• 7:00pm – Event begins
• 7:45pm – Opening Remarks from Joshua Vincent
• 8:05pm – Welcome to Durham from Pierce Freelon
• 8:25pm – Open Networking
• 9:25pm – Closing remarks and reminders
• 10:00pm – Event ends

9am: Digital Tools Training

Presenters:

Beau Cromartie – Co-Director of Digital Infrastructure

Beau Cromartie was born in Greensboro, NC and raised in Detroit, MI. Beau has 6 years of experience in digital strategy, community organizing, and non-profit work. They wholeheartedly believe in organizing communities of resistance to eliminate inequality and demand change.

Previously, Beau was the Co-Director of the Youth Organizing Institute, a program dedicated to building youth leadership and dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline. Beau also worked at Elsewhere Museum as the Managing Editor of I Don’t Do Boxes, a zine for queer youth.

Currently, Beau serves on the boards of Durham Beyond Policing and Mayfirst Technology Project. In their free time, Beau volunteers as a Certified Circus Teacher, trained by École nationale de cirque in Montreal, CA. Beau’s favorite things are blueberries, bodywork, and the beach.

Ben Carroll – Co-Director of Digital Infrastructure

Ben has been involved in movement building and organizing in North Carolina since 2005, becoming active around the struggle to end the war in Iraq. He is currently the Co-Director of Digital Infrastructure at the Southern Vision Alliance.

10am: Communications Training with Tef Poe

11:15am: Finance Training

Presenter:

LeiLani Dowell – Associate Director at Southern Vision Alliance

LeiLani Dowell is a queer Black femme who loves a nice spreadsheet. While working in activist circles for the majority of her life, she also recently received her Ph.D. in English from the City University of New York Graduate Center. As Program Coordinator of the CUNY Pipeline Program, LeiLani helped to organize resources and provide support to undergraduates from underrepresented communities throughout New York City. She is excited to be contributing her skills and knowledge to assist the good and vital work done at SVA. Raised in Los Angeles, LeiLani has lived in San Francisco and New York. She moved to Durham after meeting the love of her life while doing jail solidarity for the folks who brought down a Confederate statue on Aug. 14, 2017.

12:15pm: Development Training

Presenter:

Manzoor Cheema – Development Director at Southern Vision Alliance, Founding Member of Muslims for Social Justice

Manzoor Cheema has been a social justice organizer in NC since 2001. A native of Pakistan, Manzoor came to the USA for graduate studies at NC State University in 2000. He saw the ugly face of racism and imperialism in the wake of 9/11 when the US state promoted an anti-Muslim narrative and bombed Muslim countries. As a result, Manzoor joined Black, brown, worker-led movements to oppose wars, racism and inequality. In 2004, he launched a grassroots social justice TV show, Independent Voices, which ran for five years and broadcast from 70 public access TV stations. In 2013, he co-founded Muslims for Social Justice, an organization dedicated to pursuing Muslim liberation theology. Since then, MSJ has emerged as a leading Muslim social justice organization. Manzoor is a recipient of the 2014 Human Rights Award by the NC Human Rights Coalition and the 2016 Self-Determination Award by Black Workers for Justice.

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Moderator:

Dawn Blagrove – Executive Director of Emancipate NC

Dawn Blagrove is an attorney and activist who worked for close to a decade on behalf of incarcerated people at NC Prisoner Legal Services. She now serves as Executive Director of Emancipate NC, a community organization that works to dismantle structural racism and mass incarceration across the state. Emancipate NC’s focus areas include bail reform, ending youth confinement, police reform, and restorative justice.

Presenters:

Elizabeth Simpson – Strategic Director & Attorney at Emancipate NC

Elizabeth Simpson (she/her) is a movement lawyer, writer, and the strategic director of Emancipate NC. She is an adjunct law professor for the Critical Race Lawyering Civil Rights Clinic at UNC School of Law, co-chair of the board of the Southern Vision Alliance, and treasurer of Somos Siembra. She has spent her legal career working on behalf of people facing all manner of state oppression, including incarcerated and detained people, people subjected to deportation, people separated from their children, and people arrested in the course of political protest. Along with many others, she co-founded and co-administers the Freedom Fighter Bond Fund and the North Carolina Protest Defense Network.

Kerwin Pittman – Founder/Executive Director RREPS

Kerwin Pittman was born in Landstuhl Germany but raised in Raleigh, North Carolina. He is a National Social Justice Activist and Criminal Justice Reform Policy Expert. Kerwin advocates primarily in the social justice field, particularly criminal justice reform, in which he is a voice for the voiceless. Kerwin’s lived experience of spending 11 1/2 years incarcerated, with over a year in solitary confinement, motivated him to start his own nonprofit. He is the Founder and Executive Director of Recidivism Reduction Educational Program Services, Inc (RREPS). A nonprofit geared towards reducing the recidivism rate in North Carolina. Kerwin is also the director of Policy & Programing for Emancipate NC. A nonprofit slated towards combating structural racism in the criminal justice system. He also sits on the North Carolina Task Force For Racial Equity In Criminal Justice created and headed by North Carolina’s Governor Roy Cooper. As well as, Kerwin sits on the State Reentry Council Collaborative created and headed by North Carolina’s Governor Roy Cooper. He is also an Author who penned the book “Love Yours: A guide on how to love yourself”. Which is a self-help book slated towards empowerment of love in one’s self.

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Moderator:

Josh Vincent – Executive Director of Southern Vision Alliance

Joshua previously served as the State Coordinator for Civic Engagement and GOTV for the NC NAACP in 2012 and was Lead Organizer/ Deputy State Coordinator with Obama for America during the 2008 campaign. As a musician, Joshua has worked with Grammy award winning poets, vocalists and producers such as J. Ivy, Tarrey Torrae, and Buckwild. Joshua and his twin brother worked on the score for the second season of Aaron McGruder’s the Boondocks, alongside 9th Wonder. A trained Jazz Trombonist who also plays salsa, Joshua has performed at the Newport Jazz Festival, The International Association of Jazz Educators conference in Toronto, Long Beach, and New York, and the International Jazz Festival in Detroit. Joshua is also one half of the musical production/hip hop duo Beatnam Vets. They have opened for artists such as Erykah Badu an d Lupe Fiasco and have two full length albums on iTunes. He was among the 6 student protesters arrested in NC House Speaker Thom Tillis’ office opposing the voter suppression bill. Joshua has a Master’s degree in History with a concentration in Jazz studies on Jazz and American Diplomacy during the Cold War Era from NCCU and has his second Master’s degree at Cal State East Bay in music. Josh currently resides in Raleigh where he continues to be an active organizer and play music.

Presenters:

Anita Cunningham – Project Director, NC Disaster Survival and Resiliency School

Since 2020 Anita has been working with the NC Disaster Survival and Resiliency School as the Project Director leading the effort to support local, regional and statewide disaster organizing in communities impacted by climate disasters. Anita has recently joined the NC Climate Solutions Coalition as Program Director; where efforts across energy, climate and disaster justice intersect. She is a passionate disaster and community organizer in Robeson County working with Dogwood Alliance for environmental justice opposing the wood pellet industry and the harm it is causing in Eastern NC.

Anita is passionate about justice in the South and advocates and supports BIPOC communities on the local level to create organized influence for statewide systems change and supports and educates folks on a cleaner and greener sustainable form of energy for our future – less dependent on fossil fuels. She brings to this work a love of the planet and all living things and her desire to help always in all ways. Her connections to family (her 2 children and 3 grandchildren) give her ample motivation to stand in solidarity with other like minded partners across the South.

Martha Hernandez – member/founder of Comite De Accion Popular

I am Martha Hernandez, an undocumented community organizer, originally from Mexico City. I have two kids and come from a family of labor workers. From a very young age, I learned that workers’ lives were full of shortages and injustices, but I also learned that we could and should fight to improve our living conditions. In high school, I got involved in the student movement and worked in factories to organize and live in person a worker’s life. All my life, I have been involved in social movements, and I continue learning every day.

I came to North Carolina 20 years ago, and since then, I have been involved with the migrant and undocumented community. 6 years ago, with 4 colleagues, I founded Comité de Acción Popular to learn together and take action for the rights of the migrant community in North Carolina.

Irene Godinez – Executive Director & Founder, Poder NC Action

Irene Godínez is a North Carolinian of Mexican heritage raised in Durham. Irene is the Founder and Executive Director of Poder NC Action, a 501(c)(4) organization that is building people power alongside young Latinxs across North Carolina. Poder leans into its cultural organizing to connect with its base and to mobilize towards independent political power that is grounded in principles, values and love. Poder NC is pro-Black, pro-Latinx, pro-LGBTQ+, and pro-Reproductive Justice.

Irene has worked for local, state, and national organizations on advancing immigrant and reproductive rights. Her work at issue-based nonprofits, coupled with her campaign experience, and leadership coaching of elected officials crystallized her mission–to build equitable political representation for underserved communities and to create an intentional civic leadership pipeline for Black and Brown youth

Irene has 18 years experience in nonprofit management, community mobilization and engagement, lobbying, coalition-building, advocacy, media relations, political strategy, and public speaking. Irene is a risk-taker for justice, office-supply junkie, recovering perfectionist, and committed to nurturing spaces that enable others to show up authentically. Irene lives and plays in Raleigh, NC with the most authentic person she has ever known, her 6 year old truth-telling daughter, Emerald.

Kristen Hopkins – Founder and CEO of Dangers Of The Mind, LLC

Kristen Hopkins is an author, international speaker, and social entrepreneur dedicated to the holistic development of youth, young adults, and professionals.

As the Founder and CEO of , Dangers Of The Mind, LLC and Kristen Hopkins Global, and the Dangers Of The Mind Education Fund, located in Durham, NC, Kristen has developed and implemented culturally responsive Social Emotional Learning (SEL) curricula, programs, Less Talk More SEL Community Forums and resources in schools, not-for-profits, and corporate organizations. She has brought her teachings to school districts in Haiti, Ghana, and cities across the United States of America.

Ms. Hopkins is an esteemed author of multiple books, curricula, and an intervention kit for in-school suspension and youth detention centers. Hopkins has also established a lifestyle brand, a virtual coaching practice, a clothing line and a team of brand ambassadors who advocate for the DOM movement daily.

A fierce visionary, pioneer, and thought leader, Hopkins is often acknowledged for her contributions to the field of educational entrepreneurship. In 2016 she received the “30 Under 30 Award for Women of Excellence in Leadership”. Kristen and her company serve as founding members of the Social-Emotional Learning providers Association with other top Social-Emotional providers around the nation. She also was a guest panelist on the Inaugural International SEL day in March 2020.

Kristen has been a guest speaker at Philips Arena STEM WARS, World Congress Center, and the 50th Anniversary of the Boys and Girls Club of America, to name a few. Kristen is the creator of Black SEL and looks to continue her mission to empower others through SEL and be the voice of culturally responsive social-emotional resources for disadvantaged youth and black communities of this generation and beyond.

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Moderator:

Presenters:

Derrick Beasley – Co Director – Grounded Possibilities Fellowship

Derrick Beasley is a treehugger, forest bather, multidisciplinary artist and cultural organizer from Durham, North Carolina. Derrick’s creative and organizing work is focused on building power through the development of new institutions, healing relationships with the planet and sparking imagination around possibilities for a liberated future. Derrick is the co-founder of Tall Grass Food Box, a CSA that sources produce from Black Farmers in NC for customer subscriptions and food insecure families in the triangle. Derrick is also the Co-director of the grounded Possibilities fellowship. The 18 month fellowship provides opportunities for Black, NC artists to learn about contemporary environmental Justice issues and funds a creative project.

Monet Marshall – Co Director – Grounded Possibilities Fellowship

Monèt Noelle Marshall is an artist and cultural organizer. She centers Southern Black trans, queer folks and women in her work and defines her artistic practice as “rehearsal for the relationship’. She co-directs the Grounded Possibilities Fellowship with Derrick Beasley is the Artistic Learning and Grantmaking Manager at Cypress Fund. Monet is the Founder and Chief Visionary Officer for Conjure Tech and was the founding Artistic Director of MOJOAA Performing Arts Company. Her work has been experienced in St. Ann’s Warehouse, Nuyorican Poets Cafe, Open Eye Figure Theatre, Northstar Church of the Arts, Wayne State University and Mordecai Historic Park. Most recently she has collaborated with African American Policy Forum on Gucci’s Chime for Change zine, Scalawag Magazine, NC Museum of Art, Historic Stagville, City of Raleigh and Columbia University.

Omisade Burney-Scott – Creator/Curator, Black Girl’s Guide to Surviving Menopause

Omisade Burney-Scott (she / her) is a Black southern 7th generation native North Carolinian feminist, mother and healer with decades of experience in nonprofit leadership, philanthrophy, and social justice. She is a founding tribe member of SpiritHouse and previously served as a board member of The Beautiful Project, Village of Wisdom, and Working Films. Omisade is the creator of The Black Girl’s Guide to Surviving Menopause, a multimedia project seeking to curate and share the stories and realities of Black women and femmes over 50. She is a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, the proud mother of two sons, and resides in Durham.

*Dinner & Drinks Provided*

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Moderators:

Rev Nelson & Joyce Johnson – Co-Executive Directors of The Beloved Community Center of Greensboro
Rev. Nelson Johnson has been active in the movement for social and economic justice since high school in the late 1950’s. Between high school and college, Rev. Johnson served four years in the United States Air Force. Following his discharge in 1970, he enrolled at A&T State University and served as Vice President of the Student Government Association.

In 1979, Mr. Johnson led the labor and human rights rally that ended with the daylight murders of 5 community and labor leaders’ murders by Nazi and Klan members, which became known as the “Greensboro Massacre”. Mr. Johnson entered the seminary in Virginia and returned to Greensboro in 1989. He became Assistant Pastor then Pastor of Faith Community Church in Greensboro, NC. In 1991, Rev. Johnson, his wife, Mrs. Joyce Hobson Johnson, and others co-founded The Beloved Community Center of Greensboro. Currently, Rev. Nelson Johnson serves as the Co-Executive Director of The Beloved Community Center of Greensboro.

Mrs. Joyce Hobson Johnson’s community activism and leadership started when she was a high school student and NAACP youth member in Richmond, VA during the struggle for human and women’s rights in the 1960’s and continued through her college years at Duke University. She also served as a university professor and research director at A&T University for 27 years. Currently, Mrs. Joyce Hobson Johnson continues fighting for social and economic justice as she serves as the Co-Executive Director of the Beloved Community Center of Greensboro, a community organizing, leadership development, research, and advocacy nonprofit.

In 2004, the Johnsons helped launch the Greensboro Truth and Community Reconciliation Process, to uncover the truth and begin the healing process from the horrific trauma and killings by Nazi and Klan members in Greensboro, NC on Nov 3, 1979. Influenced by international models such as the South African process, this initiative encourages broad community dialogue, truth-telling, understanding, justice and healing throughout Greensboro in pursuit of equity, economic and social justice.

After advising several national TJRC efforts, the Johnsons launched the NC Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (NC-TJRC) process in 2022 and are currently training potential community member sites across North Carolina.