The Community Early Learning Center (CELC) Fox Valley, is proud to celebrate the national Week of the Young Child™ by sponsoring a local event, “Together We CAN Make a Difference,” which will be held April 14 from 6 until 7:30 p.m. at the CELC, 313 S. State Street, Appleton, WI.

The Week of the Young Child™ is an annual celebration promoted by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), the world’s largest early childhood education association, with nearly 80,000 members and a network of over 300 local, state and regional affiliates.

“Week of the Young Child is an exciting time for the Fox Cities to celebrate the importance of children’s early learning. This event will allow all of us to be part of the celebration,” University of Wisconsin Oshkosh Head Start Early Childhood Coordinator Jenny Thorn said.

The event is free and open to the public. Numerous family activities are planned geared toward children birth to five including: 1) Painting Wall; 2) Make It and Take It; 3) Games; 4) Live music provided by Copper Box; and 5) Resource Fair. Many of the activities will feature the use of tin cans including a station where children can make a coffee can washboard to join-in when Copper Box plays. The activity stations will be located in classrooms throughout the multi-level CELC building.

The purpose of the Week of the Young Child™ is to focus public attention on the needs of young children and their families and to recognize the early childhood programs and services–such as Head Start at UW Oshkosh– that meet those needs.

CELC President Jon Stellmacher is pleased that the CELC is a participant.

“The Week of the Young Child is a time to recognize the importance of our earliest years and to express our appreciation to the early childhood caregivers and educators who serve the little children that we cherish, children who are the future of our community,” he said.

Families attending the event are asked to bring a donation of a canned good for St. Joseph Food Program. Reservations are not necessary and light snacks will be served. Street parking is available on State and 7th streets. Additional parking for this event is available behind the center and can be accessed from both 7th and 8 th streets.

Community Early Learning Center houses five different not-for-profit and public organizations under one roof to serve children from birth to five years old in the Fox Valley and beyond: Appleton Area School District’s Birth to Five programs, Even Start Family Literacy, Outagamie County Early Intervention, Project Bridges Day Care, and the UW Oshkosh Head Start program. The multi-agency center focuses on the families of young children and those serving them so their children will be ready for Kindergarten by age five. The CELC provides on-site programs for children and families and serves the counties of Calumet, Outagamie, Shawano, Winnebago and beyond through: collaborative programming; local and regional educational and family resources; various program initiatives; and the dissemination of information. 

Faculty, staff and students are encouraged to contribute calendar items, campus announcements and other good news to UW Oshkosh Today.