Empowering Communities Through Indigenous Values and Early Childhood Advocacy
Stacey Nongueskwa-Lopez is many things—including a mother, parent leader, Early Head Start teacher, doula, and breastfeeding counselor.
Stacey cites her culture and family as the key to her passion for early childhood advocacy and parent leadership. As a citizen of Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, Stacey highlights the Anishinaabe belief that family is paramount and should be protected. Children are raised with a village mindset, where family members and community members rally around a parent to raise children, so that no individual navigates the challenges of parenting alone.
This made doula and birthing work a natural fit for Stacey, who described formal doula training as work she had already been doing in her community. Stacey’s approach to parent leadership involves sharing knowledge, finding solutions, and making time for parents and children.
“Even before I became a doula, I was still doing doula stuff,” Nongueskwa-Lopez shared. “You go in and you take care of pregnant moms, and say well, I’ve learned this[…] it’s about experiences that you’ve had or you’ve seen done. It’s always been a natural thing for me.”
Her grandmother was a teacher, who began teaching in a one-room schoolhouse. When Stacey saw the joy that teaching brought her, she started to follow in her grandmother’s footsteps, learning her Indigenous language and teaching it to others. Now, Stacey has decades of experience raising children in her family and community, through her roles as a teacher’s aide in early childhood development schools then as an Early Head Start teacher for almost 7 years.
Having seen the impact that generational trauma had on her family and community, Stacey knew that she could be the one to break those chains. When she began her higher education in early childhood, it made her aware of just how much good she could do in her community by providing these services.
“I didn’t want that for them, and I didn’t want that for my future children either. I wanted to make sure that they had better than what we had,” she said.
Now, Stacey helps families navigate life’s challenges in the classroom as well as through Think Babies Michigan, a coalition of parent leaders and partners led by ECIC. She collaborates with other parent leaders to build community, help others access resources, and creating better outcomes for Michigan’s children. Stacey sets the bar for her students high, like her family did for her, creating a space where children see continued better outcomes.
“I’m very blessed to be surrounded by strong women my entire life. It shines through when I do my work out in the community, and even within my family,” she said. “I really, truly believe that this is my calling.”
ECIC is proud to convene the Think Babies Michigan policy initiative. Join Think Babies Michigan to build community with parent leaders like Stacey statewide.