2026 SHECP Annual Conference
This summer, at Marymount University in Arlington, VA SHECP interns, faculty, and staff convened for the 2026 SHECP Annual Conference. The three-day event, from July 30 – August 1, included strategic planning with SHECP stakeholders, space for intern reflection, and speakers to help place the summer experience into broader anti-poverty policy, research and organizational effort. Each Annual Conference is marked by meaningful connections between students, faculty, and staff, and this year was no different. Students and staff had opportunities to network both formally and informally with one another, strengthening the ties between SHECP member institutions.
This summer, SHECP welcomed this 29th 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 conference was co-hosted by Marymount University and was made possible by the financial support of the Charles A. Frueauff Foundation.
Friday’s events were centered around reflection, community, 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 five Policy & Nonprofit Leadership interns. The PNPL cohort welcomed attendees, and each spoke about their unique experiences working in policy in Washington, DC and how it both differed from and complemented their SHECP Summer Internships. After dinner, each PNPL intern hosted a table for creative activities, and facilitated conversations about their takeaways from their internship experiences. SHECP's first official Summer Fellow, Henley Lynch, spoke her experiences working in Shamokin, PA as a SHECP summer intern in 2023 and then returning to this SHECP this summer to help develop resources for Member Schools and virtual programming.
While Friday night's dinner is designed to be a warm welcome back into the full community and a chance for group reflection, it is also meant to help kickstart thinking about how students will continue to engage with this work and these lessons learned when they are back on campus or as they plan for their next professional steps. During dinner, David Marchese, SHECP alum and co-chair of the Alumni Engagement Committee spoke about the impact the SHECP internship had on his career trajectory. Marchese, who interned with the Public Defender's office in rural Kentucky in 2017, shared how his experience has stayed with him, influencing his decisions to pursue a career in the legal field. "This internship and this alumni network you are about to join shaped my life, now, for the better part of the last nine years," he stated. Marchese invited students to stay involved in SHECP and consider joining the new Alumni Engagement Committee, to help the organization continue to flourish and provide life changing experiences for its interns.
Saturday’s two research and policy presenters, Jim Palmer and Tony Pipa, focused on the impact of place and community dynamics in studying and addressing poverty. Jim Palmer, Director of Community Engagement at So Others Might Eat (SOME), spoke about how SOME’s programming has moved beyond addressing hunger to “Whole-Person Care” and the unique hurdles and opportunities associated with doing this work in Washington, DC. Tony Pipa’s talk, “Reimagining Rural: A National Perspective,” built on earlier discussions and presentations pertaining to rural poverty. His work at Brookings and with the Commission on US Rural Prosperity advocates for a better understanding of rural America and strives to “enable rural prosperity by strengthening economic opportunity, resilience, and quality of life across rural America.”
In the afternoon, intern panels provided students with an opportunity to share reflections from summer and hear from their peers. Through discussion prompts, students wrestled with the complex causes and consequences of poverty and inequality, connected their on-site experiences with classroom learning, and explored how their 9-week internships influenced their thinking about future and vocation. The panels were organized to connect students from various cohorts and universities, and bring diverse experiences to each room. In the end, each intern reflected on the impact this summer made on their next steps — on their campus, in their career, in their communities, and beyond.
The 2026 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.
Contact info@shepherdconsortium.org if you have any questions or would like further information.
