In Their Own Words: Head Start Journeys in Ideal Learning
With Head Start reauthorization overdue, now is the time to develop policy and regulatory recommendations driven by exemplary educational leaders.…
Presentation
Equity
Head Start
IL Practice
Parents & Familes
- Title
- Program Director
- Organization
- Friends Center for Children
- Location
- New Haven, CT
Miriam Sutton is Program Director of Friends Center for Children in New Haven, overseeing the day-to-day operations of the institution’s three early care and education facilities.
Miriam has more than two decades of experience working with young children and families and first came to Friends Center as a parent. Her career at Friends Center began as an Emotional Well-Being coordinator responsible for providing individualized services to families and teachers, and is trained in trauma-informed care for families with children up to age five.
Miriam was part of the Friends Center team that won the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s 2024 Zaentz Early Education Innovation Challenge Audience Choice award.
Her passion and expertise in early care and education stems from her understanding of how essential those early years are to children’s future health and well-being. Miriam’s experience in early care and education fuels her ongoing work, creating environments where children learn to honor differences and treat others with respect. She believes that high-quality child care means building a community around a child.
In a 2023 Hartford Courant opinion piece, “Connecticut can’t afford to let our child care system fail,” Miriam conveys her perspective as an educator and a parent, calling on Connecticut officials to secure federal funding for the early care and education system.
Miriam serves as a co-chair of the Ideal Learning Head Start Network Practice Committee, a national group of early care and education leaders strengthening pedagogical practices across diverse childcare settings. She is also a founding board member of Wealth Beacon, a New Haven Connecticut-based program working to bridge families from being unhoused to becoming homeowners.
Miriam holds a degree in early childhood education from Gateway Community College and a bachelor’s and master’s degree in human services from Albertus Magnus College.
Miriam has two children and enjoys family gatherings, music, watching crime mysteries, and pottery.
