SILVER SPRING, MD – Considering the increasing shortage of opportunities for children to take part in outdoor activities, a national child advocate will talk about how to restore play into kids’ lives as part of Thursday’s Rethink Montgomery Speaker Series.
Joan Almon, executive director of the Alliance for Childhood, a nonprofit organization advocating healthy and creative childhoods, focuses on restoring play in children’s lives. Founded in 1999, the alliance works to integrate play into academic settings, but also in parks, neighborhoods and wilderness settings – of interest to planners trying to create communities that nurture young residents, too.
The presentation will be the last of the Planning Department’s spring speaker series, which kicked off in April with weekly sessions illuminating concepts of economy, knowledge, food, ecology, energy, culture, resources and infrastructure.
Almon’s presentation falls under health, which is receiving increasing attention from county planners encouraging healthy lifestyles by planning jobs and development near transit to encourage walking as well as bike trails, parks and civic-gathering areas. Almon’s presentation on increasing physical activities for kids is especially relevant as planners and others try to combat child obesity.
Almon co-authored the report, Crisis in the Kindergarten: Why Children Need to Play in School. She will discuss how her group helps promote policies and practices that support children’s healthy development, love of learning, and joy in living.
Almon received a BA in sociology from the University of Michigan and has taken graduate courses in Waldorf education. She has worked as a Kindergarten teacher, a trainer of Waldorf early childhood educators and has written or co-authored numerous articles and reports on early childhood.
Continuing education credits (AICP certification maintenance credits) are pending for planning professionals.
Who:
Joan Almon, executive director of the U.S. Alliance for Childhood
What:
ReThink Montgomery Speaker Series – Health
When:
Thursday, June 3, 7:30 p.m.
Where:
Park and Planning Headquarters auditorium
8787 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring
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