SERIES PRESENTERS
Come collaborate with stakeholders from health and wellness, education, business and community to build healthier school communities.
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Where is student health and wellness right now and what can we do to expand their healthier school communities?
As we approach the one-year mark of COVID-19, school closing and disrupted life, education and community stakeholders are convening to develop solutions, participate in dialogue and discussion, and develop personal action plans for their communities to
Establish and nurture the whole-child mindset and develop solutions to address inequalities through collaboration and cross-functional relationships.
Envision post-pandemic solutions to support continued healthier school community growth.
Emphasize the value of partnerships to create and fund healthier school communities.
Join us for this action-oriented thought-leadership virtual forum. Sign up today.
What you will gain:
New thinking and perspectives about how to meet the diverse and multi-faceted needs of children, especially in a time of great change and challenges.
Ideas, connections, commitments to action, and a renewed sense of purpose and confidence.
Your own short- and long-term action plans for expanding on your healthier school community.
Who should attend:
School Nutrition Professionals
National Education Leaders
School and District Leaders
School Health, Wellness and Nutrition Leaders
Health/Public Health Leaders
Food/Sustainability/Agriculture Business Community
Community-Based Education Leaders
Students/Youth Leadership Organizations
Parents
Civic Leaders
Corporate and Business Leaders
Move forward together with our host GENYOUth and our sponsor Midwest Dairy!
Welcome
Opening Keynote Address
Key results and insights from the newest GENYOUth Youth Insights Survey on the many pandemic-related challenges confronting students and educators right now.
Action-Panel Discussions (choose one)
Establishing a Whole-Child Mindset and Culture: Suggestions and Solutions
Envisioning Post-Pandemic Solutions to Support Healthier School Community Growth
Powerful Partnerships to Support Healthier School Communities and Close Funding Gaps
Making It Happen: Breakout Sessions
Return to your action-panel group and collaborate to create your own commitment to action for the short and long-term.
Closing Keynote Address
Executive Director
Take Action Minnesota
Elianne Farhat has been a leader in many successful local, state and national campaigns throughout her 15 years of community, labor, and electoral organizing. Elianne’s commitment to building power in poor and working class communities of color has been a constant thread through her diverse work experience – whether that be while organizing New American voters in Chicago, electing Minnesota’s first progressive governor in more than 20 years, or advancing strategic campaigns securing historic policy wins for millions of working families. In 2018, she became TakeAction’s Executive Director and is responsible for operationalizing the ambitious vision of TakeAction Minnesota’s leadership into concrete and meaningful action. Elianne is the first in her Lebanese father’s family to be born in the United States and of Lakota (Standing Rock) descent on her mother’s side. She serves on the board of People’s Action and is the recent recipient of the Joan Growe Award for Distinguished Commitment to Expanding Access to Democracy and Justice.
Panelist
Elianne Farhat
Doran Schrantz
Executive Director
ISAIAH
Doran Schrantz is the executive director of ISAIAH. Schrantz has been working in the field of community-based organizing for 20 years and has transformed ISAIAH into one of the most powerful and effective organizing organizations in Minnesota and the country. Schrantz received the RWJF Young Leaders award in 2012 for work to connect building a culture of health and robust, community-based organizing.
Panelist
Aditi Vaidya
Senior Program Officer
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Aditi Vaidya joined the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in 2017 as a senior program officer working toward the goal of building community power to support a Culture of Health. With her far-reaching expertise in organizing, environmental health, economic justice, corporate accountability, and worker rights issues, she seeks to employ these skills to help communities promote health equity. Previously, Vaidya was senior program officer for three sister foundations: Solidago Foundation, See Forward Fund, and Frances Fund. Solidago is a public charity promoting justice, equity, sustainability, and enfranchisement. See Forward Fund supports grassroots lobbying for social justice and movement building, and the Frances Fund encourages progressive social change in a variety of sectors. Among her many initiatives with Solidago, Vaidya created Project Phoenix: Connecting Democracy, Economy, and Sustainability, a year-long cohort collective learning program for 40 participating foundations across health, democracy, economy, and environmental stability. Her prior work included serving as campaign director for the East Bay Alliance for Sustainable Economy (EBASE), in Oakland, Calif. A community-based organization, EBASE unifies community, faith, and labor groups to stand with low-income workers and families. She also served as the program director for the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, where she organized the first health and safety trainings for electronics workers. She has held other positions with the Jennifer Altman Foundation, which focuses on environmental health and justice; the Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic Justice; the Center for Environmental Citizenship; and the League of Conservation Voters Education Fund.
Host/Moderator
Session 2: September 9, 2021 at 1:00 pm ET
Profiles in Community Power: Building a People-Centered Movement
Manuel Pastor
Distinguished Professor of Sociology and American Studies & Ethnicity
Director, USC Equity Research Institute
Manuel Pastor is a Distinguished Professor of Sociology and American Studies & Ethnicity at the University of Southern California (USC), where he currently directs the USC Equity Research Institute and the Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration (CSII). He is the Turpanjian Chair in Civil Society and Social Change at USC and holds an economics PhD from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Pastor’s research has generally focused on issues of the economic, environmental, and social conditions facing low-income urban communities – and the social movements seeking to change those realities. His book State of Resistance: What California's Dizzying Descent and Remarkable Resurgence Means for America's Future came out in 2018 and was lauded in a New York Times review as “concise, clear and convincing.” His most recent book (2021) is South Central Dreams: Finding Home and Building Community in South L.A. (co-authored with Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo); forthcoming later in 2021 is Solidarity Economics: Why Mutuality and Movements Matter (co-authored with Chris Benner). He has previously served as Public Member of the Strategic Growth Council in California, as a member of the Commission on Regions appointed by California’s Speaker of the State Assembly, and as a member of the Regional Targets Advisory Committee for the California Air Resources Board. In 2012, he received the Liberty Hill Foundation’s Wally Marks Changemaker of the Year award for social justice research partnerships.
Host/Moderator
Session 1: August 26, 2021 at 2:00 pm ET
The Power to Transform Communities
Lili Farhang
Co-Director
Human Impact Partners
Lili Farhang co-directs Human Impact Partners and is responsible for advancing the mission and strategic direction of the organization. For nearly 20 years, she has visioned, developed, and implemented policy and systems change to advance health equity in the government and nonprofit sectors, and she is feeling energized by people’s willingness to talk about race, power, and the other root drivers of health. Originally from New York, Farhang now lives in Oakland and is kept on her toes by her two little kids and an unhealthy obsession with good TV and the Golden State Warriors.
Presenter/Panelist
Paul Speer
Professor and Chair
Department of Human and Organizational Development, Peabody College
Vanderbilt University
Paul W. Speer is a professor and department chair in Human and Organizational Development, Peabody College at Vanderbilt University. His research is in the area of community organizing, participation, social power, and community change. His work is focused on settings and contexts within organizations that support sustained civic engagement as well as the social network properties within those different contexts that are associated with strong participation. His work examines how these organizational contexts then translate that participation into the exercise of social power to achieve system-level changes in the broader community. Additionally, he studies how participation with organizing groups exercising social power impacts psychological and behavioral changes for individual participants. He also examines how groups conceptualize social power and the kinds of social change associated with these different conceptualizations. He is currently coinvestigator on a research project focused on youth violence prevention funded by the CDC with a focus on youth-led consciousness raising in relation to systemic racism. He is PI on a California-based organizing project examining new methods of relationship building to cross racial and other boundaries. He is co-investigator of an NIJ-funded study of community violence prevention. He has recently worked with RWJF’s Lead Local program exploring the relationships between health equity and community power. He has published over 50 articles and chapters in a variety of journals, including the American Journal of Community Psychology, Health Education & Behavior, and the American Journal of Public Health. He currently is on the editorial boards of the Journal of Urban Affairs and the American Journal of Community Psychology. He teaches courses in community development theory, action research, and community organizing.
Presenter/Panelist
Kevin Warren
Commissioner
Big Ten Conference
Kevin Warren was named Commissioner of the Big Ten Conference in 2020. During his first year of service, Commissioner Warren launched a series of initiatives to address issues associated with mental health and wellness, social justice, voter registration, and the international COVID-19 pandemic.
Warren joined the conference after serving as the Chief Operating Officer for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League, where he had worked since 2005. He was the highest-ranking African American executive working on the business side for a team in the NFL, and the first African American COO in NFL history.
During his 21 seasons in the NFL, and 15 with the Vikings, Mr. Warren directed the team’s focus on creating departmental synergy and collaboration; increasing financial profitability for the franchise; improving communication; developing leadership initiatives; implementing a platform focusing on a positive community impact through the new Minnesota Vikings Foundation; launching a women’s initiative program, creating an elevated fan experience; and building a world-class franchise focused on the tenets of hard work, ethics, financial profitability, community service, and a “best-in-class” mentality.
Mr. Warren earned his Bachelor’s in Business Administration from Grand Canyon University in 1986, his MBA from Arizona State University in 1988, and his Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Notre Dame School of Law in 1990. Mr. Warren is a licensed attorney with the State Bar of Kansas, Michigan and the District of Columbia.
Following the death of Minneapolis resident George Floyd, Commissioner Warren wrote an open letter on June 1, 2020, announcing the formation of the Big Ten Equality Coalition. The United States Library of Congress selected Commissioner Warren’s open letter for inclusion in its historic collection.
ISSUES AND ACTIO STEPS:
A National Forum on Expanding Healthier School Communities
March 24th, 2021
2:00 pm to 5:30 pm ET
Hosted with
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Lead Local
Exploring Community-Driven Change and the Power of Collective Action
A Four-Part Webinar Series
Shoshana Krieger
Project Director
Building and Strengthening Tenant Action,
a project of Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, Inc.
Shoshana Krieger is the Project Director of Building and Strengthening Tenant Action (BASTA) at Texas RioGrande Legal Aid. BASTA organizes Austin renters to work with their neighbors to ensure that all Austinites have access to safe and affordable housing by facilitating the development of tenant associations and building renter power in Austin. BASTA targets slumlords who profit off of renting substandard properties, the conditions of which negatively impact the health of families. Prior to her work at BASTA, Shoshana was a staff attorney at Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County (NLSLA) and a tenants rights organizer at Good Old Lower East Side (GOLES). Shoshana has a J.D. and M.A. in Urban Planning from UCLA.
Panelist
Emily Timm
Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director
Workers Defense Project
For nearly 20 years, Emily Timm has fought tirelessly for workplace justice and immigrants rights in Texas and across the country. She is a Co-Executive Director at Workers Defense, an organization she co-founded in 2005, and has since been instrumental in building the organization into a statewide powerhouse that empowers low-wage construction workers to achieve fair, safe employment. Today, Workers Defense is one of the leading advocacy organizations in Texas, with a membership of thousands and offices in Houston, Dallas and Austin
Panelist
Michelle Tremillo
Executive Director and Co-Founder
Texas Organizing Project (TOP)
TOP conducts strategic, year-round community organizing centered on issue-based campaigns as well as electoral organizing. TOP has a base of over 100,000 supporters and consistently engages 200,000 low-propensity voters who are predominantly women and people of color. After attending Stanford University, Michelle decided to dedicate herself to fighting for racial and economic justice and returned to her native San Antonio where she worked for ACORN, serving in various capacities including: San Antonio head organizer, Texas legislative director, and Texas deputy director. She was also the founding director of Public Allies San Antonio, an AmeriCorps funded program that provides leadership development training for young adults who want to pursue careers as non-profit leaders. She is fourth generation Tejana and still lives in San Antonio.
Panelist
Aditi Vaidya
Senior Program Officer
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Aditi Vaidya joined the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in 2017 as a senior program officer working toward the goal of building community power to support a Culture of Health. With her far-reaching expertise in organizing, environmental health, economic justice, corporate accountability, and worker rights issues, she seeks to employ these skills to help communities promote health equity. Previously, Vaidya was senior program officer for three sister foundations: Solidago Foundation, See Forward Fund, and Frances Fund. Solidago is a public charity promoting justice, equity, sustainability, and enfranchisement. See Forward Fund supports grassroots lobbying for social justice and movement building, and the Frances Fund encourages progressive social change in a variety of sectors. Among her many initiatives with Solidago, Vaidya created Project Phoenix: Connecting Democracy, Economy, and Sustainability, a year-long cohort collective learning program for 40 participating foundations across health, democracy, economy, and environmental stability. Her prior work included serving as campaign director for the East Bay Alliance for Sustainable Economy (EBASE), in Oakland, Calif. A community-based organization, EBASE unifies community, faith, and labor groups to stand with low-income workers and families. She also served as the program director for the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, where she organized the first health and safety trainings for electronics workers. She has held other positions with the Jennifer Altman Foundation, which focuses on environmental health and justice; the Southwest Network for Environmental and Economic Justice; the Center for Environmental Citizenship; and the League of Conservation Voters Education Fund.
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Host/Moderator
Session 3: September 21, 2021 at 1:30 pm ET
Profiles in Community Power: Multi-Issue and Multi-Racial Organizing
Jesse Graham
Co-Director
Maine People’s Alliance
Jesse Graham is co-director of Maine People’s Alliance and Maine People’s Resource Center. He has been with the organizations for 22 years. Under Jesse’s leadership, MPA has more than tripled in membership, with over 32,000 members reaching one of every 17 households across the state and involving more than 9,000 volunteers in a variety of campaigns each year. Through door-to-door canvassing, community organizing, and strategic communications, MPA is building the power for shifting worldview and concrete policy wins. Graham is proud of recent organizational victories to expand Clean Elections, raise the minimum wage, pass Medicaid expansion, and win earned paid sick days.
Panelist
Deborah Scott
Executive Director
Georgia STAND-UP
Panelist
Deborah Scott is CEO of Georgia STAND-UP, a “think and act tank” for working families, and a 2012 “White House Champion of Change.” She is a leading advocate of universal voting rights, economic inclusion, community empowerment, and progressive civic engagement. A master organizer, strategist, and highly skilled trainer, Deborah was mentored by stalwarts of the civil rights movement— legends like Reverend Joseph Lowery, and Reverend James Orange—and has become one of the most creative and innovative leaders of contemporary civic activism. Her organizing skills, networking savvy and collaborative style contributed to the massive voter mobilization that shifted Georgia’s political identity, influencing the outcome of the 2020 national election and winning her a seat at the table with top national leaders, including Vice President Kamala Harris. An expert trainer and implementer of complex, mission-driven initiatives, Scott works to build progressive social infrastructure, increasing the capacity of communities to control their destinies through programs like The Policy Institute, STAND-UP’s signature training initiative that has graduated over 300 community leaders and 250 interns. A builder of partnerships and collaborations, she unites neighborhood groups, labor organizations, academic institutions, business interests, environmentalists, and government agencies into working coalitions to advance policies and programs that strengthen democracy by lifting up working families, neglected neighborhoods, and historically underserved populations. A graduate of Clark (College) Atlanta University, Scott has garnered numerous awards including the 2015 Rainbow Push Innovation Award, the 2016 National Black Women’s Roundtable Award, and 2013 Labor Leader of the Year.
Jennifer Ito
Research Director
USC Equity Research Institute
Jennifer Ito is the Research Director at the USC Equity Research Institute where she conducts research on issues of economic inclusion and social movement building. Her focus has been to advance an understanding of, dialogue about, and funding towards building power among historically excluded communities by developing data-driven frameworks and tools for key learning and strategizing opportunities. She is currently exploring measures of community power-building processes and efforts directed at structural change and linkages to the forms of change that increased community power produces. Before joining USC, she was the Research Director for Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education. Appointed by the California Assembly Speaker, she served on the California Commission on the 21st Century Economy in 2009. In 2015, she served on the California State Controller’s Council of Economic Advisors. She currently serves on the boards of the California Budget and Policy Center, Economic Roundtable, Asian Pacific Environmental Network Action, and Liberty Hill Foundation. She holds a Masters in Urban Planning from UCLA.
Host/Moderator
Session 4: September 28, 2021 at 1:00 pm ET
The Power to Change Policies and Systems
Jesse Graham
Co-Director
Maine People’s Alliance
Jesse Graham is co-director of Maine People’s Alliance and Maine People’s Resource Center. He has been with the organizations for 22 years. Under Jesse’s leadership, MPA has more than tripled in membership, with over 32,000 members reaching one of every 17 households across the state and involving more than 9,000 volunteers in a variety of campaigns each year. Through door-to-door canvassing, community organizing, and strategic communications, MPA is building the power for shifting worldview and concrete policy wins. Graham is proud of recent organizational victories to expand Clean Elections, raise the minimum wage, pass Medicaid expansion, and win earned paid sick days.
Panelist
Deborah Scott
Executive Director
Georgia STAND-UP
Panelist
Deborah Scott is CEO of Georgia STAND-UP, a “think and act tank” for working families, and a 2012 “White House Champion of Change.” She is a leading advocate of universal voting rights, economic inclusion, community empowerment, and progressive civic engagement. A master organizer, strategist, and highly skilled trainer, Deborah was mentored by stalwarts of the civil rights movement— legends like Reverend Joseph Lowery, and Reverend James Orange—and has become one of the most creative and innovative leaders of contemporary civic activism. Her organizing skills, networking savvy and collaborative style contributed to the massive voter mobilization that shifted Georgia’s political identity, influencing the outcome of the 2020 national election and winning her a seat at the table with top national leaders, including Vice President Kamala Harris. An expert trainer and implementer of complex, mission-driven initiatives, Scott works to build progressive social infrastructure, increasing the capacity of communities to control their destinies through programs like The Policy Institute, STAND-UP’s signature training initiative that has graduated over 300 community leaders and 250 interns. A builder of partnerships and collaborations, she unites neighborhood groups, labor organizations, academic institutions, business interests, environmentalists, and government agencies into working coalitions to advance policies and programs that strengthen democracy by lifting up working families, neglected neighborhoods, and historically underserved populations. A graduate of Clark (College) Atlanta University, Scott has garnered numerous awards including the 2015 Rainbow Push Innovation Award, the 2016 National Black Women’s Roundtable Award, and 2013 Labor Leader of the Year.
Jennifer Ito
Research Director
USC Equity Research Institute
Jennifer Ito is the Research Director at the USC Equity Research Institute where she conducts research on issues of economic inclusion and social movement building. Her focus has been to advance an understanding of, dialogue about, and funding towards building power among historically excluded communities by developing data-driven frameworks and tools for key learning and strategizing opportunities. She is currently exploring measures of community power-building processes and efforts directed at structural change and linkages to the forms of change that increased community power produces. Before joining USC, she was the Research Director for Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education. Appointed by the California Assembly Speaker, she served on the California Commission on the 21st Century Economy in 2009. In 2015, she served on the California State Controller’s Council of Economic Advisors. She currently serves on the boards of the California Budget and Policy Center, Economic Roundtable, Asian Pacific Environmental Network Action, and Liberty Hill Foundation. She holds a Masters in Urban Planning from UCLA.
Host/Moderator
Session 4: September 28, 2021 at 1:00 pm ET
The Power to Change Policies and Systems