Back when Barack Obama was president, Adrienne Armstrong worked in corporate marketing. Today, she’s a family child care provider and a member of the second cohort of Strategies for Children’s Advocacy Network.

“My last job was at John Hancock. I was there for 15 years,” Armstrong says of the insurance company. Then she left. “It was the result of a layoff. You think the whole world is coming to an end, but I realized that was one chapter of my corporate career ending, and it was the beginning of my second career as an educator.

Armstrong used the time off to travel, work on her house, and figure out her next steps.

She had always loved children. She hadn’t had her own, but she had raised her niece and nephews. And when her colleagues brought their children to work, Armstrong would sit down on the floor, in her business suit, to play with the kids. 

 She decided to enroll at Endicott College and earn a degree in early education.

Then she decided to open her own child care business — Adrienne’s Day Academy — in Boston’s Roxbury community, where she had grown up.

“Now I joke that I’ll never put on another suit in my life. Who knew this transition would be so rewarding?” Armstrong says. She has now been an early education provider for 12 years. 

Armstrong’s approach with her students is to expose them to a diverse range of cultures and experiences, preparing them to become positive role models in society. Her program has cubbies and kidney-shaped tables as well as a word wall, circle time, and different activity centers, so that when students leave and go to school, everything looks and feels familiar. 

“When my kids leave me, they are reading,” she says. “They are doing math. When they leave, they are ready for first grade, not just kindergarten.”

It’s preparation that’s essential for Black and Brown students, Armstrong adds, noting that most of the children in her program go on to charter and private schools or they enroll in the METCO program, which sends Boston students to suburban schools.

Armstrong’s tireless efforts have created a safe and nurturing environment for children to learn, grow, and prepare for a successful academic career and for life overall.

“What I hear often, which is a good thing, is that my kids’ teachers ask, Where did they go to school? thinking that they weren’t at a family child care program.”

Armstrong learned about Strategies’ Advocacy Network from her friend Gloria Valentin who was in the first cohort.

“Being involved in the Advocacy Network has made me realize that being more involved is key. I knew that, but when we sit down and have meetings, you see how much there is to tap into and how much there is to do.”

Armstrong is working with Valentin, who has organized a network of family providers, to become a resource or mentor to the network’s new and current family child care providers.

“If people can see what someone else is doing as a family provider, that’s going to foster their program.”

Armstrong wants to share advice on everything from using curriculum and applying for state grants to coping with loneliness and managing taxes. She also makes a habit of referring families to other providers when her program is full.

“It’s also helping people learn who their state representative and who their state senator is,” she adds. “Some folks don’t know because they’re not involved. But once you do know, it’s easier to pick up the phone and call an elected official or send them an email.”

Having this kind of support is especially important, Armstrong says, “for Black and Brown providers who often don’t have access to advice.”

 Ask Armstrong what she wants policymakers to know about her work, and she talks about other providers.

“Prior to Covid, I don’t think policymakers realized how important child care is. When Covid happened, it opened up a Pandora’s box so everyone could see that there aren’t enough qualified providers, and that providers aren’t being adequately paid through the state’s voucher program. My program is private, so I’m setting my own rates. But for programs that get state funding, I think everyone realizes they need to be paid more, especially given Boston’s cost of living.”

Armstrong, who admits to having a Type A personality, is excited about how much there is for her and her fellow providers to achieve.

“I was talking to Titus about this,” Armstrong says of Titus DosRemedios, Strategies’ deputy director, “and I asked him at one point, if I’m passionate about something, when is it too much, when am I pushing too much? And he said, It’s never too much if you’re passionate. You have to push until the bill gets passed or the problem gets solved.”

“I want to share that idea with other people.”