December 2016

The Northwest Council on Family Relations (NWCFR) held its annual two-day conference in Portland, Oregon, on April 21–22, with the theme “Engaging Youth in Schools and Communities: Enhancing Protective Factors.” The conference hosted two plenary speakers this year, opening with Dr. Ben Anderson-Nathe, associate professor and program director of child and family studies at Portland State University. Dr. Anderson-Nathe, whose presentation was titled “Shadows on the Wall: Putting ‘Adolescence’ in Its Place,” facilitated a conversation that challenged the ways that we label and identify youth using a developmental lens. Dr. Tony Biglan, senior research scientist at Oregon Research Institute, was our evening plenary speaker and shared with us his research and focus on preventive interventions for children and youth, along with his newly published book, The Nurture Effect. The conference also offered professional mentoring roundtables, providing student engagement with professionals across a number of fields and career paths. Conference activities on the second day included poster presentations, a series of breakout sessions, and an interactive concluding discussion to support conversations translating the plenary speakers’ work and research into practice. Thank you to Drew Lenore Betz and Dr. Kathleen Rodgers for facilitating the concluding discussion.

Thank you to the NWCFR board members for their time and commitment in planning and for supporting student, peer, and community member involvement in the conference. The 2016 board members include AnaMaria Martinez, Rebecca Sero, Lisa Greene, Ashley Xagoraris, Joel Kaplan, Christina McAllister, Sarah Feeney, Margaret Manoogian, and Jana Meinhold.

If you are in the area, please join us for the NWCFR’s 2017 conference on April 20–21, 2017, once again in Portland, Oregon, at Portland State University. The 2017 conference theme is “Family Communication across the Life Course: Transitioning Successfully Through Change.”

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