Behind the Desk with Creshanda Riley

A 10-Year Staff Member at Champions

Meet Creshanda Riley, Parent Educator Quality Assurance Specialist with Champions’ Parents as Teachers Program! Parents as Teachers (PAT) is an evidence-based home visiting program that uses the most current research to promote healthy child development, school readiness, and family well-being for families with children prenatal through kindergarten. As the Parent Educator Quality Assurance Specialist, she is responsible for ensuring that we are providing the best quality services to the community that we serve. Creshanda provides training to new hires, ensures we are meeting our essential requirements as PAT affiliate and our outcomes for our funders. She also makes calls to our client families to be sure they are receiving all of the support they need. As she puts it, “I am my program directors ‘right-hand girl’ for anything she or the program needs.” Today, she gives us a glimpse into the past 10 years of her growth with Champions and shares some interesting facts about herself!

Let’s Get to Know Creshanda

Tell us about yourself? 

I am a true Floridian (born and raised). I have a 20-year-old son that I love and adore. Family is the most important thing to me and I love and adore all children. I feel children are the most genuine beings. 

What do you enjoy most about working with the Parents as Teachers program?

I enjoy working with the Parents as Teachers Program because of what we do for the families we serve. Our program offers these services to all families who have children from prenatal through the child’s first year of kindergarten. I love that our program partners with families and teaches them how to parent around their child’s development. Over the years, I have had the pleasure of experiencing and conquering each position within the Parents as Teachers Program: Parent Educator, Lead Parent Educator, and now my current position as the Parent Educator Quality Assurance Specialist. Every position provides so much value to the program and the families we serve. They also have provided me with an opportunity for growth as well as a different point of view within the PAT program.

What’s something most people don’t know about you?

I am very introverted and a homebody. 

What three traits do you feel define you and why?

Amicable – I  am able to make people feel welcome and build rapport with them, allowing them to feel a sense of integrity about me. I feel I am a very easy-going sweet-spirited person where people are drawn to me because of that.

Dependable- I am trustworthy and reliable. I enjoy being a team player and I am a selfless person. This sometimes is not such a good thing because I tend to put others’ needs before myself, but I am working on that. As I get older I make a conscious effort to put myself first when it comes to certain situations. 😊

Innovative – I am very creative and have the ability to think outside the box. This is a skill that I have mastered and many people come to me to pick my brain.

What do you do in your free time? 

I binge-watch different series on Netflix. I’m currently watching Inventing Anna. 

What satisfies you the most about your current position with Champions?

I enjoy training and coaching. Being able to help someone understand their position and provide them with the needed tools to be successful brings me joy. I also love being a Touchpoints Trainer for the agency.
Our Parents as Teachers program has also helped me with my own personal growth and development. I have gained so much experience and have been given so many opportunities to present my skills and expertise. It’s because of Parents as Teachers that I feel extremely confident presenting in front of over 200 people at a National Conference. I have grown from a caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly. 

From a programmatic standpoint, how are things different now compared to when you first began working at Champions?  

Well 10 years ago when I started, our PAT program had a total of 10 people including our program director, everything was mainly paper, our database was ancient, and all of us parent educators were in one big room. Fast forward to now, there are a total of 21 of us (our program director, 3 lead parent educators, a quality assurance specialist, and 16 parent educators). We have a great database, our files are mainly electronic, and we occupy the entire second floor at the Azeele Street office in building B. Champions’ was much smaller as well. Now we offer multiple trainings like Mental Health First Aid, Talk, Read Sing Trusted Messenger Training and the Touchpoints training team has expanded. We have also added new programs like Positive Parenting & Partnership, Great we Grow in Town ‘n’ Country, our community initiative Talk, Read, Sing, and Layla’s House. 

What’s your favorite thing about working at Champions? 

My favorite thing about working at Champions is the Camaraderie, feeling as though we are all a big happy family away from home. 

At Champions for Children, our greatest asset is the quality and competency of our staff. We believe effective service depends on qualified and competent staff who feel integrated into our organization. We are thankful for staff members like Creshanda who believe in our mission and give their all to the families we serve.

With a career at Champions for Children, you can make an impact in the Tampa Bay community! Click here to learn more about our current job openings and application process: https://cfctb.org/about/careers/