To those who were able to attend this year’s RE:Conference, thank you so much for coming! Neighborhood Partnerships is honored to be part of such a passionate and dedicated community of people. We were blown away by your dedication to your communities and the energy and excitement for the work we have ahead of us.
Everyone that attended the Housing Summit, Savings & Asset Summit, and/or the Wednesday RE:Conference should have received an email inviting you to take an evaluation survey. Thank you to those who have already completed it! So far the feedback has been extremely positive, especially for this year’s plenary speakers. We also appreciate thoughts about how we can make RE:Conference 2017 even better. If you haven’t already completed the survey, please take a few minutes to do so!
– Did you attend the Housing Summit?
– Did you attend the Savings & Assets Summit?
– Did you attend the RE:Conference on Wednesday?
We Know We Left You Wanting More
During a lunch time plenary, Dr. Crystal Hall shared details of her brain science research and insights into the ways we can better design programs to support and engage people who are experiencing scarcity. We know she left you wanting more when she mentioned her affirmations research.
It’s not surprising to any of us that the experience of poverty is devastating not only for its material impacts on our quality of life but also for the incredible damage it can cause our spirit and our sense of self. It’s hard to participate and show up as your best self when you are experiencing any kind of embarrassment, much less the shame of societal stigma. What’s remarkable is the power of a simple intervention tested by Dr. Hall and her colleagues. Study participants were asked to sit by themselves and describe an experience that made them feel successful or proud. After doing so, they “exhibited better executive control, higher fluid intelligence, and a greater willingness to avail themselves of the benefits of the programs.” What would the impact of our anti-poverty programs look like if we first encouraged recipients to engage in self-affirmation? To learn more, make sure to check out the full research paper.
We also promised slides from the conference presentations; they will be up on the Neighborhood Partnerships website next week along with photos from the conference.
Carlos Garcia from Hacienda CDC and Quin Collins from College Dreams invited you to join the Oregon Asset Building Coalition’s community of practice. If you haven’t signed up to learn more, make sure you do!
And, finally, we know all of us were moved by NP staff member Alison McIntosh’s call to action at the end of the day on Wednesday – 8 things we can do before the 2017 Legislative session begins on February 1. Here’s a link to her blog post on this topic.
Please save the date for RE:Conference 2017 October 16-18 at the Salem Convention Center!
Thank you again for making this year’s conference so incredible!