Session: Opening Plenary [presented in person and live streamed] (Society for Social Work and Research 28th Annual Conference - Recentering & Democratizing Knowledge: The Next 30 Years of Social Work Science)
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All in-person and virtual presentations are in Eastern Standard Time Zone (EST).

SSWR 2024 Poster Gallery: as a registered in-person and virtual attendee, you have access to the virtual Poster Gallery which includes only the posters that elected to present virtually. The rest of the posters are presented in-person in the Poster/Exhibit Hall located in Marquis BR Salon 6, ML 2. The access to the Poster Gallery will be available via the virtual conference platform the week of January 11. You will receive an email with instructions how to access the virtual conference platform.

55 Opening Plenary [presented in person and live streamed]

Schedule:
Thursday, January 11, 2024: 5:00 PM-6:30 PM
Independence BR Salons D/E (ML 4) (Marriott Marquis Washington DC)
Speakers/Presenters:
Elizabeth Clark-Lewis, PhD, Howard University, Kirk Foster, PhD, East Carolina University and Rev. Traci Blackmon, The United Church of Christ
Rev. Traci Blackmon Associate General Minister of Justice & Local Church Ministries The United Church of Christ

Rev. Traci Blackmon is currently the Associate General Minister of Justice and Local Church Ministries for the United Church of Christ. She was previously senior pastor at Christ The King United Church of Christ and spent more than 25 years as a registered nurse. Her clinical focus in healthcare was cardiac care and mobile healthcare in underserved communities. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing from Birmingham-Southern College and a Master of Divinity Degree from Eden Theological Seminary.

As a local church pastor, Rev. Blackmon positioned the church as a launching pad of community engagement and change. She spearheaded community programming such as a computer lab, tutoring, continuing education classes, a robotics team, a children’s library, and a girl’s mentoring program. She founded Healthy Mind, Body, and Spirit, a mobile faith-based outreach program designed to impact health outcomes in impoverished areas, Sacred Conversations on Solomon’s Porch, a program to equip local clergy to assess physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health concerns within congregational life, Sista SOS Summit, an intergenerational health symposium for women and girls, and Souls to the Polls STL, a multi-faith collaborative that provided over 2800 rides to polls during local and national elections.

Rev. Blackmon gained regional and national recognition for her communal leadership and work in the aftermath of the killing of Michael Brown Jr. in Ferguson, MO. She was appointed to the Ferguson Commission by Governor Jay Nixon and to the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based Neighborhood Partnerships for the White House by President Barak Obama.

Rev. Blackmon is a co-author of the UCC’s White Privilege curriculum and has received numerous awards and recognitions including the White House President’s Volunteer Service Award and the 2015 Ebony Magazine Power 100.

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