SCREENING AND PANEL DISCUSSION
December 12, 2024
Hosted By
Interactive “We PLAY Center” – The We PLAY Center contains developmentally appropriate toys and activities that allow parents and children to experience quality playtime while fostering positive adult-child interactions, increasing cognitive and language development and social-emotional skills that will lead to success in school and beyond.
Parent Learning Opportunities – Workshops and seminars specifically designed to provide parents and caregivers with strategies and techniques to improve their parenting skills and develop positive adult-child interactions.
Professional Development Workshops - TrainingGrounds offers quality professional development opportunities for early childhood professionals and educators with a focus on the "why" and the "science" behind many of the standards they are being asked to implement.
TrainingGrounds is a non-profit organization that assists parents, caregivers and professionals with providing children birth to five years of age with rich learning experiences, positive adult-child interactions, and social emotional skills that will contribute to success in school and beyond. We use the following three approaches:
Clover is an organization formerly known as the Kingsley House, founded to educate children, strengthen families, and build community.
By using a Whole Family Approach, Clover serves entire families—meeting the needs of children, parents and our aging family members—together through interconnected services and programs. Clover’s comprehensive family supports are in the areas of education, health and well-being, employment, and family economic security.
Home Grown is a national collaborative of funders committed to improving the quality of and access to home-based child care.
Home Grown envisions a country in which all children have the care they need to reach their full potential (cognitive, social, emotional, health and wellness). Providers offer quality child care, and parents have equitable access to quality child care for their children. To achieve this vision, Home Grown will remove policy barriers, strengthen home-based child care practices and business models, and support the growth and recognition of the sector so that all providers offer quality care and parents choose quality care.
Moderator
Gina Swanson
Anchor/Reporter, WDSU
Jen Bradwell has edited more than 15 feature documentaries, including the Emmy Award-winning TIME FOR ILHAN, THE BIG PICTURE: RETHINKING DYSLEXIA (Sundance/HBO), Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s FAIR PLAY (Hulu), and Erika Cohn’s WHAT YOU’LL REMEMBER (NYT Op-Docs). Two seminal projects she wrote and edited (RESILIENCE and PAPER TIGERS) have had more than 50,000 community screenings to date, helping ignite a national conversation about childhood trauma. Jen has taught editing master classes at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism and UC Santa Cruz’s Social Documentation program. Years of editing and story consulting have inspired her to direct her first feature doc.
Panel
Anthonika Gidney is a professional educator at Morris Jeff Community School. Anthonika has over 14 years of teaching experience in primary education, and she is a former family childcare provider. She seeks to be the change she wants to see in the world by teaching and encouraging students to work hard every day. Anthonika is a southern girl, born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Child Development from Spelman College and a Master of Science in Urban Teacher Leadership from Georgia State University. She is strengthened daily by her Lord and savior and inspired by her wonderful husband and their three beautiful children. She enjoys nature, playing games, and spending time with family.
Zakenya Perry Neely is a dedicated community educator and non-profit leader with over 20 years of experience advancing the well-being of children and families. As the Director of Partnerships & Market Solutions/Marketing at the National Association for Family Child Care (NAFCC), Zakenya leads efforts to enhance the sustainability and quality of family child care programs. Her work focuses on building strategic partnerships and fostering innovation to address the unique challenges faced by educators. Previously, Zakenya served as NAFCC’s Director of Accreditation and Quality Recognition, driving nationwide initiatives to elevate standards in early childhood education. She has also contributed to organizations such as the Orleans Public Education Network, Communities In Schools, and Brad Pitt’s Make It Right Foundation. Through her leadership and advocacy, Zakenya continues to shape the future of family child care and support equitable access to high-quality early education.
Thelma Harris French is the President & CEO of Total Community Action, Inc., New Orleans' federally designated anti-poverty agency and Head Start grantee. A passionate advocate for early childhood development and equitable opportunities, she serves on the boards of the Orleans Public Education Network (OPEN), the New Orleans Early Care & Education Network (NOEEN), and BENOLA. With extensive public administration experience, Ms. French has worked with the Orleans Parish School Board and former mayors Marc Morial and Ray Nagin. She has also been an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice. Her community service spans numerous organizations, including the National Community Action Partnership, Louisiana Workforce Investment Council, and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., reflecting her deep commitment to social equity and community empowerment.
Asya Howlette is the Director of the Office of Youth and Families. After graduating from Hampton University, Asya began her decade-long journey as a math teacher in rural Louisiana and soon after earned a masters in education from Johns Hopkins University. With her continued love for educating students and her depth of knowledge about child development and academic expectations, she took on the position of being the upper middle school principal and director of mathematics and science for a K-8 school here in New Orleans. Having context for teaching in schools, working directly with curricula, and leading teacher development within Orleans Parish and across the United States, Asya has been influenced to pursue her next phase of leadership. This has not only included running for public office, but now working to support the city of New Orleans in building and strengthening systems so that they can have the greatest impact and truly meet the needs of our young people and families.
