Shellie Dickstein is a recognized national leader in Jewish Early Childhood Education and Family Engagement. She is presently an independent consultant and coach in leadership development for the field. She also is a founding member of Sh’ma Koleinu, a Jewish Early Childhood advocacy group working to increase policy and financial support to early childhood centers, educators and families. Shellie recently retired as the Managing Director of Early Childhood and Family Engagement for the Jewish Education Project. For over 20 years she led the strategic agenda to provide leadership development to spark and spread innovative approaches and models in early childhood education for the 250 early childhood centers in the New York metropolitan area, and for community early family engagement initiatives. She has also facilitated workshops and courses on family education and engagement nationally and internationally, including for the Whizen Institute, The Paradigm Project and as adjunct faculty for HUC-JIR in New York. Shellie has written and contributed to various articles, blogs and publications on Jewish Family Education including JTS Gleanings; eJewish Philanthropy, and Jewish Family Education: A Casebook for the Twenty-first Century published by Torah Aura. Shellie loves being with children and is very happy now that she gets to spend meaningful time with her own four young grandchildren.

Ilana Dvorin Friedman, PhD: Ilana Dvorin Friedman is a child development consultant, instructor, and researcher. She is passionate about early childhood Jewish education, anti-bias education, giving voice to educators’ experiences, early childhood leadership and advocacy, and designing and implementing professional development opportunities for early childhood professionals. Ilana’s work focuses on the interplay between culture and child development and the roles of social justice and inquiry in early childhood Jewish education. For more than a decade, she has been an adjunct instructor at a variety of academic institutions teaching courses, such as child development, family and culture, and historical perspectives on early care and education. Most recently, Ilana was the advisor for the JUF (Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago) Cohort in Erikson Institute’s MS ECE online program. Ilana graduated with her PhD in Child Development from the dual program at Loyola University Chicago and Erikson, completing her dissertation on gender beliefs of teachers in Orthodox Jewish early childhood programs. She lives in Chicago with her husband and children.  

Before retiring in July of 2020, Fredda Band Loewenstein was a member of the Wilshire Boulevard Temple Early Childhood Center staff since they opened their first class in September 1996.  She wore many hats during her tenure there.   She started as a master teacher, became the Assistant Director and held the position of Associate Director for 18 years. Fredda’s favorite part of every week was when she facilitated the Grandparent and Me Shabbat class!  Fredda has a degree in Marketing, a certificate in Early Childhood Education and a Director’s Permit.  Fredda joined the faculty of AJU as a mentor in the Spring of 2020. 

Denise Moyes-Schnur has worked in the field of Jewish Early Childhood Education for over forty years. She has worked as teacher, preschool director, consultant, coach and mentor both locally and nationally. Denise has worked in the national programs the Jewish Early Childhood Education Initiative, (JECEI), the Jewish Early Childhood Education Leadership Initiative, (JECELI) and as a mentor for American Jewish University. Denise currently works as Associate Director of the Jewish Early Childhood and Family Engagement at the Jewish Community Federation, where she runs director’s programs, creates and implements programs and professional development for Early Childhood Educators in Jewish Preschools in the San Francisco Bay Area. Denise holds a master’s degree in Early Childhood Leadership from Mills College in Oakland CA.