NCoC’s 2017 Annual Conference on Citizenship demonstrates a continued focus on Strengthening Civic Life in America by taking an honest look at the challenges facing our communities today—from a dearth of civic learning, to the raging opiate epidemic, to the persistent opportunity gap confronting our nation’s youth in marginalized communities. Reflecting directly on issues currently consuming our news headlines, this conference brings together civic engagement leaders, practitioners, students, community members, and other organizations in a candid dialogue about the dynamic and turbulent reality we all share. Our nation’s civic fabric has frayed, but the backbone of our country—its people—has demonstrated a resilience in community that has inspired powerful change. This is the work our field aims to lift up and amplify. Conference participants are deeply committed to the civic health and renewal of our communities and recognize that the path forward must be taken together.
Thursday October 19, 2017 | 5:00pm – 9:00pm
Chairman’s Welcome Reception 5:00 – 6:00pm
Welcome and Opening Remarks 6:00 – 6:15pm
Garrett Graff, Chairman, National Conference on Citizenship
Dinner with Recognitions and Awards Presentations 6:15 – 7:00pm
Exploring Civic Learning as a Pathway to Equity and Opportunity 7:00 – 8:30pm
A collaboration between NCoC and Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement (PACE).
Objectives:
- Advance dialogue and exploration about if and how civic learning can increase equity and opportunity for students (K-12 and higher education), institutions, and communities
- Identify tangible ways philanthropy and other leaders can support and invest in civic learning as a mechanism to influence equity and opportunity outcomes
- In follow up to this session, PACE and NCoC will release a brief outlining 3-5 recommendations to spark further discussion and inform a working session to be held in early 2018. Attendees will be invited to respond via blogs, op-eds, and other communication forums.
Concluding Remarks & Overview of Friday’s Conference 8:30–9:00pm
Friday October 20, 2017 | 8:00am – 4:00pm
Continental Breakfast 7:00–7:45am
Welcome/Overview 8:00 –8:15am
Garrett Graff, Chairman, National Conference on Citizenship
Keynote Address
Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic 8:15 – 9:15am
Sam Quinones, a journalist, storyteller, and author
Opiate addiction has devastated hundreds of cities, small towns and suburbs across America. How that happened is the riveting story of Dreamland. Named after a sprawling swimming pool in a blue-collar town of Portsmouth, Ohio, Dreamland is the story of colliding interests and unwitting victims, and the corrosion of a once-thriving community. Sam Quinones chronicles the story of life in Portsmouth—a reflection of many other American communities—from devastation to the beginning steps toward recovery. And at the end of a multi-year research effort, he has come to believe that the “antidote to heroin is community.” Here, he shares that story.
Dreamland Response: Repairing the Civic Fabric of Community 9:15 –10:15am
A panel responds to Mr. Quinones’ presentation by providing positive examples of actions that are being taken to repair the civic fabric of communities.
Objectives:
- Advance dialogue and exploration about if and how a focus on civic life, civic health, and civic renewal can support communities in recovery from critical challenges including the devastation resulting from the opiate epidemic.
- Identify tangible ways philanthropy and other leaders can support and invest in the study of civic health and resulting action steps designed to repair the civic fabric of communities
Reflective Breakout Session 10:30 – 11:30am
Guided group discussion among conference participants designed to:
Capture participant input into tangible ways philanthropy, other leaders, individuals, and organizations can support communities in recovery and consider the role of civic learning as part of the solution set, as a pathway to equity and opportunity.
Networking Expo. 11:30am – 12:00pm
Lunch 12:00-12:30pm
Presentation of the 2017 Citizen of the Year Award 12:30 – 12:45pm
Recipient: Robert Putnam, Malkin Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University, Visiting Professor at the University of Manchester in England, former Dean of the Kennedy School of Government and author of multiple books including Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis released in 2016.
Robert Putnam is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the British Academy, and past president of the American Political Science Association. He has received numerous scholarly honors, including the Skytte Prize, the most prestigious global award in political science, and the National Humanities Medal, the nation’s highest honor for contributions to the humanities. He has written fourteen books, translated into more than twenty languages, including Bowling Alone and Making Democracy Work, both among the most cited publications in the social sciences in the last half century. His 2010 book, co-authored with David E. Campbell, American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us, won the American Political Science Association’s 2011 Woodrow Wilson award as the best book in political science. He has consulted for the last three American presidents, the last three British prime ministers, the last French president, prime ministers from Ireland to Singapore, and hundreds of grassroots leaders and activists in many countries.
Keynote Address: Closing the Opportunity Gap 12:45 – 1:30pm
Speaker: Robert Putnam
The American Dream is evaporating for over 25 million children born in the last generation. According to Professor Putnam, this reality is not only morally unjust, but economically wasteful, and destabilizing to our democracy. This session will invite participants to learn about his research-based initiative designed to respond to this seemingly overwhelming challenge.
Response: Closing the Opportunity Gap 1:45 – 2:30pm
Moderator: John Bridgeland, Founder and CEO of Civic Enterprises, a social enterprise firm in Washington, D.C., and Chair of the NCoC National Advisory Committee
Closing the Opportunity Gap will not be easy. Panelists will share their thoughts regarding how conference participants might better understand issues contributing to the opportunity gap and intentionally engage in efforts designed to begin the process of bridging the gap.
Objectives:
- Advance dialogue and exploration about if and how civic life and the study of civic health is relevant to understanding issues contributing to the Opportunity Gap and increase understanding of potential effective responses to this challenge.
- Identify tangible ways philanthropy and other leaders can support and invest in the study of civic health as a mechanism to stimulate and support initiatives designed to bridge the Opportunity Gap.
Networking Expo 2:30 – 3:00pm
Challenge to Conference Participants 3:00 – 3:45pm
NCoC, with support from its partners across the nation, is challenged to Strengthen Civic Life in America. At the core of our joint efforts is the belief that every person has the ability to help their community and country thrive. The 2017 Annual Conference on Citizenship is a unique convening of individuals, many representing influential networks, with the collective power to influence change. How do we ensure that the time together has been well spent and that action is taken in response to our time together?
A panel of foundations and community representatives will explore:
- What will it take to repair the civic fabric of our communities, begin closing the opportunity gap, and focus civic learning to support both?
Closing Comments 3:45 – 4:00pm