Safiyah Jackson

For 17 years, Safiyah has worked to improve the lives of children by supporting teachers and families in creating nurturing environments. Safiyah is a strategic leader and advocate who has worked as an early learning educator, educational psychologist, and professional trainer. She currently serves as Chief Strategy Officer at North Carolina Partnership for Children (supporting the Smart Start Network). In this role, Safiyah promotes system change strategies that address quality, access, and equity. Her primary goal is to ensure network investments, partnerships, policy, and programming are responsive to the needs of families with young children. In her previous role as Early Education Program Officer at McCormick Foundation, Safiyah facilitated philanthropic activity to improve teacher practice and expand early childhood policy/advocacy. She also served as Director of Training at the McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership and Director of Learning Programs at Shedd Aquarium.