This topic this year, is The Intersection of Culture with Custody and Parenting Time Decisions in Family Court. The conference planning committee has been working on this for over two years. There are many parts of the conference which are intentionally different than past conferences you may have attended to create additional learning opportunities.
The conference is going to be on the West Side of St. Paul at the Wellstone Center Neighborhood House. Neighborhood House is one of the most important institutions in the history of St. Paul’s West Side. Neighborhood House has been a welcoming presence for thousands of refugees and immigrants since its founding in 1897 by the women of Mount Zion Temple, who worked to help Eastern European Jewish families settle in the St. Paul area.
For more than a century, Neighborhood House has supported families in times of transition or need from more than 50 cultural and ethnic populations, drawing people from diverse communities in St. Paul and beyond. The demographic makeup of Neighborhood House’s service population has changed with each successive wave of newcomers — Mexican immigrants after World War II, Hmong refugees in the 1970s and 80s, and Somali and Karen most recently. What has not changed is our unbending commitment to help families move from “survive” to “thrive.”
The Neighborhood House provides programs for the whole community including housing stability, Parent and Early Childhood Education, adult literacy, Food Support, and emergency assistance to families in crisis. Check out their website: http://neighb.org/.
St. Paul’s Westside is where there is a significant Latinx community with many Latinx businesses in the neighborhood. The planning committee hopes you will be able to explore the area.
This conference is going to be unique in many different ways beyond the fact that it will be a hybrid experience – in person for those who feel comfortable, and virtual for those who cannot make it in person. If you have not yet signed up, please do so by registering at https://afccmn.org/event/annual-conference-2021/. If you know someone who might be interested in attending, please make sure you share this information with that person.
The virtual option means that people who do not want to drive across state to attend can still attend. If you know a colleague who may be interested who lives outstate, pass the information on!
-The Annual Conference Planning Committee