Early Childhood Educator Professional Development Conference
Ready to be inspired, connect with peers and grow in your role as an early educator?
Register now for the Early Childhood Educator Professional Development Conference, made possible with support from the United Way of Central Indiana.
Engage. Learn. Inspire.
Join fellow early childhood educators for a dynamic day of learning, collaboration and inspiration at the Early Childhood Educator Professional Development Conference. This unique professional development experience brings together practitioners, leaders and experts dedicated to supporting young learners and strengthening early education.
Event Details
Saturday, October 24 | 9 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Embassy Suites Event Center, Plainfield, IN
Cost: Free to attend*
*Organizations must be located in Boone, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Marion, Morgan or Putnam counties to apply.
One Experience. Many Opportunities to Learn & Grow.
Spend the day learning alongside fellow early childhood educators through a mix of powerful presentations, interactive breakout sessions and meaningful peer connection.
Participants will receive professional development hours, as well as complimentary breakfast and lunch. Throughout the day, you’ll engage in sessions designed to inspire your practice and equip you with practical tools you can immediately bring back to your classroom and school community.
Keynote & Working-Lunch Presentation
Hear from Dr. Brian Dinkins, Founder and CEO of the Center for Empowering Education, as he delivers an energizing keynote focused on educator resilience, student success and creating empowering learning environments. His working-lunch session will offer practical tools you can apply immediately in your classroom and school community.
Breakout Sessions
Engage in multiple breakout sessions led by early childhood educators and subject-matter experts. Sessions will cover a wide range of relevant topics—giving you the flexibility to choose what matters most to you and tailor the day to your professional goals.
Connect with Your Peers
Build meaningful connections with colleagues from across Central Indiana. Share ideas, exchange strategies and engage in conversations that support your growth as an educator.
Made possible with support from the United Way of Central Indiana
Questions?
If you have additional questions, please email events@earlylearningindiana.org.
Frequently Asked Questions
While Closing the Gap was issued once a year, Foundations for the Future will be updated on a quarterly basis to provide real-time data on Indiana’s evolving early education landscape. Using lessons learned from Closing the Gap, we’ve streamlined our calculations to make it easier to see how we arrive at the essential components of access: capacity, quality and affordability. We’ve also condensed the local-level maps into one dashboard, making it easier to find everything in one place.
Families cross census tracts and county boundaries to attend programs. To improve equity between rural and urban areas, Foundations for the Future calculates access zones based on a 15-minute drive time from the center of each tract. For Closing the Gap, we calculated the access zone around each tract, using a radius based on distance in miles.
There are two main differences between Foundations for the Future and the Brighter Futures Indiana Data Center. First, while Brighter Futures uses only programs regulated by the State of Indiana’s Office of Early Childhood and Out-of-School Learning, Foundations for the Future includes additional early childhood programs from other sources such as the Indiana Department of Education. Additionally, Brighter Futures does not utilize the concept of access zones. County-level reporting is based on programs located within county boundaries and does not include those programs close enough to be accessible to a particular county.
Updates will occur on a quarterly basis. Be sure to bookmark this page to check regularly for new insights.
You can compare statewide data like overall capacity, average cost of child care and proportion of high quality programs. Because we’ve improved our method for calculating access zones, county and census-tract level comparisons using Closing the Gap data are not comparable.
Once you’ve navigated to the “County Insights” page and selected your county, you can share the data by taking a screenshot of the page and sharing the image.
Census Bureau
U.S. Census Bureau. (n.d.). Ratio of Income to Poverty Level in the Past 12 Months. American Community Survey, ACS 5-Year Estimates Detailed Tables, Table C17002. Retrieved December 1, 2025, from https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2022.C17002?q=C17002:+Ratio+of+Income+to+Poverty+Level+in+the+Past+12+Months&g=040XX00US18$1400000.
U.S. Census Bureau. (n.d.). Median Family Income in the Past 12 Months (in 2022 Inflation-Adjusted Dollars) by Presence of Own Children Under 18 Years. American Community Survey, ACS 5-Year Estimates Detailed Tables, Table B19125. Retrieved December 1, 2025, from https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2022.B19125?q=B19125:+Median+Family+Income+in+the+Past+12+Months+(in+2022+Inflation-Adjusted+Dollars)+by+Presence+of+Own+Children+Under+18+Years&g=040XX00US18$1400000.
U.S. Census Bureau. (n.d.). Sex by Age by Employment Status for the Population 16 Years and Over. American Community Survey, ACS 5-Year Estimates Detailed Tables, Table B23001. Retrieved December 1, 2025, from https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2022.B23001?q=B23001:+Sex+by+Age+by+Employment+Status+for+the+Population+16+Years+and+Over&g=040XX00US18$1400000.
U.S. Census Bureau. (n.d.). Sex by Age. American Community Survey, ACS 5-Year Estimates Detailed Tables, Table B01001. Retrieved December 1, 2025, from https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2022.B01001?q=B01001&g=040XX00US18$1400000.
Indiana State Government
Early Learning Indiana (2025). worklifesystems [Unpublished database]. Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, Work Life Systems.
Early Learning Indiana (2025). sfdcanalytics [Unpublished database]. Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, Child Care Information System.
Indiana Department of Education. (n.d.) Accredited Non-Public School Enrollment. Data Center & Reports, Attendance & Enrollment. Retrieved December 1, 2025, from https://www.in.gov/doe/files/accredited-non-public-school-enrollment-2011-26.xlsx
Indiana Department of Education. (n.d.) School Enrollment by Grade Level. Data Center & Reports, Attendance & Enrollment. Retrieved December 1, 2025, from https://www.in.gov/doe/files/school-enrollment-grade-2006-26.xlsx
Indiana Department of Education. (n.d.) Indiana School Directory. Data Center & Reports, General School Information. Retrieved December 1, 2025, from https://www.in.gov/doe/files/2025-2026-school-directory-2025-10-27.xlsx
Family and Social Services Administration (n.d.) CCDF overview. Statistics & Reports. Retrieved January 1, 2026, from https://www.in.gov/fssa/carefinder/files/CCDFOverview.pdf
Hoosiers By The Numbers. (n.d.) Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) – Not Seasonally Adjusted. Retrieved March 3, 2026, from https://hoosierdata.in.gov/dpage.asp?id=32&view_number=1&menu_level=&panel_number=2#
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
US Housing Data. (n.d.) 2025 Fair Market Rents. Indiana Fair Market Rents. Retrieved March 3, 2026, from https://www.ushousingdata.com/fair-market-rents/indiana
Institute of Education Sciences (IES)
National Center for Education Statistics. (n.d.) U.S. Skills Map: State and County Indicators of Adult Literacy and Numeracy. PIACC Skills Map. Retrieved March 3, 2026, from https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/piaac/skillsmap/