ALC 2012
Welcome to the 2012 Assets Learning Conference blog!
We look forward to using this space to share updates before, during and after the Conference.
If you're interested in being a Guest Blogger for the 2012 Assets Learning Conference, send us an email. Whether you write a single post before the Conference, or if you blog actively onsite in Washington, DC this September, being a Guest Blogger is a great way to raise your organization's profile.
We hope you'll check the ALC 2012 blog frequently, add The Inclusive Economy to your RSS feed, and learn more about this year's Conference at www.assetsconference.org.
Top Five Reasons to Register for ALC 2012
You should have seen in your inbox earlier today an announcement that the 2012 Assets Learning Conference website is now live (if you didn’t, you need to sign up for the CFED mailing list today!), which means you can now register for this year’s Conference. Of course, I realize you won’t just register because I told you to, so I put together an entirely subjective list of the top five reasons to register for the 2012 Assets Learning Conference today:
5. September is the perfect time of year to be in DC.
Were you to come in January, we might have 49 feet of snow. Were you to come in July it would be 105 degrees with 100% humidity. In September, highs average around 77 and lows average around 60.
4. We’re offering four Plenary Sessions & over 40 Concurrent Sessions.
That’s right – over 40 sessions! Whether you’re using housing as a platform for asset building, or if IDA programs in rural areas is more your cup of tea, there’s something for everyone. Throughout the summer, we’ll be releasing sessions and announcing the exciting speakers we have planned for the event.
3. Capitol Hill Visits are back.
Fall 2008 was the first time we brought the Conference to Washington, a decision based on the need for Conference-goers to converse with lawmakers on Capitol Hill. The Hill visits have been an integral part of the ALC experience ever since, and this year will be no different.
2. Conference Institutes are the perfect opportunities to go in-depth within your subfield.
In addition to the sessions being offered (see #4 above), we’re offering four full- or half-day Conference Institutes on September 19. These Institutes offer the educational depth of a seminar, all rolled into the already unique ALC experience.
1. The ALC remains the premier gathering of the assets & opportunity field.
Which Conference brings together a larger or more cross-cutting sector of the assets & opportunity field? If you figure out the answer to that one, let me know. (In the meantime, I’m not holding my breath.) Education, networking, and the opportunity to glean best practices that you can translate into meaningful change in your work all make the ALC the go-to event of the year.
If that’s not convincing, I don’t know what is, so go to www.assetsconference.org today to register!
Call for Research Papers: 2012 Assets Learning Conference
I wanted to share an announcement about the Call for Research that CFED is disseminating for the 2012 Assets Learning Conference. I have copied parts of the Call for Research below, and you can see the full announcement here. We encourage you all to submit abstracts of your research! We are welcoming empirical, applied evaluation and policy research papers broadly related to asset building, financial inclusion and capability, household and consumer finances, and economic mobility issues. We will be accepting submissions until April 30, 2012. For any questions, please feel free to email me (mnguyen@cfed.org) or Kasey Wiedrich (kwiedrich@cfed.org).
--
CFED, in partnership with the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and the Center for Financial Security at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, invite you to submit research papers to be considered for inclusion in a research forum entitled “Ideas Into Action: An Applied Research Forum for the Assets Field.” The forum will be held as part of CFED’s 2012 Assets Learning Conference (ALC), September 19-21, 2012, in Washington, DC.
The Assets Learning Conference (ALC) is a nationally-recognized biennial event that brings together over 1,000 professionals from leading nonprofits, foundations, financial institutions, corporations, academia and government to learn about programs, products and policies that help low-income households and communities build wealth and financial security. The Research Forum will be a key feature of the ALC, structured to showcase important recent developments in academic and applied research, and to spark dialogue among researchers, policymakers, advocates and practitioners that draws out the implications of the research for their work.
If you would like your research to be considered for inclusion in the forum, please submit a detailed abstract (1,000 words) for consideration by April 30, 2012. Authors of papers accepted for the conference will be notified by June 1, 2012 and are expected to provide completed working papers or drafts on or before August 1, 2012. Authors selected for the research forum will receive complimentary registration ($700) to the ALC and travel support that covers the cost of airfare and accommodation.
Please submit abstracts to research@cfed.org. For direct questions, please email Kasey Wiedrich (kwiedrich@cfed.org) or Michelle Nguyen (mnguyen@cfed.org).
This call for papers is partially supported by the Social Security Administration Financial Literacy Research Consortium and the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
ALC 2012: Ideas Into Action
As you may have seen in Thursday’s newsletter, plans are beginning to take shape for the 2012 Assets Learning Conference (ALC). Drawing on the success of the 2010 ALC, we’re hoping to bring you the best Conference experience yet!
ALC Participants on Capitol Hill
First, let’s talk logistics. The 2012 ALC will take place once again at the Washington Marriott Wardman Park Hotel here in our nation’s capital. The dates for the Conference are September 19-21 and the Conference website, along with information on how to register, will be available soon.
Now, let’s chat about what you’d like see at the ALC this year. The Conference theme, Ideas Into Action, is designed to get at the heart of the ALC’s mission – to advance innovative yet proven products, services, systems and policies that make financial security a reality for millions of Americans. With this in mind, what topics would you like to discuss with us in September? What features would you bring to the ALC if you were in charge of planning it? If you’ve been in the past, what elements of the Conference could be made even better in 2012?
We’re hoping that this will be our most engaging event yet, but we don’t want to wait until September for that engagement to take shape. So, use the Comments below and start a discussion about your ideal ALC!
1200 G Street, NW