Patrick Romero, ECESF Board member

Patrick started working with young children as a Jumpstart corps member at Tufts University in 2002. After graduating he was honored with a Pearson Teacher Fellowship to teach at Horizons for Homeless Children in Boston. In 2009 he enrolled in San Francisco State University’s Masters program in Early Childhood Education while he taught at Noe Valley Parent Co-op. When he graduated he started working as a Head Start teacher with Mission Neighborhood Centers, Inc.

In 2014, his work was recognized with the Excellence in Teaching Award from First Five San Francisco. In 2016 he started to provide practicum experience for students studying early education as a mentor teacher with California’s Early Childhood Mentor Program through San Francisco City College. He also mentored Jumpstart corps members through San Francisco State University. In 2017, he was honored with the Leader of Men and Children Award from NAEYC’s Men in Education Network Interest Forum. In 2018, he started his current position as an education coach at Mission Neighborhood Centers, Inc. working with teachers to nurture their passion for uncovering the unique strengths of each child while encouraging the skills, knowledge and dispositions teachers need to ensure all children and families succeed in preschool, kindergarten and life.

Since 2010 he has served on the board for the East Bay Chapter of California’s state affiliate of NAEYC. From 2013-2019, he served on the board for CAAEYC as a Regional Rep and then chair of Professional Development. Since 2015, he has served as a board member of Early Care Educators of San Francisco, where he is dedicated to amplifying educator voices so that teachers are equitably included in our early learning system. He also serves on the San Francisco county Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) consortia providing input about how the system affects classroom teachers.