Conference features human rights advocate, activist pastor, and renowned author all resounding the same message: “Together Towards Tomorrow”
After a year-long hiatus from in-person meetings because of the pandemic, Parents as Teachers (PAT) is reconvening its professional development conference in a hybrid in-person/virtual format on Oct. 11–14 at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront Hotel in Baltimore, Maryland.
Some attendees will fly in from far away cities and countries. Others will drive in from cities as far away as Las Vegas or St. Louis. Still others will attend virtually from across the country and abroad while carrying the same vehement mission as the rest: helping parents become their child’s first and best teacher in life.
More than 1,300 home visiting practitioners and early childhood development experts will have the flexibility to attend the conference in-person or connect safely from wherever they like and watch recorded workshops starting the week after the conference concludes.
Registration for the conference is currently underway at https://www.parentsasteachersconference.org/. The conference will feature more than 60 professional development workshops, entertaining activities, networking opportunities and a group excursion from Baltimore to the Washington Capitol to advocate for home visiting funding.
Joia Adele Crear-Perry, MD, FACOG
PAT has commissioned a diverse cast of incredibly talented keynote speakers for the conference this year. Thanks to a generous grant from the Enterprise Holdings Foundation and their ROAD Forward initiative, the Opening Session keynote speaker will be Joia Adele Crear-Perry, MD, FACOG – founding president of the National Birth Equity Collaborative. She is a trainer, advocate, policy expert, and fighter for justice and a thought leader around racism as a root cause of health inequities.
Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson
Addressing the audience attending the Day at the Capitol event will be philanthropist/activist Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson, president and CEO of the Children’s Defense Fund. He is the board chair of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP), vice chair of the Forum for Theological Exploration (FTE), and former president and CEO of Deaconess Foundation.
Dana L. Suskind, M.D.
Capping the conference as Closing Session speaker will be Dana L. Suskind, M.D., an author of Thirty Million Words: Building A Child’s Brain. She is co-director of the TMW Center for Early Learning + Public Health, professor of surgery at the University of Chicago, director of the Pediatric Cochlear Implant Program, and founder and director of the Thirty Million Words Initiative. Dr. Suskind will also be discussing her upcoming book, PARENT NATION within her talk.