An early childhood collaborative improving education outcomes for underserved communities
ICYMI:
'Inside Voices' Launches on
WNHH 103.5 FM!
About The Show
The "Inside Voices" show on WNHH 103.5 FM, hosted by Georgia Goldburn and Kim Harris, focuses on the child care system's historical context and current issues, particularly those impacted by racial animus. The show aims to discuss equitable child care policies and legislation with guests from Connecticut and around the country.
Host and Co-host
Georgia Goldburn, Host
Co-Founder, CERCLE
Executive Director, Hope For New Haven
Kim Harris, Co-host
Co-Founder, CERCLE
Executive Director, Inspired Communities, Inc.
Where To Listen:
Tune in bi-weekly on Monday at 11am LIVE on WNHH 103.5FM and New Haven Independent's Youtube channel.
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Available on all streaming platforms.
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Featuring
August 18, 2025
Building Stronger Women In Business with WBDC
In this Inside Voices episode, host Georgia Goldburn talks with Brenda Thickett, Chief Operating Officer, and Sonique Solis, Child Care Opportunity Fund Program Lead, from the Women’s Business Development Council (WBDC) about how their grants and programs strengthen Connecticut’s child care businesses. Hear success stories, learn about funding opportunities like the Ignite and Child Care Business Grant Programs, and discover how advocacy can protect essential support for providers and entrepreneurs statewide.
Past guests
Dr. William Johnson
Educational
Strategy Director,
William Casper
Graustein Fund
Episode 1: CT Child Care Crisis, Policy (May 6, 2024)
Connecticut Child Care Crisis Series, Part I
Community leaders and advocates examine the deep-rooted racial and economic inequities in Connecticut’s child care system, tracing its origins to slavery, exclusionary policies, and capitalist structures that continue to disadvantage Black and marginalized families. Co-host Kim Harris of the Harrison Tucker School and our guest Dr. William Johnson discuss how gentrification, underfunding, and lack of representation threaten culturally grounded, community-based care. The episode uplifts bold, community-led solutions from shared services to long-term strategic planning and calls for philanthropic and policy investment that centers women of color, cultural preservation, and grassroots leadership to build a just and sustainable future for early childhood education.
Merrill Gaye
Executive Director,
Connecticut Early
Childhood Alliance
Eva Bermudez Zimmerman
Coalition Director,
Child Care For
Connecticut's Future
Watch on YouTube
Episode 2: CT Child Care Crisis, Policy (June 14, 2024)
Connecticut Child Care Crisis Series, Part II
Advocates Merrill Gay and Eva Bermudez Zimmerman tackle the urgent child care crisis in Connecticut, tracing its roots through history and exposing the racial and economic disparities that continue to define access today. The conversation explores how systemic underfunding, administrative barriers, and market-driven policies have created child care deserts, especially for Black, Brown, and low-income families. With a call for permanent funding, racial equity, and community-driven reform, this powerful discussion urges policymakers and the public alike to reimagine a child care system that works for all.
Pierre Joseph
Manager,
Inclusive Economies
Episode 3: Inclusive Economies (Sept. 6, 2024)
Intersecting Child Care, Economic Justice,
and Community Power
Pierre Joseph delves into what it takes to build truly inclusive economies, where providers of color are not just participants but leaders and owners in shaping solutions. This episode explores how historical disinvestment and racial inequity continue to shape access to care and why community-led development, innovative funding models, and long-term investment are critical. Grounded in lived experience and bold imagination, the conversation calls for a future where child care is central to both economic resilience and racial justice.
Francheska Velazquez
Founder/Educator,
Play To Learn
Naria Velazquez
Founder/Educator,
Bright Minds Learning Center
Episode 4: Job Care Crisis & Child Care Ownership and Generational Wealth (Oct. 11, 2024)
Building Legacies and a Special Tribute
to Tom Ficklin
Inside Voices opens with a tribute to the late Tom Ficklin, whose legacy of truth-telling and community care continues to inspire even those he had yet to meet. The heart of the episode extends to Franchesca Velazquez and her daughter Naria, whose journey speaks powerfully to generational leadership and the everyday work of building a better world for children. As a mother and advocate, Franchesca shares how personal transformation and community activism go hand-in-hand, while Naria’s quiet strength reveals the next generation rising with purpose. Together, their voices offer a moving reflection on what it means to lead, love, and grow through change.
Through remembrance and reflection, this episode honors Tom’s enduring impact and calls us all to carry forward his mission of uplifting voices and creating positivity through community.
Tammy Robinson
Executive Director,
CERCLE
Episode 5: Inside Voices Official Premiere (Mar. 3, 2025)
Commissioner Beth Bye
CT Office of Early Childhood
Episode 6: Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont's Universal Pre-K Proposal (Mar. 17, 2025)
A New Deal for Early Childhood
Commissioner Beth Bye joins the show to unpack the governor’s landmark universal pre-kindergarten (UPK) proposal, a bold investment aiming to make preschool free and accessible for all Connecticut children aged 3 to 4 by 2027. Framed by a rich history of federal child care policy, the conversation explores how this legislation could transform early childhood education through sustainable funding, pay equity for teachers, and community-based planning. With a clear focus on equity, the episode highlights the importance of protecting parent choice, supporting women- and minority-owned providers, and ensuring diverse voices are shaping the system’s future.
Michelle Reyes
Early Childhood Educator
Episode 7: Provider Profile: Hope Child Development
Center (March 31, 2025)
What's Happening Under The Sun
From nurturing newborns to school age children to supporting families through affordable care and community connection, Hope Child Development Center stands out for its holistic, Christian-based approach and its commitment to excellence. Michelle Reyes shares how the center integrates spiritual growth, academic readiness, and cultural diversity into everyday practice, creating an environment where children flourish, families feel at home, and educators are empowered to lead with purpose.
Daniela Larsen & Terra Volpe
Child Care For Connecticut
Episode 8: Morning Without Child Care (April 14, 2025)
MWCC: Legislative Updates, Part I
Featuring the voices behind Connecticut for Child Care, the conversation dives into the urgent need to make early childhood education affordable, equitable, and accessible for all. Listeners will hear about key legislation aiming to cap costs, improve provider wages, and build better infrastructure, as well as the powerful grassroots organizing that’s driving the change. With the upcoming Morning Without Child Care rally on the horizon, this episode calls on families, providers, and allies to step forward and help reimagine child care as the essential public good it truly is.
Mindy Gold & Francheska Velazquez
Morning Without Child Care Rally Captains
Episode 9: Morning Without Child Care Rallies
(April 28, 2025)
MWCC: Rally Updates, Part II
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Connecticut’s annual statewide call for justice in early childhood education heads to the streets! Providers and advocates Mindy Gold and Francheska Velazquez shed light on the urgent need for public investment, fair wages, and policy reform. Through powerful personal stories and policy insights, listeners learn how child care workers are organizing, educating, and mobilizing to transform a struggling system into one that truly values children, families, and the people who care for them.
Reginald "Reggie" Hayes
Director, Kiddie Korner
Episode 10: Provider Spotlight: Kiddie Korner Daycare
(May 12, 2025)
Meet Reggie Hayes
Longtime director of Kiddie Korner in New Haven, Reggie Hayes, joins the show to explore his journey as a Black male leader in early childhood education. From founding a before- and after-school program that has served families for nearly 30 years to mentoring young men and challenging stereotypes in a female-dominated field, Reggie shares how care, consistency, and community can shape futures.
Laura Kohn
Vice President of CARE & Education,
Mission Driven Finance
Episode 11: CARE REIT: Rethinking Investment in Early Education (June 9, 2025)
Could Real Estate Be the Key to Child Care Justice?
Through the lens of Care Access Real Estate (CARE), a groundbreaking initiative supporting family child care providers, Laura Kohn breaks down a one-of-a-kind REIT dedicated to solving the real estate challenges faced by child care providers under the transformative model in collaboration with CERCLE. Observing Connecticut’s bold legislative steps and potential for expansion, the conversation reveals how investing in people, property, and power-sharing can reimagine child care as both a public good and a pathway to generational wealth.
Episode 12: Historic Child Care Legislation (June 23, 2025)
What's Happening at the Capitol
Georgia Goldburn discusses the historic legislative session in Connecticut, highlighting the passage of SB 1 and HB 5003. SB 1 created an endowment fund to support early care and education, aiming to provide free child care for families earning $100,000 or less and a 7% contribution for those earning more. The fund will be supported by the surplus state funds. HB 5003 established a pilot program connecting new parents with child care resources.
Episode 13: Early Start In Action (July 7, 2025)
Norma Stennett
Founder/Educator,
Scholastic Renaissance Daycare
How Parents and Providers Build Together
Following up from our Policy Recap episode, Georgia Goldburn speaks with early childhood educator Norma Stennett of Scholastic Renaissance Daycare and parent Takiyah Campbell about leadership, new CT child care policies and accreditation standards shaping ECE, and what true partnership between parents and providers looks like.
Bill Okwuosa
Chief Executive Officer,
Good Child Development Center
Episode 13: Breaking the Mold:A Black Man’s Journey in ECE (July 21, 2025)
Can a Black Man Change How We See Child Care?
Bill Okwuosa, CEO of Good Child Development Center, joins Inside Voices to share his journey from pro football and social work to leading two thriving child development centers, emphasizing the need for more Black men and other underrepresented groups in caregiving roles. The conversation highlights how diversity strengthens communities, why societal perceptions must shift, and what leaders can do to create space for men in early childhood education.
Jessica Sager
Co-Founder / Chief Executive Officer,
All Our Kin
Episode 16: From Exploitation to Liberation: Reclaiming the Power of Child Care (August 4, 2025)
Who Built America’s Child Care System, and Who Benefits?
In this episode of Inside Voices, Jessica Sager, Co-Founder & CEO of All Our Kin, speaks about the deep-rooted inequities in child care and the urgent need for reform. With our host, they explore the history of undervalued labor by Black and Brown women, the role of family child care providers, and what it means to center restorative justice, equity, and leadership in early care policy. A must-listen for anyone invested in building a better future for children and caregivers.