I love January. It’s a time that inspires reflection on what we’ve accomplished in the year that has gone by, excitement for what our new goals will be in the one that is yet to come, and all the things we’re grateful for.

The author Neil Gaiman’s new year suggestion, “Whatever it is that you are scared of doing, do it” has always appealed to me— and in 2019, when the year was still new, it led me to apply for the Executive Director role at Tandem. After two decades in applied research, leading a nonprofit was a leap into uncharted territory, but I was excited for hands-on work in an organization whose mission resonated with my values, and I am honored and delighted to be here.

The last few months I’ve been at Tandem have been exhilarating, humbling, and filled with opportunities to learn from the Tandem staff, board of directors, and the educators, parents, and children we serve.

The most important thing I’ve learned in this time is this: You, our Tandem community, are the reason we are able to do what we do. Because of you, we can bring high quality early learning to 14,000 children and families in communities where the need is greatest. Because of you, we can innovate in critical areas of early learning like mathematics, social emotional development, and trauma-informed practices. Because of you, we can intentionally work with families that are under-served by traditional systems of early childhood education. Because of you, we can spark joy while closing the opportunity gap.

In 2020, here’s what you can expect from Tandem. If you are an educator or a family member, you can continue to rely on us to offer you the resources to promote exceptional early learning experiences for the children in your life. If you are a community partner, you can continue to count on our collaboration, on working with you to create something together that neither of us could do on our own. If you are a donor or funder, you can expect that we will continue to be judicious with our resources, transparent in how we use them, and innovative in designing and delivering services to our community.

As we approach a new decade, one of the things we’re excited about is the launch of our strategic planning process. As part of this process, the Tandem staff and board will work hand-in-hand to tackle several important questions: What is the impact we want to have, and for whom?  What are the human and financial resources we’ll need to put into our work in order to have the impact we want to have? How will we know if we’re successful? We’re eager to dive into these questions, and to use this process to chart a course for the next chapter of Tandem’s organizational journey.

In all of our activities—whether it’s clarifying our strategic priorities or continuing with the programs and services you’ve come to know us for—you can be confident that we’ll hold ourselves accountable to our goal of listening to and following the lead of the communities we serve, and our mission of supporting children and families in the ways they find most valuable.

Thank you, as always, for being Tandem’s partner. We couldn’t do what we do without you.

With love and gratitude,