| The National Institute for Restorative Justice "Educating for Advocacy" |
| 1464 East 105 Street Cleveland, Ohio 44106 rjusticeinc@aol.com |
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| It Started With Discussion |
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| "In order for us as poor and oppressed people to become a part of a society that is meaningful, the system under which we now exist has to be radically changed. This means that we are going to have to learn to think in radical terms. I use the term radical in its original meaning - getting down to and understanding the root cause. It means facing a system that does not lend itself to your needs and devising means by which you can change that system." “One of the major emphasis... was that of working with indigenous people, not working for them, but trying to develop their capacity for leadership.” Ella J. Baker |
| www.restorativejusticeinstitute.org |
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| Join The Drum Majors For Justice! |
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| Social Justice Economic Justice Legal Justice |
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| Renewing Inalienable Rights, Rebuilding Communal Confidence, Re-energizing Sustainable Economy, Reviving Unbridled Spirit |
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This Week At The Institute
Book Discussion Series
Film Discussion Series
Leadership Lecture Series
Discussion Series Archives
Mittie's Musings
This Week At The Institute
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| Backs, Brains, Bucks & Ballots! Crafting Indigenous Controlled Communities In The Age Of Mass Black Urban Removal |
| Political Economist and President,National Economic Association Associate Professor of Community Justice and Social Economic Development John Jay College City University of New York Affiliate Scholar Center of Race & Wealth Howard University Affiliate Scholar Centre For The Study of Cooperatives Saskachewan University Canada |
| A Community Justice & Indigenous Leadership Empowerment Summit Friday—Saturday May 25—26, 2012 Mt. Olivet Church 1221 East 99 Street Cleveland, Ohio 44108 |
| Dr. Jessica Gordon Nembhard Opening Address Lead Discussion Guide & Strategist |
| BA Yale University (Magna Cum Laude) M.A.T. Howard University MA, PhD University of Massachusetts, Amherst |
| Opening Address & Discussion Dr. Jessica Gordon Nembhard, PhD Sustainable Community Controlled Development: Indigenous Leadership Empowerment and Community Justice |
| Saturday, May 26, 2012 ~ 8 AM - 6:30 PM |
| Crafting Community! Leveraging Our Collective Human & Property Resources: Framing Community Culture Identifying Social Capital Controlling Our Institutions Mittie Davis Jones Discussion Guide & Strategist |
Turning Our Dollars Into Sense! Leveraging Our Collective Economic Power: Building Communal Wealth, Monitoring Municipal Public Funding Resources Jessica Gordon Nembhard Discussion Guide & Strategist |
| Blocking our Ballots! Leveraging Our Collective Political Power: Educating & Protecting Our Vote, Identifying and Empowering Legislative & Administrative Leadership Joseph Worthy Discussion Guide & Strategist |
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| Community Empowerment Summit Registration Form |
Summit Guidelines Ages: 16* and older (* younger students enrolled in high school may also participate with an adult) Registration Is Required We are encouraging participants to register as a team of three: a youth (16* - 17) an adult (18 - 54) an elder (55 +) Individuals registering without a team will be assigned a team for cluster strategy breaks |
| You may also register by phone at 216.721.6630 Leave your name and number and someone will return your call |
| Friday, May 25, 2012 ~ 6 - 9 PM |
| Register On Line Below or Call 216.721.6630 |
| Jessica Gordon Nembhard PhD John Jay College Professor of Community Justice & Social Economics |
Dr. Jessica Gordon Nembhard is an
economist specializing in economic
development policy, Black political
economy, popular economic literacy, and
community justice. Her research has
focused on community and asset- based
economic development; and cooperative
economics and worker ownership;
alternative urban economic and youth
educational development strategies; and
racial and economic wealth inequality and
wealth accumulation in communities of
color.
Dr. Gordon Nembhard joined the faculty
of John Jay College in 2009 as Associate
Professor in the Department of Africana
Studies, where she teaches Community
Justice and Social Economic Development.
She also serves as an Affiliate Scholar at
Howard University and the University of
Saskatchewan in Canada, where she also
served as a research affiliate for the
“Linking, Leverage, Learning: Social
Enterprises, Knowledgeable Economies
and Sustainable Communities” project.
Prior to joining the faculty of John Jay
College, Dr. Gordon Nembhard was an
Assistant Professor of African American
Studies at the University of Maryland,
College Park; Research Director of the
Preamble Center (Washington, DC);
Senior Economist at the Institute for Urban
Research, Morgan State University; and
Acting Deputy Director and Economic
Development Analyst for the Black
Community Crusade for Children at the
Children's Defense Fund.
Dr. Gordon Nembhard earned both a Ph.
D. and an M.A. in economics from the
University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
She earned her A.B. degree, magna cum
laude, in Literature and African American
Studies from Yale University; and a M.A.T.
in Elementary Curriculum and Teaching
from Howard University.
She is the recipient of a Henry C.
Welcome Fellowship Grant from the
Maryland Higher Education Commission
(2001-2004), and a 2008 USDA grant on
the economic impact of cooperatives
distributed through the University of
Wisconsin's Center for Cooperatives, to
study wealth accumulation through
cooperative ownership. She was a
Visiting Scholar and Senior
Urban Fellow at Brown University's
Annenberg Institute for School Reform
from June 1998-June 2000.
Dr. Gordon Nembhard was Treasurer of
the National Economic Association (NEA)
from 2001-2008, and continues as
President of the board of directors of the
NEA. In addition, She is a board member
of the Political Economy Research Institute
at the University of Massachusetts,
Amherst; and a member of the Black
Enterprise Board of Economists since
October 1999.
Along with her parents and siblings, Dr.
Gordon Nembhard is a founding member
and Trustee of the CEJJES Institute, a
cultural, educational and research
foundation dedicated to improving the
educational and social conditions of all
disenfranchised people, with particular
emphasis on people of color.
Her community work is as follows: a co-
founder of The Democracy Collaborative
at the University of Maryland, College
Park; the U.S. Solidarity Economy
Network; and the Eastern Conference for
Workplace Democracy. In addition, Dr.
Gordon Nembhard is a founding member
of the US Federation of Worker
Cooperatives. Currently, she is a
member of Grassroots Economic
Organizing (GEO) Newsletter Collective
(of the Ecological Democracy Institute of
North America), The Association of
Cooperative Educators, the Canadian
Association for the Study of Cooperatives,
The Federation of Southern
Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund,and
Organizing Neighborhood Equity (ONE)
DC.
Dr. Gordon Nembhard’s recent
publications include Wealth Accumulation
and Communities of Color in the US:
Current Issues (University of Michigan
Press 2006, co-edited with Ngina Chiteji);
“Alternative Economics, a Missing
Component in the African American
Studies Curriculum” (in a special issue co-
edited by Gordon Nembhard and Mathew
Forstater of the Journal of Black Studies,
May 2008); “Growing Transformative
Businesses: Community-Based Economic
Development” (in the Solidarity Economy
proceedings published by Change Maker
Publications 2008). In addition, she is the
author of "A Cooperatives and Wealth
Accumulation" in the American Economic
Review; "A Non Traditional Analyses of
Cooperative Economic Impacts" in the
Review of International Co-operation, "A
Cooperative Ownership in the Struggle
for African American Economic
Empowerment" in Humanity & Society,
and “Educating Black Youth for Economic
Empowerment: Democratic Economic
Participation and School Reform Practices
and Policies,” in the Handbook of African
American Education edited by Linda
Tillman (Sage 2008). Dr. Gordon
Nembhard recently completed Collective
Courage, a book on the history of African
American cooperative businesses.
Photograph courtesy CEJJES Institute
economist specializing in economic
development policy, Black political
economy, popular economic literacy, and
community justice. Her research has
focused on community and asset- based
economic development; and cooperative
economics and worker ownership;
alternative urban economic and youth
educational development strategies; and
racial and economic wealth inequality and
wealth accumulation in communities of
color.
Dr. Gordon Nembhard joined the faculty
of John Jay College in 2009 as Associate
Professor in the Department of Africana
Studies, where she teaches Community
Justice and Social Economic Development.
She also serves as an Affiliate Scholar at
Howard University and the University of
Saskatchewan in Canada, where she also
served as a research affiliate for the
“Linking, Leverage, Learning: Social
Enterprises, Knowledgeable Economies
and Sustainable Communities” project.
Prior to joining the faculty of John Jay
College, Dr. Gordon Nembhard was an
Assistant Professor of African American
Studies at the University of Maryland,
College Park; Research Director of the
Preamble Center (Washington, DC);
Senior Economist at the Institute for Urban
Research, Morgan State University; and
Acting Deputy Director and Economic
Development Analyst for the Black
Community Crusade for Children at the
Children's Defense Fund.
Dr. Gordon Nembhard earned both a Ph.
D. and an M.A. in economics from the
University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
She earned her A.B. degree, magna cum
laude, in Literature and African American
Studies from Yale University; and a M.A.T.
in Elementary Curriculum and Teaching
from Howard University.
She is the recipient of a Henry C.
Welcome Fellowship Grant from the
Maryland Higher Education Commission
(2001-2004), and a 2008 USDA grant on
the economic impact of cooperatives
distributed through the University of
Wisconsin's Center for Cooperatives, to
study wealth accumulation through
cooperative ownership. She was a
Visiting Scholar and Senior
Urban Fellow at Brown University's
Annenberg Institute for School Reform
from June 1998-June 2000.
Dr. Gordon Nembhard was Treasurer of
the National Economic Association (NEA)
from 2001-2008, and continues as
President of the board of directors of the
NEA. In addition, She is a board member
of the Political Economy Research Institute
at the University of Massachusetts,
Amherst; and a member of the Black
Enterprise Board of Economists since
October 1999.
Along with her parents and siblings, Dr.
Gordon Nembhard is a founding member
and Trustee of the CEJJES Institute, a
cultural, educational and research
foundation dedicated to improving the
educational and social conditions of all
disenfranchised people, with particular
emphasis on people of color.
Her community work is as follows: a co-
founder of The Democracy Collaborative
at the University of Maryland, College
Park; the U.S. Solidarity Economy
Network; and the Eastern Conference for
Workplace Democracy. In addition, Dr.
Gordon Nembhard is a founding member
of the US Federation of Worker
Cooperatives. Currently, she is a
member of Grassroots Economic
Organizing (GEO) Newsletter Collective
(of the Ecological Democracy Institute of
North America), The Association of
Cooperative Educators, the Canadian
Association for the Study of Cooperatives,
The Federation of Southern
Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund,and
Organizing Neighborhood Equity (ONE)
DC.
Dr. Gordon Nembhard’s recent
publications include Wealth Accumulation
and Communities of Color in the US:
Current Issues (University of Michigan
Press 2006, co-edited with Ngina Chiteji);
“Alternative Economics, a Missing
Component in the African American
Studies Curriculum” (in a special issue co-
edited by Gordon Nembhard and Mathew
Forstater of the Journal of Black Studies,
May 2008); “Growing Transformative
Businesses: Community-Based Economic
Development” (in the Solidarity Economy
proceedings published by Change Maker
Publications 2008). In addition, she is the
author of "A Cooperatives and Wealth
Accumulation" in the American Economic
Review; "A Non Traditional Analyses of
Cooperative Economic Impacts" in the
Review of International Co-operation, "A
Cooperative Ownership in the Struggle
for African American Economic
Empowerment" in Humanity & Society,
and “Educating Black Youth for Economic
Empowerment: Democratic Economic
Participation and School Reform Practices
and Policies,” in the Handbook of African
American Education edited by Linda
Tillman (Sage 2008). Dr. Gordon
Nembhard recently completed Collective
Courage, a book on the history of African
American cooperative businesses.
Photograph courtesy CEJJES Institute
| Mittie Davis Jones PhD Cleveland State University Vice Chair and Associate Professor of Urban Affairs |
| Joseph Worthy Children's Defense Fund National Coordinator of Youth Leadership & Development |
Dr. Mittie Davis Jones is Vice Chair and
Associate Professor of Urban Studies at the
Maxine Goodman Levin College for Urban
Affairs at Cleveland State University. Her
research interests include urban politics,
public policy analysis, housing and
community development, public housing,
fair housing, and race relations. Dr. Jones'
articles have appeared in Policy Studies
Review, Journal of Planning Education and
Research, and Housing Policy Debate. She
has conducted evaluations of the 21st
Century Community Learning Center
Program, the HOPE VI Revitalization Program
and programs funded by the National
Institutes of Health to address health
disparities
Dr. Jones has been a practitioner, student,
and researcher in the field of urban affairs
for over 35 years. Her previous work
experience includes positions in city
planning, public housing management, and
housing program development.
She has served on the boards of and as
technical advisor to a number of
community-based organizations in Detroit
and Cleveland. She is the former Director of
Urban Child Research Center, and currently
serves as President of the board of the
Empowerment Center of Cleveland, an
organization founded in 1966 as a grassroots
movement serving low-income people of
diverse ethnic backgrounds. The
organization was by a small group of welfare
recipients participating in a walk from
Cleveland to Columbus to dramatize the
conditions of low-income people and to
demand that all persons in need of
assistance would have their basic needs met
and human dignity upheld in the process.
Dr. Jones also represents the Ohio
Conference on the United Church of Christ
Economic Justice Task Force.
Dr. Jones earned her Ph.D. in political
science and her Master of Urban Planning
from Wayne State University. She earned a
B.A. at Michigan State University.
Photograph courtesy Cleveland State
University
Associate Professor of Urban Studies at the
Maxine Goodman Levin College for Urban
Affairs at Cleveland State University. Her
research interests include urban politics,
public policy analysis, housing and
community development, public housing,
fair housing, and race relations. Dr. Jones'
articles have appeared in Policy Studies
Review, Journal of Planning Education and
Research, and Housing Policy Debate. She
has conducted evaluations of the 21st
Century Community Learning Center
Program, the HOPE VI Revitalization Program
and programs funded by the National
Institutes of Health to address health
disparities
Dr. Jones has been a practitioner, student,
and researcher in the field of urban affairs
for over 35 years. Her previous work
experience includes positions in city
planning, public housing management, and
housing program development.
She has served on the boards of and as
technical advisor to a number of
community-based organizations in Detroit
and Cleveland. She is the former Director of
Urban Child Research Center, and currently
serves as President of the board of the
Empowerment Center of Cleveland, an
organization founded in 1966 as a grassroots
movement serving low-income people of
diverse ethnic backgrounds. The
organization was by a small group of welfare
recipients participating in a walk from
Cleveland to Columbus to dramatize the
conditions of low-income people and to
demand that all persons in need of
assistance would have their basic needs met
and human dignity upheld in the process.
Dr. Jones also represents the Ohio
Conference on the United Church of Christ
Economic Justice Task Force.
Dr. Jones earned her Ph.D. in political
science and her Master of Urban Planning
from Wayne State University. She earned a
B.A. at Michigan State University.
Photograph courtesy Cleveland State
University
Joseph Worthy is the Children’s Defense
Fund’s National Coordinator of Youth
Leadership and Development. He is
responsible for curriculum development and
evaluation of CDF's Young Advocate
Leadership Training (YALT) program. Based
in his native Cleveland, he also works to
expand the CDF Freedom Schools program
The Children’s Defense Fund is committed to
developing the next generation of servant
leaders to serve as a strong and effective
voice for all children and to pay special
attention to those children left behind without
a healthy, fair, safe or moral start in life. The
Young Advocate Leadership Training
program is a core component of CDF’s youth
leadership development work that connects
young adult servant leaders with ongoing
service and advocacy campaigns in
communities across America. The YALT
program is an action-oriented training series
offered on beginner, intermediate, and
advanced levels to equip servant leaders
with the skills and supports needed to take
national, state, and community action to
dismantle the Cradle to Prison Pipeline®, a
national crisis that leaves a Black boy born in
2001 with a one in three lifetime chance of
going to prison and a Latino boy a one in six
risk of the same fate.
Under Worthy's leadership, The YALT
program has trained young adult servant
leaders from 32 states and the District of
Columbia. YALT alumni have taken actions
such as launching child advocacy campaigns
on college campuses; engaging local, state,
and national legislatures on policies that
positively impact children and families;
building careers in child advocacy and social
justice as policy makers, educators, service
providers, and community organizers; and
serving as a consistent voice for children.
Joseph is a graduate of Heidelberg
University where he majored in Political
Science. He also studied at the Harvard
Kennedy School as a Community Fellow.
Prior to his work with CDF, Joseph worked at
The Education Resources Institute (TERI). He
is a former City Year Corps member who led
the effort to hold a Cradle to Prison Pipeline
Youth Summit for 150 City Year Corps
members in Boston.
Photograph: Jeff Ivey
Fund’s National Coordinator of Youth
Leadership and Development. He is
responsible for curriculum development and
evaluation of CDF's Young Advocate
Leadership Training (YALT) program. Based
in his native Cleveland, he also works to
expand the CDF Freedom Schools program
The Children’s Defense Fund is committed to
developing the next generation of servant
leaders to serve as a strong and effective
voice for all children and to pay special
attention to those children left behind without
a healthy, fair, safe or moral start in life. The
Young Advocate Leadership Training
program is a core component of CDF’s youth
leadership development work that connects
young adult servant leaders with ongoing
service and advocacy campaigns in
communities across America. The YALT
program is an action-oriented training series
offered on beginner, intermediate, and
advanced levels to equip servant leaders
with the skills and supports needed to take
national, state, and community action to
dismantle the Cradle to Prison Pipeline®, a
national crisis that leaves a Black boy born in
2001 with a one in three lifetime chance of
going to prison and a Latino boy a one in six
risk of the same fate.
Under Worthy's leadership, The YALT
program has trained young adult servant
leaders from 32 states and the District of
Columbia. YALT alumni have taken actions
such as launching child advocacy campaigns
on college campuses; engaging local, state,
and national legislatures on policies that
positively impact children and families;
building careers in child advocacy and social
justice as policy makers, educators, service
providers, and community organizers; and
serving as a consistent voice for children.
Joseph is a graduate of Heidelberg
University where he majored in Political
Science. He also studied at the Harvard
Kennedy School as a Community Fellow.
Prior to his work with CDF, Joseph worked at
The Education Resources Institute (TERI). He
is a former City Year Corps member who led
the effort to hold a Cradle to Prison Pipeline
Youth Summit for 150 City Year Corps
members in Boston.
Photograph: Jeff Ivey
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| On Friday, May 25, 2012 beginning at 6:00 p.m., Washington DC based and internationally regarded political economist, Jessica Gordon Nembhard will give the opening address for The National Institute For Restorative Justice's first Community Justice and Indigenous Leadership Empowerment Summit. The summit will continue through Saturday, May 26, 2012, and will be held at Greater Mt. Olivet Church of God in Christ, located at 1221 East 99 Street, Cleveland, Ohio 44108. The Summit is open to the public. Registration is Required. For information or to register call 216.721.6630, or register below online. Convened by the Institute's Sustainable Community Controlled Development Initiative, the Summit will include the Friday opening address titled "Indigenous Leadership Empowerment and Community Justice," and three Saturday sessions as follows: "Crafting Community: Leveraging Our Human and Property Resources" guided by Dr. Mittie Davis Jones, PhD, Vice Chair of Urban Studies at Cleveland State University Levin College of Urban Affairs; "Turning Our Dollars Into Sense: Leveraging Our Collective Economic Resources" guided by Dr. Jessica Nembhard, PhD, President of the National Economic Association, Associate Professor of Africana Studies, John Jay College CUNY; and, "Blocking Our Ballots: Leveraging Our Collective Political Power," guided by Joseph Worthy, National Coordinator for Youth Leadership and Development, The Children's Defense Fund. To read more about The National Institutes reasoning for the Summit visit the Chair's message page by clicking here. |
| Why Do We Need A Summit? |
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| Like many predominantly black urban communities in Cleveland, Ohio are in trouble. We sit in the middle Like many predominantly black urban communities of billions of dollars of development from downtown to across the nation, the central city-core black communities University Circle, from the Circle to the great Lake Erie. Yet, we have the highest unemployment rates; access to banking and government funding for business development is consistently denied; our property is being seized by bank and tax foreclosures, forced probate sales and code violations; our public schools are closing while private charter schools and juvenile prisons are opening; public transportation routes are being shut down; we are left unprotected from the dangerous conditions created by mass abandoned property; and, our votes are being suppressed. We need to come together to strategically discuss and implement ways to stop this assault on Black America! |
| What Will We Do At The Summit? |
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| We will do three things: We will listen and learn about ways same problems we face today; We will strategically discuss ways by which we can deal with the challenges in our community, based on our specific needs and available resources; We will identify areas of interest and activities where each of us can work to improve and stabilize our community. |
| What Will We Do After The Summit? |
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| iWe will organize, develop a strategic plan, and work in/on our different areas of interest and activities to bring about the change we need to improve and stabilize our community. |
| To View the Agenda and Photographs from our Summit Click Here To Visit our BBBB Retrospect Page |