2025 SHECP Annual Conference

This summer, SHECP interns, faculty, and staff convened on the campus of Marymount University in Arlington, VA for the 2025 SHECP Annual Conference. The three-day event, from July 31 – August 2, included strategic planning with SHECP stakeholders, space for intern reflection, and research presentations from local DC practitioners. This year’s conference was co-hosted by Marymount University’s Center for Professional Ethics.

The Annual Conference is designed to place the individual experiences of the SHECP interns into broader anti-poverty policy, research and organizational efforts, and to situate it within their undergraduate education. It also provides professional development opportunities for the staff and faculty of member institutions and community partners.

Dr. Pamela Slaven-Lee, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Marymount University, welcomed conference attendees to campus and highlighted Marymount's shared commitment to poverty studies and excitement to co-host this year's conference. "We're honored to be part of a consortium that so powerfully advances a shared commitment to addressing poverty through education, interdisciplinary collaboration and civic engagement. Here at Marymount, it's our mission to foster intellectual curiosity, service to others, and a global perspective. These values are grounded in empathy and justice, something that's obviously been important to me as a nurse for many, many years. These values are woven into everything we do, from the classroom to the clinic and everything else that we do. Our values are, we believe, are beautifully aligned with everything that you're dedicated to at SHECP."

Friday’s events were focused on reflection, connection, and imagining next steps. As interns, faculty, and staff arrived in Arlington, they took advantage of opportunities to explore Marymount's beautiful campus and tour nearby Washington, D.C. SHECP's Governing Board and Council assembled to strategically plan for the future, mirroring the thoughtful reflection to come throughout the Conference weekend. The Friday evening welcome dinner was co-hosted by the SHECP’s six Policy & Nonprofit Leadership interns. Katie Schadler, welcomed attendees on behalf of fellow policy interns with her speech, “Reflecting on my SHECP Summers.” As part of a panel, they spoke about their experiences working in policy in Washington, DC and how it both differed from and complemented their SHECP Summer Internship.

Earlier in the summer, Dr. Greg Duncan provided the Internship Academy keynote address, “Reducing Intergenerational Poverty,” and presented an overview of the Reducing Intergenerational Poverty consensus study report and his work with the National Academies committee that authored the report. During the summer, interns had to think critically about how the barriers and potential solutions brought up in the report might have had an impact on the communities and individuals from their internship. Saturday’s two research and policy presenters, Joy Moses and Alice Lin, focused on research, policies, and or best practices related to one or more of the seven key drivers identified in the report.

In her talk, “On the Move: Understanding Housing as a Vehicle for Exiting Poverty,” Joy Moses, Vice President of Research and Evidence with the National Alliance to End Homelessness, situated current housing programs and policies within a larger historical timeline and discussed how housing is a vital avenue for exiting poverty. Throughout her talk, Moses personalized the timeline of housing programs and policies by connecting the history to her own story stating, "We have been very much engaged in conversations about the importance of involving people with lived experience in our work, both as people who tell their stories but also as people who are actively contributing to solutions."

Alice Lin, a tax policy expert and Visiting Tax Policy Fellow at the Georgetown Center for Poverty and Inequality, presented “Tax Policies to Support Low-Income Households” and spoke about her work on the intersection of tax policy and support for low-income households. She began her talk by identifying how tax policies have meaningful impacts on all fields where anti-poverty work is happening and in fields where students had spent their summers interning — education, healthcare, insurance, food security, criminal justice, housing. She then zoomed in on two tax policies specifically targeted at poverty reduction, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit (CTC), as avenues for support.

In the afternoon, intern panels provided students with an opportunity to share reflections from summer and hear from their peers. Students reflected on their on-site experiences, discussed how their summer impacted thoughts about their future, and connected their hands-on learning back to the classroom.

Each year, the Annual Conference is marked by meaningful connections between students, faculty, and staff, and this year was no different. Students and staff had chances to network both formally and informally with one another, strengthening the ties between SHECP member institutions and finding common ground. At the end of the event, SHECP welcomed this 28th intern cohort into the SHECP network, where they joined over 2,000 alumni, practitioners, and supporters engaged in the study of poverty and in anti-poverty action.

The 2025 SHECP Annual Conference was made possible by the generous support of the Charles A. Frueauff Foundation. Through this funding, SHECP was able to cover the cost of intern travel to the conference and conference attendance for a representative from each member institution. The Foundation’s generosity also keeps the conference free for area stakeholders to attend.

Thank you to Jason Duquette-Hoffman for sharing gorgeous conference photos, and to Marymount University for hosting a wonderful weekend of events. More information on the Conference speakers and events can be found here.

Contact info@shepherdconsortium.org if you have any questions or would like further information.