2011 Luminaries:
Majik   Artist, Teacher, Advocate
How to Use Art to Build Community
Julie and Majik will involve you in every element of the Hello Neighbor Project’s capacity to build community as well as connect and enhance the citizens of that community. You will learn basic photography and camera operation—specifically portrait photography skills; interviewing techniques; composition—both in writing and elements of design; and classroom management techniques including stereotype-destroying "warm-up" activities that are specifically relevant to social justice work. You will leave the workshop with your finished portrait artwork and a rich portfolio of ideas for transferring these techniques to your classroom or community work.
Majik works tirelessly to build citizenship in her Portland, OR community. She is a founding advocate with Caldera, (the Portland arts non-profit that partners with the Hello Neighbor Project) a thirteen year Parent Coordinator at Self Enhancement, Inc., a counselor at Planned Parenthood, and a Foster Parent to teenage girls for the last eight years.
Mimi Allin   Poet
Poet in Residence
A K Mimi Allin has twice crossed the Pacific Ocean by boat, has worked as climbing ranger on Mt. Rainier and has served in the Peace Corps. In 2006, Mimi started practicing as a guerilla poet and performance artist. Her work often includes the participation of onlookers. In one well-known work, Nostalgia: The Poetess at Green Lake (2006-2007), she offered intimate poetry exchanges to the public for a year of Sundays. In January 2010, she became the nation’s first corporate poet, completing a month-long residency at NBBJ Design and Architecture Firm. At the end of the same year, she went to live at a homeless encampment (Tent City 3) as their poet-in-residence
Nassim Assefi   Global Health Pioneer
Panelist
Nassim Assefi is a women’s health specialist, novelist and “thrillionaire” working across disciplines to improve the lives of women worldwide. Author of Aria and forthcoming Say I Am You, her past incarnations include: medical academic in Seattle, humanitarian aid worker (and underground salsa dance teacher) in Kabul, aspiring musician in Havana and writer in Turkey. She has traveled 50+ countries, speaks and sings in five languages and often takes sabbaticals in foreign countries. She is a TED Fellow and was curator for 2010’s TEDxRainier in Seattle.
Thomas Bates   Rock the Vote
How to Teach Democracy
Looking for a way to add some juice to a discussion of civics? Learn to teach Democracy Class – a new high school civics curriculum powered by Rock the Vote. In this action-packed session, you’ll learn how to use music to engage students, empower students to debate about real issues that matter to them, and facilitate a mock election complete with platforms, issues, candidates, community advocacy, posters, slogans and speeches. Your students will be equipped and inspired to take their knowledge out of the classroom...to register, to vote, and grow into Great Citizens themselves.
Thomas Bates oversees Rock the Vote’s civic engagement programs—elections, advocacy and high school civics—for young people year-round. Thomas began his political life in 1992 when he volunteered after high school basketball practice at the Clinton-Gore National Campaign Headquarters in Arkansas. Thomas worked on North Carolina Congressman David Price’s successful 1996 congressional campaign and then served as his Communications Director and Deputy Campaign Manager. Thomas was the co-founder and executive director of Democrats Work, and has been a member of the Democratic National Committee Youth Council, the Young Voter PAC, and a fellow at the Service Politics Institute.
Shandra Benito   Student - Seattle University
Youth Voices
Shandra Benito is excited and honored to be a part of the 2011 Guiding Light Conference. She is a freshman social work major at Seattle University, with a passion for working with people. She has volunteered and worked with many organizations in Seattle, including an internship with the Ballard Food Bank, ADWAS (Abused Deaf Women’s Advocacy Services), Catholic Community Services, Seattle School District’s Secondary Bilingual Orientation Program, Ashoka’s Youth Venture, Teens in Public Service, and Seattle Music Partners. The work Shandra is most proud of is the creation of Reach Out in 2009, an organization that runs summer camps and school year programming for the children’s program of ADWAS. She is hoping to see Reach Out expand over time to serve other organizations. Shandra is continuously inspired and awed by the people she has met in all of the organizations she works with.
Lance Bennett   Center for Communication & Civic Engagement -UW
How To Talk About Inequality in America
Co-presented with Sabine Lang.
In this workshop, you’ll learn to engage productively with the issue of inequality in public life. Many Americans seem to have little idea why inequality matters for the very survival of democracy itself. The media generally shy away from this topic, and the flood of corporate money into the political process has silenced all but a few politicians on this subject. You’ll leave with new knowledge of how to face this challenge and tell stories that avoid pitting equality against freedom by introducing a language of justice, opportunity and fairness. Group exercises will help you translate challenges to these values into practical stories about the American Dream.
Lance directs the Center for Communication & Civic Engagement at the University of Washington where he teaches in the departments of political science and communication. His work involves understanding how communication processes enhance or inhibit the quality of democratic life in areas ranging from citizen participation to ways in which governments and NGOs can better promote public engagement with policies and causes. His current focus is on how organizations can use social technologies to attract publics and create high capacity organizational networks. His work has been recognized with career achievement awards from the American Political Science Association and the National communication Association.
Deepak Bhargava   Executive Director, Center for Community Change
How to Amplify the Authentic Voices of New Americans
From the Center for Community Change comes this powerful training that demystifies one of the most vibrant, transformative social movements in the United States today: the immigrant rights movement. The training will also include the nuts and bolts of organizing immigrants and other under-enfranchised Americans for civic action. Strong community-based organizations and their brilliant leaders are a source of great ideas and real power. In this workshop you’ll learn practices for locating and strengthening the local power of these groups, with the goal of elevating authentic voices from the grassroots to advocate for low-income people at the national level.
Deepak Bhargava, panelist and workshop presenter, is Executive Director of the Center for Community Change, a national non-profit organization whose mission is to develop the power and capacity of low-income people, especially low-income people of color, to change the policies and institutions that affect their lives. Mr. Bhargava has emerged as a leading progressive thinker and strategist, and has written and spoken widely about issues such as poverty, immigration, and community organizing. Born in Bangalore, India, Mr. Bhargava immigrated to the United States when he was a child. He grew up in New York City and graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College.
Jerilyn Brusseau   Chef, Founder of PeaceTrees Vietnam
How to Become a Great Global Citizen
When did you first become aware of yourself as a global citizen? What places, issues, and conflicts are calling to you? What’s next? Whether you work internationally or never leave your neighborhood, this workshop is the perfect place to consider these questions through a practice of storytelling, writing and sharing. You’ll consider ways to create allies out of enemies, take action where action seems impossible, and map your way towards the legacy that you want to leave for your family, the human family, and our home of planet Earth. You’ll come away with deeper self awareness of your path, and with practical tools for fostering global citizenship in those around you.
Food and trees are Jerilyn Brusseau’s instruments for peace. Brusseau – the original creator of Cinnabon – founded PeaceTable in 1986 to create shared culinary experiences between people of the United States and the former Soviet Republics as a tool for building cultural understanding. Her brother, a young helicopter pilot, was killed in the Vietnam War in 1969. The loss of her brother inspired Jerilyn to create PeaceTrees Vietnam, an organization that has worked since 1995 to undo the consequences of war by sponsoring clearance of landmines and unexploded ordnance in Quang Tri Province, the most wartorn province in Vietnam, and planting trees in their place.
John Cary   President & CEO, Next American City
How to Chart Your Life as a Great Citizen
“Find where your deep gladness meets the world’s deep need.” — Frederick Buechner
In this highly interactive workshop, you will create your own strategic plan for a bold and fulfilling civic life. The presenters will offer a vivid picture of the opportunities awaiting energetic people hoping to make their communities more just, cohesive, and beautiful. You will learn how to avoid holding yourself up to perfectionist standards, but try to fail really well in your good works. You will learn to challenge the nonprofit, philanthropic, and professional worlds to think about how good design can promote dignity among communities.
John Cary is the President & CEO of Next American City, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting socially and environmentally sustainable economic growth in America’s cities and examining how and why our built environment, economy, society, and culture are changing. John previously served as the long-time executive director of San Francisco nonprofit Public Architecture and is the editor of The Power of Pro Bono: 40 Stories about Design for the Public Good by Architects and Their Clients.
Marilyn Cover   Law Professor, Director of the Classroom Law Project
How to Bring Civics to Life
Youth are our future voters. To prepare students to be informed and active as adult citizens, we must provide concrete opportunities to practice the skills necessary to engage. Participants will leave this workshop with curriculum concepts that can be used with elementary, middle and high school students to teach the foundations of democracy: the citizen's role in government, models for deliberating on a controversial public issue, and the rule of law and due process. You’ll learn to guide interactive role-play activities including practicing deliberative discussion, a simulated hearing, and a mock trial, and you’ll consider how to bring these methods to a classroom near you!
As executive director of the nonprofit organization Classroom Law Project, Marilyn Cover is responsible for developing partnerships with business, legal communities, and civic organizations to support the teaching of civics in Oregon schools. Cover oversees programs such as the mock trial competition, We the People program, and youth conferences. Cover has been a professor at Lewis and Clark Law School since 1979 where she currently teaches Street Law and Law and Education Seminars. Cover has received the ABA’s Isidore Starr Award for Excellence in Law-Related Education (1998) and holds a J.D. from Cleveland Marshall College of Law.
Dan Dixon   Vice President, External Affairs, Swedish Medical Center
How to Think Global to Go Local
Learn firsthand from an evolving partnership striving to prove that global health strategies taken from around the world, tailored to a local context, can yield measurable health improvements for communities in our own back yard. You’ll learn about the challenges of defining this new approach, and hear from key team members from Swedish Medical Center, King County Public Health, the Washington Global Health Alliance, and HealthPoint Community Clinic who will share the joy, perils and creativity of collaboration. Imagine: global concepts re-imagined to serve a local community. How might you apply this concept in your own world?
Dan Dixon coordinates public policy and legislative activity for Swedish, works closely with the Washington State Hospital Association and other health-care systems, and oversees corporate communications, marketing, business development, primary care and community outreach. He was the state of Alaska's first director of international trade and investment and practiced law for many years with the firm of Foster Pepper and Shefelman. Dan currently serves as Trustee for Central Washington University, Seattle Public Library, and is also on the Board of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce.
Arne Duncan   U.S. Secretary of Education
Keynote Address
Secretary Duncan will be joining us for a keynote and Q&A by live video conference. Arne Duncan was named U.S. secretary of education by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on January 20, 2009. Before his appointment, he served as the Chicago Public Schools CEO (June 2001 - December 2008), becoming the longest-serving big-city education superintendent in the country. He’s served on numerous boards including those of the Ariel Education Initiative, Chicago Cares, the Children's Center, Jobs for America's Graduates, Junior Achievement, Scholarship Chicago and the South Side YMCA. Arne graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1987. He and his wife Karen Duncan have two children.
Maya Enista   CEO, Mobilize.org
Citizens Salon
Maya Enista is CEO of Mobilize.org, improving democracy by investing in Millennial-driven solutions. Maya began her career at age seventeen as the East Coast Coordinator for Rock The Vote, a position in which she registered over 30,000 young voters and earned the first ever Rock The Vote "Rockin' The Streets" award. For the Hip Hop Civic Engagement Project, she directed a thirteen state campaign that registered over 300,000 new voters in the "hip hop generation." Maya has been awarded a YouthActionNet Fellowship, the Independent Sector NGEN American Express Fellowship and Utne Reader’s 50 Visionaries Changing Your World Award.
Warren Etheredge   
Citizens Salon
Warren didn't speak until he was 6 years old; he's been going strong ever since, making the most out of every conversation, elevating small talk to high art, discourse to an ideal. He talks. He teaches. He interviews. He has conducted over 1,500 interviews ¯ in print, on camera, on stage ¯ with a wide range of filmmakers, authors, personalities and smarties. Warren is the host of The High Bar, the award-winning weekly television series devoted to “raising the bar” through light-hearted conversation with people who care about culture that matters as well as the founder of The Warren Report.
Jessyn Farrell   Organizer, Former Director of Transportation Choices Coalition
How to Create Change in Public Policy
Great citizens know policy and how the process works. They listen not only to the speaker's words, but for the values behind them, listening for common ground among diverse perspectives. Great citizens speak out, carrying the message of a powerful coalition to the right decision makers at the right points in the process. In this workshop you'll participate in a fun policy Pop-Quiz, hone your listening skills by playing a Values Game, create a policy statement, and deliver testimony to a mock board of elected officials. You'll be ready to organize your own successful campaigns, public meetings, mediations, and negotiations.
Jessyn S. Farrell has over two decades of community organizing and activism experience, and is one of the region's foremost experts in building public consensus on major infrastructure projects. She is currently leading an award-winning year-long public involvement effort for Pierce Transit's system redesign. Jessyn was the Executive Director of Transportation Choices Coalition (TCC) from 2005 to 2009 where she played a key role in developing community consensus for the I-90 light rail extension, the Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement and Sound Transit's successful 2008 ballot package. Guided by her years of successful work, Jessyn has developed a workshop on four key elements that can be practiced by any citizen, to create change on any issue: Learn. Listen. Create. Speak.
Geoffrey Garza   Teaching Artist
Citizens Salon
Geoffrey Garza has taught creative habits of mind and personal accountability to children in preschool through high school in environments as diverse as community centers, low income housing facilities, Tukwila and Seattle school districts, mental health facilities and transitional foster care homes. Geoffrey has over the years developed a style of engaging young people that is fun, effective and inspiring by employing his training as a professional actor and visual artist. Geoffrey currently works with teenage runaways and street youth in Spruce Street Secure Crisis Residential Center as an Arts Corps Teaching Artist.
John Gastil   Author, UW Professor of Communication
How to Get People Talking
This interactive presentation will introduce the boldest ideas in public engagement from around the world. We will discuss the Oregon Citizens' Initiative Review, the British Columbia Citizens' Assembly, the Online Citizens Parliament in Australia, Deliberative Polling in China, and many other proven methods of engaging a diverse body of citizens in meaningful, consequential discussions on public issues. You will reflect on your own experiences to find ways of overcoming challenges to effective public engagement, and together the group will devise the critical next steps toward better involving the public in the local and national issues we must face together.
John Gastil is a Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Washington, where he studies political deliberation and group decision making. Besides co-authoring The Jury and Democracy, Gastil is the author of two recent Sage volumes, as well as By Popular Demand: Revitalizing Representative Democracy through Deliberative Elections and Democracy in Small Groups. He is also co-editor of The Deliberative Democracy Handbook and the author of articles that have appeared in Communication Theory, Harvard Law Review, Human Communication Research, Political Communication, Small Group Research, among other journals.
Bill Gates, Sr.   Bill & Melinda gates Foundation Co-Chair
Special Guest
Bill Gates Senior is a prominent lawyer, civil activist, philanthropist, husband, father, and grandfather, not necessarily in that order. He currently serves as Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Bill has served as trustee, board member, officer and volunteer for more than two dozen Northwest organizations, including the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce, King County United Way and the University of Washington’s Board of Regents.
Bill now resides in Seattle, Washington where he continues his lifelong commitment to many civic programs, cultural organizations, and business initiatives.
Thomas Goldstein   Director, The Washington Bus
How to Break The Mold
As an antidote to the powerful interests that have institutionalized a negative, adversarial model for political life, the Washington Bus has road-tested a set of successful new methods for organizing and empowering young citizens into positive civic action. In this action-packed session, featuring special guest Joe Fitzgibbon (our state’s youngest Representative) and several young leaders of The Washington Bus, you’ll learn the “Bus way” of organizing. You’ll leave with a roadmap for how to break stale political habits in yourself and your community, energize people around your chosen cause, and start working today towards democratizing our democracy.
Thomas Goldstein is working to usher in a new period of progressive politics and democratic renewal in Washington State. Thomas founded the groundbreaking organization the Service Board. Named for the compelling combination of volunteer service and mountain snowboarding, tSB molds positive and resilient youth. Thomas was tapped to run the Bus in the spring of 2007. The Washington Bus engages tomorrow's leaders on their own terms and empowers them through education, civic and cultural engagement and hands-on democracy. A Judson Rae Butler Scholar and Boston University graduate, Thomas is also an avid cyclist and snowboarder.
Mark Gonzales   HBO Def Poet
Citizens Salon
An HBO Def Poet with a Master’s in Education, a Mexican and a Muslim, a Khalil Gibran meets Pablo Neruda in a lyrical break dance cypher, Mark Gonzales lives in the center of intersections. With appearances in Palestinian refugee camps in Jordan, universities in Beirut, foster homes in Portugal, and cities across the Americas, he transcends citizenship identity to break borders and build beauty across continents through culture. He is respected internationally for his creative approaches to suicide prevention, human rights and human development via performance, photojournalism, and narrative therapy.
Ellen Haas & Lexie Bakewell   Nature Educators
How to Be a Citizen of The Land
To restore vibrant health to ourselves and our world, we must recognize that we are citizens of the land, in kinship with the natural world. Our bodies and brains were wired for acute nature awareness and we thrive when we activate these native capacities. In this inspiring workshop, you’ll experience core routines from the acclaimed Coyote Mentoring practice such as Fox Walking, Owl Eyes, and Mind’s Eye Imagination. These routines are simple and can be turned into habits and applied in every age and every walk of life. You will learn to mentor others to become vibrant, caring citizens of the land.
Ellen Haas and Lexie Bakewell are teachers and adventurers with a passion to connect people with wild nature. We are allied with Wilderness Awareness School, The Children and Nature Network, The Animus Valley Institute, and a burgeoning community of organizations whose intent is to revive our soulful kinship with nature. Ellen is co-author of the widely praised, Coyote’s Guide to Connecting with Nature, a veteran highschool teacher, environmental activist, elder with Wilderness Awareness School, and inspiring presenter. Lexie is a veteran home-school teacher, marine biologist, artist, musician, and a contagious naturalist. She is president of NW Driftwood Artists and active with Pony Club and Polocross Associations.
Rahwa Habte   Restauranteur, community activist
Citizens Salon
Co-owner of the restaurant Hidmo Eritrean Cuisine in Seattle’s Central District neighborhood. “Hidmo” means “home” and, for many, a sense of home is exactly what Rahwa is cultivating through her restaurant. Rahwa’s mission for the restaurant is not only to foster community, but also to increase the visibility and availability of art, music, media culture and cuisine in the Central District through socially responsible actions. Rahwa loves her neighborhood and is passionate about addressing different social issues affecting it, creating pride, cultivating a safe space and open dialogue for all, and fostering local creativity and talent. Rahwa is the winner of Seattle University's Albers School of Business 2010 Red Winged Leadership Award.
Tim Harris   Director, Real Change
Citizens Salon
Timothy Harris is founding Director of Seattle’s Real Change homeless newspaper. Tim founded his first alternative newspaper, critical times, in his student days at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and founded the Spare Change homeless newspaper in Boston in 1992 while working as Executive Director of Boston Jobs with Peace. He has led numerous organizing campaigns on issues of homelessness, poverty, housing affordability, and civil rights, and teaches an Honors course on homelessness and poverty at UW. Tim is a co-founder of the North American Street Newspaper Association and a recipient of the Society of Professional Journalists prestigious Susan Hutchinson Bosch award.
Luke Haynes   Visual Artist
Featured Artist
At this year's Guiding Lights Weekend we feature a dramatic art peice by Seattle artist Luke Haynes as the backdrop for our main stage. Luke is trained as an architect, and works as a fiber artist showing across the country. His work deals with stories implicit in materials and the histories of functional art manufacturing processes. His recent works have dealt with quilts as a medium for expressing the textile histories of a culture.
Denny Heck   
How to Run For Office
Except for in the award-winning TV series West Wing, just try and find a positive representation of a politician. Good luck. And yet, they (politicians) are indispensable (by definition) to our cherished democratic republic. Moreover, few of us are exempt from the occasional tug of: “I think I could do that.” So, what does it take to run? What does it take to win? This workshop will not only help you answer the question “Is it for me?” but will change the way you look at campaigns – and campaigners! -- forever. This discussion is for everyone who proudly carries the title “citizen”.
Denny Heck retired as president and co-founder of TVW, the state version of CSPAN, in 2003. For five years, Denny produced and hosted an award-winning weekly public affairs discussion program, Inside Olympia. Denny is co-founder and a Board member of Intrepid Learning Solutions, a Seattle-based training company. Denny graduated from Evergreen State in 1973. He currently serves on its Board of Trustees. In 1976, at age 24, he was elected to the first of five terms to the State House of Representatives where he rose to the position of Majority Leader. He later served as Chief of Staff to Governor Booth Gardner.
Hanson Hosein   Director, Master of Communication in Digital Media -UW
How to Succeed at Storytelling in the 21st Century
Why does storytelling still matter in the digital age? We'll discuss how this timeless art is an antidote to information overload, and the importance of "content" and "flow" when storytelling using multimedia platforms. You will be asked to tell your own stories, based on the principles covered in this workshop.
Hanson Hosein is the Director of the Master of Communication in Digital Media at the University of Washington in Seattle, and the host of Media Space on UWTV. He specializes in storytelling, social media strategies and new models of communication. As President of HRH Media, he employed this expertise to direct the award-winning documentary films "Rising from Ruins" and "Independent America: The Two-Lane Search for Mom & Pop," as well as to provide high-level consulting services on communication strategy. Because of this work, Seattle Magazine named him "Most Influential" in fall 2010.
Kathy Johnson   President, NAMIC
Panelist
As president of NAMIC (National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications), Kathy has oversight of the premier organization focusing on multi-ethnic diversity in the communications industry and its 16 chapters nationwide. She executed the launches of NAMIC’s prestigious Executive Leadership Development Program in partnership with UCLA’s Anderson School of Business. Kathy has been cited as one of cable’s most influential executives and was named Television Week magazine’s 2008 Cable Executive of the Year. Kathy received her B.S. in Broadcast Journalism, cum laude, from Boston University and her MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Van Jones   Clean Energy Pioneer, Author, Dad
Keynote Address
Van Jones is a globally recognized, award-winning pioneer in human rights and the clean-energy economy. Van is a co-founder of three successful non-profit organizations: the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Color of Change and Green For All. He is the best-selling author of the definitive book on green jobs: The Green-Collar Economy. He served as the green jobs advisor in the Obama White House in 2009.
Van is currently a senior fellow at the Center For American Progress. Additionally, he is a senior policy advisor at Green For All.
Van also holds a joint appointment at Princeton University, as a distinguished visiting fellow in both the Center for African American Studies and in the Program in Science, Technology and Environmental Policy at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. VanJones.net
Julie Keefe   Photographer, Founder of the Hello Neighbor Project
How to Use Art to Build Community
Julie and Majik will involve you in every element of the Hello Neighbor Project’s capacity to build community as well as connect and enhance the citizens of that community. You will learn basic photography and camera operation—specifically portrait photography skills; interviewing techniques; composition—both in writing and elements of design; and classroom management techniques including stereotype-destroying "warm-up" activities that are specifically relevant to social justice work. You will leave the workshop with your finished portrait artwork and a rich portfolio of ideas for transferring these techniques to your classroom or community work.
Julie is a professional photographer working predominantly in the social practice, photojournalism, and editorial photography fields. For the last fourteen years she has worked intensively to introduce photography and writing to underserved youth and communities. In 2007, she created the Hello Neighbor Project, a project that used interviews and photographs to introduce neighbors to one another by displaying large-scale portraits with text in six Oregon cities, creating the state’s largest collaborative public art project. Julie was named a finalist in the President’s Council on Arts and Humanity Coming Up Taller Awards, and Top 40 in the Americans for the Arts Project of Year juried competition. She will be co-presenting with artist Majik.
Piece Kelley   Hip Hop Artist
The Citizens Salon
Piece's contribution to Seattle's richly diverse musical scene is beyond prominent. After earning a permanent placement in the archives of Seattle's Experience Music Project Museum, for founding Seattle's longest running jam session "Jumbablaya", she began yet another collective of musicians known as "Queens Ransom". Throughout 2010, Piece will be touring "Street Smartz: The Story of a True School B-girl" with Queens Ransom - the incredible 9 piece ensemble of talented young urban musicians from Seattle. Street Smartz received a Hollywood Music Award for best Hip Hop Artist, and is the soundtrack to Piece's one woman play which represents Hip Hop through theater, music, and spoken word.
Sabine Lang   Assistant Professor - University of Washington
How To Talk About Inequality in America
In this workshop, you’ll learn to engage productively with the issue of inequality in public life. Many Americans seem to have little idea why inequality matters for the very survival of democracy itself. The media generally shy away from this topic, and the flood of corporate money into the political process has silenced all but a few politicians on this subject. You’ll leave with new knowledge of how to face this challenge and tell stories that avoid pitting equality against freedom by introducing a language of justice, opportunity and fairness. Group exercises will help you translate challenges to these values into practical stories about the American Dream.
Sabine Lang is an Assistant Professor in the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington. She received her PhD in Political Science from the Free University in Berlin/Germany and has worked in various positions for the Berlin government and for NGOs. The focus of her research is the political public sphere and political advocacy of the nongovernmental sector in Europe and the US. She is completing a book on the challenges of NGO activism in the public sphere.
Margaret Larson   Host - New Day Northwest
Emcee
Margaret has worked as a broadcast journalist for more than 25 years. Most notably as a foreign correspondent for NBC News, Today Show anchor, Dateline NBC reporter and reporter/news anchor at KING-TV in Seattle.
During the Kurdish refugee crisis in southern Turkey, she began reporting on global humanitarian crises. What she learned and experienced changed her outlook, career and life. As a result, she and her husband moved to Seattle in 1993 to focus on family and find time to devote to international causes in partnership with relief agency Mercy Corps. In 2003, Margaret formed a communications consulting practice for international nonprofit organizations including World Vision, Mercy Corps, PATH and Global Partnerships.
Andrea Levere   President of Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED)
Panelist
Andrea drives the pursuit of CFED's mission to build assets and expand economic opportunity for low-income people and disadvantaged communities. CFED designs and operates major national initiatives that aim to expand matched savings for children and youth, bring self-employed entrepreneurs into the financial mainstream and turn manufactured housing into an appreciating asset. She was formerly the Chair of the Board of the Ms. Foundation for Women, and currently serves as the Board President for ROC USA, LLC (Resident Owned Communities USA).
Mark Lilly   Founder, Street Yoga
How to Be Interconnected
Through a series of gentle exercises and visualizations, you will learn to envision society in a way that counters the cynical perspective so prevalent in our culture. You will be inspired to come up with ways that you can personally work within your own spheres of influence to promote the paradigm of interconnectedness. Additionally, you will be challenged to think about the obstacles you face in changing the paradigm and how you can work to overcome these barriers. For future support, you will be invited to participate in three follow-up phone calls to discuss the challenges and successes of trying to implement the strategies of this workshop in your life.
Mark Lilly founded Street Yoga in 2002, an organization that helps homeless and traumatized youth to heal so that they are able to lead inspired, safe, and joyful lives. He has extensive expertise as a mindfulness and communication trainer who has taught workshops all over North America. Mark is initiating Mindful Communication workshops for physicians, nurses, and social workers. He is also co-creator of the Mindful Parents & Caregiver program. In addition to ongoing work with Street Yoga, he has developed the practice of Body-Mind Rehab Therapy, which he currently offers to pediatric inpatients recovering from significant illness or injury.
Eric Liu   Author, Founder of the Guiding Lights Network
Read, Write, Speak. Pre-conference workshop
Core to engaged citizenship - and life - are the skills of reading, writing, and speaking. In this fun and practical workshop, Eric will spend intensive time with participants sharpening these skills. You will discuss how to read the media, how to write a compelling argument, and how to make that argument orally. This workshop is based on Eric's popular University of Washington seminar of the same name. No special experience required, but a willingness to participate actively and collaboratively is a must.
Eric Liu, the founder of Guiding Lights Weekend, is an author, educator, and civic entrepreneur. Eric teaches at the University of Washington, hosts an acclaimed television interview program, Seattle Voices, and speaks regularly a venues and events nationwide. Eric served as a White House speechwriter for President Bill Clinton and later as the President's deputy domestic policy adviser, and was an executive at the digital media company RealNetworks. His books include The Accidental Asian: Notes of a Native Speaker, Imagination First, The True Patriot and Guiding Lights: How To Mentor and Find Life's Purpose.
Timm Lovitt   CEO and Founder Veterans Empowerment Team
Panel
Timm Lovitt is the CEO and Founder of the Veterans Empowerment Team (V.E.T.), a group that looks to empower the Veterans of today to become the Leaders of tomorrow through personal connection, education, and entrepreneurship.Timm founded the group after serving five years in the U.S. Army, deploying to the front lines in Afghanistan and Iraq, and personally experiencing the effects of the 'invisible wounds of war.'A survivor of both post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury, Timm works closely with Vet Corps, a WA state program that helps Veterans make the transition from military service to the college environment.
Scott Macklin   Associate Director, Master of Ccommunications in Digital Media, UW
How to Succeed in Storytelling in the 21st Century
Why does storytelling still matter in the digital age? We'll discuss how this timeless art is an antidote to information overload, and the importance of "content" and "flow" when storytelling using multimedia platforms. You will be asked to tell your own stories, based on the principles covered in this workshop.
Scott Macklin serves as the Associate Director of the Master of Communication in Digital Media program at the University of Washington. Scott seeks to create a rich infrastructure that supports innovation and collaboration through the exploration, development, assessment, and dissemination of next-generation technologies and strategies. Scott serves on the advisory board of the Head Start Center for Inclusion and on board of the South African NGO Saving our Schools and Community (SOSAC). His co-authored article, The Catalyst Project: Supporting Faculty Uses of the Web...with the Web, won the EDUCAUSE contribution of the year award.
Bill Marler   Attorney
How to Lobby in an Era of Divided Government
Food-borne illness causes billions of dollars in economic loss each year, not to mention sickness and sometimes death. In 2010, victims, industry, consumers and a bi-partisan swath of Republican and Democratic lawmakers came together to make the first major revisions in FDA law since the 1920s. In fact - though it looked dead in December of 2010, The Food Safety Modernization Act did get passed on December 22 and was signed into law in January. Attorney Bill Marler will explore with you what went right, what went wrong in this particular legislative effort. You’ll consider methods of pushing for change, and how to apply these lessons to your own projects.
William Marler has been a major force in food safety policy in the US and abroad. He and his partners at Marler Clark have represented thousands in claims against food companies whose contaminated products have caused serious injury and death. Marler began litigating foodborne illness cases in 1993 during the landmark Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak. Since then, Marler has represented victims of every large foodborne illness outbreak in the United States. Accolades include: Public Justice Award from the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association, Outstanding Lawyer Award from his bar association, and being in the Bar Register of Preeminent Attorneys every year since 2002.
Courtney E. Martin   Writer, Editor, Changemaker
How to Chart Your Life as a Great Citizen
“Find where your deep gladness meets the world’s deep need.” — Frederick Buechner
In this highly interactive workshop, you will create your own strategic plan for a bold and fulfilling civic life. The presenters will offer a vivid picture of the opportunities awaiting energetic people hoping to make their communities more just, cohesive, and beautiful. You will learn how to avoid holding yourself up to perfectionist standards, but try to fail really well in your good works. You will learn to challenge the nonprofit, philanthropic, and professional worlds to think about how good design can promote dignity among communities.
Courtney E. Martin is an editor at Feministing.com and a Senior Correspondent for The American Prospect. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Newsweek, and Mother Jones, among other publications, and she has appeared on Good Morning America, the TODAY Show, CNN, MSNBC, and the O’Reilly Factor. Courtney was awarded the Elie Wiesel Prize in Ethics, and was recently a speaker at the inaugural TEDWomen conference.
Milenko Matanovic   Executive Director - Pomegranate Center
How to Build a Code of Collaboration
Pomegranate Center and its founder Milenko Matanovic are known for their exceptional work in creating gathering spaces that involve community members in all phases of a project. The visible parts of this work are unique parks, amphitheaters and artistic creations. The invisible part is community engagement that is anchored in ground rules that enhance creativity and diminish negativity. Milenko will engage the participants in developing their own ground rules that they can apply to their community-building work.
Milenko Matanovic is a community builder and a visual artist with a professional career and international reputation spanning 40 years. As founding director of Pomegranate Center, he has created an arena in which art, public participation and community betterment converge. Facilitating the conception and construction of open-air gathering places, he involves community members in all phases of these projects, from generation of initial concept, through construction and stewardship. His work at Pomegranate Center has brought people and communities together to create and identify cultural, environmental and social priorities in community development. Milenko is an honorary professor of the Vladivostok Polytechnic University. In 2009, he was honored with the Bill Grace Leadership Legacy Award from the Center for Ethical Leadership.
Ted McConnell   Executive Director, Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools
Panelist
Ted serves as Executive Director of the Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools (CMS) a coalition of over 70 national organizations committed to improving the quality and quantity of civic learning in our nation’s schools. Ted also directed the Campaign to Promote Civic Education, a fifty state effort to revitalize and strengthen civic education at the state and district levels. Ted also served as Co – Coordinator of the Congressional Conferences on Civic Education 2003-2006.
Bill McKibben   Environmentalist, Author
Keynote Address
William Ernest "Bill" McKibben is an American environmentalist and author who has written extensively on the impact of global warming. He is the Schumann Distinguished Scholar at Middlebury College. In 2010 the Boston Globe called him "the nation's leading environmentalist" and Time magazine described him as "the world's best green journalist." In 2009 he led the organization of 350.org, which coordinated what Foreign Policy magazine called "the largest ever global coordinated rally of any kind," with 5,200 simultaneous demonstrations in 181 countries. The magazine named him to its inaugural list of the 100 most important global thinkers, and MSN named him one of the dozen most influential men of 2009. In 2010, McKibben and 350.org conceived the 10/10/10 Global Work Party, which convened more than 7,000 events in 188 countries. In December 2010, 350.org coordinated a planet-scale art project, with many of the 20 works visible from satellites. billmckibben.com
Evan McKittrick   Ashoka
How to Solve Big Problems
Ashoka’s Youth Venture Seattle is an organization investing in young people, ages 12-20, to build youth-led, youth-driven, sustainable social ventures which directly attack real social problems. In this session, presented by young local social innovators, you’ll learn practical techniques for inciting young people towards innovation and action in your community. You’ll practice finding personally relevant and rewarding solutions to large-scale social problems, develop a personal and collective toolkit of skills and interests, and learn tools for team-building, leadership, and fostering great citizenship by empowering youn
Evan McKittrick is Program Director at Ashoka Seattle, where he works with partner schools and organizations and leads workshops to support youth in creating lasting change in their communities. Evan recently completed two years with Teach For America in the Bay Area. Through Ashoka’s Youth Venture, young people in the Seattle area have launched social ventures to: supply public water taps to a rural village in Ethiopia; support Seattle food banks; create youth-run bicycle repair and computer repair shops; fund education and improve schools overseas; provide support for the local homeless population...and much more.
Dave Meinert   Owner - Onto Entertainment
Citizens Salon
David Meinert owns Onto Entertainment, an artist management company and record label; is partners in Fuzed Travel, a boutique entertainment travel agency; owner and producer of the Capitol Hill Block Party, a three-day 30,000 person music festival; owns Seattle's legendary dive diner The 5 Point Cafe and is partners in Big Mario's New York Style Pizza. He was a founding board member of the Vera Project, Is a member of the Seattle Music Commission, and former National Trustee of the Recording Academy.
Alberto Mejia   Director of Arts and Culture- Delridge Neighborhood Development Association
The Citizens Salon
Alberto earned a Masters degree in Public Administration from the Evans School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington. He has over 8 years of serving culturally and economically diverse youth, and is an advocate for integrating positive youth development and youth-driven models into community development. Alberto is a graduate of the leadership institute of the National Association of Latino/a Arts and Culture, and strives to amplify Latin arts. He proudly serves in leadership roles in local arts and youth development initiatives, and mentors with youth service and arts organizations.
Nalini Nadkarni   Professor - Evergreen State College
The Citizens Salon
Known as the “Queen for the Forest Canopy”, Dr. Nalini Nadkarni is a professor at The Evergreen State College in Washington. Using mountain-climbing techniques to ascend tall trees, she studies the ecology of plants and animals that live in the forest canopy – the treetops of tropical and temperate rainforests around the world. She founded the International Canopy Network to foster communication among canopy researchers, educators, and conservationists, and creatively connects the importance of trees to public audiences such as urban youth, arts audiences, faith-based communities, and incarcerated men and women.
Judy Pigott & Ben Kaufman   Personal Safety Nets
How to Connect to Neighbors: A Community Safety Net
Our goal is to help individual citizens and groups find their way from places of fear and isolation to those of security and connection. By attending this workshop, you will take the Personal Safety Nets® test, which will help you learn more about resilience, safety, and trust. You will then build your own strengthened personal base from which to extend to community, starting with neighborhoods and eventually leading to modeling for broader groups. Getting the world to see its interconnection will lead us to value community and understand how interconnected we all are.
Judy Pigott is noted for her experiences in teaching, facilitating and mediating, parenting, volunteering and advocating for communities. Ms. Pigott is the co-author of: Personal Safety Nets®: Getting Ready for Life’s Changes and Challenges, and the workbook Personal Safety Nets®: Get Ready/Get Started. Ben Kaufman is an educator, marketer and administrator. Ben spent years teaching students history and English, served as Superintendent of Schools in the Queets-Clearwater School District, has leant his business skills to Red Robin International, KXRX Radio, and several non-profit organizations, and now directs Personal Safety Nets®.
Quetzal   Musicians
Citizens Salon
From the ashes of Los Angeles’ 1992 rebellion/riots arose a collective of East Side musicians committed to respectfully continuing the legacy of over 70 years of Chicano Rock.Their unique combination of community activism and creative compositions has allowed them to travel the world using music as a tool for creating a global network of musicians committed to building community. Quetzal has created a path that has earned them the title of “one of Los Angeles’ most important bands”(LA Times).
Shannon Roach   Managing Director, Vera Project
How to Build Power Sharing & Youth Engagement through Art
This workshop will explore art for a cause at the Vera Project, a non-profit all-ages music and arts space at Seattle Center. Vera has a unique take on community building and fostering a participatory creative culture through the arts. Vera uses arts experiences to create paths towards learning and power-sharing, towards a positive attitude to youth culture, and towards a vibrant and progressive community. At this workshop we’ll get our hands dirty learning some art production while discussing concepts of power sharing and youth engagement at Vera and beyond.
For over a decade Shannon has been working to create spaces and programs focusing on youth and the arts. In 1999 Shannon became the Program Coordinator of the Old Fire House Teen Center, Redmond Washington’s progressive Parks program with a focus on youth development, music and the arts. Since 2005 she’s been the Managing Director of Seattle’s wildly popular Vera Project, an all-ages, youth-focused, volunteer-fueled music and arts non-profit. Through her leadership experiences Shannon has learned a bevy of best practices in youth development, community engagement and organizational management. She’s convinced that all-ages arts spaces help create great youth and great futures.
Dan Savage   Author, It Gets Better
Speaker, Panelist
workshop info
Originally known for his column, “Savage Love”, Dan has gained recognition thanks to his “It Gets Better” video project on YouTube (and a new book) which asks people to upload positive videos about their experiences reaching adulthood in the LGBT community. Savage is the author of several books including, The Kid: What Happened After My Boyfriend and I Decided to Go Get Pregnant which tells how Savage and his boyfriend adopted their son from his willing mother. Savage is the editor of The Stranger, is active in the local theater scene.
Steve Scher   Senior Host, Weekday, KUOW Seattle Public Radio
How to Facilitate a Debate
A good conversation between people with opposing points of view can be one of the best tools for teasing out all the layers of a complicated issue. You know a good debate when you hear it...but how does a skilled moderator make a conversation really work for all concerned, including the listener? Master radio host Steve Scher shares some strategies for holding a debate together. You’ll leave this workshop ready to take on the sticky issues of today and tomorrow, with new ideas for how you can support and encourage intelligent public discourse.
Steve started at KUOW as a graduate work–study student in 1986. Over the years, as a producer and host, Steve has had the opportunity to talk with senators, poets, presidents, a princess and a duke, but no one has taught him as much about human nature as have the KUOW listeners. Steve’s previous Guiding Lights Weekend session on ‘The Art of the Interview’ was the closest we’ve come to a blockbuster workshop...come to learn more from one of Seattle’s resident masters!
Tiberio Simone   
Citizens Salon
Both sensual chef and food artist, Tiberio brings a heightened sense of eroticism to the gourmet experience. Born in southern Italy, Tiberio is a James Beard Award winner and a provocateur. He is the owner of La Figa Catering and became involved in the worlds of performance art and theater, where he began experimenting with decorating human bodies with food. Simone is currently collaborating with Seattle photographer Matt Freedman on La Figa: Visions of Food and Form, a book and photo series of posed nudes adorned with painstakingly arranged ingredients.
David Smith   Executive Director, National Conference on Citizenship
Panelist
Previous to directing the Nation Conference on Citizenship, David Smith founded Mobilize.org, and co-founded the Youth Policy Action Center and the Youth Entitlement Summit. David serves on the Board of Directors of The Corps Network, Prepare the Future, and Americans for Generational Equity, and also serves on the Advisory Board of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, The Concord Coalition, Splashlife, and the Davenport Institute at Pepperdine University. He is also a member of the Steering Committee of the Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools, the Reimagining Service Council, and the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Democracy Project.
Darryl Smith   Deputy Mayor of Community, Seattle
How to Train Community Organizers
How does a city effectively empower citizens to help tackle major contemporary issues? The Mayor's Office recently started running an organizing training, Engage Seattle, to make it easier for residents and government to work together to get things done—by improving access to the Mayor and other City staff, leveraging volunteer service, and providing organizer training to help interested individuals create positive change in their own communities. Mayor Darryl Smith and Community Engagement Coordinator Sol Villarreal will give some background on the training and talk briefly about public narrative, and then participants from the first Engage Seattle Organizing Training cohort will break out in small groups with workshop participants to help them develop a Story of Self and answer questions about this new model for training organizers.
As Deputy Mayor of Community, Darryl Smith has worked to create a vibrant and diverse Seattle. Darryl leads the city’s civic engagement strategy aimed at neighborhoods, small-business districts, and civic organizations. He supports community engagement by working with the Office of Economic Development, Department of Neighborhoods, Office of Housing and the Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs. Priority projects include neighborhood outreach, homelessness, and creating opportunities for green jobs. Darryl’s civic roles have included Presidency of the Rainier Chamber of Commerce, the Seattle Planning Commission, board memberships of Powerful Schools, Allied Arts, Rainier Valley Community Development Fund and Great City.
David Smith   Executive Director, National Conference on Citizenship
Panelist
Previous to directing the Nation Conference on Citizenship, David Smith founded Mobilize.org, and co-founded the Youth Policy Action Center and the Youth Entitlement Summit. David serves on the Board of Directors of The Corps Network, Prepare the Future, and Americans for Generational Equity, and also serves on the Advisory Board of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, The Concord Coalition, Splashlife, and the Davenport Institute at Pepperdine University. He is also a member of the Steering Committee of the Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools, the Reimagining Service Council, and the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Democracy Project.
Robert Taylor   Author & former Dean of St. Mark's Cathedral
How to Lead in the Face of Conflict and Adversity
Strong leaders navigate hairpin curves and walk through fires...year after year. This workshop offers tools to conflicts, ground yourself, and discover delight in your work for the long term. Through narrative teachings of strength in adversity, you’ll engage in a rich personal exploration of conflict via journal writing and drawing, and participate in a group discussion to locate and re-imagine the assets that will support your sustained work as a Great Citizen. The session will close with an invitation to a "grounding exchange", where you can choose to exchange a future consultation or encouragement session with another participant.
Sent to the United States in 1980 by his mentor, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, to avoid imprisonment for his anti-apartheid activity, Robert V. Taylor is an openly gay, white South African Episcopal priest, and has spent a lifetime helping others leave a footprint of compassion and activism in the world. His book: A New Way to Be Human: 7 Spiritual Pathways to Becoming Fully Alive offers pathways to integrating our personal spirituality with a legacy of compassionate purpose in the world.
Keren Taylor   Founder, WriteGirl
How To Amplify Youth Voices Through Creative Writing
Keren Taylor, executive director of WriteGirl, will lead innovative activities and discussions on guiding teens toward expressing their own authentic voices, drawing out the engaged, passionate, and involved citizens they all have the potential to be. The California Nonprofit of the Year, WriteGirl is in its tenth year of creative writing and mentoring programming, and every girl who has participated in the program has graduated from high school and enrolled in college.
Keren Taylor is the Executive Director and founder of WriteGirl (writegirl.org), now in its 10th year. WriteGirl is a creative writing and mentoring organization that pairs high school girls with professional women writers for workshops, mentoring, performances, and publications. Keren’s work was awarded the 2010-11 California Nonprofit of the Year Medal for Service, the 2010 Humanitas Philanthropy Prize, and a total of 27 book awards. A poet, songwriter and visual artist, Keren has produced hundreds of creative writing and professional development workshops and presentations for youth and adults, focusing primarily on innovative instructional design, creative collaboration, and long-term organizational sustainability.
Abby Taylor & Jeff Curley   iCivics Inc.
How to Engage Students Through Games
Are you ready to think more creatively about how to engage your students in a study of civics? Abby Taylor and Jeff Curtis from iCivics (a project envisioned by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor as a way to bring civics education to young people through interactive gaming) will share their game design process in this skills-based workshop. You’ll work on your own game design proposal, pitch ideas and agree on a winning concept, and germinate ideas for an upcoming iCivics game on the topic of Federalism that will come out later this year.
Abby Taylor (Executive Director) and Jeff Curley (Deputy Director) of iCivics Inc., an online education program spearheaded by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. This team has developed iCivics.org online game which has since received more than one million visits from students across the country. Through games and interactive media, iCivics aims to empower the first generation of ‘digital natives’ to become knowledgeable civic participants and leaders.
Moni Tep   R&B Singer, Community Activist
Emcee Youth Voices, Performer
Moni will Emcee the Youth Voices sesssion, perform at The Citizens Salon and close out the conference as only she can!
Speaking truth for the voiceless and dreaming for the world. Single mama doing what I have to, I've got a king to raise. Artist, organizer, survivor, and lover. This is JusMoni.
Dawn Trudeau   Chairperson, Force 10 Hoops LLC, Seattle Storm
Panelist
Dawn Trudeau is currently serving as Chairperson of Force 10 Hoops LLC. Trudeau spent over 20 years in the software industry including 14 years at Microsoft, where she led divisions in Database and Development tools as well as Consumer Products. For the past 10 years she has worked with emerging non-profits to build organizational capacity and sustainability.
Trudeau currently chairs the Board of the Economic Opportunity Institute and is a member of the University of Washington Women’s Center Advisory Board. She also serves on the Board of Social Venture Partners International and the Advisory Board of the Business Partnership for Early Learning.
John Vadino   Creative Director & CEO, The Production Network
How to Create an Effective Mass Public Event
Work in teams in this participatory workshop and create a large public event. The group will start by selecting a subject, then break into teams and create different plans for the event including messaging, promotion, sponsorships, site planning, volunteer and staffing. One of the most important aspects is event committee structure; you will learn different ways to build your team. Learn to build an event from an idea and turn it into a movement! You will also receive forms to get you on your way.
John Vadino, President and CEO of The Production Network (TPN), is a leader and respected visionary within the Experience Marketing industry. From his career beginnings as a Production Director for the Three Tenors in New York, to the more recent, internationally renowned, Seeds of Compassion, John’s creative solutions have spanned borders and a multitude of industries. In recent years John launched One to the World™ a progressive webcasting tool that delivers an interactive and motivating “virtual live event”. Learn more about John www.tpnevents.com, www.tpnevents.com/blog and www.onetotheworld.com
Vivek Varma   Starbucks executive vice president, Global Public Affairs
Panelist
Vivek Varma is executive vice president for Global Public Affairs, reporting directly to Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz.
Prior to Starbucks, Vivek spent 12 years with Microsoft in various policy and communications roles.
Vivek came to Seattle from Capitol Hill where he was the Chief of Staff to the late Mike Synar (D-OK) and Policy Director for the House Democratic Caucus. Vivek hails from Chickasha, Oklahoma and holds a bachelor's degree in political science from Swarthmore College and a law degree from the American University Washington College of Law. He resides in Mercer Island, Washington with his wife Laura.
John Vassall, M.D.   Chief Medical Officer - Swedish
Panelist
John Vassall, M.D., is a board-certified internist and chief medical officer for Swedish.
Liaison between Swedish medical staff and Swedish Administration and oversees the management of medical education, medical staff services, clinical effectiveness, regulatory compliance and other areas associated with medical affairs.
Prior to his most recent position as vice president of medical affairs, Dr. Vassall was chief of staff from 2005 to 2007 and former division chief of General Internal Medicine at Minor & James Medical. He served as chief of staff-elect from 2003 to 2005 and he was medical staff president for Swedish Medical Center/Cherry Hill Campus.
Sol Villarreal   Community Engagement Coordinator, Seattle
How to Train Community Organizers
How does a city effectively empower citizens to help tackle major contemporary issues? The Mayor's Office recently started running an organizing training, Engage Seattle, to make it easier for residents and government to work together to get things done—by improving access to the Mayor and other City staff, leveraging volunteer service, and providing organizer training to help interested individuals create positive change in their own communities. Deputy Mayor Darryl Smith and Community Engagement Coordinator Sol Villarreal will give some background on the training and talk briefly about public narrative, and then participants from the first Engage Seattle Organizing Training cohort will break out in small groups with workshop participants to help them develop a Story of Self and answer questions about this new model for training organizers.
Sol Villarreal is the Community Engagement Coordinator for the Mayor’s Office. He manages the Seattle Youth Commission (seattle.gov/syc), helps to run the Engage Seattle initiative (engage.seattle.gov), and generally tries to make it easier for Seattleites of all ages and backgrounds to partner with their local government in a meaningful way. Prior to joining the City he was the volunteer coordinator for the McGinn for Mayor campaign in 2009, and he also worked as a field organizer on the Obama campaign in 2008. He’s a big believer in the power of individuals coming together to create change in their own communities.
Maya Wiley   Attorney, Racial Justice Activist
How to Speak About Race
This powerful workshop will intelligently reveal the ‘elephant in the room’ in so many civic dialogues. You’ll learn to listen for symbolic racism (used commonly to manipulate policy discussions), and identify messages that present scarcity as a wedge based on race. Learn tools for recognizing individual racism vs. structural racism, and practice using new patterns of language and consciousness to address specific contemporary issues such as the health care debates, tea party rhetoric and immigration. You’ll leave with concrete ideas and a toolkit that will help you move any debate in a more constructive direction.
Maya Wiley is the founder and Director of the Center for Social Inclusion, a research and policy organization focused on addressing issues of racial inequity and its impact on all racial groups. She is a leading proponent of the “structural racism analysis”, which argues that policies, even race neutral ones, drive persistent poverty and exclude people of color from accessing jobs, education and resources. Maya has served as a global advocate for how this “unintentional” form of racism has an impact on all racial groups and on America.
Mary Yu   King County Superior Court Judge
How to Make a Tough Decision
In leadership and in life, we are often called upon to use our “better judgment” – but what does that mean, exactly? In this workshop, King County Superior Court Judge Mary Yu will share her lessons learned from a decade of judging. You’ll practice a criminal sentencing exercise, focusing on how your decisions are affected by the amount of information you have. You’ll explore a few methods for resolving competing interests and you’ll learn useful tools for making your own tough decisions.
The Honorable Mary I. Yu was appointed to the King County Superior Court by Governor Locke in April 2000. Prior to her appointment, she served as Deputy Chief of Staff to King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng and Director of the Peace and Social Justice Office for the Archdiocese of Chicago. Judge Yu is Distinguished Jurist in Residence at Seattle University School of Law, and has received awards from the Washington State Bar Association, the Asian Bar Association, Washington Women Lawyers, the Latina/o Bar Association of Washington, the American Board of Trial Advocates, Washington Chapter (ABOTA), and Seattle University School of Law.
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