2024 Bridge Conference

Conflict is an inevitable part of any environment, whether at work or home. Understanding how to identify, manage, and resolve conflict through the lens of basic Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) can transform challenging situations into opportunities for growth and collaboration. This interactive 90-minute workshop will provide participants with the tools and strategies needed to navigate conflict effectively and equitably. Who Should Attend: - Team leaders and managers. - Employees seeking to enhance their conflict resolution skills. - Individuals interested in applying basic DEI principles in conflict management.

Four years after the Covid shutdowns, are kids just different now? How are the impacts showing up disproportionately for people of various races, ethnicities, identities, and abilities? Is it all “gaps” or did children also learn skills and knowledge we should be celebrating? As afterschool and youth development professionals, we know it’s very difficult to connect outcomes to specific experiences, even decades later. We’re beginning to see research now, but there’s a need for much more, and it’s likely to continue for years into the future, yet we are sensing some trends. For example, the 2-year-old who would have been learning facial expressions in child care instead saw masked faces, and now, at 6, are they connecting with peers in a different way? In this session, we’ll explore our own experiences with the children who were anywhere from 1 to 14 in 2020, how key developmental experiences might have looked different during these 4 years, and what we can do to support the now 5 to 18-year-olds we spend our time with.

In the world of out-of-school activities, icebreakers are often used as a way to encourage groups to bond and build relationships in a short period of time. However, icebreakers are typically ineffective due to participants' reluctance to engage with them. They also tend to be non-inclusive for participants who are neurodiverse, disabled, speak English as a second language, or are introverted. In this session, participants will learn how to turn icebreakers into more effective connection builders that are inclusive of the majority of participants and that foster more authentic connections. Participants will leave this session with new activities to bring back to their groups as well as a new perspective on icebreakers and activity accessibility.

Grief has become an ever-increasing concern for our youth. In this workshop, participants will learn creative and connection-building activities that are designed with the intention of increasing the professional’s knowledge of supporting children who are impacted by grief. This workshop will be fun, while increasing the professional’s comfort in talking to children about grief and in engaging the child in greater understanding of their physical and emotional response to their grief. This workshop will include hands-on activities with the option for participants to share their experience with each other to enhance the learning. Participants will also learn the intention behind the choice of activities, which will allow them to adapt the tools to fit their audience. This workshop is designed to be most beneficial to direct service staff. However, managers and leaders will also learn skills in this workshop that will increase their understanding of supporting grieving children.