Q&A: Kim Jacques, Early Learning Center Volunteer 

Kim Jacques volunteers with Warren Village through the Early Childhood Service Corps. Preparing for retirement after years in the legal and nonprofit world, she soon discovered the ECSC and wanted to get involved. Kim completed their training program, earning her early childhood credential while interning at Warren Village. She talks about how she got involved and why she loves working with Warren Village kids. 

WV: What got you interested in volunteering with the early learning program? 

Kim: I’m the mom of two adult kids, and when my kids were little, I worked a lot in their preschool classrooms. I always enjoyed it. I always had a different full-time job, a completely different career, but I love working with kids. And I don’t think I’m going to have grandchildren. I wanted to volunteer somewhere, and I’ve tried a lot of different I sort of dabbled in a lot of different volunteer opportunities, but this one just is near and dear to my heart. 

Interviewer: So how long have you been volunteering with the Early Childhood Service Corps? 

Kim: I started the training program in July of [2024], and my training completed at the end of December. I was an intern at Warren Village during my training as part of our was part of our course requirements. [ELC Director] Tara asked if I was interested in staying. I was absolutely interested. In one of my previous lives as a nonprofit consultant, I wrote grants to help fund lots of different nonprofits across the community. The church that started Warren Village so many millions of years ago was one of those nonprofits that I worked with briefly. So I knew about the church, I knew about Warren Village, and I very much believe in the mission of helping, particularly you know, you can volunteer anywhere. But I wanted to work with kids, and I wanted to work with vulnerable kids, kids who had had some trauma or setbacks in their young lives. 

WV: What a great coincidence that you had worked with the church.  

Yeah, it is kind of full circle, isn’t it? I love that connection.  

WV: What drew you specifically to the Early Childhood Service Corps? 

Kim:  I was getting ready to wind things down and retire. My daughter happened to hear on National Public Radio or Colorado Public Radio that Early Childhood Service Corps would provide free training for people like me who wanted to go back and start a second career. So everyone in my training cohort was my age or older. Everyone had some other job, some other life, way removed from early childhood, and we all had the same kind of hope to end up working in a preschool or an infant toddler classroom. So it’s just like karma or just good luck, I guess, that I even heard about them. 

In my work as a nonprofit consultant, I became well aware that there is a workforce shortage in many fields, and early childhood is one of them. And so when I learned about the training program, I realized I could sort of check two boxes on my wish list — my desire to work with children, and to be credentialed. I just feel like anything I could do to be another set of hands and help the program run with at least on a couple of days a week, with maybe one less paid staff person. Great. That just seems like a super win-win.

And I didn’t realize till my training that the shortage of childcare workers is actually not just impacting young children, but it’s parents, particularly moms, who can’t go back to work to nobody’s benefit if they’re trying to get back in the workforce. So it just feels doubly important. 

WV: What specifically about Warren Village, the learning center here, made you want to stay after you finish your internship? 

Kim: Throughout my professional life, I have only been paid to work for the vulnerable and the underserved. I could have worked at any preschool. But it feels more important to me to volunteer my time at a place where the children are underserved, where they have high poverty rates, high rates of trauma.  

Before, I was a nonprofit consultant. I was a guardian ad litem, I have legal training. So as a lawyer, my most rewarding work was representing kids who are in trouble and have run into problems because they didn’t get enough support help [when they were young].  

I grew up in a family with enough resources and support. I had my parents in town. And it’s still really hard to be a parent. I know from the kids I worked with in the court setting that for so many families, many of those pieces are missing. Life is not only paycheck to paycheck but crisis to crisis. They might be one bad thing away from really being involved in either the legal or the social services system.  

So when I was introduced to Warren Village, I was like, Nope, this is it. Love that. Alright, we’re so lucky. 

WV: What have you enjoyed about being in those two classrooms? 

Kim: I was placed in Hazel’s classroom. I was astonished at the depth of her compassion. She also has a great deal of wisdom for someone so young, and she was so kind to me, the older crazy lady working in her classroom.

The kids are a hoot. Like all preschoolers everywhere, I’m sure their parents would be shocked to hear things they share at school. I just think it’s such a fun age group to work with. 

WV: What else do you have anything else to share about volunteering? 

Kim: I find volunteering in a preschool classroom — it’s so different from the life and the job I’ve had all these years, but I love every minute of it, and I love it as a volunteer, and I love it on a part-time basis. It’s probably the most rewarding volunteer opportunity I’ve had. So I just feel kind of blessed that I heard about the training, and my training site hooked me up with Warren Village, and it was a great fit. So right now I feel super lucky. 

Interested in volunteering with the ECSC? Check out their website here.

If you’re interested in volunteering with Warren Village, visit our volunteer page.

Thank you to Julia Goodman for conducting this interview!