4th Annual
Culturally
Responsive
Early Education &
Care Leadership Summit
Mirroring The Black Experience
ABOUT
About this Event
Black Child Development Institute (BCDI)-Atlanta is proud to present its 4th Annual Culturally Responsive Early Education & Care Leadership Summit in Atlanta, Georgia.
This year’s theme, Mirroring the Black Experience, includes a keynote address, concurrent sessions and exhibits to explore and enlighten on various topics associated with the theme. Our goal is to strengthen your role as an early childhood education stakeholder.
Through our partnership with BK International Education Consultancy, participants earn Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for completed sessions.
About BCDI-Atlanta
OUR HISTORY: Established in 1981, Black Child Development Institute (BCDI)-Atlanta coordinates community programs and initiatives throughout the state of Georgia, supporting the six focus areas of the National Black Child Development Institute (NBCDI) —early care and education, literacy, family engagement, child welfare, public policy, and health and wellness.
OUR VISION: BCDI-Atlanta envisions a society that ensures a successful future for all Georgia's children.
OUR MISSION: To improve and advance the quality of life for Black children and families in Georgia through education and advocacy.
Learn more about BCDI-Atlanta at bcdiatlanta.org.
FEATURED
BOARD
Tatjyana Elmore
Chairwoman
Dr. Bisa Batten Lewis
President
Debbie Hillman
Secretary
Keedar Whittle
Parliamentarian
Dr. Keyla Johnson
Member at Large
Britne Mcduffie
Member at Large
Margaret McCall
Member at Large
Brigitte Willis
Member at Large
SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE
8:30 - 9:00 AM
9:00 - 10:00 AM
10:00 - 10:10 AM
10:10 - 11:25 AM
11:25 - 11:35 AM
11:35 - 12:50 PM
12:50 - 1:50 PM
1:50 - 2:00 PM
2:00 - 3:15 PM
3:15 - 3:25 PM
3:25 - 4:00 PM
Registration & Continental Breakfast
Opening Session | Partner Greetings | Keynote
Transition & Stretch Break
Morning Concurrent Sessions
Transition & Stretch Break
Midday Concurrent Sessions
Awards Luncheon | NBCDI Update
Performance by Nguzo Babies
Transition & Stretch Break
Afternoon Concurrent Sessions
Snacks, Transition & Stretch Break
Closing Session | Call to Action
FEATURED ENTERTAINMENT
Ms. Ashley and Nguzo Babies
Nguzo Babies is the story of seven friend puppets that unite over a special holiday with seven candles. When their worlds collide and they enter Magic Land, with the help of their Fairy Queen teacher, they'll use their imagination and superpowers to learn lessons about friendship, community and saving the world!
TRACK QUICK SCHEDULE
TRACK: EARLY LEARNING
A Teacher Guide to Promoting Equity Within an Early Childhood Classroom - 10:10 - 11:25 AM
The Effects of Unconscious Bias - 11:35 - 12:50 PM
Finding the Funny: Using Reflection for Professional Growth - 2:00 - 3:15 PM
Designing Learning Experiences using Culturally Responsive Literacy Instructional Practices in Elementary Learning Spaces - 2:00 - 3:15 PM
TRACK: EARLY LITERACY
Culturally Relevant SEL - 10:10 - 11:25 AM
Planting SEEDS for Story Time: Making Books Come to Life for Young Learners - 11:35 - 12:50 PM
TRACK: SCHOOL TRANSITION
Cultural Awareness of Effective School Transition Pre-K & Beyond! - 10:10 - 11:25 AM
TRACK: LEADERSHIP AND ADVOCACY
Narrowing the Gap: Creating an Equitable Pathway to Leadership Growth for Employees from Underrepresented Minority/Ethnicity Groups - 10:10 - 11:25 AM
Social Justice & Early Education: Lifting the Voices of Black Parents and Educators - 11:35 - 12:50 PM
Workforce Updates from DECAL - 2:00 - 3:15 PM
TRACK: FAMILY ENGAGEMENT
Gardening with Young Children in Family Childcare
- 10:10 - 11:25 AM
Strengthening Family Engagement With Developmental Milestones - 11:35 - 12:50 PM
Voices & Light: Recognizing & Engaging Parents as Natural Family Leaders - 2:00 - 3:15 PM
AGENDA
Tuesday, February 21, 2023
8:30-9:00 AM Registration & Continental Breakfast
Exhibit Experience: Networking & Door Prizes
Room: Ballroom Foyer
9:00-10:00 AM Opening Session – Ballroom
Greetings & Opening Remarks - Dr. Bisa Batten Lewis,
BCDI-Atlanta President
Partner Greetings - Cori Cain, Associate Vice President,
Strong Learners, United Way of Greater Atlanta
Agenda Overview & Introduction of Keynote Speaker –
Dr. Bisa, BCDI-Atlanta President
Keynote Address - Mark A. Davis, The Non-profit Connection
10:00-10:10 AM Transition & Stretch Breaks
10:10-11:25 AM Morning Concurrent Sessions
TRACK: EARLY LEARNING
A Teacher Guide to Promoting Equity Within an Early Childhood Classroom
Presenter: Britne McDuffie Room: Boardroom
The early years of a child’s development is the ideal stage to teach our young children the importance of inclusion, diversity, and equity. Educators within early childhood education play a vital part in a child’s understanding and appreciation for inclusion, diversity, and equity. This interactive session will equip participants with the tools, skills, and knowledge needed to create a more culturally appropriate learning environment within a childcare setting. Participants will learn how to utilize the materials within a classroom setting that will support learning in a culturally relevant way while promoting language, social, emotional, and cognitive development in infants, toddlers, or preschoolers. Participants will also learn how to use the Reggio Emilia Approach to create and incorporate inclusion, diversity, and equity within a classroom setting.
TRACK: EARLY LITERACY
Culturally Relevant SEL
Presenter: Hotep Room: Paul Duke
In this workshop, educators will be provided with evidence-based, practical strategies and resources for engaging students of all races and socio-economic backgrounds in meaningful activities to share, critically analyze, problem-solve and overcome traumatic experiences, mis-information, negative feelings and beliefs so they can navigate life successfully.
TRACK: LEADERSHIP & ADVOCACY
Narrowing the Gap: Creating an Equitable Pathway to Leadership Growth for Employees from Underrepresented Minority/Ethnicity Groups
Presenter: Melony Gibson Room: Mark C. Pope
It is critical to build programs and create opportunities which elevate the professional profile of employees from underrepresented ethnicities within our organizations. We will explore a program model designed to provide an equitable pathway for those that have likely had less or limited access to career building opportunities. This inequity could be due to potential implicit bias from supervisors, lack of supervisors’ ability or intentionality to identify potential in diverse populations, and the employee’s negative perception of the potential for growth due to reduced representation of leaders from similar ethnic backgrounds.
TRACK: SCHOOL TRANSITION
Cultural Awareness of Effective School Transition Pre-K & Beyond!
Presenters: Pamela Ross and Renee Wilson Room: Ballroom
This training will bring intentional conversations and meaningful information to raise the needle to "Effective School Transition". We will paint the picture of what this may look like as children and families are recovering from the learning loss gap from COVID-19. This workshop will provide opportunities for thought leadership innovation ideas that will help to inform new strategies and activities for the United Way Online Computer Based Toolkit - CBT. This new addition to the CBT Online School Transition Toolkit will elevate the key components of "Effective School Transition" through 3rd Grade!
TRACK: FAMILY ENGAGEMENT
Gardening with Young Children in Family Childcare
Presenter: Myra Abdus-Saboor Room: Childs Young
Family Child Care Learning Homes offer diverse learning styles to families with young children. Vast opportunities for learning and engaging are always present within this environment. Many Family Child Care Learning Homes Operate year-round. Outdoor learning is an essential component to operating a quality-rated program. Gardening activities can occur year-round. We created an outdoor experience for young children. We created Isaiah’s Garden. Isaiah’s Garden is a Farm to ECE program located on the grounds of TTCELC (Teach The Children Early Learning Center). Whilst the younger ages are watering plants, older ones are cultivating the soil or layering the compost bin. Isaiah’s Garden - A garden where children can play, learn, work and eat. Let us share how we garden with young children in a mixed-age group family childcare setting.
11:35 - 12:50 PM Midday Concurrent Sessions
TRACK: EARLY LEARNING
The Effects of Unconscious Bias
Presenter: Michael Beard Room: Boardroom
Every person tends to see the world through the eyes of their past experience. Our exposure is unconsciously governing decisions, fear, anticipation, and relationships. This process of decision-making is a cheat code to protect ourselves from perceived risk. It can also be a barrier to some of the most productive and beneficial relationships. Often these snap decisions are based on gender and ethnicity as a catalyst to judge someone’s ability or character because these attributes are the most obvious. Let’s uncover the connection between Unconscious Bias and Productivity.
TRACK: EARLY LITERACY
Planting SEEDS for Story Time: Making Books Come to Life for Young Learners
Presenters: Angela Reuvers and Alicia Prather Room: Paul Duke
Participants will walk away with the necessary ingredients to captivate interests of young learners during story time. During the session, participants will plan how to introduce books, engage families with story time, as well as review best practices for promoting oral language through story reads. We will also explore how to extend learning from books through activities while also accessing the SEEDS for Storytime resources available through DECAL.
TRACK: LEADERSHIP & ADVOCACY
Social Justice & Early Education: Lifting the Voices of Black Parents and Educators
Presenters: Dr. Natasha Thornton
& BCDI-Atlanta’s Lifted Voices Fellows Room: Mark C. Pope
The “Divisive Concepts” law was passed in Georgia and prohibits teaching academic concepts related to race and racism. This law has severe implications on the education of Black children. Educators have expressed their frustration of the vagueness of the law, while parents have expressed concern that their children may receive an inaccurate education. This session will be presented by BCDI-Atlanta’s Lifted Voices Fellows, who will share key information to deepen the understanding of the law and will lead an interactive listening session to center participants' voices, questions, and ideas, to collectively identify strategies and next steps ensuring Black children receive a culturally responsive and just education.
TRACK: FAMILY ENGAGEMENT
Strengthening Family Engagement With Developmental Milestones
Presenters: Bridget Ratajczak and Latasha Bailey Room: Childs Young
Strengthening Family Engagement with Developmental Milestones gives participants an overview of CDC’s Learn the Signs. Act Early. developmental milestones resources and information and ideas on how to use the resources to build relationships with families and engage them in their child’s learning and development.
12:50 - 1:50 PM Awards Luncheon
The Path Forward: Updates from our National Office
- Dr. Leah Austin, President & CEO, NBCDI
Room: Ballroom
Recognition
Board Members - Tatjyana Elmore, Board Chair
Staff & Sponsors - Dr. Bisa, BCDI-Atlanta President
Honors
Lifted Voices Fellowship - Drs. Daphne Babrow &
Natasha Thornton
Community Leadership Awards - Dr. Bisa & Staff
***Performance by Nguzo Babies***
1:50 - 2:00 PM Transition & Stretch Break
2:00 – 3:15 PM Afternoon Concurrent Sessions
2:00 - 3:15 PM Afternoon Concurrent Sessions
TRACK: EARLY LEARNING
Finding the Funny: Using Reflection for Professional Growth
Presenters: Sharon Hudgins,
Deborah Lynn & Cindy McNeil Room: Mark C. Pope
How do we find humor in the strangest places? Humor is an essential tool for any professional to have in their arsenal. In this session, we'll explore the power of reflection and how it can lead us down a path toward continuous growth as ECE Professionals! We will discuss strategies like using powerful guided questions or storytelling with your funniest stories yet--all while finding humor wherever possible. Funny things happen throughout everyday life; don't let them go by without making sure you share these moments triumphantly through laughter.
TRACK: LEADERSHIP & ADVOCACY
Workforce Updates from DECAL
Presenters: Barb McWethy, Shenae Holmes,
Abby Mozo, Miranda Murphy,
Janet Herrera, Tyeichia Mason Room: Childs Young
In this session, we will share information on the various programs, tools and initiatives the DECAL Workforce Supports Team have available for you. Whether you are wondering how to get into the field, lesson planning tools or how to further your own education, we are here to support you in meeting your goals.
TRACK: EARLY LEARNING
Designing Learning Experiences using Culturally Responsive Literacy Instructional Practices in Elementary Learning Spaces
Presenter: Cletis Allen Room: Paul Duke
This workshop is designed to support elementary learning facilitators (i.e., educators, instructional coaches, school administrators) with designing learning experiences that support instructional practices that value literacy, culture, and context using a culturally responsive framework. During this interactive workshop, participants will use the Culturally Responsive Literacy Instruction (CRLI), a framework that values the implementation of equitable teaching practices during literacy instruction, to describe instructional strategies that will support literacy learning for PK- third grade elementary-aged learners. Working collaboratively, participants will design a sample literacy block that incorporates grade-level content, literacy, context, and equitable instructional strategies using the CRLI framework.
TRACK: FAMILY ENGAGEMENT
Voices & Light: Recognizing & Engaging Parents as Natural Family Leaders
Presenter: Laura Miller & Pamela Ross Room: Childs Young
One of United Way of Greater Atlanta’s early learning strategies is to strengthen family engagement by fostering the natural leadership that parents have as their children’s first teacher, brain builder, advocate and coach. In this session, discover how effective family engagement initiatives unite community partnerships and parents as champions to implement culturally responsive programs and services on behalf of society’s youngest citizens.
3:15 - 3:25 PM Snacks, Transition & Stretch Break
3:25 - 4:00 PM Closing Session
NOW WHAT? CALL TO ACTION
Mark A. Davis
CLOSING REMARKS
Dr. Bisa Batten Lewis
EXHIBITORS
- Akirah Renée Vocal Studio
- BK International Education Consultancy
- Black Education Station
- DECAL Scholars
- Georgia Department of Early Care & Learning
- Georgia PDS
- Mark A. Davis
- Metamorphasis Powerhouse Company
- NBCDI
- Nguzo Babies
- Quality Care for Children
- Shootworks Photography
EVENT SPONSOR
SPONSORS
Platinum Sponsor
Gold Sponsor
Silver Sponsors
Bronze Sponsors
Friends of BCDI-Atlanta
Akirah Renée Vocal Studio
BK International Education Consultancy
Black Education Station
Quality Care for Children
