Palo Alto Advisory Committee on Early Care & Education (PAACECE)

PAACECE has three main goals: 1) We CONNECT providers and educators in the early education community through collaboration and ongoing professional development. 2) We SUPPPORT early education programs in their ongoing efforts to enhance quality. 3) We ADVOCATE on behalf of families and teachers of young children to raise awareness of the challenges and opportunities facing early education programs today.   

Highlights of PAACECE’s past work include:

1. Hosting a First 5 Kindergarten Readiness panel discussion to support teachers as they prepare kinder-ready students.
2. Creating scholarships for teachers to attend CAEYC, the preeminent California conference for early education professionals.
3. Partnering with Stanford WorkLife Office to bring International Educator and Stanford graduate Dr. Lillian Katz here to lead a professional workshop for early education teachers.
4. Bringing together children and teachers to create a guide to the city through the art and thoughts of the youngest citizens in our community. The Places to Play booklet was the product of fourteen programs and thirty six young artists who chose to share their favorite places to play in Palo Alto. This booklet is a beautiful tribute to the valuable thoughts and contributions of the youngest citizens in our community.
5. Created an innovative, reflective “Community of Practice” for teachers from multiple programs to learn about and practice new pedagogical techniques that focus on collaborative and interest-based learning, reflection, and teacher intentionality in our work with young children and their families. Two six month programs have been completed that have brought early childhood educators together from various community child care and development centers to advance their development as educators.
6. Completed an assessment of the Needs with Families with Young Children and Educators in the community.  Results are serving to inform PAACECE's annual workplan.
7. Hosted regular meetings with ECE Directors throughout the Covid pandemic to create a space to share challenges and resources and support each other during this difficult time.

The members of PAACECE can include representatives from the City of Palo Alto, Palo Alto Community Child Care, Palo Alto Unified School District, Stanford WorkLife Office and other center or family based child care providers, and at large representatives from government or nonprofit agencies serving the needs of young children and their families,  Retired Child Care Administrators, Parenting  or Education Specialists, Parent/consumer (of child currently enrolled in a program) - Palo Alto or Stanford.  Please see contact information at the bottom if you would like to get more information about joining the committee.

Current Members 2024 

Alana Gelemovich
OFJCC Leslie Family Preschool

Elisa Magidoff
Center for Children and Youth  

Janet Zamudio
Stanford WorkLife Office

Lee Pfab
Palo Alto Community Childcare

Minka van der Zwaag
City of Palo Alto

Ollia Yenikomshian
Children's Pre-School Center

Rachel Samoff
First 5 Commission/Coach

Soheila Mozayan
AbilityPath

PAACECE continues the legacy started in the 1970’s by a group of Palo Alto residents concerned about the care of Palo Alto’s youngest citizens.  At that time, the group worked with the City to create a bold partnership to devote public funds to childcare: a ground-breaking step for a municipal government at that time.  The agency which developed out of that original partnership became known as Palo Alto Community Child Care or PACCC, and the goal, which continues to this day, was to establish and maintain high quality childcare services for city residents, subsidizing costs for families that could not afford the full fee for services.           

In the late 1980’s the legacy continued with the creation of the City’s Child Care Master Plan, which promoted availability, accessibility and affordability of high quality childcare and education.   During this time, the City established a Child Care Task Force that was populated by city council approved commissioners and served to create a Child Care Master Plan and to provide guidance and advice to the City as it strove to meet the child care and child development needs of Palo Alto families. Around 1999 the Task Force was discontinued and a Child Care Advisory Committee was established to continue to advise the City regarding family support and early care and education. And that work continues today.

Palo Alto is currently home to 65 licensed childcare and early education programs and 27 licensed family childcare providers serving thousands of children and families in Palo Alto.