The theme of this year's Partner Plan Act conference is Equity from the Start: Overcoming Obstacles, Leveraging Opportunities. Last year’s conference explored how to take action and shift power to on-the-ground providers, community members, parents, and families. This year, we hope to build upon last year's discussion and get candid about the obstacles that are sure to arise for stakeholders that are shifting power to parents, providers, community members, and families whose voices have been historically excluded from these conversations. We also hope to discuss opportunities that are in the sector and ways in which communities have leveraged them.
To kick us off, Nina D. Sánchez, a proud second-generation Chicagoan with roots in Pilsen and Central Mexico and co-director of Enrich Chicago, will give the opening keynote presentation. The conference will also include breakout sessions that highlight work across Illinois and a panel discussion with agencies from different states across the country that are also doing community-systems change work. The conference will close with a keynote address from award-winning activist, organizer, and author, Ai-Jen Poo.