Cincinatti, Ohio – July 23-27, 2017

Submitted by: Xavier Perry, SHSU NABCJ Representative

The National Conference is held each year to bring together all members of the association. There are members representing 25 adult chapters and 15 student chapters nationwide. The conference provides opportunities to network, fellowship, and exchange knowledge with one another. Participants had the opportunity to network with CJ professionals in their desired field of study. As part of an exercise to allow participants to become familiar with individuals who could potentially employ them in the future, they were challenged to collect a minimum of 3 business cards per day, for a total of 15 business cards throughout the conference.

During the conference, there are 40 workshop presentations. Participants also had an opportunity to attend 1 of 2 prison tours, and visit the African American Museum in the historic city of Cincinnati. Twenty-four hours of conference material is CTE certified from CJ practitioners to return to their respective agencies. 

This year’s guest speaker was Dr. Divine Pryor. In his opening session, “The System is Not Broken,” Dr. Pryor indicated that the system is doing what it was intended to do upon conception, 200 years ago. He spoke about the lack of initiative in our communities and gave suggestions on how to break the system.

Eight members of SHSU’s NABCJ were among the approximate 450 attendees at this conference. Xavier Perry, an SHSU NABCJ representative was presented with the 2017 Presidential Citation. He was also a scholarship recipient during the scholarship luncheon, and he also gave his presentation on “No Pen, No Power” over how legislators shape society and music shapes the culture.