While the country has rightly been focused on today's challenges -- from the devastation of the child care sector to geopolitical tensions and the post-pandemic economic recovery -- teachers, child health professionals, parent advocates, and other early childhood leaders need to be prepared as the first post-millennial generation comes of age in the years ahead.

Born after 1996, the oldest members of Gen Z are entering adulthood, graduating college, entering the workforce, and becoming parents. True digital natives, pro-government, social justice minded, and progressive, they are also the most racially and ethnically diverse and educated generation in our country’s history and the loneliest. 

With the future wide open before them, we are curious to see how this generation will parent, what they will demand of institutions, and how you and your organization can support the flourishing and well-being of these young parents and their children. 

In this workshop, we’ll review the 

• Demographics, characteristics, and values of Gen Z

• Environmental influences and societal trends shaping them

• How they’re likely to parent differently than previous generations 

• Where Gen Z gets information

• And, tools that you and your colleagues can use to begin preparing to support this next generation of parents and their young children.

These workshops will incorporate not-yet-released data from our recent national survey with the Center for Public Partnerships and Research at the University of Kansas focusing, in part, on the experiences of parents born since 1996 who have children under 5.