The Brigham Young University Center for Economic Self-Reliance, the Romney Institute of Public Management and the Rollins eBusiness Center will host the 2005 Economic Self-Reliance Conference, "Building Economically Self-Reliant Families," Thursday and Friday, March 10-11, in the Wilkinson Student Center.
Registration for the conference is $50, $15 for students. The fee does not include the awards banquet. For more information on the conference and to register, please visit http://marriott.byu.edu/conferences/selfreliance/.
The conference theme will be shared throughout four different tracks available to participants: economic self-reliance, microenterprise, microfranchise and eLeaven. The four tracks will help determine which lectures participants will attend as well as allow them to network with others sharing similar interests.
"The conference is a great clearinghouse where practitioners, scholars and donors can all come together to collaborate and focus on ways to promote self-reliance among families, which is the major goal of the center," says Todd Manwaring, managing director of the Center for Economic Self-Reliance.
Keynote speakers at the conference include best-selling author Stephen R. Covey and ACCION International president and CEO Maria Otero.
The conference will include a screening of the BYU Broadcasting-produced documentary, "Small Fortunes: Microcredit and the Future of Poverty." A portion of the film was shown at the United Nations last November as part of its gala to kickoff 2005 as the Year of Microcredit.
A banquet Thursday night will honor BYU professor of organizational leadership and strategy Warner Woodworth, a celebrated professor, author and expert on microcredit.
The conference will also host an action fair and a poster exhibit. The action fair will provide a venue for organizations to display their work and achievements to conference participants, while the poster exhibit will display research on this year's conference theme.
The Marriott School is located at Brigham Young University, the largest privately owned, church-sponsored university in the United States. The school has nationally recognized programs in accounting, business management, public management, information systems, organizational behavior and entrepreneurship. The school’s mission is to prepare men and women of faith, character and professional ability for positions of leadership throughout the world. Approximately 3,000 students are enrolled in the Marriott School’s graduate and undergraduate programs.
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Writer: Stephanie Bramwell (801) 422-9009
