Breakout Session Schedule

A1

Roundtable: PA CARES Designees

Moderator: Lisa Balsamo, Pennsylvania Department of Education

Contact: abalsamo@pa.gov

This session will hold space for authentic reflection and sharing from PA CARES designees, gather insights and inspiration on pressing challenges and promising opportunities, and share ideas and resources for advancing postsecondary students’ mental health and suicide prevention.

Harris

A2

Circle of Caring: A Wraparound Approach to Holistic Support and Care for Students

Dr. Courtney Allen and Vicki Van Hise, Harrisburg Area Community College

Contact: caallen@hacc.edu

Creating a system of holistic support and care is vital to student needs, engagement and retention. At our multi-campus community college, our Behavioral Intervention Team (BIT) has been an integral part of creating a system for holistic support and care. This session will provide a snapshot into how we use a wraparound approach for our students, utilizing BIT to provide various office/area support for students.

Keystone

A3

Next Steps AmeriCorps: A Targeted Approach to Supporting First Generation, Low-Income College Students

Hillary Kane and Addie Boccuzzi, Pennsylvania State University

Contact: addie.boccuzzi@phennd.org

This session will highlight the unique challenges faced by first-generation, low-income (FGLI) students and present an example of targeted support. Participants will explore how programming like the Next Steps AmeriCorps program uses financial and community-based incentives to promote college persistence and completion. The session will also provide time for participants to brainstorm strategies to implement similar programming at their own campuses and identify key partners and resources.

Central D

A4

Advancing Mental Health Equity in PA High Schools: The Use of Peer Support Programs to Promote Well-Being Among Black Youth

Natalie Dao, Pennsylvania Department of Health

Contact: nataliedao02@gmail.com

This session will explore how peer support programs can serve as a powerful, scalable solution to address the Black youth mental health crisis while also benefiting students from all backgrounds. Grounded in research and practice, this session will highlight how peer support fosters a sense of belonging, supports mental health, and can even alleviate financial stress by reducing long-term dropout risk and connecting students with valuable resources. Participants will learn how peer counseling can be adapted to different institutional and community contexts to meet students where they are, dismantle stigma and provide culturally responsive support.

Central E

A5

Expanding the IOUniverse: Nationalizing Student-Led Primary Prevention Education

Blake Kitterman and Tracey Vitchers, It’s On Us

Contact: blake.kitterman@civicnation.org and tracey@civicnation.org

This session will give participants an understanding of the national It's On Us (IOU) primary prevention programming that they can bring back to their campuses. We will share the three main prevention programs that IOU has to offer (The Playbook, Campus Organizing Program, Caucus Chair and Regional Advisor Program), as well as IOU's research program that continues to grow our offerings, including major findings from our latest research: “Erased in School, Educated Online: LGBTQQ Men and the Sex Ed Gap.”

Heritage

A6

Amplifying Their Voices: Utilizing Peer Facilitators in Sexual Violence Prevention for the FSL Community

Elena Steinhaus, Emily Myers, and Lindsey Mosvick, West Chester University

Contact: esteinhaus@wcupa.edu and em1050782@wcupa.edu

In this session, we will explore the success of utilizing a Peer Facilitator model to develop curriculum and foster cultural changes with members from the IFC and PHC communities leading the way. The curriculum is grounded in the CWGE Model of Violence Prevention, taking into consideration the knowledge and experiences of those identifying as a part of the FSL community. This presentation will discuss how the program and curriculum were developed with each community’s needs and culture in mind, as well as the data demonstrating the program’s impact and lessons learned.

Central A

B1

Roundtable: Hunger-Free (HFC) Grantees

David Stewart, Pennsylvania Department of Education

Contact: dalstewar@pa.gov

This session will hold space for authentic reflection and sharing from HFC designees, gather insights and inspiration from HFC grant awardee colleagues on pressing challenges and promising opportunities, and share ideas and resources to advance PA students on security of basic needs and food insecurity systems and structures on campus and statewide.

Harris

B2

Innovative Ways to Address Housing Insecurity on College Campuses Through Partnerships

Dr. Leah Paulson Dunmire, Zoey Bunbury and Annette Ditolvo, Temple University

Contact: Annette.ditolvo@temple.edu

This session will share creative ways that Temple University’s Office of Student Support and Advocacy has addressed student housing insecurity in our campus community. This program is a partnership between our university and a corporate off-campus property that set aside 5% of their inventory to offer a discounted rate for students experiencing housing insecurity. Participants will gain tangible next steps to address similar efforts at their respective institutions.

Keystone

B3

Roary’s Cubhouse: A Blueprint for Building a Family-Friendly Campus Culture to Support Student Parents

Melissa Fogg, Kelly Lake, and Nikki Karam, Community College of Philadelphia

Contact: mfogg@ccp.edu

Physical spaces like family study rooms can serve as powerful interventions for access, inclusion and persistence among student-parents. Roary’s Cubhouse provides a scalable case study for colleges aiming to adopt family-forward practices aligned with national best practices, such as those in the Family Friendly Campus Toolkit.

Central D

B4

PA EmpowerU Messaging Focus Group

Jamie Ayrton, Pennsylvania Department of Education

Contact: jayrton@pa.gov

A collaboration of institutions and students, PA EmpowerU was launched to support postsecondary learners’ basic needs, enabling them to focus on their educational journey. To maximize this initiative’s impact, we aim to provide resources that are easily accessible and simple to use. This session will guide participants through the branding and website redesign and invite feedback on how to best support institutional practitioners and students to find, contribute and use the network resources.

Central E

B5

Assumption Junction: Checking Bias in Sexual Violence Prevention

Dr. Kyle Morris-Sol, The ECO Foundation and Cheyney University

Contact: kyle@theecofoundation.org

Assumption Junction is a facilitated, trauma-informed learning experience that challenges participants to examine how implicit bias, deficit-based labeling and unexamined assumptions shape sexual violence prevention, reporting and institutional response on campus. Through the intentional integration of evidence-based theory and edutainment strategies, the session moves participants beyond passive awareness toward immediate, practice-level action that strengthens policy implementation, support systems, and campus culture.

Heritage

B6

Buy-In, Branding and Belonging: Building Widespread Student Engagement in Campus Prevention Efforts

Jamie O’Leary and Kortne Smith, Widener University

Contact: jloleary@widener.edu and kasmith1@widener.edu

This session will share strategies for fostering student investment in prevention education across campus. We'll explore cultivating partnerships with student organizations, promoting a sense of student ownership and building a recognizable brand on campus and online. We'll discuss how to tailor your approach to effectively engage students from specific populations, including LGBTQ+ students, BIPOC students, students with disabilities, and commuter students. We'll also invite you to share your own strategies and learn from others.

Central A

C1

Roundtable: It’s On Us PA Grantees

David Stewart, Pennsylvania Department of Education

Contact: dalstewar@pa.gov

This session will hold space for authentic reflection and sharing, gather insights and inspiration on pressing challenges and promising opportunities, and share ideas and resources to advance PA students on sexual assault/violence prevention.

Harris

C2

Advancing Peer-Led Mental Health Interventions

Dr. David Myers, Indiana University of PA, and Kristi Hammaker, Commonwealth University of PA

Contact: dmyers@iup.edu and khammaker@commonwealthu.edu

Practitioner colleagues will share their expertise in supporting peer driven mental health and wellbeing programs on campus. Specifically, this session will highlight the key role of mentors to students leading and participating in a PDE stipend-funded mental health initiative for peer prevention and intervention.

Keystone

C3

How to Talk About Your Hope Center Students’ Basic Needs Survey Data

Stacey Priniski, Temple University

Contact: stacy.priniski@temple.edu

Geared toward PDE’s Hope Impact Partners who administered the Student Basic Needs survey in 2024 and 2025, this session supports all stakeholders for student success to frame and position the data for positive change at the campus, community and statewide level. Participants will learn tactics and gain tools for explaining the data to a range of audiences to drive impact and investment in our students’ needs to thrive and reach their goals.

Central D

C4

Developing a Financial Wellness Curriculum for Health Professions Students

Sue McNamara and Roxanne Seymour, Geisinger College of Health Sciences

Contact: mlschmude1@geisinger.edu

This session will focus on how the financial aid office at Geisinger College of Health Sciences implements its financial wellness program through partnerships with professional speakers to enhance student engagement, raise awareness of available support services and deliver customized financial education.

Central E

C5

The Rise of AI: Title IX Considerations for Practitioners

Andrew Matt, Pennsylvania Western University

Contact: amatt@pennwest.edu

You might know how your students are using AI, but do you know how your investigators and decision makers are using it? Should they be using it? This presentation will discuss both the potential sexual misconduct that can originate from AI and the risks and opportunities that AI presents for Title IX practitioners. Participants will learn how to frame this discussion and plan for the ever-increasing presence of AI in the Title IX and compliance fields.

Heritage

C6

Equity in Action: Engaging Students, Empowering Leaders, Preventing Harm

Yolanda Edrington, Respect Together

Contact:yedrington@respecttogether.org

Creating equitable, student-centered prevention programming is essential for colleges and universities seeking to build safe, supportive campus environments. This session will explore how higher education institutions can strengthen their sexual assault prevention efforts by centering equity, cultivating collaborative leadership and authentically engaging students throughout the campus experience

Central A

D1

Roundtable: Parent Pathways Grantees

David Stewart, Pennsylvania Department of Education

Contact: dalstewar@pa.gov

This session will hold space for authentic reflection and sharing from Parent Pathways grant recipients, gather insights and inspiration on pressing challenges and promising opportunities, and share ideas and resources.

Harris

D2

Connecting the Dots: Partnering to Meet Students’ Basic Needs

Leanne Lenz and Kara Anderson, Pennsylvania State University

Contact: lul100@psu.edu

Supporting students’ essential needs requires more than one office, one department, or one organization—it takes a coordinated network of campus and community partners. In this session, we will share Penn State’s process for fostering collaboration across a large university system and with local community resources to address student needs in real time. Participants will then engage in an interactive, case-based problem-solving activity, working in small groups to tackle realistic essential needs scenarios and brainstorm actionable solutions.

Keystone

D3

Leading with Dignity: Case Management from a Dignity Lens

Sara Shaw, Pennsylvania State University, and Seth Rosenblatt, Community College of Allegheny County

Contact: sks6609@psu.edu

Attendees will discover how dignity can inform their work and interactions with students or clients that they work with, as we all have inherent worth and value. The presentation will cover the 10 elements of dignity, illustrating how authenticity and the ability to build relationships are key to building and maintaining a safe environment for all.

Central D

D4

Skills for Lifelong Mental Health: Supporting PA Students to Navigate Wellbeing from High School Through College

Sara Goulet and Rose Milani, Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, and Dr. Dana Milakovic, Pennsylvania Department of Education

Contact: sgoulet@pa.gov, c-rmilani@pa.gov and damilakovi@pa.gov

Join cross-agency colleagues to address the gap in mental health awareness, information and supports for students, and families and practitioners making the transition from high school to college. Participants will contribute to a landscape scan of promising practices in place, and solution generation at the local, regional and statewide levels; gather ideas to bridge the gap in your communities; and help activate a statewide framework to advance across the commonwealth.

Central E

D5

Flipping the Script on Male Athletes: Supporting Silent Voices

Rachel Drosdick-Sigafoos and Marcus Mitchell, Lackawanna College

Contact: drosdickr@lackawanna.edu and mitchellm@lackawanna.edu

This session will show participants how to distinguish restorative violence prevention perspectives from historical perspectives and practices, develop programs that engage male athletes' historical experiences with violence and facilitate healthy acknowledgment and recovery, summarize common misconceptions about male athletes and violence, and list common violent encounters male athletes may have experienced.

Heritage

D6

More Than a Referral: How Partnerships Become Lifelines

Lily Duarte Evans and TaLisa Ramos-Watts, YWCA Carlisle & Cumberland County / Ancestral Healing Collective

Contact: lduarteevans@carlisleywca.flywheelstaging.com

This storytelling-centered presentation is grounded in real experiences from practitioners working at the intersections of trauma, equity, and community care. Through anecdotal stories from the field, presenters will explore moments when collaboration moved beyond a referral and into a relationship—resulting in increased safety, dignity, access, and healing. These narratives illuminate what effective partnership looks like in practice, the conditions that allow it to thrive, and the human impact that emerges when institutions and community organizations work together with care and accountability. Participants will gain a renewed understanding of partnership as a living, relational practice—and an invitation to move from coordination to collective care.

Central A