished Career Honoree - Rebecca Lentz Gorton, administrator emerita, Northampton Community College; and Voice for Children Distinguished Career Honoree in memoriam - Rae Ann Hirsh, program director, Early Childhood Education Department, Carlow University.

PennAEYC's Voice for Children Award recognizes the grassroots leaders whose work impacts the quality of care for young children in diverse settings. The award celebrates not only the individual award recipients, but the early childhood profession.