This year the Ethnic Minorities Section celebrated the 40th anniversary of our members being a recognized section of NCFR. As part of that celebration we embarked upon a new journey—a section name change as voted on by its members.

The Ethnic Minorities Section is now the Racial and Ethnic Diversity in Families Section! Thank you to everyone who commented, discussed, and voted to bring this change to fruition. As the Racial and Ethnic Diversity in Families Section we will continue our mission to help increase our participation in the organization and annual programs of NCFR, and to help create a better understanding of the variations in families from diverse ethnic groups.

See photos from the section's 2019 meetings

Members can keep up with the Racial and Ethnic Diversity in Families Section through the NCFR discussion group as well as via Facebook and Twitter.  

The Racial and Ethnic Diversity in Families Section had much to celebrate at this year’s annual conference in Fort Worth, Texas. Two section members were recognized for their achievements with NCFR awards and invited to present addresses for their respective awards during this year’s conference.

Farrell J. Webb, Ph.D. (dean, College of Health and Human Development, California State University, Northridge), was the 2019 recipient of the Marie Peters Award. He presented “The Faces of America: The Systemic Problem of Valuing Difference.”

Ijeoma Opara, Ph.D., M.P.H., LMSW (assistant professor of social work, Stony Brook University) was the 2018 recipient of the John L. and Harriette P. McAdoo Dissertation Award. She presented “Exploring the Role of Social Support, Ethnic Identity, and Psychological Empowerment on Drug Use and Sexual Risk Behavior Among Urban Black and Hispanic Adolescent Girls.”

We had another great year of fellowship at our section business meeting Fatimah Turner, M.S.W., M.Ed., LSW (doctoral student, Montclair State University), Sarai Coba-Rodriguez, Ph.D., CFLE (assistant professor of educational psychology, University of Illinois at Chicago), received the Student and New Professional Best Paper Awards, respectively.

Nominations for 2020–2022 section officers were solicited; keep an eye on your email to vote for your future leadership team in the coming weeks.

The Racial and Ethnic Diversity in Families Section officers look forward to continued engagement with section members to ensure the ongoing success of our section as we begin planning for the 2020 conference in St. Louis, Missouri.