Message from WFRN President Phyllis Moen. Thanks to all of you for making the 2016 WFRN Conference in Washington, D.C. such a resounding success!  Everything seemed to work -- starting with the outstanding preconference Work Family Congressional Education and Policy Day co-hosted by the National Partnership for Women and Families and the Washington Center for Equitable Growth; a terrific Congressional Briefing convened by the Institute for Women's Policy Research; a pilot Practitioner Day program designed and organized by Kathy Kacher of Career/Life Alliance Services; and the viewing of a special multimedia photo exhibit SHOWING (work x family) sponsored by the Working Assumptions Foundation.  Read more. . .

Participants Give 2016 WFRN Conference Thumbs Up.   We received 154 responses to our post-conference survey, which represents an approximately 25 percent response rate. Respondents generally gave high marks to the conference.  In terms of their overall assessment, 86 percent of  respondents judged the conference to be “very good” or excellent."  Read more. . .

Call for Papers - Special Issue of CW&F.  WFRN President Phyllis Moen will guest edit a Special Issue of Community, Work & Family based on papers presented at the 2016 WFRN Conference in Washington, D.C.  The theme of this issue is "Redesigning Careers and Care for the 21st Century."  Please submit your paper for consideration by October 15, 2016, and see the Call for Papers for details on journal guidelines etc.

Work and Family Researchers Successfully Educate Congress. The day before the WFRN 2016 Conference in Washington, D.C., over 85 work and family researchers from across the country and around the globe gathered in a church basement to learn tips and tools for educating members of Congress and their staff.  At the training, Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), a long-time champion of work and family issues, rallied the attendees and experts armed them with background on the bills, talking points, and tips for effective meetings.  Read more. . .

IWPR & WFRN Collaborate on Congressional Briefing. The WFRN collaborated with the Institute for Women's Policy Research in sponsoring a Congressional Briefing on Work and Family Policies on June 22, 2016.  More details are available here, and you can view a video of the briefing here.

WFRN Carves Out Special Practitioner Day. This year the Work and Family Researchers Network carved out a special day during the 2016 conference in which leaders from organizations and leaders in research came together to share knowledge, ask questions, and create a vision for the future of work and family. One of the goals of this day was to promote interaction between researchers and practitioners and based on the feedback we received, we can agree the mission was accomplished! Read more here about what attendees had to say and on how to register for HRCI and SHRM credit hours.

Renew Your Membership!  The membership renewal period for 2017 is now open.  Your support of WRN through membership dues is vital to the continued development of the organization. We are fundamentally a membership organization, and dues help us keep the lights on and the website up-to-date and functioning smoothly. Dues allow us to have the staff and resources to plan conferences and keep developing our programmatic activities. Our two-year membership renewal option makes it easy for members to support the organization in both the conference years and the in-between years.  Renew your membership here.

On the WFRN “To Do” List:

The next issue of the WFRN newsletter will feature news from the WFRN Special Interest Groups (SIGs). We encourage you to please send us your ideas and suggestions for additional newsletter items and for additional WFRN activities.
Later this fall, we will also be conducting an election for WFRN leadership positions. Only WFRN members will be eligible to vote in the upcoming election. WFRN was designed from the outset to have a rotating leadership. This promotes regular infusion of new energy and ideas. We have sought to have both U.S. and international leadership, and to make sure that leaders are not just from any one field but instead represent the interdisciplinary scope of WFRN.

Reminders:

Renew your membership for 2017. WFRN depends on your financial support.
Post News. The WFRN News Feed is easy to use to share news and announcements.
Deposit research to the Work and Family Commons. Make your research accessible in this open-access format.