A passion for making our country a better place for children has been the driving force in Libby Doggett’s career.  That passion led her to Pre-K Now, where she directs the organization’s efforts to educate state policymakers, the media, and the general public about the potential of pre-k to improve outcomes for young children.

Prior to joining Pre-K Now, Dr. Doggett worked for the National Head Start Association, where she directed the HeadsUp! Reading program, an innovative, credit-bearing course designed to provide early-childhood professionals the skills needed to help young children learn to read and write.  Funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Heinz Endowment, AT&T, and a number of states, the program used satellite television and the Internet to bring college-level training to early-childhood professionals nationwide.  A trained facilitator coordinated the learning at each of the 2000 sites in 47 states across the country.

Upon coming to Washington, D.C., in 1995, Dr. Doggett worked in the U.S. Department of Education, where she served as special assistant to the director of special education (OSEP) and as executive director of the Federal Interagency Coordinating Council, coordinating multiple federal services for infants, toddlers, children with disabilities, and their families.  As part of the OSEP’s leadership team, Dr. Doggett helped to analyze and develop effective special-education policies, identify program strengths and deficiencies, and provide specialized, early-childhood expertise to the director.  While at the Department of Education, Dr. Doggett also worked on the America Reads Challenge and helped lead the Children’s Health Insurance Program outreach team in building a coalition of local school administrators dedicated to making children’s health-insurance enrollment a regular part of school business.

Dr. Doggett’s public-service record predates her tenure in Washington.  In her home state of Texas, she served as the executive director of the Arc of Texas, the largest voluntary organization for persons with mental retardation and their families in the Lone Star State.  She also helped found and then chaired the Disability Policy Consortium, a coalition of 20 Texas disability advocacy organizations.

Dr. Doggett co-authored the first book written on child care and the Americans with Disabilities Act.  Honors for her leadership on children’s and disability issues include an appointment to the Texas Commission on Children and Youth, the Governor’s Trophy from the Governor’s Committee on the Employment of Persons with Disabilities in Texas, and the Friend of Early Childhood Intervention award.  She holds a doctorate from the University of Texas in early-childhood special education.

During her undergraduate years at the University of Texas, she met her husband Lloyd Doggett, currently a U.S. Representative from Texas and a senior Member on the Ways & Means Committee. The Doggetts have two daughters, Lisa and Cathy, and two granddaughters, Ella and Clara.

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Allison de la Torre serves as program manager at Pre-K Now, a role that combines her non-profit administration and event planning expertise with her passion for smart public policy. She manages the organization’s finances, major events, and communications with advisory board members and funders.

Before joining Pre-K Now in August 2007, Ms. de la Torre served as legislative assistant to Oregon State Senator Vicki L. Walker, chair of the Senate Education and General Government Committee. Prior to her work for Senator Walker, she was executive assistant at the Children’s Institute, a leading pre-k advocacy organization in Oregon.

Ms. de la Torre became an early childhood advocate at an early age. Her mother was a pre-kindergarten program director, and Ms. de la Torre began her career as a pre-k assistant in her home town of La Mesa, California. Her volunteer activities have included teaching pre-k to at-risk children in Quito, Ecuador, and tutoring bilingual kindergartners in Salem, Oregon.

Ms. de la Torre holds a bachelor's degree in politics and Spanish from Willamette University. In 2005, she studied abroad at the Universidad de San Francisco in Quito, Ecuador.

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Jennifer Doctors joined Pre-K Now in spring 2005, bringing a lifetime of writing and nearly ten years of professional experience. In this new role, her primary responsibilities include development of original material, management of institutional voice and style, and editorial review of organization publications. Through her company, WordCraft Creative Services, she also provides freelance writing and editing services to clients around the country.

Throughout her career, Ms. Doctors has maintained a focus on education issues and policy. From 2000-2004 she served as the editor of the ACSANews, the monthly newsletter of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, and she has written for California College of the Arts, National University, Montgomery County (MD) Public Schools, and a number of individual academic professionals to develop curricula, programs, and published works.

Ms. Doctors has published a series of translations and writes short fiction, essays, and poetry. She holds a bachelor's degree in linguistics from the University of California at Santa Cruz and has studied creative writing at Hartwick College in New York and American University in Washington, D.C.

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Danielle Gonzales works on state program issues as well as Latino-outreach efforts for Pre-K Now.  Prior to joining the organization, she worked at Reading Is Fundamental (RIF), where she served as a liaison between the national office and several large, multi-site literacy programs, training program coordinators and developing programs and providing technical assistance for reading motivation, family literacy, literacy efforts in correctional facilities, and family/community involvement in education. While at RIF, Ms. Gonzales also worked on a Latino-outreach effort to provide culturally and linguistically appropriate literacy resources for Hispanic children and their families.

Previously, she taught fourth grade in Brownsville, Texas; researched the condition of Latinos in the U.S. educational system for the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans at the U.S. Department of Education; and worked on several political campaigns in her home state of New Mexico. Ms. Gonzales received her bachelor's degree in political science and Spanish language and literature from the George Washington University and her master of education from the University of Notre Dame. She is a recipient of the Harry S. Truman Fellowship for Leadership and Public Service for her work to educate Latino high school students about the college-application process and her efforts to improve Hispanic educational achievement and attainment.

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Clairee Hammond is the state policy fellow at Pre-K Now. She is responsible for assisting the state team in their work with advocates and policymakers to help promote high-quality, voluntary pre-k for all three and four year olds.

Prior to coming to Pre-K Now, Ms. Hammond worked as a constituent services representative for U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski. She became interested in pre-k advocacy while working during her undergraduate years as an instructional assistant in a pre-k classroom in Baltimore County, Maryland.

Ms. Hammond earned a bachelor's degree in political science from Towson University and will receive her master's degree in early childhood education from the same university in May 2008.

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Holly Barnes Higgins brings to Pre-K Now more than 12 years of communications experience in the fields of early childhood development, social services, state and national politics, and international development. As media relations director, she crafts written public statements, develops media strategies, and conducts outreach to increase public awareness of and political commitment to the issue of high-quality pre-k for all.

Most recently, Ms. Higgins served as the public information officer for a U.S.-funded economic development project in southern Afghanistan, where she established a communications office and developed and implemented a public education campaign. Before leaving for Afghanistan, she worked in Washington, D.C., as a press secretary for U.S. Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and served as the communications director for a national, bipartisan coalition advocating for increased international engagement.

Ms. Higgins holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Texas at Austin and a master's in educational psychology from the University of Denver.

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Tawanna Kane serves as the national call coordinator for Pre-K Now. She is responsible for conceptualizing and managing all aspects of the organization's monthly conference calls for pre-k advocates, educators, and others.

Prior to joining Pre-K Now, Ms. Kane worked as an accountability manager for municipal governments in the District of Columbia and Baltimore, MD. In this capacity, she monitored program quality, service delivery modules, operations, professional development, facility utilization, and accreditation for recreation centers, early childhood programs, and school-aged childcare centers. She has also created a stress reduction curriculum for juvenile halls, level III schools, and other specialized populations in New York and Maryland, and she currently serves on the board of directors for The Lineage Project.

Ms. Kane is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College.

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Bio coming soon...

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Matt Mulkey is the director of communications for Pre-K Now. He oversees the organization's media outreach, marketing, and messaging to advance the issue of high-quality pre-k for all children. He first came to Pre-K Now in May 2005 and served as Internet communications manager for two and a half years.

Previously, Mr. Mulkey managed e-advocacy at People For the American Way, where he helped develop innovative strategies that mobilized more than 10,000 volunteer election monitors for the 2004 election. He led People For's efforts to engage online supporters in campaigns to reduce class sizes, secure equitable public-school funding, and protect students' and teachers' religious liberty, among other issues.

Prior to his involvement in People For's online initiatives, Mr. Mulkey was the northeast field coordinator, working with grassroots advocates and elected officials to advance shared goals at the state and local levels. He received his bachelor of arts in international relations from Kent State University.

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Rosalinda Ortega joined Pre-K Now as the program assistant in January 2008. Her responsibilities include providing executive and administrative support to the communications, federal policy, and state policy teams. She also assists with major organization events and finances.

Before coming to Pre-K Now, Ms. Ortega served as an insurance claims assistant at Miller and Long Co., Inc. She was an intern at the Texas Office of State and Federal Relations and worked as a fundraising assistant for a mayoral campaign in San Antonio, Texas. Her volunteer activities include tutoring elementary school children through groups such as Horton’s Kids.

Ms. Ortega holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from St. Mary’s University.

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Kathy Patterson joined Pre-K Now in March 2007 as federal policy director after serving 12 years as a member of the District of Columbia Council.  She advances the pre-k agenda on Capitol Hill and works closely with other national organizations to pursue shared early education goals.

Ms. Patterson ran for political office as a public school activist in 1994 and unseated a 2-term incumbent. On the D.C. Council, she advocated fiscal responsibility, stronger public schools, and accountability from District officials, and was a key player in the city’s financial recovery. She served as chair of the Committee on Government Operations from 1997 through 2000, led the Committee on the Judiciary from 2001 through 2004, and served as Chair of the Committee on Education, Libraries and Recreation during her last two years on the Council.

As chairman of the Committee on Education, Libraries and Recreation, Ms. Patterson was instrumental in gaining passage in 2006 of legislation to fund major renovation of D.C. Public Schools. She fought to provide incentives for public schools to recruit and retain quality teachers by helping teachers receive national board certification, and helping cover the costs of classroom supplies and training. Her other legislative accomplishments range from making D.C. smoke-free to landmark legislation protecting the First Amendment rights of individuals demonstrating in the nation’s capital.

Ms. Patterson came to Washington, D.C., from Kansas City, Missouri, in January 1977 to become a Washington correspondent for the Kansas City Star. A California native, she holds a degree in journalism from Northwestern University, and a master's in English from Georgetown University. She served as communications director for the American Public Welfare Association from 1986 through 1994, working with state and local public human service administrators on effective national policy to benefit low-income Americans.

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Stephanie Rubin came to Pre-K Now in August of 2004. As state program director, she works with state advocates and policymakers to develop and implement strategies that will increase pre-k quality and availability.  Prior to joining the organization, she led advocacy efforts to increase public investment in early-education, after-school, mental health and child-abuse-prevention services at Fight Crime: Invest in Kids California.  During her time at Fight Crime, the California office was integrally involved in a statewide campaign calling for voluntary pre-k for all three and four year olds.  She led Fight Crime: Invest in Kids California's 2004 election education project, distributing non-partisan background materials on the benefits of pre-k to every legislative candidate in the 2004 primary elections and setting up meetings between interested candidates and diverse community leaders.

Previously, Ms. Rubin served simultaneously as legislative director to California State Senator Tom Hayden and as counsel to the Senate Select Committee on Higher Education, which Senator Hayden chaired.  She received her bachelor's degree in history from Princeton and her law degree from the University of California Los Angeles. Her volunteer activities include participating in election-observation teams in Latin America, serving as a judge in a youthful-offender-diversion program, and cycling in the 2004 California AIDS/Lifecycle ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles.

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Matt Smith joined Pre-K Now as the federal policy fellow in May 2007.  His responsibilities include researching and monitoring federal proposals on pre-k, promoting sound pre-k policy on Capitol Hill, and providing information about federal initiatives to the state and communications teams.

Before arriving at Pre-K Now, Mr. Smith served as an intern in the office of U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY).  The son of two Pennsylvania teachers/school administrators, he has spent his life immersed in education issues.  After college, he worked in fundraising for the Ethical Culture Fieldston School in Manhattan, where he had the pleasure of eating lunch every Wednesday with one of the school's pre-k classes.  He looks forward to working to procure the same excellent pre-k opportunity that he saw at Ethical Culture for all of America's three and four year olds.

Mr. Smith graduated in 2006 from Columbia University with a major in history.

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Tina Trenkner joined Pre-K Now as the communications fellow in July 2007. Her responsibilities include monitoring press coverage of the pre-k movement, writing and editing materials for print and web, and providing assistance to the communications team.

Ms. Trenkner seeks to combine her writing abilities with her personal experiences to help inform the public and policymakers about the benefits of a quality early education. Prior to her work at Pre-K Now, Ms. Trenkner served as a design editor and an opinion editor for her college newspaper. She has also written for regional and national magazines. During school breaks, she saw firsthand how pre-k develops reading skills and promotes self-esteem while assisting her mother, an elementary school teacher.

Ms. Trenkner graduated from Northwestern University in June 2007 with a bachelor's degree in journalism and political science.

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Albert Wat is the state policy analyst for Pre-K Now, providing the staff with the latest information on states' pre-kindergarten programs and on developments in early education research.

Mr. Wat came to Pre-K Now from Georgetown University's Center for Social Justice where he directed the DC Schools Project, a literacy initiative that trains college students to serve as literacy tutors and instructors for low-income children and adults with immigrant backgrounds in Washington, D.C. He previously directed the America Reads program at the University of Michigan.

Mr. Wat began his career in education as a high school English teacher in California. He has also worked with the Bay Area School Reform Collaborative and served as an AmeriCorps member at Partners in School Innovation, a school reform organization based in San Francisco. He holds a bachelor's degree in psychology, a master's in education from Stanford University, and a master's in education policy from the George Washington University.

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