Virginia Head Start Association, Inc

The Virginia Head Start Association
Annual Spring Training Conference

Conference Speakers

Yasmina Vinci

Nancy ElmoreExecutive Director, National Head Start Director
A seasoned leader in both executive and policy roles, Yasmina Vinci’s professional experience and capabilities have delivered improvements in the lives of children at the national, state, and local levels. Yasmina comes to the National Head Start Association after several years as principal and founder of EDGE Consulting Partners.  At EDGE, Yasmina pursued local, national and global projects that utilized the knowledge, experience, and connections of her years in human services and early education, to enhance the capacity of organizations to thrive as competent, strategic entities capable of influencing policy. Yasmina founded EDGE after receiving her Master in Public Administration degree from  Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

Yasmina brings to her new role over ten years of executive director experience at national organizations.  As the first Executive Director of the National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies (NACCRRA), she led NACCRRA’s transition from an all-volunteer association of less than 200 child care resource and referral agencies to a powerful national network of 860+ community-based organizations. In this role, she worked with affiliate organizations, other national advocacy and research organizations, the press, federal and state governments, and the US Congress to implement NACCRRA’s system-building public policy agenda on early care and education.  Under her leadership, NACCRRA organized the national grassroots campaign that was instrumental to securing the funding for child care in the welfare reform legislation.

A deep understanding of child care issues and challenges at the most local level informs Yasmina’s experiences.  She began her career as the Executive Director of an inner city child care center and, prior to joining NACCRRA, Yasmina was the Manager of Special Projects in the New Jersey Department of Human Services where she managed the Dependent Care Grant, coordinated the development New Jersey’s initial plan for the implementation of the Child Care and Development Block Grant, and supervised a number of research, immunization and Head Start-related projects.

Yasmina’s board impact has also been substantial and varied.  In addition to holding leadership positions on the governing Boards of the National School Age Care Alliance, the Interfaith Council for the Homeless, United Way, YWCA, Alliance for Work Life Progress, ARC and others, she has also served on numerous advisory boards and task forces, and for nine years was Commissioner on the National Head Start Fellowship Commission. 

Currently, Yasmina serves on the Governing Board of the Council for Professional Recognition, the Board of the Children’s Investment Fund, the Advisory Board of Boston EQUIP, and the National Advisory Board for the Family Initiative of Legal Momentum and the Advisory Board for Bright Horizons Family Solutions.

Nancy L. Elmore

Nancy ElmoreRegional Program Manager of the Region III Office of Head Start, Administration for Children & Families, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
One of the highlights of the upcoming VAHSA Conference will be the address by Nancy Elmore, Regional Program Manager of the Region III Office of Head Start, Administration for Children & Families, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services in Philadelphia. Here in Virginia, we have long looked to Nancy to give us the latest information on what is going on in Head Start.  In good times and bad, Nancy has been there to encourage and support Head Start programs. This year we are particularly excited to hear what she has to say about new funds coming to Head Start through the stimulus package.

Nancy and her staff are responsible for the federal oversight of 200 Head Start and Early Head Start programs with annual funding in excess of $500 million in a six-state region comprised of Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia.

A long time friend and advocate of the Head Start community, Nancy's proactive approach to working in partnership with grantees and her strong advocacy for continuous quality improvement within local programs has raised the bar on quality and enhanced services for young children and their families throughout the region.

Nancy is a past recipient of HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson's Distinguished Service Award for her work promoting collaboration between Head Start and other early childhood providers in the region. She was also recognized with an Honor Award from former Assistant Secretary Wade Horn for her leadership in developing and launching Head Start's "I Am Moving I Am Learning initiative" -- a proactive approach for child obesity prevention.

Nancy attended the College of William and Mary and graduated from Villanova University with a BA in Human Services Administration. She began her public service career as a caseworker in Richmond, Virginia and over the years has held key leadership positions in a variety of State and federal human service programs, including Aid to Families with Dependent Children and Child Support Enforcement, prior to "coming home" to Head Start, the high point of her career, in 1992.