
Edgar Villanueva
Keynotes
Our keynote speakers will be featured on each day of the conference, followed by facilitated question and answer sessions to engage the audience.

Angela Davis
AUG 5
3:40PM

adrienne maree brown
AUG 4
4:00PM
AUG 6
10:10AM

SESSION TRACKS
Racial Equity
Sessions designed to advance understanding of and implementation of racial equity capacity building.
Opportunity to Thrive
Sessions that directly address the social and economic barriers to thriving, racially equitable communities.
Youth at the Center
Youth-centered sessions that speak to racially equitable systems change and awareness.
Justice For All
Sessions that center the criminal justice system and best practices for moving forward collectively in a new, racially equitable reality.
DAILY SCHEDULE
WEDNESDAY | AUG 4
3:30 - Welcome & Introductions
4:00 - Keynote Session w/ Q&A: Edgar Villanueva
Moderated by Rachel D'Souza Siebert
5:10 - Virtual Happy Hour & Conversation
STL2039
This event is
Virtual
THURSDAY | AUG 5
8:30 - Welcome & Introductions
9:00 - Mayor Tishaura Jones
9:15 - Alternatives to the Carceral State – How to Transform St. Louis' Public Safety System
A discussion with Trevaughn Latimer, Jae Shepherd, Inez Bordeaux
Learn about our work to transform our public safety system. Our campaign desires to defund and divest from a broken public safety system, re-envision what a new alternative system could look like, and transform our region by reinvesting into policies and programs addressing root causes of violence and crime.
10:30 - Break: movement, meditation, networking
10:35 - 12:05 - *90-minute Workshop with Witnessing Whiteness Author, Shelly Tochluk*
Calling all white people! This workshop provides an overview of the white racial identity development process (developed by Janet E. Helms and popularized by Beverly Daniel Tatum). The discussion will highlight where white people tend to go awry, what lies at the core of our confusion and missteps, what strategies can help us move forward, and resources to help us find our way.
11:00 - Breakout Session 1
Still I Rise: Educational Equity for Girls of Color
Tracie Berry McGhee
Key opportunities to identify and break down the barriers and education disparity. Discuss preventive mobile support systems, define the benefits of restorative justice practices, Implement tools educators can use to avoid pervasive racial and gender stereotypes and increase positive relationships.
Environmental Racism in STL Report: What’s Next?
Karisa Gilman-Hernandez, Katerine Fenerson, Ashton Kuehnel
Environmental Racism in St. Louis foundational organizations will discuss the origins of the report, community support, and next steps.
Equity Through Resident Leadership: How the Neighborhood Leadership Fellows Transform the Promise Zone With Policy and Power
Claire Rippel, Dwayne T James, Sundy Whiteside, Alan Mueller, Julia Allen and Gary Johnson
What if residents in neighborhoods were truly in charge of their community’s future? The Neighborhood Leadership Fellows (NLF) brings together residents from the Saint Louis Promise Zone (North St. Louis City and North County) to work on systems change through advocacy and to access to civic leadership tables and halls of power. In this session, you will hear about our strategies for activating and amplifying resident leadership on the local and state level and policy efforts underway by current Fellows.
Transforming Responses to Violence:
Using Survivor Centered Strategies to Address Serious Violence
Michael Milton & John Nanny
Strategies to address harm have historically depended on control, punishment, and oppression - disproportionately against Black and poor people. In this session we will explore creative strategies to reduce harm that are centered by survivors, have greater efficacy, and disrupts the cycle of violence that is generated by incarceration.
Session 1
12:00 - Lunch Break
1:30 - Breakout Session 2
Trauma-Informed Care Klass! MOkidsR#1
Dr. Sharonica Hardin-Bartley, Dr. Terry Harris, Kayla Thompson
An interactive discussion and examples of practical application of the framework and foundational model of the Alive and Well Educator’s workgroup that created the Missouri Model for Trauma Informed Schools.
Racial Equity in the Food System
Tosha Phonix
Defining: food apartheid, food justice and the need to see racial equity in this area. How the basic necessity of food is interconnected with violence, poverty, and community degradation.
REFORM is Revolutionary: Role-Driven Race Equity Reform
Kenya N Washington Johnson
This interactive session is a facilitated dialogue that considers a strategy for transforming toward equity today being developed at a historically black university.
Affordable Homebuyers Need
Mortgages Too
Faith Weekly
Community lenders are seeking to fill a critical gap and connect eligible buyers with small loans with the goal of increasing wealth for low-and-moderate income buyers and stabilizing disinvested communities. Learn more about innovative and promising mortgage lending programs.
Confronting White Supremacy in the Non-profit Sector
Sarah Masoud, Christina Meneses, Dewitt Campbell
This session will confront the role of the non-profit sector as an agent of white supremacy, and offer strategies for change.
Session 2
2:30 - Break: movement, mediation, networking
2:40 - Breakout Session 3
Impacts of COVID & Racism on Early Childhood Education
De Finch, Rochelle Bea, Cortaiga S. Collins, Tina Mosley
Explore pain points, pivots, and coaction among institutions, educators, and advocates during 2020, and address issues of inequities in ECE and were exacerbated by COVID.
Decolonizing Economic Development: Racial Equity Approaches to implementing the 2030 Jobs Plan
Natalie Self, Justin Raymundo, Sherita Love, Kate Polokonis
This interactive panel will cover four perspectives on policy and systems change approaches to economic development in the region. We will discuss equitable approaches to implementing the 2030 Jobs Plan, including the interconnectivity of education and economic development.
Demand the Truth-Fight Secrecy in the Criminal Justice System
Philip Weeks & Emmanuel Powell
Our local governments hide inequities and violence perpetrated by police. Our session argues for open data and open government in STL!
COVID & Professionalism: Moving from Racism to Liberation
Jewel Stafford, Cynthia Williams, Jenni Harpring
Participants will explore professionalism standards, bias and strategies for dismantling explicit/implicit white supremacy in the pandemic.
Informed & Transformed: Using Radical Collaboration to Catalyze Systems and Community Transformation
Riisa Rawlins Easley, Sean Marz, Kaytlin Reedy-Rogier, Rebeccah Bennett, Serena Muhammad
Participants will learn about a bi-directional collaboration that centers community in partnerships to develop shared agendas, accountability, and transformed systems and community practice.
Session 3
3:45 - Thank Yous & Speaker Intro
4:00 - Keynote with Angela Davis, moderated by Blake Strode and Kayla Reed
FRIDAY | AUG 6
8:30 - Welcome & Housekeeping
9:00 - Breakout Session 4
Redefining Power + Leadership
Hilary Sedovic, Cordell Billups
What are the roles of equity, history, and power in shaping narratives in our communities? How might we design more equitable systems through the lens of personal and organizational humility-building?
Our Fund our Future: Leveraging Power Through Healing + Justice
Aaron Rogers, Mia Malcolm, Jenniqual Johnson, Michelle Barbeau
The first year learnings of the St. Louis Regional Racial Healing + Justice Fund. The CGB members will highlight how the fund practices ani-racist philanthropy, discuss the importance of and how to grow community awareness, power, and resilience through this process of healing and justice.
A Community Wealth Building Framework for St. Louis
Kristen Wagner
An overview of community wealth building principles, the potential for an equitable, regenerative economy, and local examples of efforts already underway
Creating a Culture of Mutual Aid
Rachel D'Souza-Siebert, Sarah Rose, Carmen Ward, Sayer Johnson
Participants will gain an understanding of how to build a successful mutual aid framework by hearing directly from donors, program implementers, and recipients of mutual aid.
Leveraging Community Brilliance Towards Equity
Jessica Wernli
Participants will explore how to activate & leverage “community brilliance” as they work to achieve racial equity in the spaces they lead.
Session 4
10:00 - Break!
10:10 - Thank Yous & Speaker Intro
10:20 - Keynote with adrienne maree brown, followed by a panel discussion moderated by David Dwight IV, with Bethany Johnson-Javois, Ohun Ashe & Rebeccah Bennett
12:00 - Thank You & Close Out
