2023 Aspen Forum on Children and Families
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2023 Aspen Forum on Children and Families

2023 Aspen Forum on Children and Families

Over the course of two days, our discussions focused on bold, equitable, and pragmatic strategies for building prosperity and well-being for all families.
About This Convening
Multi-Day Forums
Date & Time
April 13, 2023 - April 13, 2023
9:00 am - 5:00 pm
Location
Virtual & In-Person in Washington, DC

Over the course of two days, our discussions focused on bold, equitable, and pragmatic strategies for building prosperity and well-being for all families. Sessions include insights from the latest two-generation (2Gen) family data, examples of courageous values-based leadership during volatile times, a mother-son poetry conversation, as well as insights about securing mental health supports for children and the adults in their lives. Click on session titles below to watch recordings and explore more ideas and resources from speakers.

Day 1
Tuesday, April 11
Sessions
Taking Action for Family Prosperity
Listening to, Learning from, and Leading with Families
Is Culture Changing?
Ascend Network Innovations & Impact
The New Mental Health Agenda
Day 2
Wednesday, April 12
Sessions
Day 2 Welcome & Taking Action for Family Prosperity
The Promise and Power of Postsecondary Parents
From Child Welfare to Family Well-Being
Postsecondary Success for Parents Live Discussion
Radical Collaboration: Redefining the Research Opportunity
2Gen Framing Live Discussion
What’s Your Big Idea? Bold Solutions from the Ascend Fellowship
2Gen in Our Own Backyard
The Trust and Transformation Equation
Seizing the New, Embracing Prosperity: A 2Gen Conversation in Verse
SPEAKERS
Katie Albright
Safe & Sound
Senior Advisor
California
Deana Around Him
Child Trends
Research Scholar
Maryland
Leah Austin
National Black Child Development Institute
President & CEO
Georgia
Rumeli Banik
Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
Nelson Barranco
Ascend at the Aspen Institute
Parent Advisor, New Mexico
New Mexico
Randall Baylor
Early Childhood Innovation Network (ECIN)
Program Lead for Community Engagement
District of Columbia
Matthew Biel
Early Childhood Innovation Network (ECIN) at Georgetown University
Chief of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
District of Columbia
Lisa Bohmer
Conrad N. Hilton Foundation
Director, Global Early Childhood Development
Mayor Muriel Bowser
City of Washington, DC
Mayor
District of Columbia
Justin Brown
Oklahoma Human Services
Secretary
Oklahoma
William (Bill) Bynum
HOPE (Hope Enterprise Corporation and Hope Credit Union)
Chief Executive Officer
Mississippi
Erin Cannon
Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, HHS
Social Science Research Analyst
JooYeun Chang
Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
Program Director for Child Well-Being
Nathan T. Chomilo
Minnesota Department of Human Services
Medical Director, Medicaid and MinnesotaCare
Minnesota
January Contreras
Administration for Children and Families
Assistant Secretary
David Croom
Ascend at the Aspen Institute
Director, Postsecondary Success for Parents
Philip Fisher
Stanford Center on Early Childhood
Director
California
Jesús Gerena
UpTogether
CEO
California
Sarah Haight
Ascend at the Aspen Institute
Director, 2Gen Practice
Iheoma Iruka
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Research Professor & Founding Director
Drayton Jackson
Foundation for Homeless and Poverty Management
Washington
Amy Jacobs
Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning
Commissioner
Georgia
Catherine Kamara
Crittenton Services
Advocate for Youths in Foster Care
Nat Kendall-Taylor
Frameworks Institute
Chief Executive Officer
Celinda Lake
Lake Research Partners
President
District of Columbia
Ron-Li Liaw
Children’s Hospital Colorado
Mental Health In-Chief, Cannon Y. & Lyndia Harvey Chair in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Chair of the Pediatric Mental Health Institute
Colorado
Chastity Lord
Jeremiah Program
President & CEO
New York
Meera Mani
The David & Lucile Packard Foundation
Vice President, Families and Communities
California
Valeria Martinez
Ascend at the Aspen Institute
Parent Advisor, New Mexico
New Mexico
Airea Matthews
Bryn Mawr College
Philadelphia Poet Laureate, Director of the Poetry Program
Wes Matthews
2018-2019 Philadelphia Youth Poet Laureate
Kimberly Mitchell
Macy's Inc.
Worker Activist and Union Worker
District of Columbia
Anne Mosle
Ascend at the Aspen Institute
Vice President and Executive Director
Jennifer Ng’andu
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)
Managing Director
New Jersey
Christine Norbut Beyer
New Jersey Department of Children and Families
Commissioner
New Jersey
Aisha Nyandoro
Springboard to Opportunities
CEO
Mississippi
Christian Ortiz
Hunter College
New York
Nasser Paydar
US Department of Education
Assistant Secretary for Postsecondary Education
District of Columbia
Jessica Engstrom
University of Michigan
Michigan
Governor Jared Polis
State of Colorado
Governor
Colorado
Dan Porterfield
The Aspen Institute
President and CEO
Emily Sama-Miller
Mathematica Policy Research
Principal Researcher
Aysha E. Schomburg
New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
President and CEO
New York
Rinku Sen
Narrative Initiative
Executive Director
Texas
Julie Sweetland
Frameworks Institute
Senior Advisor
Dr. Darius Tandon
Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine
Director, Institute for Public Health and Medicine (IPHAM) - Center for Community Health; Associate Professor of Medical Social Sciences
Illinois
Michael Warren
Maternal and Child Health Bureau
Associate Administrator
District of Columbia
Dr. Sarah Watamura
University of Denver, Department of Psychology
Professor
Colorado
Atiya Weiss
Burke Foundation
Executive Director
New Jersey
Daria Willis
Howard Community College
President
Maryland
Layla Zaidane
Future Caucus
President & Chief Executive Officer
District of Columbia
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