“What Role does National Service Play in Hard Economic Times?”

This year’s conference focuses on how national service needs to respond and adapt to become a more significant factor in strengthening communities. We will discuss the transforming role of national service and the health of civic life in our region. The conference will be rich in opportunities for participants to engage in dialogue. In breakout sessions, colleagues will share their lessons and strategies for addressing civic life through a variety of lenses focusing on strategic initiative areas including education, economic opportunity, healthy futures and veterans & military families.

The conference is designed to provide insights into how your organization can better strengthen the health of your community and generate ideas for how national service needs to evolve, adapt, and tell its story to become a significant force in economic recovery.

The event features national and internationally known speakers addressing the transforming role of national service and the health of civic life in our region:

Dr. Andreas Schröer, internationally-known scholar in the field of civil society, will present the most recent findings on civic life in the northwest. Participants will then identify steps that they can take to move civic life to the next level in their own organizations and communities.

Shirley Sagawa, a US leader in the service movement, will share her insights on national service and its transformative role. Conference participants (registering for March 7th or 8th or both) will receive her thought-provoking book: The American Way to Change: How National Service and Volunteering are Transforming America.