JUNE 4, 2022 | Omaha, NE
Keynote Speaker | Chris Bennett
Wonderschool CEO & Co-founder
Chris Bennett is a serial entrepreneur with expertise in finance, operations and team building. Prior to establishing Wonderschool, Chris founded Soldsie, a social commerce platform that allows customers to purchase products through comments on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. Chris’s appreciation for education goes back to his parents, Honduran immigrants who did whatever they could to ensure that he had access to an excellent education—from attending quality preschool to graduating from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He wanted to ensure other children had the same opportunities to reach their full potential.
Elevate 22 | Sessions
Turning My Childhood Experience into a Solution to America's Child Care Crisis
CHRIS BENNETT | CEO and Co-Founder at Wonderschool
Keynote Presentation
No Going Back - New Possibilities and Opportunities in the Business of Child Care
ALBERT WAT | Senior Policy Director at the Alliance for Early Success
The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated the early care and education system, especially for providers, educators, families, and children. With prospects of transformative investments from the federal level unclear (at best) at this point, it’s easy to feel we’re sliding back to the dysfunctional status quo that defined our field before the pandemic – or worse. But our collective experience, painful as it has been, also points to new possibilities and opportunities that can take us to a more ambitious future – if we can build political will for it.
Build Strong, Resilient Brains and Hearts With Evidence-Based Mindfulness Techniques
DANA DYKSTERHUIS & ANNE-MARIE SULLIVAN
Learn evidence-based mindfulness activities and exercises that bring calm, connection and healing to you and the little ones you support, as well as tools to help build resilience. With themes such as “Gentle Breezes and Bluebirds,” "Resilient Deer In Winter," and "Happy Hippos and Inner Confidence," we’ll share techniques from our mindful activity packs that will include calming breathing exercises, restorative yoga poses and stretches, healing mantras, meditations and creative activities. We’ll also offer guidance on how you can integrate these techniques into your daily lives at home and in the classroom and leave time for questions and discussion too.
More Bucks for Your Bang - Maximizing Revenue for Your Child Care Business
MOLLY SULLIVAN, BRANDEE LENGEL, GEETA SURTI
First Children’s Finance, NECC and Pie for Providers will team up to co-present a session of child care businesses’ access to capital in the state of Nebraska. First Children’s Finance will share findings from their recent report, “From Banks to Blocks: How Access to Capital Shapes the Child Care Sector in Nebraska”. NECC will share additional tips and tricks about how programs can make more money without raising parent fees. And lastly, Pie for Providers will present information about how programs may be able to maximize child care subsidy revenue.
Living the Boss Life - Wellness, Peace, and Happiness
TRACEY PEARSON | LMSW, LIMHP and Life Coach/Psychotherapist
An interactive session designed to provide education, tools and practice tapping in to increased wellness, peace and happiness. Participants will gain a better understanding of hope and the connection between wellness, peace and happiness. Participants will have an opportunity to practice strategies to build better wellness and combat common obstacles. Participants will be given hands on tools to develop habits to use in their daily lives to increase wellness, peace and happiness.
Ensuring Optimal Beginnings in the First Five Years - Equitable Investment in the Early Care and Education Workforce
IHEOMA U. IRUKA, PH.D. | Research Professor in Public Policy and Founding Director of Equity Research Action Coalition at UNC FPG
Framed through the 3Ps Framework of Protecting, Promoting, and Preserving, this presentation shares how families and children are experiencing the dual pandemics – COVID-19 and racism and leveraging their cultural wealth. This means that we must attend to child and family healthy supports, economic stability and mobility as well as equitable access, experiences, and outcomes for young children and their families. Participants will be asked to examine how they protect children and families from trauma and stress, promote their health, wealth, and educational excellence, and preserve their cultural identity, traditions, and language. This is especially pressing for Black families and their children and other marginalized groups. Participants will be asked to engage in the uncomfortable truths while recognizing the opportunity for transforming the early care and education to meet the needs of children, families, educators, and communities.
In 2022 we were excited to introduce TELEVATE!
In addition to an in-person conference in Omaha, NE, providers across the state had the option to attend from one of our 8 TELEVATE locations. They watched a live broadcast of the conference at the virtual TELEVATE site closest to their community. All TELEVATE attendees received 6 in-service hours, and lunch was provided.
Thanks to our sponsors!
