NEW YORK (US), 8-9 March 2002: FIRST CONGRESS OF THE U.S. BASIC INCOME GUARANTEE NETWORK: FUNDAMENTAL INSECURITY OR BASIC INCOME GUARANTEE The U.S. Basic Income Guarantee Network (USBIG) is an organisation dedicated to increasing public discussion of the Basic Income Guarantee, understood as "the assurance by the federal government that no citizen's income will fall below a minimum level for any reason". As announced previously, its first congress will be held at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (365 Fifth Avenue, NYC). It will consist of a series of panels, discussion groups, and speakers and it will include an organizational meeting for USBIG. It is sponsored by the Center for Social Justice, School of Social Welfare, Stony Brook University, the Center for the Study of Culture, Technology, and Work at the CUNY Graduate Center, the Continuing Education and Public Programs at the CUNY Graduate Center, and the Citizen Policies Institute. Confirmed speakers include: Stanley Aronowitz (City University of New York), Anne Alstott (Yale University), Guy Standing (ILO, Geneva), Eduardo Suplicy (Federal Senator for Sao Paulo), Harold Watts (Columbia University), Alice O'Connor (UC Santa Barbara), Sumner M. Rosen (Columbia University), Edward N. Wolff (New York University), Frank Kirkland (Hunter College), Lynn Chancer (Fordham University), Walter Williams (University of Washington), Robinson Hollister (Swarthmore College), Miriam Abramowitz (Hunter College School of Social Work) Steven Pressman (editor of Poverty in America: An Annotated Bibliography), Ruth Brandwein (SUNY), Barbara Bergmann (American University), Joel Blau (SUNY), Jeff Manza (Northwestern University), Fred Block (University of California-Davis), Allan Sheahen (author of Guaranteed Income. The Right to Economic Security), Steve Shafarman (Citizens Policies Institute), Walter Van Trier (Catholic University of Leuven), Amy Wax (University of Pennsylvania), Irwin Garfinkel (Columbia University), Robert Harris (former Executive Director of the President's Commission on Income Maintenance, Charles M.A. Clark (St. John 's University). To register, send your name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, affiliation (if applicable), and the registration fee of $25 ($15 for students, the unemployed, and TANF participants) to: Edith Lundgren, The SUNY School of Social Welfare at Stony Brook, Health Sciences Center Level 2, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA. The conference organizer is Michael Lewis, of the SUNY School of Social Welfare, Stony Brook, with the assistance of the conference committee: Eri Noguchi, of Columbia University, Stanley Aronowitz, of the City University of New York, Heather Gautney, of the City University of New York, and Karl Widerquist, of the Educational Priorities Panel. For further information, see the USBIG website (http://www.usbig.net) or contact Michael A. Lewis at mlewis at notes.cc.sunysb.edu.