Hello, my name is Autumn David I have been a child care provider since 1996. I run a certified child care home in Salem, Oregon. In 2003, I received my Associates of Applied Science degree in Criminal Justice. I thought I would want to go into the Criminal Justice field but decided to continue my child care business. I have also received step 10 in the Oregon registry.

I have enjoyed being a provider because I am able to be with my child care children as well as being home with my own children. I have a lovely husband, three children and three granddaughters. My son is 23 years old and my daughters are 29 years old and 16 years old. In my free time, I enjoy going to church and attending my family’s sports activities.

I joined AFSCME because I have seen how much they have helped providers and I love being with people who are so supportive. I think it is important to be involved and know what is going on in the child care field. I love having a voice that directly affects my business.

I am a registered provider from Salem and have been doing child care in my home since 1995. As a child, caring for children is the only thing I wanted to do and my earliest jobs were working with children in a variety of areas. I started my business because I enjoy being a person who makes a difference in the lives of the children who pass through the doors of my home.

In 2004, a woman knocked at my door and talked to me about the union. She asked me if I thought providers needed a voice at the table, to be treated with respect & if I thought we needed a raise in the subsidy rates. Well of course, I said "yes". That started my work with AFSCME. I was at the first meeting in the State with providers when discussing whether we wanted a union representing us and was on the Steering Committee that started all the ground work for what is now our Local.

I believe in what AFSCME has done for providers in Oregon. One of the biggest things I felt passion for, in the beginning, was that providers needed to be treated with respect and to be seen as the professionals we are. I think that with the help of AFSCME we have received those things. We have gained a voice and much needed respect with Legislators and others in the child care profession. I enjoy meeting and talking with providers from around the State and around the country and love to represent providers in whatever activity I am participating in.

I have a wonderful husband, who I have been with for 20 years. We don’t have children of our own but, have helped raise 15 nieces and nephews who are a very important part of our lives, as well as, a very large extended family. When I am not doing child care, or my work with our union, I am the Volunteer Coordinator for The World Beat Festival and I am the team captain for a Relay For Life Team. I love listening to music and hanging out with my family and friends. I look forward to continuing my work with Oregon Child Care Providers, AFSCME Council 75 and Local 132.

I have been providing childcare in my Keizer home since 1992. I have my CDA and I am a Level 9 on the Professional Development Registry. I have over 800 hours of training in early childhood education, child development and related courses. The main focus of my program is school readiness and building strong social and communication skills.

I have 5 children, ages range from 19-26 and no grandchildren (yet). I Enjoy gardening, walking and anything outdoors.

Hi, my name is Renee Wehrend. I have been happily married to my husband, Bill, for 27 years and we have two amazing children (Katie, who is 25 and Brandon who is 23). Katie will be making us first time grandparents in January, 2012. I have been involved in the wonderful world of child care for over 25 years. While still in college, I worked in a child care center and did practicums in early childhood education at both Lane Community College and Oregon State University. After graduation, I was director/program coordinator of two large child care centers in California for five years. When we moved back to Oregon, I wanted to be my own boss and be home with my children, so I started my own child care business in 1991. We have both a certified family child care and a registered family child care called Home Away From Home Child Care. My daughter, Katie, recently graduated from Oregon State with a degree in Early Childhood Education and is now my business partner. We enjoy the special bond we establish while working with children and their families. Our specialty is taking infants at a young age and continuing to provide quality care for them until they start middle school. Several of our kids, who grew up with us are now in high school and work for our program. I have taught child care classes for Chemeketa Community College and Child Care Information Service. I have been involved in Portland State University’s mentoring program and served as President and/or Treasurer for both Salem OAEYC and Salem Home Child Care Association. I think our union provides many important advantages for our providers, including: strength in numbers, support, and a unified voice.

Shelby Shaw is a 2002 graduate of the University Of Oregon School Of Journalism where she majored in Public Relations and Communications Studies. She has been married for 10 years and is the proud the parent of two children. Shelby owns and operates a certified childcare in Roseburg, OR.

Shelby has achieved  step 10 in the Oregon Registry.  She is an Oregon Registry approved community trainer.  Shelby teaches classes in many areas including Professional Business Practices, Infant Language Development and using Sign Language in childcare.  Her goal is to become a Master Trainer.

Shelby has been a voice for childcare in Douglas County since starting her childcare business in 2005. She is actively involved in the Provider Resource Organization (PRO) and she serves on the advisory board for Family Connections of Lane and Douglas County, as well as helping plan many local conferences.  She also enjoys designing fliers and other promotional material for the conferences she helps to plan. She uses her skills by helping childcare providers write letters and improve their contracts, and makes herself available to providers in any way she can. Shelby has always been concerned with making sure the rights of other providers are understood and represented. She has helped providers to get ready for their state inspections and has helped providers in her area contact AFSCME when confronted with a problem.

We are thrilled to have Shelby as our South Valley Regional Director.

I have been a child care provider for nineteen years. My husband and I first started providing care for foster children, then became licensed child care providers. We have been married for almost twenty years and have eight kids and five grandchildren. I enjoy going to my children’s sporting activities, camping and scrap booking. I’ve been working on my ECE degree, and I am currently at Step 9 in the Oregon Registry. I became involved in the union to have a voice in making decisions about child care and my business.

It has been my privilege to be a child care provider since 1987. I own Rubber Ducky Daycare and Preschool a certified family child care program.

I have always loved the opportunity to work with other providers. Whether being a mentor in a mentoring program, as a member or officer in a  child care association or in the wonderful friendships we form, we have a common bond, a common thread. One I hold near and dear to my heart. In helping other providers we are the ones who benefit the most. In this and other ways we help to raise the standards of our profession. We as providers can help each other and in the process it will always reflect on our profession in a positive light.

If we together can help to improve child care in Oregon we all are ultimately the winners. This is why I personally have chosen to take on a leadership role in our beloved AFSCME Union. United as professionals makes us strong as a union! 

I am eternally grateful for my children, my two sons, my daughter in-law and my wonderful grandchildren!  Nicole, my daughter in-law, is a fantastic child care provider, making us a second generation of providers.  I am so proud of my family!  To my SBG sisters, I give you a big thank you for being my friends.  And last but not least, a huge "Thank You" to "ALL My AFSCME Sisters and Brothers" who have supported me in my role here in the union! "I Love You All!"

Gloria is originally from El Salvador, Central America. In 1983 she came as a political refugee to Seattle Washington. Gloria is a proud mother of three children and four grandchildren.

She earned a Business Administration Degree and worked as an accountant Assistant. She earned a Bachelor Degree in Science-Sociology from Portland State University and an Associated Degree in Accounting from Portland Community College.   Gloria was very involved in the labor movement in the 70s and 80s.

Gloria has been working for the last four years at AFSCME Council 75 Organizing Department, and beginning March 2013 she started representing Child Care Providers Together, ARAMARK at PSU, and Rainbow Adult Living.

Gloria has been fighting for working families rights for over 30 years. She is proud to have worked doing grassroots community organizing as well as Labor representation.  For 10 years she was the President and for 14 years Union Representative of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees-UNITE HERE Local 9 in Oregon. She also has participated in numerous trainings of the Employees Health and Pension Benefits Plans.

For several years she conducted a radio program called “la Onda Latina” ( The Latino Wave) at KBOO community radio and for a couple of years served at the executive Board of KBOO, presently she serves at the Executive Board of The Oregon Fair Trade Campaign-ORFTC and the AFL-CIO constituent group LCLAA- Labor Council for Latin American Advancement.

As a Child Care Representative, she will serve the Counties of Multnomah, Washington, Columbia, and Eastern Oregon.

Gloria es originaria de El Salvador, Centro America, ella obtuvo un bachillerato en Administracion de Empresas y trabajaba como Asistente de Contador. Gloria estuvo bien envuelta en el movimiento laboral en los años 70s y comienzo de los 80s. En 1983 ella vino a Seattle WA. Como refugiada politica.

Gloria ha trabajado por los ultimos cuatro años en el Departamento de Organizacion de AFSCME Consejo 75, y justo comenzando Marzo 2013 ella comenzara a representar a los/las Proveedoras/res Juntos del Cuidado de Niños, ARAMARK PSU, and Rainbow Adult Living (Raimbow Vivienda para adultos).

Ella tiene una licenciatura en Ciencias-Sociologia de la Universidad de Portland y tambien un asociado en contabilidad del Collegio Comunitario de Portland.

Gloria ha luchado por mas de 30 años defendiendo los derechos de las familias trabajadoras. Ella esta muy orgullosa de haber trabajado organizando en las comunidades como tambien hacienda trabajo de representacion laboral. Por 10 años fue la Presidenta y por 14 años la representante syndical de los Trabajadores de los Hoteles y Trabajadores de Restaurantes -UNITE HERE Local 9 de Oregon. Ella tambien ha participado en muchos entrenamientos sobre los planes de Beneficio de la Salud y pension de Retiro.

Por muchos años condujo el programa de radio “la Onda Latina” de la radio comunitaria KBOO y por un par de ños sirvio en la mesa directive de KBOO.  En estos momentos ella es miembro de las mesas directivas de campaña justa por Tratados de Comercio Justo de Oregon –ORFTC  del grupo contituyente de la AFL-CIO/LCLAA (Consejo Laboral par el avanze de los Latinoamercanos).

Como Representante de Child Care ella servira los Condados de Multnomah, Washington, Columbia, y Eastern Oregon.

In 2004, Faye began working for AFSCME Council 75 as a union organizer on the family child care campaign. Currently, she is a Staff Representative for AFSCME’s family child care local 132, Oregon Child Care Providers Together. Faye enjoys her work and is excited to see the changes that have been made possible by unionizing family child care. This is the beginning of a national movement that is making the lives of children and their caregivers better. Faye is proud to be a part of the union movement.

Gov. John Kitzhaber has appointed Council 75 Political Coordinator Eva Rippeteau to Oregon's Early Learning Council (ELC), as created by HB 4165 in the 2012 legislative session. The ELC is the age 0-5 portion of the governor's education reform plan to align education from age 0 through college.

The ELC assumed a variety of duties and responsibilities, as outlined in HB 4165, on July 1 — including the assumption of duties previously held by the Commission for Childcare and the Oregon Commission on Children and Families, both of which expired June 30, 2012. In addition, the ELC has the responsibility to serve as Oregon's official State Advisory Council on the Education and Care for Children as required under the federal Head Start Act.

Rippeteau has worked as a political coordinator for Oregon AFSCME Council 75 covering child care, FMLA, and other issues in the Legislature since September 2010. In her role at Oregon AFSCME, she represents over 250 Head Start workers, more than 3,000 licensed, in-home child care providers, MESD employees and hundreds of county and private non-profit employees who work with families with children age 0-5.

"I am honored to have been appointed by the governor to the Early Learning Council to be a voice for the people who do the day-to-day work of caring for our children and helping families connect with crucial services in the state," said Rippeteau.

Not coincidentally, Rippeteau worked HB 4165 during February's legislative mini-session.

"When the bill first came out there were issues that needed to be addressed, including clarifying definitions on Head Start standards, extending timelines for the county commissions on children and families and clarifying what was meant by 'quality' child care," said Rippeteau, that last item of importance to AFSCME Local 132 (Child Care Providers) members. "The governor's office and state Rep. Tina Kotek (D-Portland), the bill sponsor, were responsive to the concerns brought forward and got the bill amended. We supported the amended bill and helped it pass."

In addition to Rippeteau, the other members of the new Early Learning Council include Vikki Bishop, Early Childhood Education Program Manager, Confederated Tribes of the Grande Ronde; Kim Williams, Director of North Central ESD Early Education; Harriet Adair, Regional Administrator, Portland Public Schools; Nancy Latini, Deputy Superintendent, Oregon Department of Education; Lynne Saxton, Executive Director, Christie Care-Youth Villages of Oregon; Jim Tierney, Executive Director, Community Action Team; Dana Hargunani, Child Health Director, Oregon Health Authority; Dell Ford, Oregon Head Start Collaboration Director; and Kara Waddell, Administrator, Oregon Child Care Division.