HOPE Toledo Adds New Staff Members to the Organization Elisa Huss-Hage and Nancy Okuley Assume Critical Roles
TOLEDO, OH, January 4, 2022 - Today, John C. Jones, President of HOPE Toledo, announced the appointments of Elisa Huss-Hage and Nancy Okuley to new positions in the organization. Huss-Hage is serving as director, Early Childhood Education, and Okuley as HOPE Toledo’s Professional Development and Support specialist.
Elisa Huss-Hage joins the leadership team of HOPE Toledo after 25 years at Owens Community College as a faculty member in the Department of Teacher Education and Human Services. Over the years, she has dedicated significant time to the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and its higher education work to establish and maintain teacher preparation standards for the field of early childhood education. She has served as a NAEYC accreditation program Peer Reviewer since 2005, and as a member of its Higher Education Commission from 2009-2015—serving as Chair from 2011-2015. She was elected to serve on the NAEYC Governing Board (2016-2020), where she was Chair of their Early Learning Systems Committee. In that capacity, Huss-Hage was responsible for leading the revisions to the profession’s foundational documents—the Developmentally Appropriate Practice positioning statement, the Professional Standards and Competencies for Early Childhood Educators, and the creation of the Advancing Equity in Early Childhood Education positioning statement.
As HOPE Toledo’s director, Early Childhood Education, Huss-Hage is responsible for the operational efficiency of HOPE Toledo’s Pre-K initiative and leads the ongoing design, development, and implementation of the program with HOPE Pre-K Providers. “We are grateful to have someone of Elisa’s experience and leadership in this position,” stated Jones. “She will oversee and coordinate the work to support our Pre-K Providers, ensuring instructional best practices, curriculum fidelity and accountability for implementing the high standards of quality required of a HOPE Pre-K Provider. She will also make sure that our providers are supported with resources and assistance where needed.”
“Our community is an amazing place to live and raise a family. Among its valuable resources is a cadre of high-quality early learning environments and dedicated early childhood educators for families of young children to utilize. Equity in access to these essential early learning experiences is among the priorities of HOPE Toledo and is one that resonates with me,” said Huss-Hage. “In all that I have done in my career as an educator, working to support and ensure access to high-quality educational experiences for all of Toledo’s children is by far the most important!”
Huss-Hage holds a MEd in Educational Administration and Supervision from the University of Toledo, where she also earned her Bachelor of Education in Special Education with an emphasis in Social Psychology and Early Childhood Education.
Also assuming a key role with HOPE Toledo is Nancy Okuley. Okuley has spent over 30 years in Toledo, Ohio, working with a variety of programs to develop quality education for children. In 1992, she started Sylvania Children’s Center —serving as both a director and teacher. She went on to spend 10 years working as a home-based childcare provider while her own children were young. In 2006, she started St. Joseph Parish Preschool in Sylvania where she earned awards for her work as an early childhood educator. She also spent 22 years as an adjunct faculty member at Owens Community College, Lourdes University, and University of Toledo.
As HOPE Toledo’s Professional Development and Support specialist, Okuley will be responsible for providing classroom support and individualized coaching so that HOPE Pre-K teachers can enhance and foster teaching quality—as measured by the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS)—and improve overall educational experience. The HOPE Toledo Pre-K Standard for Professional Development has a primary focus on the quality and content of professional development to include: topics which are high interest/high need and delivered in a community-based approach; individualized coaching to meet the needs of the teacher; and dedicated lesson planning to assure high-quality instruction meets the needs of each child in the classroom. It will be the responsibility of the Professional Development and Support specialist to focus on these priority areas.
Okuley holds a MEd in Teaching and Curriculum from Lourdes University, where she also earned her Bachelor of Education in Early Childhood Education with an emphasis in Psychology. She and her son, Isaac, have made several presentations to area organizations about his diagnosis of autism and their experiences as a family.
“I am thrilled with this position with HOPE Toledo because I will be able to work with individual preschools in the city to fine-tune their already wonderful programs,” stated Okuley. “The mission of HOPE Toledo is near and dear to my heart, and I am grateful to be a part of this team.”
About HOPE Toledo
HOPE Toledo is a 501(c) 3 organization and encompasses HOPE Toledo Pre-K and HOPE Toledo Promise. The mission of HOPE Toledo is to work with the Toledo community to support and ensure high-quality educational experiences for all of our youth, from preschool to post-secondary and trade school, with the goal of helping to create generational economic change for the betterment of our families and our community. Currently, 36% of the people in the TPS district are living below the poverty line and more than 80% of kids in Toledo enter kindergarten without the skills needed to learn.
This cradle-to-career approach will better serve our children and, in the long run, help our city progress towards a stronger, more educated workforce. To that end, HOPE Toledo is working with the Toledo community, through public/private partnerships and in tandem with Toledo Public Schools and Washington Local Schools, to develop a plan to deliver high-quality educational experiences for all of our youth. For more information or to donate, visit hope-toledo.org.
