Joan Almon Memorial Service and Legacy Fund

Dear Friends,

Thank you to everyone who responded with your condolences and wonderful tributes to Joan. I am compiling your messages to share with her family.

Joan's husband, Clopper, has scheduled the memorial service for Joan as follows:

Date: Sunday, October 6, 2019

Time: 3:00 p.m.

Location: St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 4512 College Ave, College Park, MD 20740

All are welcome to attend and we hope to see you there as we celebrate the life and legacy of Joan. For those wishing to send a card, please mail it to: Clopper Almon, c/o Alliance for Childhood, PO Box 5758, Annapolis, MD 21403.

Alliance for Childhood, has established the Joan Almon Childhood Legacy Fund in Joan's honor. In reflecting on Joan's motto, 'will act', your gifts in her memory will support the activities that were so important to her.

Often under-the-radar, to advance and promote play, Joan would allocate and provide resources for: 

• new and innovative play projects;

• early career playworkers and emerging leaders;

• collaborations with our international Alliance for Childhood partner organizations; and

• advocacy initiatives to strengthen networks and broaden the reach of the Alliance for Childhood message.

Your contribution to this special fund will help carry on Joan's passion. Please click here to donate.

Following are a few of the many tributes to Joan that capture both the essence of who she was and the legacy of her work:

"Joan Almon was a powerhouse. Her energy, passion, orbit of influence, her intelligence, her excellent interpersonal skills, her communication skills, all made her the dynamo we needed to launch this baby of an organization. Without Joan there would be no Alliance for Childhood. Joan has prematurely left a huge legacy to the world. We thank her for her baby, now an adolescent: Alliance for Childhood. We deeply mourn her loss," said Marilyn Benoit, M.D., Child and adolescent psychiatrist, Howard University Hospital; founding partner and past Alliance for Childhood board president.

“Joan Almon was one of the finest people I've known. She used her vast intellect and tactful, charismatic personality to bring people together in friendship and purpose - making revolutionary progress in raising awareness of the issues impacting children in the modern age of high stress, high anxiety early childhood education. Her work will ripple into the future, impacting generations," said Scott Nash, CEO of MOM's Organic Market; past Alliance for Childhood board member.

"Joan will go down as one of greatest child advocates in history," said William Crain, Ph.D., Professor of psychology at the City College of New York; founding partner and past Alliance for Childhood board member.

“Joan Almon's warrior and pioneer spirit sought to protect the rights of children when it was a lonely task. She introduced many advocates into each others' networks and thereby greatly expanded the impact of the Alliance. She kept meetings informal, welcoming wide-ranging discussions. Astute in building on diverse issues - from commercial exploitation of children and dangers of screen time to the importance of play, Joan brought respect for children through a Waldorf lens of understanding," said Elizabeth Goodenough, Ph.D., Lecturer at the Residential College, University of Michigan; founding partner and past Alliance for Childhood board member.

“Joan was a founding steering committee member of the US Play Coalition, sharing with us, for the last decade, her passion for and expertise in the value of play for all children. Her legacy of caring for the health and well-being of young people is indelible. She has left a big hole in the hearts of many play advocates," said Stephanie Garst, Executive Director, US Play Coalition.

“Joan was a strong pillar in the International Group of the Alliance for Childhood. Every few months a group of us from the Alliance for Childhood in Brazil, Brussels, the UK, and the US get together via Skype to share the latest developments in our work. Joan's engagement, wise words and enthusiastic support were a constant inspiration. It seems strange she'll no longer be with us, though I'm sure her presence will still be felt," said Marion Briggs, Coordinator of the International Alliance for Childhood Network.

Sending you all my very best wishes,

With warm regards,

Linda L. Rhoads, Executive Director

Our Loss of Joan Almon, Co-founder of Alliance for Childhood

It is with heavy heart that I am writing to share the news of the death of Joan Almon on July 14th due to pancreatic cancer. Joan co-founded the Alliance for Childhood in 1999 and served as its director until 2012, when she continued to serve the Alliance as director of programs.

In addition to our monthly lunches, Joan and I spent many hours and days together envisioning the future of the Alliance for Childhood, hashing out where the next opportunity might present itself to further our mission, and traveling to meet with both long-time and new partners. Her laser focus was always on how to shed light on issues of deep concern for all children to experience a healthy and joyful childhood.

Representing the Alliance, she brought together professionals from many sectors...education, health, business, child welfare and many more to identify unaddressed issues contributing to the growing stress and strain in children's lives - working collaboratively to strengthen childhood for all children. She treasured the opportunity to converse regularly with our Alliance for Childhood partner organizations in Europe and South America - eager to gain new global perspectives on children's issues.

Joan worked tirelessly as an advocate and wrote and lectured extensively on child development, early education, and the need to restore play for children and youth with a special focus on the need for play-based learning in preschools and kindergartens. She wrote many articles and chapters in books and co-authored the Alliance for Childhood report, Crisis in the Kindergarten: Why Children Need to Play in School.

More recently, Joan compiled and edited Playing It Up-With Loose Parts, Playpods, and Adventure Playgrounds to highlight unique and impactful play opportunities across the U.S. One of her ongoing commitments was to seek out and support emerging leaders and new or innovative programs, and to promote the amazing work of others engaged in efforts to improve the lives of children.

Joan was formerly a Waldorf early childhood educator who taught for 18 years in Maryland and then consulted with schools around the world. Her concern for childhood on the global level never waned, and she worked to highlight the needs of children worldwide and the wonderful programs serving children. At the end of her life, Joan was working on a book to be called, Learning with Children. Though incomplete, it will be published. 

Joan would want us to keep pushing to eliminate the many influences detracting from the healthy development of children. During my last conversation with her, she shared that she was content and grateful for the life she had. In fact, I believe her exact words were, "I've had a great life!" While cut too short, her impact on children worldwide is her legacy.

To honor Joan and to continue her legacy, Alliance for Childhood is establishing the Joan Almon Childhood Legacy Fund in her memory. Information about the fund and a future memorial service for Joan will be forth coming.

In memory of Joan, all my best,

Linda

Linda L. Rhoads, Executive Director

Race to Nowhere: An important documentary by Vicki Abeles (2010)

In this 2010 documentary, filmmaker Vicki Abeles presents disturbing evidence of the price children are paying for America’s obsession with test scores, “standards,” homework, and getting into the “best” colleges and the resulting narrow definition of school achievement. Interviews with children, parents, and experts like pediatrician Kenneth Ginsburg give voice to what has been until now a silent epidemic of stress, depression, cheating, and self-destructive behavior. At the same time, we are robbing children of time for unstructured play and their natural joy in learning—and coming close to destroying the profession of teaching.

An additional problem is the sleep deprivation experienced by many teens, in part because of long hours of homework. The Race to Nowhere staff is mounting a campaign about this problem. See article in the Washington Post. 

Screenings of “Race to Nowhere” are taking place throughout the country. To find one and learn more about the film see www.racetonowhere.com.

Play Coalitions Are Sprouting

The Alliance was instrumental in the founding of the first play coalition in the U.S. nearly five years ago in New York City. And it has helped in the creation of the U.S. Play Coalition at Clemson University, the Alamo Play Coalition in San Antonio, and the new Bay Area Coalition for Play, in partnership with the Mills College School of Education. Our friend Cynthia Gentry has founded the Atlanta Task Force on Play, and other friends are talking about creating similar groups in Chicago, Boston, and Washington, D.C. Let us know if you want to get involved.