Sessions

Nancy Berlin, Director of California Partnership,
and with decades of community organizing experience,
will lead a discussion on how grassroots efforts and the power of people can be harnessed to advocate for a more just society

The Rev. Kathy Cooper-Ledesma, Senior Pastor, Hollywood United Methodist Church, and former project specialist at the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture, will offer “Authentic Faith, Authentic Voices” – a workshop that will give resources and tools to people of faith for effective social justice advocacy.

Matt Keener, a former corporate media consultant turned environmental activist and a senior trainer with Media Action Project, will share high-impact tools for getting advocacy results through strategic messaging.

Rev. Peter Laarman, executive director of Progressive Christians Uniting, leads an interactive training, “From Charity to Justice,” in which he unpacks the challenges and dynamics related to moving toward a justice action orientation.  He will examine how systems of oppression sustain themselves, what a relevant and compelling justice agenda looks like, and how to avoid obvious mistakes.

Tzivia Schwartz-Getzug, a civil rights attorney and social justice advocate, is currently the executive director of Jewish World Watch, a grass roots genocide intervention and refugee relief organization. She will provide practical skills training to develop advocacy strategies for grassroots organizations.

Elizabeth Sholes, a registered lobbyist for California Church IMPACT, will give practical guidance and values language that will let grassroots advocates be both heard and heeded by legislators.

Patricia Villasenor, Deputy Director of Field Services of the City of Los Angeles Human Relations Commission, will focus on civic engagement by looking at how to lobby City Hall.

ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, is the nation's largest community organization of low- and moderate-income families, working together for social justice and stronger communities.
ACORN’s organizing model focuses on the development of grassroots leadership, empowering individuals and communities to make decisions and take action on issues of importance to them, and promoting effective democracy at all levels of society, from neighborhoods to the workplace and from the marketplace to local, state and national government.

CLUE-LA (Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice – Los Angeles), is an interfaith organization of religious leaders throughout Los Angeles County who come together to respond to the crisis of working poverty by supporting low-wage workers in their struggle for a living wage, health insurance, fair working conditions and a voice in the decisions that affect them.
CLUE’s organizing model is a faith-rooted approach based on liberation theology movements, which seeks to identify and contribute the special resources of faith traditions and communities to larger coalition movements for social and economic justice; build relationships of intimate solidarity between congregation members and the front line warriors who both suffer and battle economic injustice, and facilitate spiritual growth in every person involved in the movement.

Ikar is a Jewish spiritual community that stands at the intersection of spirituality and social justice, merging soulful prayer and serious Jewish learning with political and social activism.
IKAR is working to create a Jewish approach to community organizing that combines existing and innovative organizing models.

Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice (a founding anchor of CLUE-CA) The Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice (ICWJ) in San Diego engages clergy, churches, mosques, synagogues, faith and justice organizations, and people of faith to stand up for the poor and marginalized and to work in partnership with low-wage workers to bring visibility to the struggle of hard working families for justice in the workplace.
ICWJ educates faith communities and leaders, through factual information, religious texts, building coalitions, and witnessing the stories of workers, and invites them to become activists, who through a broad variety of methods, advocate for issues promoting economic justice in the workplace and through policy campaigns. 

LA-Voice PICO, a part of the PICO national network, is a faith and community based organization committed to work on social issues arising out of the complex and diverse environment of Los Angeles, such as public safety, education, and access to health care. PICO’s organizing model focuses on developing community leadership and relationships within and across faith communities in order to build power to make real and lasting changes in people's lives and environments, within neighborhoods and across the nation.

ONE LA is the Los Angeles branch of IAF (Industrial Areas Foundation), a broad-based, non-ideological and non-partisan organization of dues-paying member congregations, schools, unions, and non-profits, committed to building power for sustainable social and economic change.
ONE LA’s organizing model is founded on the principle developed by Saul Alinsky, that issues must emerge out of relationships, and employs the technique of one-on-one conversations to learn what issues are important to participants.

Progressive Jewish Alliance (PJA) educates, advocates, and organizes on issues of peace, equality, diversity and justice, as a progressive voice in the Jewish community and a Jewish voice in the progressive community.
PJA organizes diverse sectors of the Jewish community to leverage power to address strategic issues of concern based on a Jewish social justice agenda.

ECONOMIC JUSTICE
Our faiths inspire us to demand a meaningful response to issues of economic justice.  This session will offer practical steps individuals and congregations can take to bring about change and transformation in areas such as movements for worker justice, corporate responsibility, living wage campaigns, or efforts towards just and sustainable trade policies.   Our traditions offer guidance and support for this work, and our faith provides the conviction and courage to engage the powerful forces that deny basic economic justice to so many.  

Moderator:
--Rabbi Laurie Coskey, San Diego Director of the Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice
Presenters:
--Rev. Anna Olson, Deputy Director for Clergy and Laity United, Economic Justice L.A. (CLUE)
--Rev. Art Cribbs, Pastor, San Marino Congregational Church
--Rev. Matthew Colwell, Program Partner, Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries
--Vivian Rothstein, Executive Director, LAANE.
--Zachary Lazarus, Progressive Jewish Alliance (PJA)

AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN LA
Did you know that:

• Growing income divide is increasing in LA faster than the rest of the state and the country?  23% of households earn less than $20k and 3% have incomes of $200k or more.

• LA County has 250,000 millionaires and 1.6 million poor people?

• LA is among the nation’s least affordable housing markets especially for non whites?

• Housing costs are rising faster than household income?

• Working families pay a higher percentage on rent in Los Angeles than in any other city in California?

Our workshop will give the participant an overview of a broad-based affordable housing coalition: Housing LA, through the Southern California Association of Non-Profit Housing, which brings together over 500 non-profit housing developers, social service agencies and community groups, private businesses, local government agencies, lenders, and individuals dedicated to the development, preservation and management of permanently affordable housing  for low-income  people. You will hear from a representative from SCANPH who will discuss the Housing LA project and let you know how you can be involved. You will also hear about the challenges of building affordable housing, and you will hear from a community group and community residents about the challenges they face in organizing their community to build affordable housing.

Moderator:
--Francesca De La Rosa, SCANPH
Presenters:
--Robin Hughes, Executive Director, LA Community Design Center
--Chris Gabriele, Executive Director, People Organized for Westside Renewal (POWER)

HEALTH CARE
Why does the richest country in the world provide such poor health care coverage for its people. What can you do about it?

This hour and a half workshop will offer participants an opportunity to learn about ongoing and successful health advocacy campaigns and to interact with experienced policy advocates. Advocacy campaigns aimed at changing statewide policies, as well as local and regional campaigns will be described.

The session will open with an inspiring introduction by Dr. Jack Glaser of St. Joseph Health System’s Center for Health Care Reform on why changing our health care system is best understood as a social justice issue. The session will also include discussions of the One Care Now campaign in support of SB 840 (Kuehl), the Blue Ribbon Commission supporting L.A.’s grocery industry, and several actions undertaken by Community Health Councils,  a neighborhood-based  health promotion, and advocacy group.  

Moderator:
--The Rev. Joanne Leslie, Sc.D., Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles
Presenters:
--Lark Galloway-Gilliam, Executive Director, Community Health Councils, Inc.
--Dr. Jack Glaser, Senior VP and Founder, St. Joseph Health System’s Center for Health Reform
--George Savage, Chair, One Care Now Campaign.

HOMELESSNESS
THERE ARE MORE THAN 90,000 PEOPLE SLEEPING ON THE STREETS OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY ON ANY GIVEN NIGHT.  the imprint of homelessness in our midst offers a dramatic reminder of the need to make our community more just.  This session will offer participants some up to date information on the extent of homelessness in Los Angeles along with details on a number of local and state-wide proposals for dealing with it (e.g. city of LA housing bonds, SB2 which would require all communities to include housing for the poor and homeless.)  Speakers will be from the LA Homeless Services Authority as well as local advocacy organizations that are currently working to reduce homelessness and provide supportive services for the homeless.

Moderator:
--Ralph Fertig, Associate Professor, USC’s School of Social Work
Presenters:
--Phil Friedman, Brentwood Presbyterian Church
--Bob Erlenbusch, Executive Director of the Los Angeles Coalition to End  Hunger & Homelessness. 
--Dora Leong Gallo, Chief Executive Officer of A Community of Friends
--Rebecca Isaacs, Executive Director of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA)

IMMIGRATION
Los Angeles is a city of immigrants.  The basic tenets of our faiths call upon us to welcome and support them.  This session will include an experiential component designed to inform and sensitize us to the realities of today’s immigrant experience. We will also hear from a family currently in the midst of deportation along with the congregational leader who is supporting them.  A representative of CLUE (Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice) will offer an update on the latest developments in national policy proposals on immigration along with a description of opportunities for local congregations that wish to become involved in advocacy for immigrants.

Moderator:
--Rev. Alexia Salvatierra, Executive Director, CLUE 
Presenters:
--Rev. Jennifer Gutierrez, Director of Urban Ministry for the California Pacific Conference of the United Methodist Church

THE ENVIRONMENT
Protecting and improving the environment has emerged as one of the most pressing moral imperatives of this generation. We will begin by briefly setting out the common basis shared by all faiths that commands us toward urgent action. We will then identify the major challenges demanding action, and discuss dealing with those challenges across the spectrum of action, from the personal, to the institutional, to the societal. Our presenters will help us to develop relevant advocacy skills.

Moderator:
--Rabbi Joshua Levine Grater, Pasadena Jewish Temple and Center
Presenters:
--Fran Pavley, former CA State Assemblywoman, author of AB 1493, the landmark tailpipe emission reduction bill, and AB 32, the “Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006”
--Lee Wallach: President, COEJLSC (Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life of Southern California); Co-Chair, Interfaith Environmental Council; Board, Los Angeles League of Conservation Voters
--Rev. Al Cohen, Steering Committee, California Interfaith Power and Light; Executive Director, Southern California Ecumenical Council; Board, Interfaith Environmental Council

YOUTH AT RISK
Regardless of race, culture or religion, our children are our future. Yet, in so many ways the reality of life in Los Angeles puts too many of them at great risk. This session will be moderated by Rafael Lopez, Executive Director of Los Angeles's Commission for Children, Youth, and their Families. It will include presentations by representatives of local advocacy groups who will describe how they are attempting to change the options available for "at risk" youth in our community. Highlighted wil be efforts to transform public education in Los Angeles, as well as strategies for reducing gang activities.

Moderator:
--Rafael Lopez, Executive Director, Commission for Children, Youth and Their Families
Presenters:
--Steve Barr, Founder, Chairman, and CEO, Green Dot Public Schools
--Susan Lee, Program Director, The Advancement Project
--Lizette Patron, Youth Organizing Coordinator, InnerCity Struggle