Lina Rinko has served as METC Child Care’s Senior Program Assistant for 1 year and has been with the program team for 2 years. Lina works directly with the METC Child Care team, and she collaborates with the Child Care Union Division Team. Lina is passionate in advocating and providing professional development support to Early Child Care Educators. She received the nickname “Union Baby” from METC as she grew up working in her family’s Child Care Program in Illinois. She was raised to understand the needs and successes of early childhood education and she saw how SEIU-METC have supported Family Child Care Educators.

Lina enjoys working with her resilient team to think of innovative ways to support Early Child Care Educators. Her favorite trainings are topics that involve the importance of social emotional development and healthy attachment for children. She is an ITN instructor with Illinois Gateways to Opportunity to help Family Child Care Educators advance in their professional development trainings. She is currently a doctoral student with Erikson Institute and Loyola University. She assists in conducting research to learn more about the field of Family Child Care.

Lina believes research is important to help change laws and policy. Her overall vision is to see the workforce development in early childhood education triumph and continue to build a solid path to help all families and Early Childhood Educators. On a personal note, Lina loves to explore and travel with her family. She appreciates attending theatrical and cultural events such as the ballet and museums in her beautiful city of Chicago.