Policy, Equity and Breaking Barriers at the 2021 NCSEA Policy Forum
Breaking Tradition! Breaking Records! Breaking Barriers! This year’s Policy Forum of the National Child Support Enforcement Association (NCSEA) broke all three of these. The annual meeting broke tradition by meeting virtually for the first time. It broke records with its highest registration ever – 705 registrants. The previous high registration number was 535 at the 2020 Policy Forum.
A barrier breaker, Dr. Nita Mosby Tyler, was the keynote speaker for the opening session which dealt with bringing awareness to action. Her key message: If you are aware of equity issues and barriers, you should take action to address them. Dr. Mosby-Tyler leads The Equity Project, LLC and The HR Shop, LLC, both supporting organizations, communities, and businesses in taking action. She broke barriers as the first African American woman to hold the position of Senior Vice President and Inclusion Officer in the 100+ year history of the Children’s Hospital Colorado, and as the first African American Executive Director of the Office of Human Resources for the City and County of Denver in its 63-year history.
The theme for this year’s event was “Moving Toward Equity Through Policy.” The Forum focused on serving children and families equitably by removing barriers to participation and by applying proven methods for outreach, understanding, and communication.
Conduent sponsored the event as an NCSEA Platinum Corporate Partner. Scott Cade (General Manager, Child Support and State Services) opened the session entitled “Hearing from the Hill” by sharing information about Conduent and introducing the session and speakers. This annual session features speakers who give updates on new and proposed legislation affecting the child support program.
Our own Robbie Endris moderated a session with Paul Gehm of the Michigan Friend of the Court Bureau entitled “Learning from Our Partners in Moving to Equity.” Dr. Cynthia Osborne of the University of Texas LBJ School of Public Policy shared a simple, yet clear, set of graphics explaining the difference between equality and equity and why removing barriers makes a difference. Kim Pearson, Chief of the Sacramento County Department of Child, Family, and Adult Services, and Dr. Heather Hahn, Senior Fellow in Human Services at the Urban Institute, completed the panel and shared significant information about successes in cooperation between human service programs.
All 12 plenary sessions contained great information from diverse speakers. The Question-and-Answer lines were busy throughout the Forum, indicating a high level of interest by the attendees. The title for Session 11 could have been the mission statement for the conference: “Eyes Wide Open: Identifying and Combatting Child Support Program Barriers and Inequities.”
Conduent was proud to be a partner with NCSEA in breaking traditions, records, and barriers this year! Our Child Support Services group enjoyed the conference almost as much as we enjoy supporting child support programs around the nation with consistent, reliable service and thoughtful innovation. We join with NCSEA in providing informative and educational conferences as we work with states and counties to serve children and families.