Inside the Activists' Studio SF
Workshop Descriptions and Presenter Bios
How a Handful of People Can Influence a Big Institution
Whether we work for better health care, justice in the prison system, access to education, or any other realm of social change, we all often come up against big, bureaucratic institutions that have huge impacts on our field and the people we care about. How do we design a savvy advocacy strategy that can actually impact the political will inside these institutions, and effect systemic change in our field? Joanna Levitt, Co-Director of International Accountability Project (IAP), will explore this question through sharing concrete case studies of effective advocacy at the World Bank that has resulted in stronger protections for local people's human rights and environments. During the workshop, participants will have an opportunity to reflect and map out potential advocacy strategies for their own work.
The workshop will explore:
* Why is it important to target certain institutions? How do I determine which ones are most critical to effecting change in my field?
* What kinds of offices/agencies within the institution are the key decision-makers to target?
* What particular media outlets and sources will have the biggest impact on the target institution?
* What are the limitations of the kind of change we can expect at bureaucracies?
* How do we mix "inside" strategies (based on meeting with decision-makers and going through official channels) with more radical "outside" strategies (that can involve direct action, protest, creative media work, etc.)?
Joanna Levitt is the Co-Director of International Accountability Project (IAP), a San-Francisco based organization that works to promote human rights and environmental justice in international development. Joanna's work with IAP is fueled by her life-long passion to connect efforts to heal our planet with work for justice in our human communities. Before joining IAP in 2006, Joanna worked with the Centro de Derechos Economicos y Sociales in Ecuador, and the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) in Washington, DC. She is a Bay Area native, and also spends time in Asia and South America for her work with IAP. Joanna is honored to be collaborating with the AJWS community, as she believes that effective activism requires not only sound strategy, but also strength of spirit.
Leveraging New Media to Make an Impact
When it comes to learning the online world, there's knowing how to use the tools, and there's asking the important question of, "what do we want to achieve, and how do these tools help us reach that goal?" In this session, we'll explore this central question and learn a few strategies behind using new media tools to reach new audiences and change the debate on issues you care about. Participants will also leave with resources and practical "how-to" guides on using online tools (from blogs, videos, twitter and more) as well as mobile technology.
Cole Krawitz is founder of jvoices.com. A writer, poet, and communications strategist living in Oakland, California, he has worked for over ten years with a number of organizations on local and national organizing and policy campaigns, training and media strategy. Cole’s articles have been published in Newsday, The Advocate, Huffington Post, The Forward, and more, and in 2008, he was selected as a Lambda Literary Foundation Poetry Fellow. While living in New York, Cole was also a contributing host on Beyond the Pale on WBAI 99.5 NY with co-hosts Esther Kaplan and Marilyn Kleinberg Neimark. He's currently completing his MFA in Creative Writing at Lesley University. For more on Cole's work, check him out on LinkedIn.
You Don't Have to Be Rich to be a Philanthropist: Explore Social Change Philanthropy
This workshop will explore the field of social change philanthropy – Jewish and progressive—and how individuals with varying levels of wealth, can participate in making the world a better place through creative, inspired giving. We will take the marriage equality movement in California as a case study and extrapolate to various issues participants are involved with to leave with concrete ideas for future action.
By participating in this workshop, you will:
* Take home some lessons learned from funding the work of securing marriage rights in CA for same-sex couples.
* Learn about resources in the Jewish community, as well as progressive social change foundations and opportunities.
* Think about how to organize philanthropically around issues you care about.
Julie Dorf has been a leader in the LGBT rights movement for twenty years. Julie founded and directed the International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) from 1990 to 2000, creating an organization that protects and advances the human rights of all people and communities subject to discrimination or abuse on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, or HIV status. She recently helped to create the Council for Global Equality, to ensure an American foreign policy that is inclusive of sexual orientation and gender identity issues, and where she works as a Senior Advisor. In the past decade, Julie has worked in philanthropy serving as the Director of Philanthropic Services for Horizons Foundation, a foundation serving the Bay Area's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community; and as Vice President of the Vanguard Public Foundation. She has extensive experience providing philanthropic advice to individual donors, legacy planning, and donor education. As an independent consultant, Julie has worked for Open Society Institute, Global Fund for Women, Arcus Foundation, and Fenton Communications/J-Street Project. Julie currently serves on the board of directors or advisory boards of Human Rights Watch’s Women’s Rights Division, Human Rights Watch’s LGBT Rights Program, IGLHRC, and PowerPAC. Julie holds a B.A. from Wesleyan University in Russian and Soviet Studies. She has written, spoken, and advocated extensively on social justice issues ranging from reparations for gay victims of the Nazis, Jewish-Palestinian relations, and marriage equality. She lives in San Francisco with her partner Jenni Olson, and their two girls Hazel and Sylvie.
Coexistence Through Education
Come learn how to incorporate co-existence into the classroom! Expose yourself to teaching pedagogies, conflict resolution theories, and exciting hands on activities that teach us how to live together in a multicultural society. Delve into a socially progressive educational framework that is inclusive, rights centered, and interactive.
Samantha Witman was raised in Providence, Rhode Island. At 16 she spent a year in Israel, an experience she credits with giving her a new view on what it means to be Jewish. After high school she completed a BA at Brandeis University, majoring in Near Eastern Judaic Studies and Islamic Middle Eastern Studies, and earned a Master's degree from Tel Aviv University, studying Middle Eastern History. Upon returning to the US, she moved to Los Angeles and embarked on a three-year teaching post at Sinai Akiba Academy, during which time she earned a second Master's degree, from the Fingerhut School of Education at the American Jewish University. In addition, Samantha studied Arabic at the Lebanese American University, where she also taught a course on Peace and Conflict Resolution.
Art and Identity
Dream of Jewish as vital, vibrant, alive. Dream in song, in dance, in spoken word and movement, in film and poetry. We are here, at a moment in time, in a place where dreams are being realized. Where art is the connecting point for so many seeking to find a way into their rich heritage and for those wanting to connect the past with the future to make sense of the present. Together we will examine current trends and culture leaders and ask the question is this just a dream or can art and culture nurture a new Jewish identity in a contemporary world?
Dan Wolf is a multi-disciplinary performer who combines conventional theater styles with the themes, language, music and aesthetics of hip hop. Dan is a founding member of the hip hop collective Felonious and a Resident Artist with the Hybrid Project at Intersection for the Arts. His play Angry Black White Boy, an adaptation of Adam Mansbach's novel, was included in the Top 10 lists for the San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner for 2008. He is currently developing The Stateless Project which includes a hip-hop and beatbox infused theatrical collaboration with Tommy Shepherd, balancing German and Jewish history with the problems of racism and the Jewish African American Experience as well as a documentary film titled ‘return of the tuedelband,’ a multi-media lecture and a museum installation. His play Beatbox: A Raparetta (co-authored with Tommy Shepherd) has been produced in San Francisco, Oakland, Petaluma, Germany, and at the New York Hip Hop Theater Festival. Beatbox will be published by TCG in the upcoming hip hop theater anthology Plays from the Boom Box Galaxy. As an actor he has worked with Word for Word, Crowded Fire, Intersection for the Arts, Porchlight Theater Company, and the Shotgun Players. As an educator he has worked with Berkeley Rep School of Theater, Hybrid Institute at Intersection and Youth Speaks. During the day he is the Program Manager of The Hub at the JCCSF which presents cutting-edge programs that promote the evolution of Jewish arts, culture and ritual.
Food Justice in a New Food Future
We are in the midst of a historic transformation between two very different visions of the future of food. Grassroots movements, such as Slow Food and the New Jewish Food Movement, are challenging the decades-long corporate, industrial model which has left the community and the environment behind. Emerging is a new (old) approach to not only what we eat, but a fundamental shift in how we relate to the very source of our food. Leaders in the food movement will explore with you ethical and ecological consequences of our food choices, what they are doing on the frontlines of the movement, and most importantly, how we can all engage in recreating a food system that reflects our deepest values of ecological and social justice here on Earth.
Zelig Golden is a an attorney with the Center for Food Safety (CFS) in San Francisco where he works on legal and policy issues related to genetically engineered crops, food safety laws, and promoting sustainable agriculture. Before joining CFS, he spent the 2006 season farming, teaching and pickling at the Adamah farm at the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center. As Maggid, Zelig brings earth based spirituality to the Bay Area community as a Jewish vision quest guide and through an annual cycle of land-based pilgrimage festival gatherings. He is also active in the Jewish farm movement as a member and educator of the Jewish Farm School collective. Zelig is a member of the Hazon Board of Directors and co-chaired Hazon's 2008 Food Conference.
Naomi Starkman is a food policy media consultant to Consumers Union and recently served as the Director of Communications & Policy at Slow Food Nation. She has been a media consultant to The New Yorker, Condé Nast Portfolio, GQ and WIRED magazines, was previously a senior publicist at Newsweek magazine and the Director of Communications for the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR). From 1997 to 2000, she served as Deputy Executive Director of the S.F. Ethics Commission. A co-founder of the food policy blog, CivilEats.com, Naomi works with various clients on food policy and advocacy and is an aspiring organic grower, having worked on several farms.
