2026 We the Future Social Justice Conference — Friday, April 24th
Day At-a-Glance 📃
8:30am – 9:15am: Breakfast & Registration | 9:30am – 11am: Welcome and Keynote in Ellis Auditorium | 11:05am – 11:20am: Transition to workshops | 11:20am – 1:15pm: Session 1 & 2 Workshops | 1:15pm – 2:30pm: Lunch, music, activities, and resource fair
DJ Music by Jorge Bolanos-Santillan, and lunch time SRJC Student Performances: Espejo de mi Alma | Mariachi Bear Cubs | Sarah Bittner, Spoken Word
Descriptions of sessions 1 & 2 below
Key Note Address
Ellis Auditorium (9:30am)
Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodriguez is a writer, organizer, and public intellectual whose work centers the lived experiences of undocumented formerly undocumented Latine communities. Through powerful storytelling and incisive cultural critique, she challenges dominant narratives about immigration, belonging, and identity in the United States.
Session 1 Workshops (11:20am-12:10pm)
Educate
Educate: Puerto Rico, ¡ey! Bad Bunny, ¡ey!
Presenters: Mai Nazif , SRJC
Location:
Bad Bunny made history by winning a Grammy for Album of Year for the very first time ever for an album completely in Spanish. Come learn about this global superstar and learn a little about the history of Puerto Rico. We will also look at the lyrics of one song in particular, Lo que le pasó a Hawaii, to give context to the status of Puerto Rico and its people.
Educate: Queer Pride is Riot
Presenters: AC Panella Ph. D, SRJC
Location:
This workshop explores how queer communities have long used joy, pride, celebration, and party as powerful forms of resistance. In the face of criminalization, erasure, and stigma, LGBTQIA+ people have insisted on gathering, dancing, loving, dressing boldly, and taking up space, not just as survival, but as defiance. From underground balls and drag shows to Pride marches and chosen-family celebrations, queer joy has never been frivolous; it has been political.
Through storytelling, archival images, music, and guided reflection, participants will consider moments in queer history where festivity became protest and where pride became a public claim to dignity and belonging. Come ready to reflect, remember, and celebrate! Because queer joy has always been more than a party; it's a strategy for survival and freedom.
Educate: Redefining Men's Mental Health: Breaking Silence, Building Community
Presenters: Mario Guido, Buckelew Mental Health Programs
Location:
What does it truly mean to be strong? For many men and masculine-identifying people, strength has been narrowly defined by silence, emotional suppression, dominance, and self-sacrifice. These expectations — shaped by patriarchy, racism, capitalism, and cultural conditioning — often discourage vulnerability and isolate men from the very support systems that sustain mental health.
This interactive session invites participants to critically examine how traditional narratives of masculinity impact emotional well-being, relationships, and community health. Together, we will explore how redefining strength can be a liberatory practice rooted in vulnerability, accountability, connection, and collective care.
Through guided reflection, small-group dialogue, and practical skill-building exercises, participants will identify harmful myths about masculinity and learn tools to cultivate emotional literacy, peer support, and healthier expressions of manhood. We will center the truth that vulnerability is not weakness — it is courage. Seeking support is not failure — it is wisdom. And collective care is not optional — it is essential for sustainable justice work.
This session aligns with the conference theme by honoring joy and resistance as intertwined practices. When men are supported in healing, they are better equipped to build equitable relationships, nurture community, and participate in movements for social transformation.
Educate: Dancing Resistance: Preserving Culture, Inspiring Futures
Presenters: Conchis Randazzo, Espejo de mi Alma Club
Location:
Join Conchis Randazzo, alumna and former Santa Rosa Junior College staff member, and founder of Ballet Folklórico Espejo de Mi Alma, for a lively session celebrating culture, community, and youth empowerment through dance. Rooted in the Indigenous traditions of Oaxaca, Conchis shows how folklórico is more than movement; it's joy, pride, and resistance in action.
In this session, you’ll hear stories and see demonstrations that highlight how dance can connect generations, spark confidence, and help young people embrace their roots. Conchis shares how cultural expression can be a tool for resilience, allowing communities to honor their traditions while imagining vibrant, liberatory futures.
Whether you’re a dancer, educator, community organizer, or simply curious about culture, this session offers a fun, inspiring look at how preserving and celebrating heritage can strengthen identity and community bonds. Attendees will leave energized and motivated to carry the lessons of folklórico into their own lives, finding ways to uplift youth, honor traditions, and create spaces for joy and creativity.
Come explore the power of dance to celebrate heritage, empower young people, and foster connection across generations all while having fun and experiencing the beauty of Oaxacan and other Mexican states culture firsthand.
Educate: Colony or Independent Nation?: A social and legal history of the United States and Puerto Rico
Presenters: Moisés Santos and Quinn Barker of SRJC
Location:
This session will discuss the colonial history between the United States and Puerto Rico historically and in the present. The first presenter will give some context about this history dating back to the late 1800s and the United States’ history of imperialism in Latin America more broadly. This will include a discussion on U.S. political, economic, and cultural presence in Latin America. It will also include a discussion about how the U.S. presence in Latin America has impacted migration from Latin America to the U.S.
The second presenter will discuss how the United States’ ownership over Puerto Rico is unique in its definition, changing rapidly specifically in the beginning of its identity. Given the name "unincorporated territory”, Puerto Ricans have been left to grapple with understanding its place as a part of the United States, yet not given the rights of a citizen. In this presentation, legal documents such as the Insular Cases and the Foraker Act will be identified and analyzed to understand both the motives of Puerto Rico and the United States in maintaining their chaotic dynamic. Following the issues within the complex relationship, solutions will be identified that recognize both parties interests with an emphasis placed on the self determination of Puerto Rico. Key questions that will be considered include, how can Puerto Rico become independent? And is this a wish by the people or a flimsy apology for colonizing Puerto Ricans?
Educate: Solidarity is a Weapon
Presenters: Xavier Maatra, North Bay Organizing Project
Location:
In a time of so much divisive propaganda and misinformation it is important to understand the history and nuances of solidarity. How do we develop a share understanding that allows us to build the community connections and coalitions needed to transform our conditions and address the issues impacting our lives? This session explores using solidarity as a strategy for resisting oppression. Participants will look at examples of solidarity in activism and how they have been sources of joy and resistance.
Educate: Community Migra Watch: We keep us safe!
Presenters: Gina Garibo, North Bay Rapid Response Network
Location:
With this presentation, participants will learn best practices for identifying ICE, alerting communities, and reporting it to the NBRRN hotline. Participants will learn tips on how to meet their streets, keep their neighborhood safe and informed, what to observe and document, how to inform the community about ICE presence and remind them of their rights, and what information to share with the NBRRN hotline. The workshop will include information and practice opportunities, depending on the number and willingness of attendees to participate. We’ll distribute kits containing red and yellow cards, whistles, and materials along with information on how to use the provided tools.
Educate: Act Resisting Local Profiteers of Weapons, Genocide, and Immigration Enforcement
Educate: Resisting Local Profiteers of Weapons, Genocide and Immigration Enforcement
Presenters: Michael Titone (he/him), Noa Davies
Location:
One of the fifth largest weapons manufacturer in the world, operates out of a local site in Healdsburg, CA.
This presentation will
1) explain how they profit from war, US imperialism, abroad, the genocide of Palestinians, and the Department of Homeland Security / Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Go over concepts like the military-industrial complex, border-industrial complex, imperialism, genocide, the war economy, and the peace economy.
2) discuss how they lobby and funnel our tax dollars into the military and border-industrial complexes at the expense of health care, food assistance, and other resources that would benefit our communities.
3) discuss the strategy of organizing around targets which are private companies as opposed to elected officials. Discuss the support for war and imperialism within the two biggest political parties in the US. Reflect on the impacts of campaigns that targeted banks and private companies in order to impact oppression in material ways.
4) discuss ways to resist this local manufacturer at a local level. What has been done locally and in other parts of the world? What lessons can we learn? What do our communities envision for our future? What ideas do folks have for how to resist the companies upon which empire
Educate: Rooting Environmental Justice in Community Power and Youth Action
Presenters: Laura Diaz, EJ Forward, UC Berkeley, Zoel Quiñónez, EJ Forward, Stanford University and Daniel Soto, Sonoma State University
Location:
This year, the federal government rolled back key findings and regulations that have been in place to ensure that we move towards a healthy environment. Some of these limit the emission from vehicles, and others were there to ensure air and water quality. One way that the federal government is doing this is by rejecting and reversing decades worth of science so we start to doubt facts about the environment that we have known for years. For this reason it is important that we seek out the information necessary to improve the health of our communities and support each other in collectively taking action towards improving our health.
During our session, we will provide an overview of some federal rollbacks of environmental regulations and environmental justice legislation and then re-root our understanding of environmental justice and community power. We will also present how we collectively find joy in our resistance through our Latinx Youth Environmental Justice Council in partnership with the North Bay Organizing Project and their Latinx Student Congress. And we will describe some of the activities and interventions that we take within the Roseland and greater Sonoma community.
Session 2 Workshops (12:25-1:15pm)
Activate & Create
Activate: Healthcare as an organizing tool- working for comprehensive, affordable healthcare for all
Presenters: Terry Winter, Healthcare for All Working Group
Location:
We face daily nightmares in the national and international news. State terror in our streets. A shredding of Constitutional "guarantees". Vendettas against those who actively resist. Genocide and ethnic cleansing in the name of religion. New imperialist wars to extract profits, all wrapped in patriotic zeal. A slow-brewing, but equally deadly nightmare exists in our healthcare system. 68,000 people in our country die each year due to the absence of a universal healthcare system where cost is no longer the barrier to care. It is a matter of life and death.
In addition, healthcare costs are now the #1 economic concern of Americans. Now is an ideal time to organize around on around an issue that is of utmost importance to working families and the elderly. Now is the time for legislators to go beyond their vague statements of support for working families-above and beyond efforts to protect healthcare funding and benefits. Our current "system" is economically unsustainable and siphons off billions to corporations and obstructive administrative complexity.
Our failed experiment with profit-driven health care brought us to this point. The remedy is straightforward: decommercialized national health insurance: a single, public insurance plan that covers everyone, financed through progressive taxes, with no copayments or deductibles. Administrative costs would plummet, savings could be redirected to strengthen primary care and public health, and health — not profit — would again be the system’s organizing principle.
Activate: We the Future Fellowship takes Research to Activism
Presenters: Dr. Byron Reaves and the We the Future Fellows
Location:
We the Future Fellows are those who are exploring future professions that involve leadership, is within the social or political sciences, or as an educator. They had the desire to find way within social justice activism and want to bring necessary change to action.
Through their participation in the We the Future Fellowship, they were guided and mentored you through a research initiative grounded in social justice, equity research, and leadership development. They engaged in a structured learning experience which provided various opportunities to analyze and interpret data within social systems and how to apply it towards activism and/or policy change.
Each fellow will share their experience in the We the Future Fellowship and reflect on how it shaped and informed their approach to activism. They will provide a brief overview of their chosen research topic, explore its connection to a broader social justice issue, outline their proposed solution, and describe the steps they took to put that solution into action.
Research topics include: Transportation Justice, Mental Health Justice, Housing Justice for the LGBTQIA Community, and the Impact of ICE on Latinx students in Sonoma County
Activate: Rebels and Resistance: Farmworkers, Students and Building a Movimiento
Presenters: Davin Cardenas and Lauritzin Pahtli, North Bay Jobs with Justice
Location:
This session will unite student organizers, with farmworker organizers, to talk about how we not only nourish ourselves in these times of crisis, but how we build a collective movement to take action for the liberation of our people! We It will share practices for personal reflection, with direct action opportunities that align with cultural values.
Activate: Identity In Motion
Presenters: LaShanté Monay, SRJC Alumna, and Lily Bromley, SRJC Student
Location:
Identity In Motion: From Fragmentation to Unity is an interactive workshop that allows participants to examine the effects of oppression, engage in shared cultural Identities as a tool to combat separation, and stand in unity as an act of collective liberation. The guided activity will assist participants in creating a community pose that integrates personal identity, cultural expression, and collective meaning-making. The student created piece will culminate in a "snapshot" of unity- symbolizing healing, hope, and the liberatory futures we get to synthesize together.
Activate: Sonoma County Sanctuary Coalition
Presenters: Nicolás R. Valdez , Sanctuary Coalition/Raizes Collective and Dr. Michael Hale, SRJC
Location:
The Sonoma County Sanctuary Coalition (the Coalition) was formed in early 2025 in response to the election of Donald Trump and his targeting of migrants, particularly undocumented migrants, to criminalize, incarcerate, and deport them. It is made up of more than 200 members representing various nonprofit organizations, congregations, service providers, unions, unaffiliated individuals, and immigrant empowerment organizations.
Our presentation will consist of updates on current policy measures, Coalition activities, and information on ways to get involved. Our Bi-weekly Barrio Walks, modeled after the community organizing efforts in Chicago and Minneapolis, provide an opportunity for youth to participate in civic engagement activities and build intergenerational bridges.
Activate: A Brief Introduction to Non-Violent Direct Action
Presenters: Dennis Pocekay, Sonoma County Non-Violent Training Collective & Paul Robbins
Location:
This session will begin with a discussion of historical and recent examples of non-violent direct action, followed by a "quadrant" exercise, as an interactive exploration of concepts of non-violence and direct action. At this point a few slides will be presented to begin discussion of the WHO, WHY, HOW of Strategic Action Planning, as well as the many roles which must be considered (before, during, and after the action; and action vs supporting roles) to produce an effective direct action. We will also be assessing the experience level of the audience, so as to appropriately adjust our answers to questions asked of our panel as the audience is invited to set the direction for the last portion of the presentation.
Activate: Race-Class Narrative: Strategies for Forging Cross-Racial Solidarity
Presenters: Odelia Diratu, North Bay Organizing Project and Stephanie Chang, SRJC
Location:
In this workshop, we will be discussing an organizing strategy known as the Race-Class Narrative (RCN). A technique that has been proven to effectively fight back against dog-whistles and other tactics of fear-mongering weaponized by the oppressive class, the Race-Class Narrative works to build collective power via narratives that emphasize racial and class solidarity. In this workshop, we will define the concept of the Race-Class Narrative, discuss racial scapegoating and dog-whistles, and practice how to craft Race-Class Narratives (dialogues) to push back against such methods of division and successfully mobilize our communities.
Create: Queer Zine Making: It's time to tell your story
Presenters: AC Panella Pd. D, SRJC
Location:
This queer zine workshop invites participants to explore identity, storytelling, and resistance through DIY publishing. Rooted in the long history of queer self-expression, zines have served as tools for survival, connection, art-making, and political imagination, especially for communities whose voices are often marginalized in mainstream media. In this hands-on, collaborative space, participants will create their own mini-zines using collage, poetry, manifestos, visual art, personal narrative, and found text.
No prior art or writing experience is needed. Just curiosity and a willingness to experiment. We’ll begin with a brief look at the history of queer zines and how they have built community across borders of geography, gender, race, and ability. From there, participants will engage in guided prompts focused on themes such as chosen family, becoming, joy as resistance, memory, and future dreaming.
Whether you identify as LGBTQIA+ or are exploring questions of identity and solidarity, this workshop offers space to make something personal, political, playful, and powerful.
Create: We the People Community Quilt: A Craftivism Project for a People-Powered Democracy
Presenters: Pamela Van Halsema with the We the People Community Quilt Project
Location:
We are creating a quilt to display a vision for a more perfect union, where liberty and justice for all is real for everyone. At a moment of rising fascism and accelerating attacks on human rights, democracy, and the environment, this project asserts a simple truth: the power belongs to the people.
Raise your voice through a creative project! Be part of this local, grass-roots initiative! Through this collaborative art project, we’re coming together to reflect what we value, what we hope for, and what kind of world we want to build together, and making it visual.
Please join us and add your voice and vision to the quilt! This workshop provides the opportunity to develop your own design to be included in the quilt. You don't have to be an experienced quilter or accomplished artist to participate - we offer many ways to create your quilt square design and be part of this effort. We have materials for you to use. The big reveal of the assembled quilt will take place on July 4, 2026 in Santa Rosa.
Create: Cultural Center Collective Study Project
Presenters: Santa Rosa Junior College Intercultural Center
Location:
Community colleges across California have invested substantial financial resources in initiatives designed to expand student access and support in STEM, particularly through the implementation of California AB 705 and AB 1705. These policies aim to reform placement practices and promote equitable pathways into transfer-level coursework. However, the outcomes of these initiatives do not always align with the lived experiences of the students they are intended to support.
Over a three-month period, eleven students at Santa Rosa Junior College participated in a project utilizing Photovoice to critically examine their experiences of access and support on campus. Guided by the central question, “What does access and support look like on campus?”, participants engaged in workshops introducing arts-based participatory research methods and documented their experiences through photography. Collectively, the group produced nearly fifty images accompanied by reflective narratives that illuminate how students interpret institutional structures, resources, and relationships as central components of access and support.
This session will examine how participants used arts-based inquiry to analyze their educational environments and articulate student-centered understandings of meaningful access and support. It will also demonstrate how artistic expression and community dialogue can reveal insights often overlooked by traditional assessment methods, offering educators and administrators new approaches for understanding student experiences and informing more responsive institutional practices.
Session attendees will participate an interactive and reflective exercise similar to the skills and processes the panelists engaged in during the project. A second panel, facilitated by Spanish-speaking participants, will highlight how the project engages and transcends language barriers.
Joyful Bodies Speak Up!
Presenters: Natalia Villanueva-Nieves and Theresa Burruel Stone Sonoma State University and
Location:
Our interactive workshop centers on the ways joy feels in our bodies as a practice of resistance and resilience in response to systemic violence against women, children and gender non-conforming people. Attendees will engage in reflective art practices locating and creating joy through words, images, and movement. We will gather inspiration from iconic and local artists of color and queer artists. We will start by naming everyday harms that silence women, children and gender non-conforming people. We will follow with exercises that focus on how joy feels in our bodies and how our bodies are archives of joy. We will end with creative work that expresses everyday ways we story ourselves through joy . We hold joy as a form of resistance and a practice of life-affirming worlds