What kind of services does Opening Minds USA provide?
Impact on the world begins with growing great children, ready to learn. Opening Minds develops signature events, services and activities that provide transformative learning experiences.
Our Early Education, Child Care, School Age Conferences and Expos, Master Classes, Symposia and Institutes are the signature events gaining notoriety across the globe. This is our 59th year of providing continuing education to people educating and caring for young children from birth to 8 years old. The events are unique in that they seek to transcend traditional divisions in the fields of early care and education by bringing together key leaders from all fields: education, administration, health & wellness, medicine, nursing, justice, social service, policy, government, parks & recreation, tech, business, library science, and more. In the past few years, we have opened our doors to all professions and people, creating a dynamic exchange of ideas, and learning experiences unlike any other.
In addition to learning sessions, Opening Minds presents the Opening Minds USA Innovation Award™ at its annual conference and expo. The Opening Minds Innovation Award honors individuals and organizations throughout the world whose innovations have advanced the field of early childhood education. The Innovation Award was established to identify and scale good ideas and innovations that could assist with the challenges of raising, caring, and educating young children while advancing the early childhood community.
Opening Minds also creates collaborative educational projects to advance the entire early care and education industry for a global community right where people live. Opening Minds STEM for Little Learners™ is an interactive learning experience designed to prompt children to explore, observe, question, predict and demystify common childhood fears. It was developed in order to improve the public’s understanding of common childhood fears and help young children grow up emotionally healthy and ready to learn. STEM for Little Learners was launched in partnership with the Chicago Public Library System in 20 branches this past year through the generosity of COUNTRY Financial, the Chicago Public Library Foundation and its partners. Other community projects have included, Connecting Children to Nature, a project of the World Forum Foundation and Clinton Global Initiative, and Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s ‘Once Upon a Symphony,’ which combined music and storytelling in an interactive orchestral experience to introduce young children to the world of classical music.
Opening Minds recognizes that, as an organization, its leaders do not have all the answers to educate and care for young children. However, the organization does recognize, though, hundreds if not thousands of good ideas are put to use each day to solve the challenges of raising and educating young children but only known to a small number of people. As a First Alert Resource, Opening Minds USA strives to be a strategic hub and platform where people can share and gain access to important developments in the education and care for young children.
Please stay in touch. For further information, please visit: openingmindsusa.org
