BUILD 2025 Request for Session Proposals (RFP)

The BUILD Initiative is now accepting proposals for sessions at BUILD25, happening December 2-4, 2025, in Los Angeles, CA. We are seeking proposals from experts in the field to lead engaging and informative sessions. If you or someone you know is interested in presenting, we encourage you to submit a proposal.

Printable Documents:

Deadline to Submit Proposal Extended: July 1, 2025

CONFERENCE OVERVIEW

BUILD 2025 National Conference

December 2 – 4, 2025

Los Angeles, CA

We’re thrilled to announce the BUILD2025 conference: The Heart of the Matter: Building Community and Strong Systems for Young Children and Families.  

When: Tuesday, December 2 – Thursday, December 4, 2025 
Where: The Westin Bonaventure in Los Angeles, CA 
Who: The National BUILD Conference brings together leaders working to ensure the well-being of young children and families. Many of the participants work at the state level in government, focusing on education, health, and human services. Hundreds are advocates, researchers, or service providers. Hundreds more are technical assistance providers, coaches, or home visiting specialists. Some work at the intersection of systems; others focus on early education and care, community development, family economic support, and health (including prenatal, infant, and early childhood mental health and maternal health). Meanwhile, others work in child welfare, housing, or prevention. This is an opportunity to tackle important issues head-on, engage in meaningful discussions, and build community.

BUILD2025 Conference Goals: The conference will provide opportunities for early childhood systems leaders (at the state, regional, territory, tribal, and local levels) to: 

Learn from one another’s experiences  
Collaborate, strategize, and plan together  
Focus on community building  
Build bridges across differences  
Renew our spirit and passion for our work

We will achieve these goals by engaging in urgent, current topics such as: 

What’s blocking us from creating an early childhood system that works for young children and families? What is working for whom? What barriers can be moved? What’s stuck that can be unstuck?  
Connected problems require cross-system approaches: How can education, health, family economic supports, child welfare, and housing work better together to meet the needs of children, families, and communities?

Together we will: 

Network and build peer relationships. 
Collaborate on developing strategies that improve recruitment, retention, compensation, and professionalization of a workforce that reflects the children with whom we work. 
Exchange strategies to ensure high-quality early care and education services that are family-friendly, supportive of providers and teachers, and promote program improvement, reflecting the communities we support. 
Develop leadership and communication skills to enhance the quality of work that individuals and teams do for young children and their families.

Target Attendees: Attendees of this conference include public- and private-sector early childhood leaders as well as corporate and non-profit sponsors and funders. Leaders include cross-system representatives, state education, health, and human services leaders, early intervention specialists, social and emotional development researchers, child care and QIS administrators, economic development leaders, Head Start state and local leaders, technical assistance providers, coaches and mentors, quality improvement specialists, advocates, policy makers, evaluators and researchers, higher education faculty, and early childhood systems leaders at the national, state, territory, tribal nation, and community levels. 

Printable version here.

SESSION PROPOSAL GUIDELINES

We invite you to submit proposals that align with the conference’s theme and goals. Please read the following instructions carefully before submitting your proposal. 

Session Expectations: Each year, we carefully review the evaluation data from the conference. We have created this section based on that feedback. 

Relation to Conference Theme: Indicate how your proposal contributes to the theme and goals of the meeting. 
Focus: Please focus on what is important or innovative about the topic that you want to share and whether you believe you are addressing an issue that needs attention.  
Interaction: Your session should be designed to promote interactivity with an emphasis on discussion, not a lecture. Keep in mind that many of our attendees are experts themselves and excited to exchange ideas.  
State Perspectives: We strongly encourage proposals for sessions that stretch beyond the presentation of information from a singular perspective. Multiple perspectives and richer context can often be gained by partnering with other states or organizations. Our goal is that the presenters, whether from one state or several, share their experience in ways that will help leaders from other geographies and contexts understand how they might be able to take learnings from the approaches shared and apply or modify them for the benefit of children and families in their communities. If the work in your state or area of expertise warrants a deeper dive than would be possible if leaders from multiple states/perspectives presenters, be sure to include this rationale in your proposal. (If you need assistance in finding other states to give your session a multi-state perspective and/or a facilitator for your session, please reach out to Lydia Kim at lkim@buildinitiative.org before submitting your RFP.)
Strategies/Actionable Ideas: We are not looking for sessions that are merely show and tell. Consider strategies for making your topic or example broadly relevant and applicable to other states. Ensure you are providing actionable ideas for attendees to take home and use.

Session Types: We are offering a range of session formats to support different kinds of engagement and content delivery. Please choose the format that best fits your goals. Sessions should be interactive and thoughtfully designed to maximize relevance and participation. Whether your session dives deep into a critical issue, facilitates peer discussion, or supports wellness, each should offer meaningful value to attendees.

Intensive Session (2-hour format): These sessions allow extra time to focus on a specific topic and ensure time for discussion. These extended time slots are limited in number. We seek sessions that require a deep dive and have relevance for many participants. These sessions will be held on Wednesday, December 3 from 10:30 AM - 12:30 PM. 
Topical Session (90-minute format): These sessions are the backbone of our agenda. As with all sessions, we are looking for relevant and interesting topics presented in an interactive format. The focus can be on research, policy, and/or practice. These sessions will be held during one of the following time slots: Tuesday, December 2 from 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM; Wednesday, December 2 from 8:30 AM - 10:00 AM;Thursday, December 4 from 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM.
Birds of a Feather Session (60-minute format): Past participants have requested additional opportunities to talk with their peers in similar positions. If you would like to lead a discussion with a group of peers on a specific topic, choose this approach. This is NOT a presentation. Successful proposals will suggest a facilitated discussion on a topic for a group of peers in similar roles. In this way, Birds of a Feather sessions will have a chance to share what they are struggling with on the topic, lessons learned, successes, etc. These informal sessions will take place DURING lunch on Wednesday, December 3, from 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM. 
Wellness Workshop (45-minute format): Our participants have a lot of skills and hobbies, and we want to tap in to all that you offer, so this year, for the first time, we are seeking proposals for interactive workshops focused on wellness (financial, health, retirement planning, negotiation, music therapy, arts and crafts, etc.). These workshops will be held during one of the following time slots: Wednesday, December 2 from 7:30 AM - 8:15 AM; Thursday, December 4 from 8:00 AM – 8:45 AM.

Presenters: 

Range of Perspectives: A range of presenters and perspectives is a high priority. Presentations that offer effective approaches to cross-sector collaboration (e.g., early childhood-early childhood special education, child care-preschool, health-education) are strongly encouraged. Panels should be representative of the array of children, families, and communities served in the early childhood field. 
Presenter Details: Please gather your presenter names, roles, organizational affiliations, CVs/resumes, and email addresses as they will be required to fully submit your application.
Presenter Limits: Interaction is essential to an engaging session. Have no more than a maximum of five presenters (including facilitators and panelists) for Pre-Conference and Intensive sessions; a maximum of three presenters (including facilitators and panelists) for Topical and Birds of a Feather sessions; a maximum of one presenter for Wellness Workshops   
Presenter Registration Rate: Presenters are offered a special discounted registration rate of $800, which covers the costs of the provided meals and AV and gives you access to all the conference content. The discounted rate applies to a maximum of:  Five presenters (including facilitators and panelists) for Intensive sessions; Three presenters (including facilitators and panelists) for Topical and Birds of a Feather sessions; One presenter for Wellness Workshops

Other Considerations:

NO products may be sold or marketed as part of your session. 
Session meeting rooms will be set up with round tables. The rooms hold an average of 50 people. 
Meeting rooms are equipped with a head table for two-four people, a podium with a microphone, an additional wireless mic, an LCD Projector with an HDMI connector, a screen, Wi-Fi, and a passive direct box to hook up to your computer for audio if playing a video, etc.  
Due to the inconsistent nature of Wi-Fi in meeting rooms, presenters are encouraged to share videos from copies saved to their laptops. Please contact us with any questions.
You will need to bring your own laptop. If your computer is a newer model that requires a special adapter to connect to the projector, you will need to bring that as well.

Additional Support: We are committed to helping you create a compelling proposal. If you have any questions or need assistance with the application, finding co-presenters, or refining your proposal, please contact Lydia Kim at lkim@buildinitiative.org. 

Deadline to Submit Proposal: June 20, 2025 

Printable version here.

For your convenience we have provided a printable worksheet for you to use as you gather your proposal information. Once you have collected all of the necessary information, click "Next Page" to begin your RFP. Please ensure you have all of the necessary information before continuing.

LEAD PROPOSAL CONTACT INFORMATION

The Lead Contact will be the main person we communicate with. They will be responsible for sharing all information from BUILD about the session with co-presenters.

First Name

Last Name

Organization

Organization Affiliation/Title

Organization-Affiliated Email Address

By submitting this information, I acknowledge that the Lead Contact will be responsible for sharing with co-presenters all information from BUILD regarding our session.”

Yes

SESSION TYPE

Select the appropriate session type for your proposed session.

Pre-Conference Session (3-hour format): These sessions are special learning experiences and must be highly interactive. Participants register for these sessions in advance so you know who will be coming and can tailor the session to your participants. Pre-conference sessions are not merely extended workshops. Successful proposals will suggest sessions that explore topics that are particularly relevant at this time, resonate with leaders in many states, or provide a significant challenge to our work. They should provide the opportunity for participants to have a deep learning experience, facilitate a thorough examination of a critical issue or offer professional or leadership development experience. We will also consider sessions that summarize the work of a Community of Practice or that launch a Community of Practice. These workshops will be held BEFORE the conference on Tuesday, December 2 from 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM.Intensive Session (2-hour format): These sessions allow extra time to focus on a specific topic and ensure time for discussion. These extended time slots are limited in number. We seek sessions that require a deep dive and have relevance for many participants. These sessions will be held on Wednesday, December 3 from 10:30 AM - 12:30 PM. Topical Session (90-minute format): These sessions are the backbone of our agenda. As with all sessions, we are looking for relevant and interesting topics presented in an interactive format. The focus can be on research, policy, and/or practice. These sessions will be held during one of the following time slots: Tuesday, December 2 from 3:30 PM - 5:00 PM; Wednesday, December 2 from 8:30 AM - 10:00 AM;Thursday, December 4 from 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM.Birds of a Feather Session (60-minute format): Past participants have requested additional opportunities to talk with their peers in similar positions. If you would like to lead a discussion with a group of peers on a specific topic, choose this approach. This is NOT a presentation. Successful proposals will suggest a facilitated discussion on a topic for a group of peers in similar roles. In this way, Birds of a Feather sessions will have a chance to share what they are struggling with on the topic, lessons learned, successes, etc. These informal sessions will take place DURING lunch on Wednesday, December 3, from 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM. 

Wellness Workshop (45-minute format): Our participants have a lot of skills and hobbies, and we want to tap in to all that you offer, so this year, for the first time, we are seeking proposals for interactive workshops focused on wellness (financial, health, retirement planning, negotiation, music therapy, arts and crafts, etc.). These workshops will be held during one of the following time slots: Wednesday, December 2 from 7:30 AM - 8:15 AM; Thursday, December 4 from 8:00 AM – 8:45 AM.

PRESENTERS

Interaction is essential to an engaging session. Have no more than:

Five presenters (including facilitators and panelists) for Pre-Conference and Intensive sessions
Three presenters (including facilitators and panelists for Topical and Birds of a Feather sessions
One presenter for Wellness Workshops

If your lead contact for the proposal is also a presenter, list their information again in this section so that all presenters are listed together.

Presenter 1 First Name

Presenter 1 Last Name

Presenter 1 Organization

Presenter 1 Organization Affiliation/Title

Presenter 1 Organization-Affiliated Email Address

Presenter 2 First Name

Presenter 2 Last Name

Presenter 2 Organization

Presenter 2 Organization Affiliation/Title

Presenter 2 Organization-Affiliated Email Address

Presenter 3 First Name

Presenter 3 Last Name

Presenter 3 Organization

Presenter 3 Organization Affiliation/Title

Presenter 3 Organization-Affiliated Email Address

Presenter 4 First Name

Presenter 4 Last Name

Presenter 4 Organization

Presenter 4 Organization Affiliation/Title

Presenter 4 Organization-Affiliated Email Address

Presenter 5 First Name

Presenter 5 Last Name

Presenter 5 Organization

Presenter 5 Organization Affiliation/Title

Presenter 5 Organization-Affiliated Email Address

If you have chosen your co-presenters, please attach their resumes/CV (in one document) here. If you have not chosen your co-presenters yet, please tell us briefly (in a word document about the panel you are trying to recruit, your goals in creating your panel, and what expertise or experience they will provide. (Limit 150 words.)

Contact Information