The Multidisciplinary Institute for Child Welfare is excited to announce the new Esther Wattenberg Conference Center. In 2025, the new training space officially opened in the Rosewood Office Building in Roseville, MN, to help provide functional training space for child welfare professionals.
The development of the center is a result of funding provided by the Multidisciplinary Institute for Child Welfare and its Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare at the University of Minnesota, known as CASCW, as well as the Minnesota Child Welfare Training Academy. The Training Academy is a collaboration between the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families and the Multidisciplinary Institute for Child Welfare. Collectively, these partners are dedicated to improving the knowledge, skills, and well-being of the professionals who work with children and their families.
The Rosewood office building became home to the Minnesota Child Welfare Training Academy in 2021, where they actualized their mission to train, develop, and support the skills, expertise, and well-being of Minnesota’s child welfare workforce while nurturing a commitment to equitable child welfare practice.
In 2023, the CASCW Outreach Team also moved into the space, allowing for better collaboration and enhanced learning opportunities. As training needs increased, it was determined that a much larger training space was needed to accommodate the training events of both organizations. A plan was developed to utilize the remaining space in the building, creating a two-thousand, six-hundred square foot center.
Located on the third floor of Rosewood Office Building, learners are first greeted at the Wattenberg Conference Center welcome desk. An open kitchen is also available for learners to refrigerate perishable items, prepare snacks or meals, and find a hot beverage. Gender-neutral bathrooms are located throughout the building, as well as huddle rooms for small or private virtual meetings. Learners who are new parents and need to express milk can reserve time in a nursing room. A wellness room is also available for anyone needing a calming space for religious observation, meditation, or privacy.
The Conference Center is large enough for 92 learners, and features large monitors, a built-in sound system, and an elevated platform for trainers and presenters. The room is completely accessible with ramps, and a versatile floor plan that allows for various learning configurations.
Esther Wattenberg was a professor of social work at the University of Minnesota, and a fierce advocate for underserved women and children. She co-founded CASCW in 1992, and passed away in 2019. Esther believed in dynamic and reflexive learning environments, and would undoubtedly be proud of the new, accessible space and the way it demonstrates a commitment to the hard-working child welfare professionals throughout Minnesota.
If you are interested in learning more about upcoming trainings and events from the Minnesota Child Welfare Training Academy or the Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare, please visit mnchildwelfaretraining.com and cascw.umn.edu to check out what’s new.