We the Future Social Justice Conference
Presented by Santa Rosa Junior College and North Bay Organizing Project
Friday, April 13, 2018
SRJC Petaluma Campus
8:30AM – 9:30AM
REGISTRATION AND MORNING SNACK
Clocktower Plaza
9:30AM – 10:45AM
WORKSHOP SESSION 1
Seed Bombs For Justice
PRESENTER(S):
Anesti Vega, Acta Non Verba: Youth Urban Farm Project
Aaron De La Cerda, Acta Non Verba: Youth Urban Farm Project
LOCATION: Capri Creek Classroom Rm. 1101
In areas such as East Oakland, where communities of color are deeply disenfranchised, we find that the land on which we live is toxic, infertile, or zoned for development which we do not control. In this hands-on activity, you’ll learn how to work toward creating a whole new system of land use and cultivation through “guerilla gardening” in neglected spaces.
Soul Music vs. Hip Hop: Understanding Black Lives Through Music
PRESENTER(S): Byron Reaves, SRJC Petaluma Student Success and Umoja Learning Community
LOCATION: Our House Intercultural Center, John M. Jacobs Hall Rm. 116
Soul Music and Hip Hop has represented Black Culture and dominated popular culture for the last 50 years. This workshop will explore the parallels of the two music genres and provide insight on one of the most popular but marginalized cultures in the world.
Best Practices for Supporting Undocumented Students
PRESENTER(S):
Juan Mercado, 10,000 Degrees
Adriana Lopez Torres, 10,000 Degrees
LOCATION: John M. Jacobs Hall Rm. 123
We at 10,000 Degrees believe that all students regardless of race, socioeconomic status, religion, sexual orientation, and documentation status have a right to an equitable education. In this workshop you will learn about the challenges and opportunities undocumented students face in trying to obtain a college education, including how to navigate different laws and policies regarding financial aid some best practices on how to support students and connect them to resources.
Healing Through Traditional Knowledge: Indigenous Food Sovereignty and Traditional Arts
PRESENTER(S):
Nicole Lim, California Indian Museum and Cultural Center
Maleah Espinosa, California Indian Museum and Cultural Center
Pauline Beltran, California Indian Museum and Cultural Center
LOCATION: John M. Jacobs Hall Rm. 124
This panel, composed of the California Indian Museum and Cultural Center’s (CIMCC) staff and Tribal Youth Ambassadors (TYA), will introduce participants to the topics of food sovereignty and traditional arts in order to highlight the vital role they play in the health and wellness of Native American communities. Participants will explore historical perspectives of these topics and learn about current local projects aimed at revitalizing traditional practices.
Youth-Led Circles: La Cultura Cura
PRESENTER(S): Tre Vasquez, North Bay Organizing Project (NBOP)
LOCATION: John M. Jacobs Hall Rm. 126
This panel and demonstration of culturally-centered restorative circles will be facilitated by a group of young men from Casa Grande High School. The group will discuss the importance of rites of passage for young men of color, cultural knowledge, and disrupting cycles of violence.
Food Justice: Addressing the Intersections of Race, Class and Environmental Justice
PRESENTER(S): Mara Ventura, North Bay Jobs with Justice
LOCATION: Kathleen Doyle Hall Rm. 205
Although immigrant workers supply the labor to grow and provide food for all Americans, immigrant communities often don’t have access to affordable, clean and culturally appropriate food for their own families. We’ll discuss how to center the most impacted communities in the work of environmental, labor, and food-justice organizations.
Opportunities for Sustainable Agriculture Education at Santa Rosa Junior College
PRESENTERS(S):
Joey Smith: Shone Farm, SRJC Agriculture and Natural Resources
Ashly Langford: Shone Farm
Donald Pivec: FEED Sonoma
LOCATION: Kathleen Doyle Hall Rm. 207
We believe that the high-quality and low-cost opportunities to learn to grow food at SRJC are too much of a secret. In this discussion panel featuring current and former SRJC sustainable agriculture students, we will present an overview of opportunities that are available for hands-on learning in organic farming and food production at SRJC.
Good Jobs and Zero Waste
PRESENTER(S):
Celia Furber, Recology
Marty Bennett, North Bay Jobs with Justice and SRJC History Department
Guy Tilotson, SRJC Waste Diversion and SRJC Sustainability Committee
Laura Neish, 350 Bay Area and Sonoma
Patricio Estupinan, Recology and Teamster Local 665
SRJC Ecoleaders Club student leaders
LOCATION: Kathleen Doyle Hall Rm. 243
This panel discussion will examine how bad jobs can become good union jobs in the waste-management industry and how a zero-waste campaign for Petaluma and other municipalities over the next decade can result in a 100 percent diversion of waste from landfills.
The Future is Plant-Based
PRESENTER(S):
Hope Bohanec, Compassionate Living
Nassim Nobari, Seed the Commons
Kamal Prasad, Environmental Filmmaker
LOCATION: Richard M. Call Building Rm. 639
This presentation examines ways we can create a just and sustainable food system that is independent of animal exploitation and the destructive environmental impact of animal agriculture.
11:00AM – 12:00PM
KEYNOTE ADDRESS:
NIKKI SILVESTRI, “FOOD SYSTEMS, COMMUNITIES, AND YOU”
Carole L. Ellis Auditorium, Building 300
Former Executive Director of People's Grocery in Oakland and Green for All, a national organization advocating for a “green economy” to combat poverty, Nikki Silvestri of Soil and Shadow will address questions such as: What is our responsibility to the food system in these chaotic political times, when so much environmental progress is at risk? How do we care for our communities as the ecosystem continues to change? Learn about these questions and the path forward as we imagine a future that works for all, and feeds us well.
12:00PM-1:30PM
LUNCH, RESOURCE FAIR, AND MUSICAL ENTERTAINMENT BY SLV (Sandra Lilia Velasquez)
Clocktower Plaza and Student Center, Building 400
1:30PM-2:45PM
WORKSHOP SESSION 2
What is Fake News? Exploring Misinformation and Disinformation in the Media
PRESENTER(S): Canon Crawford, SRJC Libraries
LOCATION: Herold Mahoney Library Rm. 718
The workshop will provide strategies for evaluating information released in various media formats including social media and traditional news platforms. Particular attention will be focused on media bias and offering strategies for discerning bias and pursuing credible information sources.
Empowering Healthy Communities: Remedies + Recipes for Rising Up!
PRESENTER(S):
Jocelyn Boreta, From the Ground Up: Community Medicine
Angeles Quiñones, LandPaths Bayer Farm: Farming for Health
LOCATION: Capri Creek Classroom Rm. 1101
In this bilingual, interactive workshop we will make our own herbal medicine for stress from the plants that grow all around us. Join us in a discussion about health equity and empowerment. Our health programs empower cultures of health in the heart of Latino communities through bilingual, culturally relevant, holistic health education and care.
From IRL to URL: How Latinx Activism is Transforming Contemporary Media Spaces
PRESENTER(S): Melissa Vargas, MALCS de SSU, North Bay Organizing Project (NBOP)
LOCATION: Our House Intercultural Center, John M. Jacobs Hall Rm. 116
This workshop will explore the ways Latinx activists have utilized various media platforms since the Chicano Movement of the 1970s into the contemporary digital era. Today, social-media outlets function as digital spaces for identity construction and a form of cultural resistance among marginalized and underrepresented communities, such as queer, trans/non-binary, disabled, and immigrant folks.
Legal Observer Training
PRESENTER(S): Sam Tuttleman, Petaluma Rapid Response and North Bay Organizing Project (NBOP)
LOCATION: John M. Jacobs Hall Rm. 123
Want to support community members vulnerable to immigrant raids and warrant-less searches? Join the NEW Rapid Response Network hotline in Sonoma County as a “legal observer”—someone trained to document what’s going on at the scene of an ICE raid. You don’t interfere or intervene—you collect information that could be crucial later if someone’s rights were violated.
Food Justice: How Your Food Choices Can Change the World
PRESENTER(S): Lauren Ornelas, Food Empowerment Project
LOCATION: John M. Jacobs Hall Rm. 126
Your food choices impact the world beyond your kitchen—from the exploitation of workers and animals to environmental racism. Find out how your food choices impact people, animals and the environment around the globe and learn what you can do to help create a more just and equitable food system.
How Do We Fix Our Healthcare System?
PRESENTER(S): Terry Winter, HPEACE (Health Professionals for Equality and Community Empowerment)
LOCATION: Kathleen Doyle Hall Rm. 205
After presenting a brief summary of the barriers to equity, efficiency and quality in our current healthcare system, we will guide a discussion of options, including models from other countries that would result in dramatic change in our experience as consumers and providers of healthcare.
How Food Connects
PRESENTER(S):
Rosa Lubin-Molina, Ceres Community Project
Sophie Leveque-Eichhorn, Ceres Community Project
Sara McCamant, Ceres Community Project
LOCATION: Kathleen Doyle Hall Rm. 207
A meal is always more than a meal. Join the Ceres team to explore how healthy food is not just what we put in our mouths, but all the steps it took to get there and all the ways it interacted with the world. Health is about the community and the planet, not only our bodies. Learn tools for organizing and educating, mapping the food system, and effective ways to connect your community through food.
Food Security Programs at SRJC
PRESENTER(S):
Yordanos Seleba, SRJC Americorps Health Educators
Susan Quinn, SRJC Student Health Services
LOCATION: Kathleen Doyle Hall Rm. 241
SRJC Student Health and Wellness Ambassadors, as sponsored by AmeriCorps, will share what SRJC is doing to address hunger and food insecurity among students. Information on food-distribution sites, campus food pantries, and efforts to enroll students in the CalFresh program will be discussed, as well as how we all can support this initiative.
Petaluma Bounty-Digging Deeper: What Does Community Food Security Mean to You?
PRESENTER(S):
Suzi Grady, Petaluma Bounty
Caiti Hachmyer, Red H Farm
Brian DuFour, Petaluma Bounty
LOCATION: Kathleen Doyle Hall Rm. 243
Petaluma Bounty pushes beyond the immediate demands of hunger relief toward community food security and hunger prevention with programming that expands our community’s capacity to feed each other into the future. Come to learn, share, and collaborate!