UMD News Releases

What: Minnesota Children's Summit 2005: Smart Policies, Strong Families
When: 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday, March 28
Where: Room 410, Library, Duluth campus
Who: Hosted by University of Minnesota and the Minneapolis Foundation

The University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) will host a live broadcast (from Minneapolis) of the "Minnesota Children's Summit 2005: Smart Policies, Strong Families," on Monday, March 28, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in Room 410, Library, UMD Campus.

The event is free and open to the public. To register to view the summit at UMD, call (612) 625-7865 or email cyfc@umn.edu. Questions about the Duluth broadcast can be addressed to Priscilla Day at day@d.umn.edu or Mary Ann Marchel at mmarchel@d.umn.edu.

The Minneapolis Foundation is joining the University of Minnesota in hosting this year's summit, which is part of University President Robert Bruininks' Initiative on Children, Youth and Families (PICYF).

The summit will focus on how decisions made at all levels--from the legislature to the workplace and from the church to the community center--impact diverse families and their ability to support and sustain their members, said Dr. Catherine Jordan, executive director of the Children, Youth and Family Consortium and assistant professor of pediatrics at the university.

"I think that most of the time, policies are not put in place to intentionally cause families difficulties. It's the unintentional impact we want to look at during this summit," Jordan said.

During the summit, university and community leaders throughout Minnesota will come together to share models of understanding the family unit and to learn skills necessary for effective action to strengthen families. "Minnesota has an opportunity to take a leadership role in responding to the needs of families and the policies that influence them," Jordan said.

The summit's schedule for March 28, is as follows:

8:30 a.m. - University President Robert Bruninks, Minneapolis Foundation President and CEO Emmett Carson and Richard Weinberg, university professor and PICYF cochair, welcome attendees.

8:45 a.m. - Harold Grotevant, university professor and summit chair, sets the context for the day.

9 a.m. - Tom Gillaspy, Minnesota state demographer, gives a presentation on "The State of Minnesota Families."

9:30 a.m. - David Sanders, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, will speak about "Policy from a Family Perspective."

10:30 a.m. - A documentary produced by adjunct professor Ken Stone's journalism and mass communication students tells real-life stories of families. Summit attendees will be led through a "Mapping the Ecology of the Family" exercise by College of Human Ecology Dean Shirley Baugher. This will be followed by a panel discussion moderated by family social science professor William Doherty.

1 p.m.- Michael Benjamin, executive director of the National Council on Family Relations, will provide a tutorial on how to conduct a Family Impact Analysis using the Family Impact Checklist. The Family Impact Checklist is a tool to assess the impact of a policy or program on families.

1:45 p.m. - Summit attendees will practice using the Family Impact Checklist to analyze a policy.

3 p.m. - Audience discussion about Family Impact Analysis led by Martha Farrell Erickson, PICYF cochair.

3:15 p.m. - Documentary by Ken Stone's students. Bruininks; his wife, Susan Hagstrum; and Karen Kelley-Ariwoola, vice president, community philanthropy, for the Minneapolis Foundation will conclude the summit with a discussion focused on the question "How do we help families get what they need?"

For more information about the summit, visit
http://www.childrenssummit.umn.edu/ or contact cyfc@umn.edu.