JUSTICE SUMMIT 2015

View program in PDF here

Registration & Lunch - 11:30am
Plenary: What Makes a Healthy Community? - 12:15pm
State Representative Robyn Gabel
Michael Anthony, Chief Diversity Officer, Oakton Community College
Maria Hadden, Project Manager, The Participatory Budgeting Project
Break-out session #1** - 1:45pm
Break-out session #2** - 3:00pm
Suburban Team Tables - 4:05pm
Community Reports/Action Plans - 4:45pm
Reception - 5:15pm to 6:30pm

** You have two opportunities to choose from these break-out sessions. See below.

#1: The Safe Community: Promoting Respect, Reducing Violence
Panelists will share strategies on how our suburbs can create safer spaces with gun violence and hate crime prevention, and culturally sensitive policing.
- Lee Goodman, Founder, Peaceful Communities
- Denyse Stoneback, Founder, People for a Safer Society

#2: Open to All: Housing and Economic Justice
A living wage, treating all workers -- immigrant and native born alike -- with dignity, political representation that reflects the community, and housing that meets people where they’re at economically and culturally: these are key ingredients of the Welcoming Community. The presentation will emphasize the holistic nature of “affirmatively furthering fair housing” and the importance of an all-encompassing environment, particularly for workers who bring much to our communities but are often disenfranchised and excluded.
- Neda Brisport, Director of Fair Housing, Open Communities
- Meghan A. VanLeuwen, Litigation Director, Farmworker & Landscaper Advocacy Project
- Spencer Cowan, Senior Vice President of Research, Woodstock Institute.

#3: Inclusive Schools and Education Equity
What does it mean to be a welcoming school district within the constraints of segregated housing patterns?  What can suburban residents do to effect change in a metropolitan system that sanctions separate and unequal educational opportunities? Does diversity in schools create a net gain for all?
- Dan Lawler and Spiro Bolos, New Trier's Metropolitan Community Project
- Steve Bogira, The Chicago Reader
- Kourtney Cockrell, Student Enrichment Services at Northwestern University

#4: Visioning Together for the Sustainable, Welcoming Community
Workshop participants will gather ideas from the Evanston150 community engagement process to aid in developing their own strategies for promoting the Principles of the Welcoming Community. Panelists will highlight examples of projects that fulfill several Principles, including access to locally grown food, access to meaningful recreational opportunities, safe roads, and civic participation.
- Eleanor Revelle, President, Citizens’ Greener Evanston
- Sara Schastok, President and CEO, Evanston Community Foundation

#5: Strengthening Communities: Creative Conflict Resolution
In this workshop, two community lawyers will teach creative tools, skills, and models of alternative dispute resolution such as negotiation, mediation, and restorative justice as powerful community building tools. Using the school-to-prison pipeline, we will explore the impact of a more punitive approach to conflict resolution as the springboard for discussion.
- Patrick Keenan-Devlin, Deputy Director, Moran Center for Youth Advocacy
- Maya Diment Lenz, Equal Justice Works Fellow, Moran Center

#6: Supportive Housing in the Welcoming Community
Representatives from the north suburban-based Housing Opportunity Development Corp. and the New Foundation Center will provide an overview of the traditional model of supportive housing, where social services to residents with disabilities are wrapped around their housing, enabling them to live independently in the community. What are today’s promising practices? What do you think are thebarriers to supportive housing?
- Jessica Hotaling, Assistant Director, Housing Opportunity Development Corp.
- Sue Shimon, Executive Director, New Foundation Center

If you have any special accommodation requests, please contact Kayla Jones at kayla@open-communities.org or (847) 501-5760 x405