Regions 1 & 2

The Minnesota Centers of Excellence for Young Children with Disabilities is the statewide professional development system for early childhood special education (ECSE). Professional Development Facilitators (PDF) in each of the state's eight economic development regions work to connect, support and empower local leaders to build capacity. Through these joint efforts, young children and their families are accessing and benefiting from high-quality programs and services throughout the state.

In some instances, the boundaries of educational districts do not align with the eight economic development regions' boundaries. In instances when a cooperative or district's boundaries are found in more than one region, the district's PDF and service region are assigned based upon the county in which a program's leader is housed.

Counties: Kittson, Marshall, Norman, Pennington, Polk, Red Lake, Roseau, Beltrami, Clearwater, Hubbard, Lake of the Woods, and Mahnomen
 

Wendy Carter

 wcarter@bric.k12.mn.us 

Wendy Carter is the Early Childhood Special Education Professional Development Facilitator for Regions 1 & 2. Prior to becoming a PDF, she worked as an early childhood teacher and parent educator, ECFE Program Coordinator, and most recently, Early Head Start and Family Service Manager. She has been a trainer for the Pyramid Model Innovation, the Desired Results Developmental Profile (DRDP) assessment tool, and many other topics around early childhood development. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Elementary Education from Iowa State University and received her Early Childhood and Parent Education licensure coursework from Concordia University in St. Paul. She is licensed in early childhood, elementary education, and parent education. Wendy lives in Bemidji with her husband. They enjoy the northern MN outdoors and traveling to visit their 4 daughters and 3 grandchildren.