Briana Lamari

Briana Lamari went to Stonehill College thinking she would be a high school English teacher.

But after doing a school placement with a teacher who felt she couldn’t control what went on in her classroom because of all the policies made outside that classroom, Lamari’s interest began to shift.

In a sociology class, Lamari studied inequality in education. And during Lamari’s senior year in college, when she was looking for an internship, her sociology professor, Sinead Chalmers, who is also a senior associate at the Rennie Center, told her about Strategies for Children.

“I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to go beyond Stonehill and see education on a larger scale, especially at the state level. And it has turned out to be just that, the opportunity to see the landscape of early education and policy.”

Lamari began her internship in January, working with Amy O’Leary, director of Strategies’ Early Education for All Campaign and with Titus DosRemedios, director of research and policy.

Lamari attended meetings and helped prepare for Advocacy Day at the State House, drafting a fact sheet that was shared at the event. She helped analyze a statewide survey of families with young children, conducted by the Massachusetts Partnership for Infants and Toddlers (MPIT). And she will be the co-author of a report on the survey that MPIT will be released this summer.

“I looked at broad themes in the family survey answers, and I learned about the affordability issues that parents face.”

“I also learned that a lot of parents want a new variety of services that they could do with their children like yoga, art, or cooking classes. The want more variety, and they want to be connected to other parents and have their kids connect to other kids.”

Then COVID-19 changed the whole world.

“It was hard switching to online because I loved the world that Amy and Titus had brought me into. I got to go to the State House and meet with Senator Lewis. And we met with Commissioner Samantha.”

But during her weeks of remote internship, her work continued. Lamari sat in on Zoom meetings, learning about the challenges and the resiliency of the early education field.

“Every day of my internship has been very different especially since COVID-19,” Lamari says.

“Since COVID, I’ve been focusing on creating surveys that are going out to either providers or families to get their perspectives on how they are handling the pandemic and how it’s affecting early education and care.”

Ask Lamari about the work she’s most proud of doing during her internship, and she talks about being part of the team, and how small jobs add up to accomplishing a big mission.

Ask her what she has learned, and she talks about the importance of including people.

“Amy and Titus always invite people into the conversation about early education care. They want to hear from communities,” Lamari says.

“Advocacy transforms so much of policy. That’s why advocacy has to be powered by an authentic voice that includes voices from the community that aren’t always heard at the state level. I learned a lot about making sure that communities are really benefitting from advocacy work.”

Lamari just graduated from Stonehill, and this is the final week of her internship, so she is thinking about what she’ll do next, which will be challenging during the pandemic.

“I love being part of the advocacy landscape and part of a community that’s fighting towards a more equitable future. I would love to work for a nonprofit in education or in policy, whether that’s fighting for the rights of people experiencing homelessness, or for young girls.”

“I will never not fight for something in whatever job I have. I want to fight for a more equitable future.”