Valora Washington is the Founder and President of the CAYL Institute.

Throughout her career Valora has co-created several institutions, such as Michigan’s Children, a statewide advocacy group, and the Early Childhood Funders Collaborative, both of which continue to exist.
Frequently tapped for senior-level service, she has been Co-Chair of the Massachusetts Governor’s School Readiness Commission; Board Chair for Voices for America’s Children; Secretary of NAEYC; chair of the Black Caucus of the Society for Research in Child Development; Co-Chair of the National Head Start Association Commission on 2010; and a member of the current governor’s Readiness Commission subcommittees. She has served on numerous boards and tasks forces including of the Boston Children’s Museum and Wheelock College. She currently serves as a President of the Board of the Council for Professional Recognition.

Prior to founding the CAYL Institute, Valora was CEO of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee and Vice-President of the Kellogg Foundation. She has held executive and tenured teaching positions at institutions including Antioch College and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Since 2001 she has been a Certified Association Executive with the American Society of Association Executives.

Committed to action research and policy change, she is a co-author or co-editor of over 50 publications, including Children of 2010, Children of 2020, Ready or Not: Leadership Choices in Early Care and Education, and Role, Relevance and Reinvention: Higher Education and Early Care and Education. Examples of effective advocacy include work to change the voucher system in Massachusetts resulting in 52,000 children having opportunities for a one year certification period. Designing and coordinating efforts to change the child welfare system in 13 states, the Families for Kids initiative is regarded as leading to important legislative changes enacted by President Clinton.

She was educated at both Indiana and Michigan State Universities. Among many honors, she holds honorary Doctorate degrees from both Bennett College and
Meadville Lombard Theological School.

She was selected for the prestigious Barr Fellowship in 2009. Professional recognition has been received from Boston AEYC; NAEYC Black Caucus; Cambridge Resource and Referral Agency; Center for Adoption Research, University of Massachusetts; National Association of Black Social Workers, United Way of Massachusetts Bay; and others. She was named one of “25 Most Influential Working Mothers” by Working Mother magazine in February 1997 and one of Ten Outstanding Young Women of America from 62,000 nominations in 1980.