Agenda for ED National Gathering

Agenda for ED National Gathering

Ella's Daughters is hosting its 2nd Annual National Gathering this Sunday, May 3rd 8am-9pm in Chicago.  We are excited to see each and every single one of you!  Registration is at 8:00am, and the program is 9:00am-9:00pm. Upon arrival, check in, complete a name badge, and join us for a wonderful day of amazing women activists!  See below for the day's exciting agenda and activities.  See you Sunday!!

8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.
Registration/Mingle/ Breakfast  (Photo display by Indian S. Day)

8:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.
Yoga and Meditation to start the day in a special session with Jardana Peacock of the Anne Braden Institute in Louisville

9:00 a.m. - 9:25 a.m.
Welcome, overview: Barbara Ransby and Kelly Saulsberry
Updates, Opening remarks
Dramatic Presentation: “Meditating on Ella: A Monologue on Ella Baker’s Life” camil.williams and other Ella’s Daughters

9:30a.m. – 10:45a.m.
The Global Economic Crisis and Local Economic Justice Organizing
Erica Swinney-Stein, Center for Labor and Community Research and Austin Polytechnic High School
Rose Brewer, Author of The Color of Wealth
Christi Ketchum, Director of Atlanta’s Project South
Erline Browne, Domestic Workers United

10:45a.m. – 11:00a.m. Stretch, digest, and flow break 

11:00a.m. – 12:30p.m.
Women’s Resistance to War and Violence in Homes, Communities and the World 
Pat Hill, prison and police justice activist, organizer against police torture
Nadia Hijab, Senior Fellow, Institute for Palestinian Studies in Washington, D.C., author of Womanpower
Sharmila Majumdar, Rape Victims Advocates
Alice Kim (Moderator), Anti-death penalty activist and organizer of public programs

12:30p.m.-2:00p.m.
Lunch, Simultaneous workshop/break-out groups, networking (lunches delivered to sessions you sign up for)

1.    QUIILTING WORKSHOP
Learn to make a social justice quilt which is both the symbol of our political quilting work and will be a creative physical artistic testimony to our the unity of our various efforts

2.    University Work –
Freedom and Justice Classrooms and Campus Organizing
Barbara Ransby, University of Illinoist at Chicago and longtime activist and author
Sussan Navabi (Students for Democratic Society)
Michele Mitchell, New York University
Tessi Liu, Northwestern University

3.    Schools, Education,Youth Leadership Work and anti-violence work among youth
YWAT organizers (Young Women’s Action Teams)
Mia Henry, Chicago Freedom School
Therese Quinn (invited), organizing against military recruiters in schools and on behalf of queer youth (invited)
Pat Parker, associate professor at UNC-Chapel Hill, Founder of the Ella Baker Women's Center for Leadership and Community Activism, joined by activist DeKisa Denning and youth leaders Shawanna Copeland, Tiara Denning, and Ebony Riley
Ainsley Lesure, Black Youth Project

4.    Understanding the Economic Crisis/ Econ Justice: Workshop
Rose Brewer, author of The Color of Wealth
Kristin Cox, economic justice organizer
Frances Cox, economic justice organizer
Erline Browne, Domestic Workers United in New York
Premilla Nadasen, author of Welfare Warriors

5.    Anti-war/ Anti-Empire Organizing, and Anti-Racism Work: International Solidarity from Africa and Latin America to the Middle East
Lynette Jackson, researcher and activist around women refugees from Sudan, scholar and author, and initiator of African Americans for Justice in Palestine/Israel
Miryam Rashid, American Friends Service Committee, Middle East Work
Bernardine Dohrn, co-author of Race Course: Against White Supremacy, human rights activist and lawyer
Ann Russo, Professor at DePaul University; author, Taking Back Our Lives: A Call to Action in the Feminist Movement; member of Women and Girls Collective Action Network

6.    Sexuality, Reproductive justice and LGBTQ Work
Rae Wright, Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health
Kelly Saulsberry, Affinity Organization
DaShaya Craig, Chicago Abortion Fund activist
Manju Rajendran, FUFA Organizer
Darlene Nava Munoz, moderator

2:00p.m. – 2:15 p.m. Break --- Coffee and cookies

2:15p.m. - 3:30 p.m. Three Concurrent Plenaries

A.    The Crisis of Education, Militarization and the Prison Industrial   Complex: Creative Responses
Mariame Kaba, co-founder of Chicago Freedom School and adult ally of YWAT (Young Women’s Action Teams), is focused on engaging community members in providing alternatives to incarceration for local youth, and on restorative justice
Aisha Truss, Youth Organizer

B.    Health, Environment, Access and Jobs: Can we have healthcare for all, access and inclusion, a green planet and jobs at a living wage?
Carlos Drazen, disability rights activist and PhD candidate in Disability Studies at UIC
Dara Cooper, activist currently living in DC and working on food justice, social justice trainings, and the liberation of U.S. political prisoners/exiles
Martha Biondi, historian and worker rights activist
Amaka Agbo, Green Collar Jobs, Ella Baker Center, Oakland

C.    The Power of Media, Art, Faith and Imagination to Inspire Us and Change the World
veronica precious bohanan, AquaMoon
Aishah Simmons, filmmaker, producer of NO! a film on black women and sexual violence
Salome Chasnoff, Beyond Media Education 
FUFA (Females United For Action)

3:30p.m. – 4:30p.m.
WORKING GROUPS
A Hothouse of New Ideas and Possibilities….Skills and Resources Grab Bag and Volunteer Opportunities… Well-structured interactive exercises to flush out who is interested in what and who needs to connect with who; and to connect, strategize and build. Some breakouts will discuss putting in place new projects and others will grapple with internal ED questions that will help take the Ella’s Daughters network to the next level

4:30p.m. – 5:00p.m. Outcome of Working Groups

5:00p.m. – 5:30p.m.
Closing remarks: What Next?
Video montage by Indian Summer Day
“Ella’s Song”

6:00p.m. – 6:45 p.m.- Dinner

7:00p.m. – 9:00p.m.: Artistic insights and inspiration, 45-minute performance by Aqua Moon that combines works from their upcoming show Don’t Call Me Sassy with pieces from Aqua Beats and Moon Verses:  Volumes I and II.