Marcy Whitebook

Director Emerita

As Director Emerita, Marcy leads ECHOES, a project connecting early care and education today with its history and activism for a more equitable system. Marcy began her professional life as an infant/toddler and preschool teacher in the 1970s, and by participating in a teacher-led compensation movement that culminated in the nationwide Worthy Wage Campaign of the 1990s. Marcy is internationally known for her groundbreaking workforce research and her unwavering efforts to ensure dignity for educators, children, and families participating in the ECE system. Prior to founding CSCCE in 1999 and leading the organization for two decades, Marcy founded the Washington-based Center for the Child Care Workforce (CCW), an organization she began in 1977 as the Child Care Employee Project. She earned a master’s degree in Early Childhood Education from UC Berkeley and a Ph.D. in Developmental Studies from the UCLA Graduate School of Education. Marcy loves gardening, hiking, swimming, knitting, baking, reading historical fiction, and most recently, spending time with her granddaughter.