Social Justice Camp DC

Social Justice Camp 2010 Presentations

“I’d like to talk about adult education as a social justice issue, how it is related to other social issues, why people should care about it and what to do to help. The presentation will focus on reasons why everyone, especially those who disseminate information about causes and social issues, should be concerned about people getting the services they need to read better, to prepare for the GED exam, study for a high school diploma or to learn English as a Second Language (ESL). The presentation will include adult literacy statistics, stories of adult learners and specific actions people can take to help.”

Patrick Timony

Access for all

“Adaptive Technology at DC Public Library – computers for people with disabilities. Could talk about the technology program we have and the opportunity for getting people engaged, through programs that bring together different groups in the community. Not sure I can commit to a presentation – have to run by my supervisor – but would love to participate in the Friday night event either way at least to have a chance to talk to people one on one.”

“There is plenty of energy in DC around the compound issue of homelessness and housing. It is, in part, due to the foreclosure crisis and the recent economic downturn. In this time of great need governments are cutting funding for various social services. Different homelessness and housing advocates are coming together and forming coalitions for dealing with these issues.”

Aaron Ginoza and Jason Snyder

DC Baha’i Childrens Classes and the spiritual education of children

“The spiritual education of children promotes social justice by creating a safe space for children to imagine the kind of lives they want to live and the kind of society they want to live in. We believe teaching children spiritual values has the potential to lead to a more just society because children who understand they have inherent, transcendent worth will be more likely to treat the other as though they too possess inherent, transcendent worth.”

Casey Burke

Homelessness, Mental Illness, and Substance Abuse

“I believe that the key to finding solutions for any social problem must begin on the human level. This is why I am a social worker rather than a policy analyst. My presentation will focus on the human factors in solving the problem of homelessness, which are surprisingly often overlooked, and will look at the issues mental health and substance abuse, and why many people become and remain homeless.”

“I have worked or lived in the district since 1994. I have done several public murals for businesses over the years. I began painting medical murals and using social media in May 2009 as a form of advocacy and to promote patients’ rights. My husband was diagnosed with Stage 4 Kidney cancer in late March 2009. He died on June 17th. He suffered greatly in the current medical system. There are now three murals in NW DC that are part of the series. These murals have been reported by the blogging community as well as traditional media sources, such as : BBC, CNN, NPR, ABC, CBS, VOA, and The Washington Post.”

“The creation of Hub DC! A Hub is a physical space for social entrepreneurs, nonprofit employees, community organizers, philanthropists, students and anyone else who is interested in creating positive social change to come together to work, meet, connect, and access resources. Hub World was founded in 2002, and there are currently 18 Hubs in cities around the world (http://the-hub.net). Each Hub has its own distinct flavor, but all are united by the drive to build a robust global community of people poised to tackle social challenges. Hub DC will serve as a co-working space and social business incubator, as well as a platform to bridge divides – in generations, income levels and sectors. “

Todd Fine

Observation One: The D.C. Urban Debate League

“I would like to introduce the DC Urban Debate League, which deploys the proven power of debate as an educational tool and as a rhetorical approach to social problems. Urban Debate Leagues have recently earned good publicity around the country (witness the film The Great Debaters and news coverage about the Baltimore League in particular), but many people are not aware that there is a league active in D.C.”

“DC is in the midst of a major budget crisis: the recession has put us several hundred million dollars in the hole. Our elected leaders convened an emergency session last month, and considered balancing the budget by slashing funding for services that support poor DC residents. In just a couple of days, a coalition of professional advocates and citizen volunteers built the website www.saveoursafetynet.com. Four days later, nearly two thousand people had called upon City Council for responsible investments and courageous leadership. We won support from Councilmembers, and restored some of the proposed budget cuts — but the crisis is only going to get worse. This presentation will show how we can quickly use the internet to mobilize support of disempowered communities. We’ll ask the audience to consider the challenges of advocating for the most vulnerable among us, and we’ll show how we can hold our leaders accountable for the pursuit of an economic recovery that includes everyone.”

Liz Whitehurst

DC Food for All

“DC is a hungry city. One out of two children in our nation’s capital are at risk of hunger. We suffer from limited access to nutritious food, high rates of obesity and diet-related illnesses like diabetes. It doesn’t have to be this way. Indeed, one can find a number of new efforts to increase access to fresh and affordable food in DC’s low-income communities.”

Randa Kuziez

Mobilizing Faith Communites Around the Millenium Goals and Eradicating Malaria

“I’d like to give an Ignite talk on Malaria and the Millenium Goals, and how the Faiths Act Fellowship I am currently working on is taking active steps in meeting the Millenium Goal Challenge of eradicating deaths due to Malaria by 2015. This project is global yet local. As my work partner and I are placed in D.C., there are 26 other fellows placed around the U.S., the U.K., and Canada. Our project promotes social justice because we are advocating health as a human right-deaths from malaria are preventable, and actives steps should be taken to ensure that families have a net to sleep under at night, a strong health system that can support them should they catch malaria, and that faith communities should be united on serving others rather than divided on differences.”

“I want to talk about the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Washington, DC, and in particular the Grassroot Project, a very new organization I founded last year to combat the spread of the HIV virus and the stigma against those who have it. Outside of the AIDS field, our movement is also about engaging at-risk youth and elite athletes in social change.”

Amanda Jones

Networking for Youth Housing

“There are approximately 3,000 youth (not including youth who are couch surfing or who find other creative forms of temporary shelter) who are documented as homeless in the District of Columbia, yet there are only about 100 spots to house them. Because homeless youth often go “unseen”, many people fail to understand the how serious the need really is. Many D.C. City Council members and other public officials have voiced their disbelief in the existence of youth homelessness in the District. In addition, as more and more families are forced out of The District in search of affordable housing, the crisis is spreading to nearby counties in the metropolitan area. Our nation’s current economic crisis is has caused a very sharp increase in numbers. Using a housing first model, the mission of Out The Boat Ministries, Inc. (OTB Ministries, Inc.) is to provide homes and healing to youth ages 12-24 and their families via housing, supportive relationships, and a network of education, social services, mental health, and job skills providers.”

“Coming from the Government 2.0 and Health 2.0 communities, I wasn’t really sure what Social Justice was. After a few conversations and web surfing, I realized it was a question I would have to answer for myself. In studying foreign languages, I’ve found that one tends to learn more about one’s own culture when seen through the lens of another. So to decipher the meaning of Social Justice, I turned to the characters of the Japanese language. Each character, a complex pictograph, tells a story. I wanted to see what story the characters for Social Justice would tell.”

“The DC Abortion Fund provides financial assistance to low income women in the tri-state area who are trying to obtain an abortion but do not have the funds to do so. The reality of choice is that if you don’t have the money and means to overcome the wide variety of state and national restrictions involved, you don’t have the choice of seeing a medical professional. To us, that is not justice. That is why as a grassroots all volunteer organization we come together to provide resources both in the form of grants and information to the women who reach out to us. An Ignite talk would be a great opportunity for us to share what choice looks like to low-income women in DC and how grassroots community activism has made a positive impact.”

“The RealTalk Reps are those folks that are ready and willing to give you the real talk you need to be safe in your relationships. The Reps are Peer Educators trained by Metro TeenAIDS with CORRECT and up-to-date information. We’re out doing street outreach with condoms and testing referral cards so you can know ya status. Throw all kinds of events, from Basketball tournaments, to DJ parties at recreation centers, to having go-go bands rockin’ at back to school jams.”