Speakers Include Experts on Guaranteed Income, Early Childhood Development, Housing & More

BOSTON – Economic Mobility Pathways (EMPath) today announced its initial speaker line-up for its biennial Disrupting Poverty Conference, set to reconvene on March 27-28 at Boston University. Hundreds of practitioners, policy makers, philanthropists, and academics from around the world will gather for engagement, education, and collaboration around new strategies for disrupting poverty. The conference is the first major event in EMPath’s season of celebration that marks several milestones and anniversaries, including the organization’s 200th year.

Themed “A Path Forward,” the conference addresses a range of topics related to economic mobility. Among the subjects covered will be affordable housing, early childhood, guaranteed income, eliminating the racial wealth gap, financial empowerment, and how all of these facets can help drive a more equitable world.

A talented array of speakers will converge with hundreds of conference attendees and include:

• Kathryn Edin, Center on Research and Child Wellbeing, Princeton, and author: The Injustice of Place: Uncovering the Legacy of Poverty in America
• Darrick Hamilton, Henry Cohen Professor of Economics and Urban Policy, and Founding Director of the Institute on Race, Power, and Political Economy, The New School
• Aisha Nyandoro, Founding CEO of Springboard to Opportunities, and Creator of Magnolia’s Mother’s Trust
• Sara Chaganti, Deputy Director of Community Development Research, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
• LesLeigh Ford, Associate Director in the Office of Race & Equity Research, Urban Institute
• Shira Markoff, Senior Policy Fellow, Prosperity Now
• and many others!

Attendees will have the opportunity to hear from experts in these areas, as well as individuals with lived experience who have successfully navigated the path towards economic stability.

Opening the Public Conference will be EMPath President & CEO, and former Mayor of Boston, Kim Janey, who will welcome hundreds to Boston.

“The Disrupting Poverty Conference is an impressive gathering of brainpower, innovation, and action, and I am so excited to reconvene such an array of talent in March,” said Janey. “As we continue to advocate for families and children, it’s gatherings like this that allow for greater collaboration, deeper education, and new connections – all working towards a world where families thrive.”

A two-day convening for EMPath’s global learning network, the Economic Mobility Exchange™ Members will precede the conference on March 25-26. Celebrating its 10-year anniversary since its launch in 2014, the Exchange network now includes more than 1,000 organizations and government agencies across the country that adapt EMPath’s economic mobility coaching model, Mobility Mentoring®, in their own work to support families.

The content and connection across the four days of the conference will occur through a series of workshops, keynote speeches, and panel discussions that share best practices, the latest research, and networking among change makers from different communities working towards the same goal.

To register, visit: www.empathways.org/conference.

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About Economic Mobility Pathways (EMPath): EMPath is a 200-year-old organization that dramatically improves the lives of people living in poverty. Because creating economic opportunity is multifaceted, EMPath's approach is too. EMPath offers a unique combination of direct services; a learning network of human services organizations; and research and advocacy for what works. This “virtuous circle” allows each part of the organization’s work to inform what it knows, does, and shares with others to seed systemic change. To learn more, visit empathways.org.