>Craven Smart Start & CCR&R Holding Early Childhood Conference

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Craven Smart Start and the Child Care Resource and Referral (CCR&R) will sponsor the 6th Annual Building Brighter Futures Early Childhood Conference on April 28, 2012 from 7:30 AM to 3:30 PM. The conference will be hosted by Cornerstone Assembly of God, which is located in James City at 2304 Highway 70East in New Bern. The focus will be on healthy living (exercise and nutrition) and on inclusion and special needs issues. The conference is designed for child care providers; preschool and after school teachers; NC Pre-K and kindergarten teachers, parents and grandparents and others who may want to learn new techniques that promote children’s health and fitness.

The conference will feature Kellee McQuinn, who the Los Angeles Times nicknamed “the Pied Piper with a Boom Box” as the keynote speaker. Kellee, will also lead attendees in active breakout sessions during the conference that utilize“hooping” activities.

In 2002, Kellee founded KidTribe, an international children’s fitness, nutrition and self-esteem program that has now activated over 3 million kids in thousands of schools throughout the US and the UK. With a mission to provoke a positively contagious environment where being healthy, happy and sweaty is cool, Kellee has created numerous award winning kids’ fitness videos. Kellee and the KidTribe Crew have had the honor of being invited to perform at the White House for the Easter Egg Roll in 2010 and in 2011, as well as Nickelodeon’s Worldwide Day of Play in DC for over 60,000 families. This year, Kellee received the Community Leadership Award by the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition.

Pre-registration is required. The cost of the conference is $25 per person and includes a continental breakfast and lunch. The registration deadline is April 13th. For more information or to obtain registration information, please call (252) 672-5921 Ext 21.

Craven Smart Start, Inc. is the local public-private partnership that administers the funding and programs of Smart Start in Craven County. Smart Start is North Carolina’s nationally recognized early childhood initiative. The mission of the program is to ensure that every child, birth to five, in Craven County receives the education, health and family support necessary to arrive at kindergarten ready to succeed. The Child Care Resource and Referral Program, which is operated by Craven Smart Start, works to improve the quality of child care and to assist parents in locating quality child care and also operates a Toy Lending Library, that is open to the public. The administrative offices of Craven Smart Start and the Child Care Resource and Referral Program are located at 2111 Neuse Boulevard, Suite F in New Bern. For more information, call (252) 636-3198.

Submitted by: Pinkie Moore for Craven Smart Start, Inc