For 20 years, Influencing Social Policy (ISP) has supported social work faculty in their efforts to educate and mobilize students to engage in the policy process. Now it's time to set the course for the next 20 years!
Policy Conference 2.0 provides a collective space for social work students, faculty, and practitioners with a passion for social policy and policy practice to learn from each other, grapple with complex policy issues, and share research, practice, and teaching wisdom.
This year’s Policy Conference will include 45 breakout sessions of paper presentations, workshops, and roundtables as well as exciting plenary speakers and special panels. Included also will be a special recognition of this year's Influencing Social Policy (ISP) national contest winners.
Jeanette Mott Oxford, Executive Director of Empower Missouri and a former representative to the Missouri legislature will give the opening plenary session titled, "Social Policy Change: Aligning Our Thinking, Doing and Being." The second plenary session on Friday morning will be presented by Nicole Hudson, Deputy Mayor for Racial Equality and Priority Initiatives, City of St. Louis and formerly Communications Director of Forward Through Ferguson.
There will be an ISP Founders panel with early founding members of ISP such as Kathy Byers and Tony Bibus who will reflect on the last twenty years of work and discuss what can be anticipated going forward. There will be a special reception on Friday evening honoring the Founders.
Saturday, June 2, will close with a final panel titled "Social Media: The New Social Action." Scheduled so far are Hawk Newsome, President of the New York Chapter of Black Lives Matter, as well as a representative from the Urban Institute.
The Conference will take place at The Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri from May 31-June 2, 2018. It begins on May 31 at 5:00 p.m. with an Opening Reception, followed at 6:00-7:30 p.m. by the Opening Plenary session.
Accommodations will be available at the Knight Center on the Washington University campus. Room rates are $119/night and include a complimentary breakfast. Reservations can be made by calling 866-933-9400 and asking for the “Influencing Social Policy” rate. Reservations should be made as soon as possible to ensure room availability. Other nearby hotels include the Moonrise (moonrisehotel.com, 866-202-1814) and the Cheshire (cheshirestl.com, 314-647-7300).
Transportation from the St. Louis Airport is available by cab or Metro-Link (exiting at Washington University, Big Bend exit).
A full-day Policy Teaching Institute (8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) will precede the opening of the Conference on May 31st. The Teaching Institute will offer innovative, hands-on strategies and tools for teaching policy. The keynote speaker at this year's Institute will be Marian Harris, Professor of Social Work, University of Washington - Tacoma. Her talk is titled, "Oppression and Race: Teachable Moments Now or Never."
If you are not currently an ISP member and would like to become one, you can join by going to the ISP webiste listed above. One year memberships are $40; two year memberships are $75; and student memberships are $15.
