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Track Co-Chairs: Domonic Bearfield, Norma Riccucci, and Sean McCandless

Across the world, public administrators face challenges stemming from cultural and administrative environments hostile to social equity. This hostility raises a fundamental question: How can champions of social equity engage with different audiences, especially those hostile to equity, on deep-seated problems like structural racism, white supremacy, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, and other inequities and injustices? We invite papers that address this issue and related questions like the following:

• How can public service agencies critically take into account, examine, and foster meaningful progress in eliminating institutional social injustices?
• What is required to work in, and support those working in, environments hostile to social equity?
• What are innovative public service programs that advance equity and justice in the face of resistance?
• How do we make fostering social equity a priority for everyone in a society?

Track Co-Chairs: Marilyn Rubin and Maria D’Agostino

This track seeks to advance the discussion of the impact on social equity of public policies, many of which are at the heart of the political divide. Achieving social equity requires the implementation of public policies in a variety of contexts to redress disparate impacts across communities, especially those that have historically been underserved, marginalized, and adversely affected by discrimination. Policy contexts include, but are not limited to education, welfare, housing and transportation but can be extended to encompass topics such as voting rights and immigration. We invite papers that address issues such as: the role of education policy in advancing social equity; transportation’s role in addressing social equity; how government policies impact equity; government budgets and equity.

Track Co-Chairs: Evelyn Rodriguez-Plesa and Deneen Hatmaker

The Biden-Harris Administration’s Executive Order on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) in the Workplace asserts that “advancing equity, civil rights, racial justice, and equal opportunity is the responsibility of the whole of government” (The White House, 2021). While there are ethical, normative, and practical benefits to promoting DEIA and organizational justice in public and nonprofit workplaces, these efforts have become increasingly politicized and fraught in the United States and abroad. As a result, endeavors to foster a safe, fair, diverse, and inclusive work environment for all employees are increasingly divisive. Even the implementation of widely accepted core human resource management functions may encounter backlash in this increasingly divided world. This track seeks papers that examine multiple dimensions of DEIA and social justice and its implications on human resources management in public and nonprofit sector workplaces.

Track Co-Chairs: Andrew Clark and Brandi Blessett

Systemic inequalities have plagued the United States justice system since our country’s inception. These have only been exasperated by the decades long exponential growth in our prison population – which has seen a nearly 500% increase in the last 40 years. In this dedicated track, participants will delve into the critical issues shaping criminal justice systems and discover innovative approaches that promote fairness, inclusivity, and community well-being, all while ensuring greater safety and a more efficient use of public resources. Potential areas for consideration include system reform, community engagement, restorative justice, sentencing, reentry, and data and technology. Particular attention will be paid to successful, consensus-driven approaches to reform. Join stakeholders, policymakers, academics, and advocates as we come together, share knowledge, and develop actionable strategies to build a more just and equitable criminal justice system.

Track Co-Chairs: Pareesa Charmchi Goodwin, S. Nicole Diggs and Christal Hamilton

According to the CDC, health equity is a, "state in which everyone has a fair and just opportunity to attain their highest level of health,"[1] and social determinants of health (SDOH) are "nonmedical factors that influence health outcomes," specifically, “the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age, and the wider set of forces and systems shaping the conditions of daily life."[2] SDOH include, but are not limited to, poverty and socio-economic status, education, housing, environmental justice, and access to food and other basic needs. This track seeks proposals examining health inequities from a systemic lens, inclusive of any SDOH. Proposals that illuminate specific challenges or potential policy solutions to achieving health equity are welcome.