This Year, Halloween Week Got “Erie”: The DCS Team at KeyCon 2021

Anna at KeyCon 2021!

Since 2018, Denny Civic Solutions has served as a sponsor of Erie’s The Nonprofit Partnership’s annual nonprofit conference, now known as the Keystone Nonprofit Conference, or KeyCon. This year, we were thrilled for the opportunity to lead a full-day, intensive session on October 25 titled If You’re Not at the Table, You’re on the Menu: Engaging Nonprofit Leaders in Public Policy.

Our attendees were an impressive array of leaders from nonprofits in the Erie region. Some had actively engaged in advocacy and public policy efforts before; many had not. We went into the day with three goals: (1) helping these nonprofit leaders see themselves as advocates (2) illustrate just how critical it is for modern nonprofits to engage in advocacy as part of fulfilling their mission, and (3) give them hands-on experience meeting with public officials.

That third goal led to our favorite part of the whole day, where we split attendees into three mock sessions with real public officials -- Jane Earll, the former State Senator representing Erie; Regina Smith, District Director for current State Senator Dan Laughlin; and Mary Rennie, Erie County Councilperson. We helped our groups prep for the meetings, assembling their background info and talking points on the issues of criminal justice reform, education, and mental health. And our wonderful guests did the rest, asking tough questions and providing valuable feedback to help attendees become better advocates for their organizations and the populations they serve.

The day also featured a panel discussion with some of the nonprofit leaders we’ve worked with, and whose own entry into advocacy inspires us in our own work: Anna Hollis of Amachi Pittsburgh, Denise O’Connor of the Mid-Atlantic Mothers’ Milk Bank, and Saleem Ghubril of The Pittsburgh Promise. Meanwhile, we asked three incredible issue experts to cue up the discussions on criminal justice reform, education, and mental health: Anton Andrew from the Pennsylvania Prison Society, Amy Morton from the National Center on Education and the Economy, and Kristen Houser from OMHSAS at the PA Department of Human Services.

We couldn’t be more thankful (there’s that word again) for our attendees, our public officials, our nonprofit leaders, and our issue experts who helped make the whole day possible. If you’re interested in having us present at your own conference, or having us prepare a custom-tailored advocacy “boot camp” session for your organization, please contact Charlie Lotz at charlie@dennycivicsolutions.com to learn more!