Back in 2000, the Chapter included in its 2000-2003 Strategic Plan an objective to develop and promote an annual statewide conference. And as it is written.....the rest is history. Beginning in 2001, two days after the tragic events of 9/11, the NASW IL Chapter held its first conference of the new millennium. Over 500 people gathering at the Lisle Hilton in Lisle, IL. Renown author, Alex Kotlowitz was our keynote speaker, arriving shortly before the opening plenary via Greyhound bus from Oklahoma City, as all of the nation's airlines were grounded following 9/11. Since that time, the NASW IL Statewide conference has become a key event on the social work calendar in Illinois.
Until 2005, our conferences were held annually. Currently, the Statewide conference takes place every other year in September of the licensure renewal year. With that bit of background, I am very excited to announce that initial conference information for the 2009 Statewide event, "A Meeting of the Profession," which will take place September 9-11, 2009 at the Holiday Inn Chicago Mart Plaza, is now available online at the NASW IL Chapter website, http://www.naswil.org/.
Not only can you earn 20 CEUs (including your three required ethics CEUs on Friday of the conference with Dr. Ric Reamer), you can also take advantage of 10 different tracks featuring over 80 workshops. The NASW IL Statewide conference represents a great mix of academic based and practice based workshops. It's also a great event to network with colleagues and enjoy the atmosphere of downtown Chicago.
Finally, it's not too late to contact your elected officials in Springfield. This is the last week of the session in the General Assembly in Springfield and we need all social workers in the State of Illinois to contact their elected officials to support revenue increases in order to fund critical social services and human service needs. Without action on this, we are looking at 40-50% cuts in funding across the state, which will impact social work jobs and organizations. So ACT NOW by going to the General Assembly website for contact information for your State Senators and Representatives: http://www.ilga.gov/
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