The 22nd BIG Conference Schedule & Map

Registration and Check-In

Check-in for Conference attendees. Please see our Full COVID Policy.

Opening Remarks: Meeting the Moment, Together

Speaker: Chelsea Wilkinson, President of USBIG, organizing partner of the BIG Conference.
Emcee: MADDOX Guerilla, Visionary Cultural Worker

Understanding Our History

Panelists: Dr. Zea Malawa, Director of Expecting Justice; Khea Pollard, Director of Economic Mobility and Opportunity at Jewish Family Services;  Jhumpa Bhattacharya, Co-President and Founder at The Maven Collaborative.  
Facilitator: Saadia Van Winkle, Founder of The Comms Shop

Haibun: Connecting Through Creative Experience

Artist Presenter: Kevin Dublin, educator, advocate, writer of poetry, prose, scripts and code. Director of Elder Writing Project

Our Experience Informs Our Vision

Speaker: Stacey Rutland, Founder and President of Income Movement

Stretch

A mindful, gentle stretch session designed to enhance flexibility, release the body of tension, quiet the mind and ground us as we .
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Practitioners: We Heal Different: Breezy and Bobbi

Pilots and Research to Inform Policy: OpenResearch

Speakers: Elizabeth Rhodes, Research Director, Qualitative & Quantitative Principal Investigator at OpenResearch;  Karina Dotson, Research & Insights Manager at OpenResearch

Pilots & Community to Drive Systems Change

Speaker: Neil Howard, Reader in International Development, University of Bath

Lunch - The Store House

Opportunity to re-energize and connect and collaborate with community. Food catered by Radish.

Breakout 1 - Participant Centered Strategies for Sunsetting Pilots

Speakers: Maura Cuffie-Peterson, Creatives Rebuild New York; Talia Livneh, Rooted School; Maria Sierra,  Denver Basic Income Project; Deandra Rodriguez, Families and Youth Innovations Plus.

Breakout 1 - Why All GI Work is Narrative Change Work

Speakers: Jhumpa Bhattacharya, The Maven Collaborative; Saadia Van Winkle, The Comms Shop

Breakout 1 - Pilot Participant Convening

This session is by and for those participating in pilots across the country. Please, no administrators, researchers or other community members in this session.  

Breakout 1 - Community Organizing & Pilots: An International Case Study for Successful Base Building

Speakers: Neil Howard, Reader in International Development, University of Bath

Travel to Next Sessions

Breakout 2 - Strategies for Next Generation Pilots: Re-imagining Goals, Design, and Research for Scaling

Speakers: Kevin Gotkin, Creatives Rebuild New York; Alison Friedman-Phillips, The Women’s Foundation of Colorado / Cash for Coloradans Coalition; Gwen Battis, Denver Basic Income Project; Maria Sierra, Denver Basic Income Project; Maya Tellman, YouthNPower; Denice Ocana, YouthNPower; T’coy Adams, YouthNPower; Ellenie Liang, YouthNPower.

Breakout 2 - Strategies for Narrative Change: Applying Messaging, Research, and Organizing to Different Movement Goals

Speakers: Maya Faulstich-Hon, Ideas42; Trevor Xmith, BLIS Collective; Halah Ahmad, formerly at Jain Family Institute.

Breakout 2 - The Art of Ethical Storytelling: Empowerment Through Authenticity

Speakers: Rae Oglesby, UpTogether; Lynette Brown, UpTogether; Maria Jandres, UpTogether Pilot Participant.

Breakout 2 - Affinity Gathering, Unstructured Conversations

This room is an open convening space for people to connect, collaborate, process previous sessions or plan coordinated efforts across coalitions or regions.

Breakout 2 - Meditation / Anchoring Session

Practitioners: We Heal Different, Breezy and Bobbi

Travel to Final Plenaries - Gallery 308

Breakout Sessions Share-out

Opportunity for speakers, registrants and / or participants to share key insights and take-aways from the afternoon breakout sessions and encourage action and next steps.

Day 1 Wrap Up

Connecting topics and efforts from Day 1 sessions to broader movement work. Set the stage for Day 2 programming.

Registration and Check-In

Check-in for Conference attendees joining us for the in-person events in Portland. Attendees will be asked to complete a COVID rapid test and Health Questionnaire prior to gaining entry into the event. Link to the Full COVID Policy.

The distributional impacts of universal basic income policies

UBI policies inevitably transform the distribution of income and wealth. These talks discuss how various policy designs can affect inequality and other distributional outcomes. [Livestream]
Speakers: Nikhil Woodruff, Aleida Baumgartner, Almaz Zelleke

The Health and Mental Health Case for Basic Income: Stories from the Front Line and the Academy

This session includes two papers of 15 minutes each on basic income as a means to prevent health and mental health problems and to improve health and mental health status. In addition there will be 15 minutes for questions and discussion. [Recorded]
Speakers: Sid Frankel, Leslie Kausch, Sarah "Faye" Doney

PLENARY: The Great Reshuffling: Pandemic Impacts on the Re-visioning of Work and Labor

The pandemic created an unprecedented disruption that shook the labor force across the country. With millions of Americans making important career shifts, and a societal challenging and redefining of "work" - we are experiencing a Great Reshuffling in our labor market. In this roundtable discussion, we’ll explore what unique challenges workers are facing and how basic income can support this shift in building a dignity economy. [Livestream]
Speakers: Madeline Neighly, Leslie Kausch, Emily Squadra, Adam Roseman

LUNCH

Explore Portland's food carts and restaurants. Eat out, or bring it back to Leftbank.

Film, Stories and Shifting Culture: Basic Income Filmmaker Forum

Join this exciting conversation with filmmakers who have tackled basic income through a variety of lenses and approaches and hear more about the process of getting their films made, their hopes and goals for their films as agents for change, and the next steps for their films. Filmmakers include: Chris Panizzon, producer of Inherent Good, Conrad Shaw, producer of Bootstraps, and Hazel Gurland-Pooler, director of Storming Caesars Palace. [Livestream]
Speakers: Chris Panizzon, Conrad Shaw, Hazel Gurland-Pooler

In-Kind Benefits vs. Direct Cash

Panelists compare the relative impact and efficiencies of two in-kind benefits as compared to direct cash grants, then reflect on the potential consequences - both positive and negative - of these two forms of public assistance. [Recorded]
Speakers: Tola Ouk, Tracy Smith-Carrier, Emma Smith Carrier

Exploring the Macroeconomic Effects of a Basic Income

What are the broader impacts of a national basic income on our economic system? Join leading analysts and advocates as they discuss macroeconomic effects. [Livestream]
Speakers: Scott Santens, Joshua Zane Miller, Max Ghenis

Oregon People’s Rebate: A Deep Dive into Ballot Measure Work

Having basic income policy gain traction at the state level is a critical step towards broad federal legislation. State work can come from elected officials and move through the state legislature, or, in the case of more than 20 states, it can come from the people, in the form of a ballot measure. In Oregon, the Oregon People’s Rebate is the first ballot measure for statewide direct cash policy. Hear more about this groundbreaking initiative, and how other states can take a similar approach. [Recorded]
Speakers: Antonio Gisbert, Anthony Johnson

PLENARY: Intersectionality of Movements: Basic Income as a Tool for Justice and Closing Remarks

Housing and disability rights. Racial, gender and LGBTQIA justice. The fight for everyone in our community to have their basic rights protected and basic needs covered includes an economic component. The dignity and flexibility of direct cash means basic income can be part of the economic solution to support all of these efforts. In this session, we will talk with leaders working across a wide range of justice work and learn why they have taken up direct cash as part of their programmatic work. This conversation can inspire new opportunities to grow the direct cash movement through intersectional partnerships. [Livestream]
Speakers: Mellani Calvin, Allison Teng, Raven Drake, Andrew Hogan, Ebonee Bell