This month Denver’s Early Childhood Education Council hosts the Rocky Mountain Early Childhood Conference. This event provides access to some great local and national organizations and panelists working to improve early childhood education. We wanted to share some of the great opportunities and resources that were highlighted at the conference.
Organizations
- Early Milestones Colorado – harnessing the research-policy-practice loop to create equitable and sustainable solutions to challenges facing children, families, and service providers. They accelerate innovation, use best practices, and build systemic changes to ensure all, especially those who have been historically marginalized, have access to the opportunities and resources needed to be valued, healthy, and thriving.
- Buffet Early Childhood Institute – through innovative research, policy, and practice the institute works to promote the development and learning of children from birth through age 8, focusing on children who are most vulnerable because of poverty, abuse, or developmental delays.
- Housman Institute – focused on supporting the development of emotional intelligence for children, they work to educate educators, parents, and young children to develop the underlying competencies and skills associated with the growth of emotional intelligence.
- Trust for Learning – catalyzing movement to expand ideal early learning environments for children 0-8 who have been underserved through policy and mindset change.
- Empowering Communities Globally – engaging marginalized, underserved communities to empower local primary caregivers to provide support and access to learn about compassionate, holistic early childhood care, development, and education using culturally responsive and cross-cultural methods to thrive.
Resources & Opportunities
- Tech for Tykes – working with the Center for Inclusive Design and Engineering they strive to assist children with disabilities to play successfully with toys and other children, communicate needs and ideas, make choices, and move independently.
- Funshine Express – providing a plethora of curricula for ages 0-5 they are supporting educators in having access to high quality teaching materials in turn supporting kids in having access to the necessary skills for development, particularly focusing on language and literacy growth.
- Nebula Early Childhood Collaborative – supports and builds the resilience of early childhood caregivers through reflective practices, bringing educators together to better support their communities.
- Kodo Kids – nurturing children at their earliest stages to feel empowered to think, create, fail, and learn through play by creating innovative learning materials that catalyze authentic play and provide measurable learning.
This is only a glimpse into the many amazing organizations and resources that were presented at the conference. To access the full list of presenters and content that may be valuable, please check out the full conference schedule here.
As always, our ability to utilize resources like these and continue our own journey in educating children, empowering families, and building community would not be possible without our donors and supporters like you. Learn more about how your monthly donation can continue to help us GROW and consider donating.
