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Conference Schedule
THIS DOCUMENT IS
TENTATIVE – SOME DETAILS MAY CHANGE.
8:00 AM Registration, Networking, and Continental Breakfast
9:00 AM Welcome
◊ Clarence Hightower
Chair of MN Poverty Call to Action planning committee
Keynote Speaker:
50 Years Since the War on Poverty: Impacts and Implications for
Cutting Poverty in Half Again in the 21st Century
◊ Erik Stegman – Half In Ten Campaign
50 years ago, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared an “unconditional
war on poverty in America” at his 1964 State of the Union address.
What followed was a new national commitment to tackle the issue
through expansions to existing programs like Social Security, and
the development of new programs such as Head Start, Medicaid, and
Medicare. This robust safety net combined with a full employment
economy in the aftermath of World War II allowed our nation to cut
our poverty rate nearly in half between 1964 and 1973, an historic
low. This presentation will explore what led to this national
commitment, highlight some of the successes and challenges in
cutting poverty, and what we need to do to cut poverty in half
again. It will also feature results from a new national public
opinion poll conducted by the Center for American Progress and the
Half in Ten campaign examining understandings about poverty in
America and attitudes about public policies to reduce it.
10:00 AM Break
10:15 AM Breakout sessions: Disparities in poverty
1. Race/Ethnicity
◊ Joe Soss – Humphrey School of Public Affairs
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the last great legislative
effort to deepen democratic citizenship in the United States. The
Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, which initiated the War on
Poverty, was passed alongside the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and, one
year later, the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Taking this anniversary
as my starting point, and focusing on the changing circumstances of
African Americans, I will survey key developments in the American
political economy and their relationship to racial injustice. Five
decades ago, the Black-White racial divide underwrote a hardened
form of exclusion from a political economy that, in broad terms,
worked pretty well for more incorporated groups. Over the decades
that ensued, two major story lines unfolded. On one side, major
economic and political institutions incorporated significant numbers
of African Americans yet, at the same time, began to fail all
Americans in the lower half of the income distribution. On the other
side, significant numbers of African Americans entered a new era of
profound marginalization defined by ongoing residential and
institutional segregation, disciplinary social policy, and muscular
forms of policing and correctional control. The two story lines, I
suggest, present equally pressing challenges for contemporary
efforts to create a more just and democratic society. We must set
our sights on a “dual agenda” of incorporation (working to bring
marginalized groups into our shared institutions) and transformation
(working to change the unjust and undemocratic features of these
institutions themselves).
2. Age (Youth and Seniors)
◊ Jim Scheibel - Hamline University
◊ Beth Holger Ambrose - The Link
Youth and seniors are populations with amplified vulnerability to
poverty, homelessness and insecurity. Many youth have yet to gain
the ability to be self-sufficient and many seniors lose that ability
in their later years. There is also a relationship between
experiencing poverty as a youth and the risk of poverty later in
life. In this interactive session, we will discuss the special
hardships these populations face and potential solutions for some of
Minnesota’s most vulnerable citizens.
3. Place (Rural, Suburban, and Urban)
◊ Clarence Hightower – Community Action Partnership of Ramsey &
Washington Counties
◊ Bob Benes – Lakes and Pines Community Action Council
◊ Carolina Bradpiece – Community Action Partnership of Scott,
Carver, & Dakota Counties
This session will examine poverty in Minnesota from the perspective
of “PLACE.” We know that the issues that families and individuals
face are affected by where they live. A panel of three Executive
Directors, representing three Minnesota Community Action Agencies,
will speak to the challenges and opportunities they face serving
Minnesotans living in rural, suburban and urban areas. Each of these
Community Action Agencies delivers a wide array of anti-poverty
programs and services including: Head Start, Weatherization, Energy
Assistance, services to senior citizens, and all have significant
collaborative agreements with community partners. Join us for an
engaging conversation to reflect on how the dynamics of place impact
poverty in Minnesota.
4. Gender
◊ Debra Fitzpatrick – Associate Director of the Center of Women and
Public Policy
INFO COMING SOON!
5. Veteran Status
◊ Trista Matascastillo - Chair of Minnesota Women Veterans
Initiative Working Group
Understanding Veterans and Issues of Poverty. The percentage of
Veterans in poverty increased significantly in recent years, rising
from 5.4 percent in 2007 to nearly 7 percent in 2010. More than 1.4
million veterans are living below the poverty line, and another 1.4
million veterans are living just above it. During this session you
will learn about what the needs are in the Veteran community and
what we can do to fight this growing epidemic among our Veterans.
11:30 AM Lunch and Keynote speaker
We are in this
fight together, we must invest
Congresswoman Betty McCollum
1:00 – 1:45 PM Breakout sessions: Current movements in
Minnesota’s Fight to End Poverty
1. A Minnesota Without Poverty – A Statewide Movement to End
Poverty in Minnesota by 2020
www.mnwithoutpoverty.org
◊ Nancy Maeker
A Minnesota Without Poverty is a statewide movement to end poverty
in Minnesota by 2020, and provided the document which led to the
Legislative Commission to End Poverty in Minnesota (2008). This
session will begin with a personal story about President Lyndon
Johnson as a neighbor in Texas, followed by a presentation and
discussion on the work of A Minnesota Without Poverty:
• Connecting to End Poverty—a collaborative approach to implementing
the
recommendations of the Legislative Commission to End Poverty (LCEP)
• Micro-Enterprise Partnerships—engaging congregations and other
community groups
to initiate small business development among people experiencing
poverty
• Public Engagement—creating a statewide communications and
awareness campaign
to build the public will to end poverty
In addition, the session will include examples of the use of
creativity and humor (video, dance, improvisation, metaphor) in
addressing serious public policy issues.
2. Half in Ten – The Campaign to Cut Poverty in Half in Ten Years
www.halfinten.org
◊ Erik Stegman
◊ Katie Peters
Our American Story: Influencing the Media and Policymakers Through
Personal Stories. Stories bring public policy to life. They show how
policy impacts real families and communities around the country.
Through storytelling, we remind our leaders that poverty doesn’t
have one face or take just one form. Led by staff from the Half in
Ten campaign and Center for American Progress, this interactive
session will provide participants with effective strategies to
empower your community to tell their stories, develop your message,
and successfully deploy stories with media and policymakers to build
the public and political will to cut poverty in Minnesota and at the
national level. The session will include highlights of successful
strategies from Our American Story, our national storyteller action
network. Participants will also have the opportunity to discuss
strategies for local advocates to amplify the voice of low-income
Minnesotans in our national policy debates by partnering with the
Half in Ten campaign.
3. Minnesota Partners to End Hunger – Hunger Solutions Minnesota
www.hungersolutions.org/voice-of-hunger-network/minnesota-partners-to-end-hunger
◊ Colleen Moriarty
Minnesota Partners to End Hunger believe that Minnesotans have the
right to adequate amounts of food to remain healthy and productive.
Minnesota Partners to End Hunger is a statewide network of service
providers and advocates working to end hunger in Minnesota by
motivating decision-makers to take supportive action on state and
national hunger policy issues.
4. Minnesota Second Chance Coalition
www.mnsecondchancecoalition.org
◊ Mark Haase
Minnesota has some of the highest rates of criminal records in the
country, the eighth highest rate of citizens, one in 26, under
correctional control, with an estimated one in 4 Minnesotans now
having some kind of criminal record. On top of this, entry into the
criminal justice system is disparately high amongst our most
economically disadvantaged adults and youth, and just an arrest
record can lead to permanent disqualification for many many types of
livable wage jobs and careers. These issues and the responses, or
lack of responses, create an undue burden on our economy and the
well-being of our communities, driving people deeper into poverty.
Over the last several years the policies and views related to these
issues has been changing. Much of the work leading to these changes
in Minnesota has been driven by the Minnesota Second Chance
Coalition. This session will explore these issues, progress that has
been made, and opportunities to get involved.
5. Prosperity for All Campaign – Legal Services Advocacy Project,
Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless
www.mnhomelesscoalition.org/endorse-prosperity-for-all
◊ Katherine Wagoner
Prosperity for All is a statewide campaign to shape low-income
workforce development policies and programs. Minnesota has an
opportunity to fill the looming employment skills gap with the
current pool of workers enrolled in the Minnesota Family Investment
Program (MFIP). Come learn about how MFIP policies can be altered so
that workers are encouraged to seek training and education so that
they can support their families with higher-wage jobs. Join the
effort to make MFIP work for workers so that we will have Prosperity
for All in Minnesota!
1:45 – 2:00 Break
2:00 PM Joint Call to Action: Commit yourself to a movement
◊ Gregory Gray – Minnesota Department of Human Services (Executive
Director, MN Commission to End Poverty – former)
Remarks from
◊ Senator John Marty, Co-Chair of the Legislative Commission to End
Poverty
◊ Representative Carlos Mariani, Co-Chair of the Legislative
Commission to End Poverty
◊ Representative Jim Abeler
Closing Remarks
◊ Clarence Hightower, Committee Chair
3:00 PM Group Photo
The final part of this conference will be a group photo of all
attendees. This photo will be taken on the lower level of the
RiverCentre, so please follow the group to the photo area and leave
your belongings at your table. As a parting gift, you can pick up a
picture frame engraved specifically for this conference. A digital
file of the photo taken today will be available within a couple
weeks of the conference. Thank you.
THIS SCHEDULE IS TENTATIVE – SOME DETAILS MAY CHANGE
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