Spring 2024 TMA Regional Civic Engagement Summit

DESCRIPTION
This daylong summit, held on Saturday, April 6 on the campus of Towson University, will recognize 2023 ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge state award recipients while providing participants the opportunity to learn from each other and develop skills related to democratic engagement, civic partnerships, dialogue across difference, and effective civic leadership both on and off campus as our campuses and communities prepare for the 2024 federal election and beyond. The summit will include engaging workshops for administrators, faculty, and students facilitated by national organizations dedicated to advancing responsible civic leadership, dialogue across difference, and sustainable campus democratic engagement plans. Additionally, student leaders from throughout the region will be invited to engage in a poster session related to the conference’s theme. The summit is being organized by Transform Mid-Atlantic and its partners at Towson University, ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, New Politics Leadership Academy, Urban Rural Action, AASCU American Democracy Project, and other regional leaders.

EVENT INFORMATION
The summit will occur on Saturday, April 6, 2024 from 9:00am-3:30pm. All activities related to the event will occur in the West Village Commons at Towson University. Directions and parking information will be provided at the time of registration.

REGISTRATION
Member and non-member campuses of Transform Mid-Atlantic located in Maryland, Washington, D.C., Delaware, West Virginia, and Northern Virginia are invited to register a team of up to 10 students, faculty, administrators, and community partners per campus. Campuses that register before the early bird registration deadline of February 28 will receive a discount. Space is limited and will be capped at 150 total participants, so campus representatives are encouraged to register their teams as soon as possible. Team members should include:

• Students who work on student voting issues, have a history of being civically and community engagement on campus, and are interested in further developing their skills and network;
• Administrators and faculty who either already develop or are interested in developing campus civic action plans and staff of campus civic engagement offices;
• Community partners and representatives from civically oriented organizations.

After you have registered your campus team, individual participants will be invited to register for specific workshops and sessions throughout the day. The summit will include two periods – one in the morning and one in the afternoon – of concurrent workshops, sessions, and panels. Each workshop / panel session will be capped to a total of 40-50 participants. More information will be provided after your team has registered.

Campus group registration rates are as follows:

Early Bird Registration (on or before 2/28)
Members: $200 (use TMAEarlyBird promo code)
Non-members: $300 (use EarlyBird promo code)

Regular Registration (on or after 3/1 until 3/15)
Members: $250
Non-members: $375

**If you are an individual from a campus or community organization interested in attending the Summit, please contact Nicki Fiocco for more information at fiocco@transformmidatlantic.org.

Not sure if your campus is a member of TMA? You can check by clicking here!

STUDENT POSTER SESSION - PROPOSAL SUBMISSIONS
Students from throughout the region, including those recognized by ALL IN as 2023 Student Honor Roll recipients, will be invited to submit poster proposals during the summit to showcase and share their leadership, innovations, and strategies for catalyzing student voting and civic engagement within their campus communities. Poster topics may include:

• Best practices for student voting registration drives
• Innovative practices for facilitating meaningful critical dialogue about contentious issues
• Methods for equitably engaging with community partners
• Practices that student government organizations or student clubs use to encourage study body civic participation
• Impact of student service organizations on advancing justice, equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging on campus
• Participation in policymaking or advocacy at the local, state, or federal levels
• And many more!

SUMMIT AGENDA (subject to change)
After your campus has purchased a team ticket, each participant will be invited to register for a workshop of their choice during the morning and afternoon workshop/panel sessions. The tentative schedule of workshops is below. Please note that specific session topics may change.

9:00-9:30am: Welcome & Networking (with continental breakfast)

9:30-10:30am: 2023 Maryland, DC, and Delaware State ALL IN Challenge Award Recognition

10:30-10:45am: Coffee Break & Networking

10:45am-12:15pm: Morning Concurrent Sessions

Crafting a Successful Campus Democratic Engagement Action Plan: Panel and workshop to learn about best practices, successes, and challenges in developing civic action plans using ALL IN methods, as well as how plans can be used to advocate for civic and community engagement program funding and support (Facilitated by Catherine Fish, ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge)

The ABCs: An Interactive Dialogue Workshop: In this session, students will learn and apply the ABCs of Constructive Dialogue, a proven framework for navigating different viewpoints on issues to achieve mutual understanding. Participants will learn approaches for more constructive conversations on tough issues, and then have the opportunity to practice using the framework themselves to explore fellow students' views on democracy-related topics (Facilitated by Urban Rural Action)

Incorporating Media Literacy Strategies: A workshop to share a number of information literacy strategies. Participants will work in small groups to test various strategies and discuss the ways to implement these in classrooms/co-curricular spaces (Facilitated by Cathy Copeland, American Democracy Project, AASCU)

12:15-1:45pm: Lunch & Interactive Poster Session Highlighting Student Civic Engagement & Leadership

1:45-3:15pm: Afternoon Concurrent Sessions

Leading With Purpose: Join us for this opportunity to experience the New Politics Leadership Academy approach to leadership development. Expect an engaging mix of leadership development theory, myth, pop culture, reflection, and dialogue. (The session will be led by Dr. Max Klau, Chief Program Officer at New Politics Leadership Academy. Max is a Harvard-trained leadership expert who developed this approach working with AmeriCorps members during his decade working City Year in Boston)

Strengthening the P-12 to Higher Education Student Civic Engagement Pipeline: Participants will learn from representatives from state civic education coalitions in the region and other partners about ongoing efforts and partnerships between higher education institutions and K-12 schools that catalyze P-20 student civic participation (Facilitated by partners from regional civic education coalitions and K-12 partners)

Strategies to Advance Civic Engagement for All Panel: Data shows that some student groups are underserved or difficult to mobilize through civic action planning – including STEM majors and students from historically marginalized groups. These students often have lower voting rates. This panel discussion will discuss strategies and best practices to reach such student populations (Facilitated by ALL IN / campus representatives)

3:15-3:30pm: Closing Remarks & Reflections