Join leaders from Northern Virginia non-profits, advocates, and other community leaders to hear from policy experts, national and local advocates, and others on important topics from the 2012 General Assembly session.  

What in the world just happened down in Richmond and what does it mean for me and my work?
 The budget and other legislation adopted by the 2012 General Assembly will have significant impacts on public services for low- and moderate-income Virginians. Michael Cassidy will discuss key changes and potential challenges for your community and the people you serve.

Michael Cassidy is President of The Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis and a veteran budget watcher, having worked as an analyst at the Virginia Department of Planning and Budget and at the U.S. Office of Management and Budget where he handled policy development, regulatory and legislative review and budgetary process and execution for a wide variety of social policy programs.

Nice work ... if you can get it: The State of Working Northern Virginia.
Northern Virginia is viewed as the economic engine of the state, but not everyone is benefiting from the region’s economy. Our panel of experts will share the latest research around how the region’s low-income workers are faring and front line experiences of both the challenges and opportunities in connecting people struggling in the economy to work that pays.

Sara Okos is Policy Director at the Commonwealth Institute where she has been analyzing economic trends, tax policies, labor and wage issues, and education in Virginia since 2007.

Wende Ruffin-Lowry, leads the Adult Career Pathways program at Northern Virginia Community College where she is on the front line connecting the school’s ESL for Employment students with opportunities to get work, get ahead, and advance their education. She has over a decade of experience in the field of counseling and education with students of all ages and from around the globe.

Eric Seleznow is State Policy Director for National Skills Coalition leading efforts to organize support for tangible state workforce policy reforms. He’s a former state and local administrator of federally funded workforce programs and is a national expert on jail-based training, employment, and pre-release programs.

Sharon LeGrande is the Director of Workforce Development & Self-Sufficiency Programs at Northern Virginia Family Service. An 18-year veteran social worker, Sharon heads NVFS’ flagship Training Futures program which prepares low-income, unemployed or under paid individuals to make the move from dead-end jobs or sporadic employment to stable, professional office careers which provide livable wages, benefits and opportunities for professional and personal advancement.

Running With Scissors: Attacks on safety net programs and the people they serve.
Years of budget cuts have left Virginia's safety net threadbare. On top of that, efforts to cut program eligibility and impose additional barriers to services are underway. Our panel of front line experts will explain where the biggest holes are, what's on the horizon, and how effective advocacy can change the game.

Trudy Brisendine, recently retired from the Fairfax County Department of Family Services, and also has been Vice President of National Industries for the Severely Handicapped, Inc. and worked on Capitol Hill. A former Chair of the Fairfax County Commission for Women, and the Women’s Shelter Task Force, she also served on the Virginia Commission for Women. She is currently the Northern Virginia representative on the State Board of Social Services.  Trudy also serves on the Board of Stop Child Abuse Now of Northern Virginia, Inc.
Tram Nguyen, is Associate Director of Virginia New Majority and is tireless advocate for the needs of overlooked people. She helped fight for federal funding for a health treatment program for rescue and recovery workers at Ground Zero, organized the 30,000+ Vietnamese immigrants whose lives were devastated by Hurricane Katrina, and directed a recovery program that assisted thousands of families with cultural and language-appropriate services.

Judy Conti is the Federal Advocacy Coordinator at  the National Employment Law Project.  Prior to her current position, she spent seven years as the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the D.C. Employment Justice Center, a legal service provider devoted to workplace justice in the D.C. metropolitan area.  She has lobbied on issues of income security, job training for workers who have lost jobs due to globalization, and the needs of workers who have criminal records. Her work has been widely recognized with awards from the American Bar Association, the Washington Area Women’s Foundation, the Hispanic Bar Association of D.C., and the Echoing Green Foundation.

Co-Sponsors

• Nonprofit NoVA
• Greater Washington Workforce Development Collaborative, an initiative of the Community Foundation for the National Capital Region