Save the Date! 2020 Bridge Conference: The Seeds We Sow
by School's Out Washington | | Posted under
Equity...
Belonging…
Leadership…
Change…
Nourishing…
Innovation…
Community…
These words represent the values we hope to bring forward and incorporate throughout the Bridge Conference experience. As the spaces in which we connect and collaborate began to shift for 2020, our Bridge Advisory Committee grounded ourselves in these values as we reimagined what Bridge could look like on a virtual platform.
Several months later, we are thrilled to announce that School’s Out Washington’s annual Bridge Conference is changing with our times to offer a unique, curated virtual professional development experience grounded in responsive, relevant, and equitable practices and learning. While we move to a digital landscape, our core Bridge values, interactive workshops, and engaging presenters will continue to guide the Bridge experience.
School’s Out Washington’s annual Bridge Conference is a multi-day regional convening focused on exploring, celebrating, and influencing our collective field(s) through the act of solidarity and unified learning. Expanded learning professionals, community organizers, school district representatives, funders, policymakers, and systems leaders will gather to engage in a digital landscape for a unique virtual experience designed for participants to:
- Engage with a diverse range of knowledge, people, and perspectives.
- Identify the specific ways that racial inequities impact youth, expanded learning opportunities, and educational outcomes.
- Experience a sense of belonging to nourish social connection and professional networking.
- Learn how to implement tangible practices that promote an equitable expanded learning opportunity ecosystem.
- Strive to recognize power dynamics throughout programs and systems and begin to strategize how to co-create stronger partnerships across sectors.
2020 Bridge Conference Theme: The Seeds We Sow
What does it mean to be nimble, to rapidly pivot to, or alongside change? What is the balance between being grounded while being pliable to the necessary transformation needed for our future? Our choices today spark a ripple effect to the realities of tomorrow. So, as we lean into this moment – let us do so with compassion, with authenticity, with equity.
Our 2020 Bridge Conference theme, The Seeds We Sow, emphasizes intention in the act of reimagination. Only together, as a collective, will we solidify a new foundation that intertwines our cultures, values, and leadership to nourish all our young people’s excellence and right to thrive.
Highlights
School’s Out Washington has thoughtfully created a conference schedule to allow for ample breaks and a variety of professional development and learning opportunities that incorporate best practices in delivering engaging, interactive workshops through a virtual platform.
The 2020 Bridge Conference will take place from Tuesday, October 27 – Friday, October 30 with the following components offered throughout the 4-day experience.
- Dynamic keynote speakers
- Interactive and engaging workshops
- Story telling hour
- Intentional community building sessions
- Exhibitor showcase
- NEW THIS YEAR! Regional Bridge after-parties in-person or virtually, to be determined closer to the date
- Access to recorded sessions for a limited time after Bridge concludes for continued learning
Interested in presenting at Bridge?
We are seeking presenters to lead virtual webinar presentations and interactive workshops as part of this year’s conference.
View the full Request for Proposals and join us for a live session on Tue, July 7 at 4pm with our SOWA team to hear more about why we’re excited for this year’s Bridge Conference and what we’re looking for in the RFP.
Questions? Please contact bridge@schoolsoutwashington.org.