2025 PHENND Conference: From Financial Aid to Economic Inclusion

The PHENND Conference is an annual gathering for practitioners of campus-community partnership. This gathering will be attended by 100-125 students, campus staff, faculty, and community organization staff active in community service, service-learning, and campus-community partnership work. While primarily targeting individuals who are part of the 25+ colleges and universities involved in the Philadelphia Higher Education Network for Neighborhood Development (PHENND), this event is also open nationally to practitioners of campus-community partnership.

Theme

This year’s theme is From Financial Aid to Economic Inclusion: The Intersection of Money and Community Engagement.

Keynote Speaker

We are pleased to announced that President Ajay Nair of Arcadia University will be the keynote speaker. Dr. Nair, a nationally recognized expert in student affairs issues and an accomplished social justice, race, and ethnicity scholar, was appointed 22nd president of Arcadia University in April 2018 and inaugurated on October 13, 2018. Dr. Nair is the first person of color to be appointed president at Arcadia, and is among the first college or university presidents of Indian-American descent in the United States.

Workshops

There will be four tracks at the conference based on the key themes of the conference:
– Financial Aid: sessions related to Federal Work Study and service; FAFSA and changing financial aid particularly for first gen students; student basic needs; emergency funds for students; stranded credits for non-traditional students; economic impact of college attainment for low-income communities
– Economic Inclusion: sessions related to universities as anchor institutions and their impact on local economies through hiring, purchasing, and real estate development
– Changing Economy: sessions related to the changing business model of higher education and how that impacts community engagement programs
– Sharing Resources: sessions related to both the ethical considerations and logistical practices of compensating community partners, faculty and students for community engagement work; equitable sharing of grant resources

Workshop proposals are due December 2nd. Final selections will be announced shortly thereafter.

Host or Publisher PHENND