Schedule

Speaker publications will be available for purchase and speakers will be available for book signing throughout the day Service Fair will be open throughout the day in the Expo Hall

Registration Form

Please print form and return as instructed (Instructions are on the Registration Form).

---

Annual Conference on Youth - Current Conference

19th Annual Conference on Youth

Assetbuilders: The Real Changemakers

Vote Assets '08

Thursday, October 2, 2008 7:15am-4:30pm

Grand Wayne Center

Registration forms

 

Service Provider Fair

 

CEU Information

---

Keynotes

---

David Walsh, Ph.D: President and Founder National Institute on Media and the Family Screen Violence and Real World Violence: What's the Connection?

Whoever tells the stories defines the culture. That's not new; it's been true for thousands of years. What is new is that the traditional storytellers have been pushed aside and replaced by virtual story tellers on the myriad of screens that dominate kids' lives today. While some screen stories inform, educate and even inspire our youth, too many don't. Too many movies, video games, TV programs, music videos, and You Tube hits dish out heaping servings of violence, disrespect and degradation. Dr. David Walsh, founder of the National Institute on Media and the Family will explain the effects of screen violence and what we can do about it.

---

Salome Thomas-El: Principal, Russell Byers Public Charter School, Philadelphia, PA; Author I Choose to Stay

Salome Thomas-EL is the author of I Choose to Stay: A Black Teacher Refuses to Desert the Inner City, an intensely moving story of loyalty and courage and a deeply personal tribute to the great potential of inner-city kids. In 1997, as a teacher at Roberts Vaux Middle School in Philadelphia's inner city, he was offered a promotion, not only because he had helped to improve scholastics, morale, and discipline at his school, but because he had taught children to play chess-and win local and national competitions (eight-time National Chess Champions). He turned down the promotion. He was committed to stay and be the role model those children needed. Armed with a chess board and a profound belief in their potential, Thomas-EL's faith and commitment has motivated hundreds of children in Philadelphia to attend magnet high schools and major colleges and universities. His story proves that teaching in the public schools can result in excellence and success for children most of society has abandoned. Reflecting on how it feels to see a young person he has mentored walk down the aisle toward a real future instead of to an early grave, Thomas-EL has said: "I've been to too many funerals; I need to go to more graduations."

---

John P. Kretzmann, Ph.D., Co-Director, Asset Based Community Development Institute, Research Associate, Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University, and Asset Based Community Development 101

Though the words "community" and "assets" now seem to be in every political speech and corporate report, the last five years have seen real community innovations and policy reforms at foundations, community organizations, local governments, schools and universities, faith-based communities, and service and health agencies. The new approaches have profoundly affected the ways in which public, private, and non-profit leaders now attack the development challenge. Challenging the traditional approach to solving urban problems, which focuses service providers and funding agencies on the needs and deficiencies of neighborhoods, Dr. Kretzmann demonstrates that community assets are key building blocks in sustainable urban and rural community revitalization efforts. These community assets include: the skills of local residents, the power of local associations, the resources of public, private and non-profit institutions, and the physical and economic resources of local places.  

---

Workshops

All workshops are available in both Morning and Afternoon sessions.

---

Scott Larson, Ph.D: President, Straight Ahead Ministries Resolving Conflict in Ways that Transform

We avoid conflict, because in the vast majority of cases, relationships are further damaged as a result. In fact, only 15% of the time is the relationship strengthened as a result of the conflict. This seminar presents a model that gives more opportunities for transformation of character and strengthening of the relationship.

---

David Walsh, Ph.D: President and Founder National Institute on Media and the Family No. Why Kids—of All Ages—Need It and Ways Parents Can Say It

No is not just a word; it’s a parenting strategy. By saying no when they need to, parents help their children learn skills of self discipline including self-reliance, respect, integrity, the ability to delay gratification, and a host of other crucial character traits. Dr. Walsh will speak from his new book, providing parents and teachers with an arsenal of tactics, explanations, and examples for using no the right way with their kids. By applying these techniques, parents will regain confidence in their own judgment and ability to say no. Dr. Walsh explains that regaining the ability to say no is not only important for our kids’ well-being but essential for our country’s economic future.

---

Salome Thomas-El: Principal, Russell Byers Public Charter School, Philadelphia, PA; Author The Immortality of Influence

Thomas-EL uses practical, real-world examples to present the universal methods he has so successfully used to help his students achieve their dreams. He famously began a chess club-the Mighty Bishops - to teach his students at an early age to think critically and to resolve conflict with their minds instead of their fists. Not only did his students win national championships and become local heroes among their peers, they also scored high on the SAT, which got them into colleges and universities. Thomas-EL found himself faced with kids who weighed more than he did, so he started a simple summer program where the students walked to museums and other cultural events around the city; those who exercised felt better about themselves and in turn became better students. Citing the importance of exposing his students to the world outside of their own sometimes troubled community, he tells of taking 15 of his African American kids to rural Vermont, where they interacted with white children their age and discovered how much they had in common. All of these students were later accepted to magnet high schools. The Immortality of Influence is a refreshing, commonsense roadmap to helping kids achieve their dreams, not only for parents and educators but for everyone who knows that just one person really can make a difference.

---

Terie Dresussi-Smith, MA, Ed.: Author and Consultant, Aha Process, Inc. Bridges Out of Poverty

In this workshop, participants will create a mental model of poverty, review poverty research, examine a theory of change and analyze poverty through the prism of the hidden rules of class, resources, family structure and language. The seminar puts into words what many veteran professionals and community members have experienced. Throughout the workshop, participants will receive specific strategies for improving outcomes for people living in poverty, but the focus of the workshop is to provide a broad overview of concepts.

---

Flora Sanchez, MA: President, FMS & Associates; Senior Trainer, Search Institute Building Assets with Cultural Competence

In this workshop, Senior Search Institute presenter and trainer Flora Sanchez draws on her own experience and those of her colleagues, and explores the fundamentals of cultural competence, including the process of moving from cultural awareness to cultural competence, assimilation and acculturation, and the spiral of engagement. In addition, Sanchez draws parallels to asset-building and offers many specific examples and stories of successful culturally competent strategies.

---

John P. Kretzmann, Ph.D., Co-Director, Asset Based Community Development Institute, Research Associate, Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University, and Dacia Chrzanowski, Executive Director, School Street Arts Movement, Chicago, IL. Building Communities from the Inside Out

This workshop provides practical resources and tools for community builders to identify, nurture, and mobilize neighborhood assets, using the Asset Based Community Development Model. Through the use of stories and practical techniques Dr. Kretzmann and Ms. Chrzanowski will explore the community benefits of local associations, faith-based organizations doing asset-based community building, community responses to local economic development, and how to do citizen-centered community organizing.

---

Karen Dunne-Maxim, RN, MS, Consultant for the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey University Behavioral HealthCare and Founder, Traumatic Loss Coalitions for Youth  After a Suicide: Managing Sudden Traumatic Loss

Few events in the life of a school are more painful than the suicide of a student. In the aftermath everyone is touched by a range of emotions including intense grief, anger, denial, exaggerated feelings of responsibility for the death and concern that another youngster may copy the behavior. Decision-making during such a period of intense feeling is understandably difficult. Thus it is important to develop crisis management protocols prior to an event when the atmosphere is less emotionally charged. In this workshop, Karen Dunn-Maxim discussed the three guiding principles in developing postvention policies, specifically in school systems. First, nothing should be done to glamorize or dramatize the suicide. Second, doing nothing can be as dangerous as doing too much. Third, it is important to remember that staff members are survivors too. In addition, specific interventions must address the needs of grieving school staff, students and parents: Memorialization of the deceased student should focus on prevention and education and avoiding activities that might glamorize the death and lead to copycat behavior.