Keynote Speakers

Linda Burnham: Different Strategies, Common Goals: Facing the Challenges of Collaboration

Linda Burnham co-founded the Women of Color Resource Center in Oakland, California in 1989 and served as its executive director until December 2007. WCRC's most recent collaborations with university-based researchers have focused on the impact of welfare policies on women and children in California and the contributions of women of color to second wave feminism. Long an influential intellectual, advocate for low-income women of color, and activist for peace and human rights, she led delegations of women of color to UN World Conferences on Women in Nairobi in 1985 and Beijing in 1995, as well as the UN World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa.  In 2004, she was a leader of Count Every Vote, a poll-watching project in southern states.  In 2005, she was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize as one of One Thousand Women for Peace. Linda Burnham is currently engaged in theorizing and organizing to create a social justice feminist movement. She is a 2008 Twink Frey Visiting Social Activist at the Center for the Education of Women.

Connie Evans: Economic Development as if Black Women Mattered

Connie Evans is an international leader in development finance and economic development with extensive experience in domestic and international community and social development programs.  She was the founding president, from 1986-2000, of the Women’s Self-Employment Project (WSEP) in Chicago, the first, and largest, successful urban U.S. microenterprise lending program in the U.S., adapted from the Grameen Bank model developed in Bangladesh.  Through WSEP, she promoted strategies to lift women off welfare, develop skills and access resources to run their own businesses.  In 2000, she launched WSEP Ventures and the WSEP Consulting Group to develop a portfolio of businesses that strengthen economic opportunities for low-income people.  Her current efforts focus on micro-lending and asset development by women in the U.S. and abroad. Her board memberships include the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and The Global Fund for Women, and she is a member of the Micro Credit Summit Campaign Executive Committee.  Connie Evans was a 2006 Twink Frey Visiting Social Activist at the Center for the Education of Women.

Opening Remarks

Carol S. Hollenshead is director of the University of Michigan Center for the Education of Women (CEW) and Chair of the University of Michigan President's Advisory Commission on Women's Issues. As director of the Center for the Education of Women, she oversees research, service programs, advocacy, and policy development focused on higher education, careers and leadership. Hollenshead has served as director/co-director of research and intervention programs concerning women and diversity in the academy, women’s multicultural leadership, and women in science and engineering as well as women's education and careers.

Hollenshead has written and edited a wide range of publications on women in the academy and corporate sector; work-family issues; and policies and practices affecting women. From 1999 to 2002, Hollenshead served as the state coordinator for the Michigan American Council on Education Network; she currently serves on the national ACE Network Executive Board. In addition, she serves on the national steering committee of Campus

Philip Bowman is the founding director of the National Center for Institutional Diversity at the University of Michigan.  In addition, he holds faculty appointments in the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education, the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, the Institute for Social Research and the National Poverty Center.  He is a social psychologist with a strong interest in cultural diversity and pressing public policy issues, including health disparities, urban poverty, joblessness, and affirmative action.  Before coming to the University of Michigan, he directed the Institute for research on Race ad Public Policy at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Additional Presenters

Marie Kennedy and Deborah Gray:  Raising the Voices of Low-Income Women

Marie Kennedy is a professor emerita of community planning from the University of Massachusetts Boston College of Public and Community Service. While teaching at the University of Massachusetts, Marie Kennedy was the faculty sponsor of the Roofless Women’s Action Research Mobilization and later Women in Community Development, a program through which low income women are supported in acquiring a college education while focusing their academic work on issues of importance to homeless and low income women.  She combines the roles of activist and scholar, teaching, working in and writing about community development, planning education and participatory action research.  Marie Kennedy has worked extensively with community organizations in the Greater Boston Area, as well as in San Francisco, Brazil, Cuba, Haiti, Mexico, and Nicaragua. She is currently co-chair of the Steering Committee of the Planners Network and on the editorial board of Progressive Planning.  In 2007 the Boston City Council recognized her for half a century of leadership and advocacy for social justice in Boston and the world.

Deborah Gray is a graduate of the Roofless Women’s Action Research Mobilization and Women in Community Development, completing a 2003 master’s degree in human services.  She is currently the Special Assistant to the Deputy Superintendent for Family & Community Engagement of the Boston Public Schools, with the mission of increasing parents’ engagement in their children’s schools. While working at the Family Nurturing Center of Massachusetts from 1998-2001, Deborah Gray developed parent leadership development training courses.  At the Women’s Institute for Housing & Economic Development from 2001-2004, she managed an Individual Development Accounts program enabling women to build savings and assets.  From 2005-2007, she created and directed a new School, Family & Community Engagement unit in the Boston Public School System.  She is also a trainer, facilitator, organizer and activist.

Aída Hurtado and Sylvia Leal: Collaborating Across Differences for Educational Success: The GEAR UP Interventions in South Texas  View their slide presentation

Aída Hurtado is professor of psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz and Director of the Chicano/Latino Research Center, and past chair of the National Association for Chicana/Chicano Studies. She has had a long-term collaboration with the Region One GEAR UP program, designed to improve K-12 schooling to increase the number of students graduating from high school and enrolling in higher education, in south Texas. Aída Hurtado's research focuses on educational achievement, media portrayals of race, and feminist theory. Her books include, The Color of Privilege:  Three Blasphemies on Race and Feminism (1996.  Ann Arbor:  University of Michigan Press), Voicing Chicana Feminisms: Young Women Speak Out on Sexuality and Identity (2003. New York: New York University Press, this book received an honorable mention for the Myers Outstanding Book Awards given by The Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights in North America), and Chicana/o Identity in a changing U.S. society. ¿Quién soy? ¿Quiénes somos? (2004, co-authored with Patricia Gurin, Tucson: The University of Arizona Press).

Sylvia Leal has over nineteen years of educational experience that includes working as a bilingual educator, teacher of the gifted and talented, and as a senior education specialist at the Region One Education Service Center in the state of Texas.  She most recently coordinated the implementation of the Region One GEAR UP project providing rigorous preparation for over 8,000 students at 29 poor, predominantly minority, high schools on the US-Mexico border in South Texas.  Sylvia Leal currently administers student academic success initiatives as the Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs at the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College in South Texas where she continues her commitment to improve the college preparation and success of low income Mexican American students.  She holds a master’s degree in education, specializing in school administration, a B. A. in business administration/marketing, and is certified as a principal, elementary teacher and bilingual teacher in Texas.

Larry M. Gant and Denise Wellons-Glover: Neighborhood-Based High Speed Broadband Technologies: Creating Power and Access for Urban African-American Women, Children and Families.

Larry Gant is a professor of social work at the University of Michigan. He is currently the leading University of Michigan partner in the Skillman Foundation’s Good Neighborhoods Initiative. The Initiative is a ten-year program of investing money and technical assistance in six Detroit neighborhoods with the goal of working with city residents to develop child-friendly communities. Larry Gant’s research focuses on program evaluation of urban human service and social action organizations, creation and evaluation of community-based health promotion initiatives, access to community-based information technology, and the study of comprehensive urban community-based initiatives. Concerned with the impact of the digital divide in 1999, he began developing community designed computer labs. Most of the labs' staff and participants were women of all ages; many women were caregivers of children. The impact of Internet and high speed communications created digital canyons between urban families and their counterparts. Larry Gant's research endorsed the notion that access to broadband technology is a public utility as essential to community capacity growth and development as electricity, gas and water services. Working with Garrett Myers, he developed models of neighborhood based WI-FI networks. Called “Steeples to People”, the project later evolved into Detroit Connected, and began to develop small wi-fi projects as proofs-of-concepts. Denise Wellons-Glover observed one of these proofs of concept projects, and an already existing community-university partnership moved in a new direction.

Denise Wellons-Glover is the program manager of the Family Place, a children and family collaborative project of the Child Care Coordinating Council (4Cs).  The Family Place recognized the importance of family focused computer training and education early on and co-designed one of the longest lasting community based computer labs for computer education, job preparation, and literacy programs in the state of Michigan. It remains perhaps the only viable, ongoing urban-based neighborhood residential wi-fi initiative in the United States. The Family Place will lead the roll out of high-speed wireless service to 15,000 families by 2012.  Denise Wellons-Glover has worked for the Child Care Coordinating Council of Detroit/Wayne County since 1995 and also oversees the agency’s Family-to-Family contract.  Ms. Wellons-Glover is the secretary of the Wayne County Community College Board of Trustees and active in the Association of Community College Trustees, Alpha Kappa Alpha, and a number of other organizations.  In addition, she provides grief counseling through her local church and has worked as a parish social worker.  From 1978 -1992, she provided management support for twelve Neighborhood City Halls and served as a mayoral liaison to neighborhood and community organizations.  Denise Wellons-Glover has a bachelor’s of social work and is a master’s candidate in pastoral counseling.

Cleo Caldwell: "Community-Based Participatory Research as a Strategy in Developing Interventions with Nonresident African American Fathers and Sons."

Cleopatra Howard Caldwell is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, School of Public Health, an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology, and Associate Director of the Program for Research on Black Americans at the Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan. Her extensive research experience has cultivated expertise in program evaluation, survey research methodology, employing a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach and effective strategies for recruiting and conducting culturally competent research with African American adults, adolescents, and families. She has applied CBPR principles to her research involving Black churches and for developing and evaluating culturally based, family-centered preventive interventions. Dr. Caldwell is well known for her research on racial identity, discrimination and psychological adaptation among African American adolescents, and has an interest in youth engagement as a strategy for achieving broader community change through her work with the Kellogg Foundation’s Food and Fitness Initiative.  As the Principal Investigator of the Flint Fathers and Sons Evaluation Project, she has worked with community collaborators to design a family-centered intervention to prevent adolescent risk behaviors through strengthening relationships between non-resident African American fathers and sons. This work is currently being considered for replication in other communities.

Closing Session: Crossing Boundaries, Building Bridges: Universities, Foundations, and Community Organizations Working Together

Rev. Jerome Warfield is Pastor of Mt. Vernon Missionary Baptist Church.  Additionally, Pastor Warfield is Chairman of Trinity Community Development, Mt. Vernon’s 501c3 organization.  Through this ministry, Pastor Warfield founded Trinity’s Youth Tech Leadership Training Academy. The academy trains young people in basic leadership principles and computer skills utilizing a computer-based curriculum.  The Youth Tech Leadership Training Academy has already received national recognition from the Department of Justice and the National Urban Technology Center of Manhattan, NY.

Rev. Warfield is Chairperson of Brightmoor Alliance, a coalition of organizations dedicated to serving northwest Detroit’s Brightmoor community.  Under Pastor Warfield’s leadership, Brightmoor Alliance has increased its membership from 33 to 45 organizations.  Rev. Warfield has received the 2007 Outstanding Ecumenical Leader Award by Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s N.E.X.T Detroit Neighborhood initiative.  He has also been designated by Mayor Kilpatrick’s office as the “Community Champion” in Brightmoor for helping spearhead the revitalization and redevelopment efforts on behalf of the Mayor’s Next Detroit Neighborhood Initiative.  Pastor Warfield also sits on the board of advisors for the Skillman Foundation in their efforts to improve the quality of life of the residents of Brightmoor.
    
Rev. Warfield has worked in corporate America for over 17 years within the healthcare industry.  He has successfully served as a sales consultant for several fortune 500 companies: The Novartis Pharmaceutical Corporation, Bausch & Lomb, 3M Corporation, 3M Media, and MERCK & Co. 
Rev. Warfield earned his Masters of Arts in Pastoral Counseling from Ashland Theological Seminary in June of 2002.  He received his Bachelor of Arts from Michigan State University in Political Science.  

Tonya Allen is vice president of program at The Skillman Foundation, a private independent foundation whose mission is to improve the lives of children in Southeast Michigan. Allen is the architect of the Foundation's 10-year $100-million Good Neighborhoods program, and helps oversee all three of the Foundation's main program areas and investments.

Allen was named this year to Crain's Detroit Business 40 Under 40 list, which recognizes Detroit's emerging leaders. Allen attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where she completed her BA in sociology and African American studies. She also holds master's degrees in public health and social work from U-M.

Allen, who joined Skillman's staff in 2004 as a program director, has also worked for the C.S. Mott Foundation and the Plymouth-based Thompson-McCully Foundation. Allen was also the executive director of Detroit Parent Network.

Cynthia Wilbanks, University of Michigan Vice President for Government Relations, directs the University's Government Relations programs at the local, state and federal levels. Her responsibilities include planning and developing the institution's response to proposed legislation; developing and maintaining effective relationships with governmental agencies and officials; and analyzing and assessing legislative, administrative and regulatory activities as they pertain to University programs, activities and operations. She also supervises the activities of the State Outreach office.

Cynthia Wilbanks has broad experience in government service as district director for U.S. Congressman Carl D. Pursell in 1979-92, Washtenaw County field representative for Pursell in 1977-79, and staff assistant for U.S. Congressman Marvin Esch in 1973-76. She also was a candidate for U.S. Congress from Michigan's 13th District in 1994.

She was president of Michigan's Children, a statewide child advocacy organization in 1993-95, prior to joining the U-M in 1995.

She is a member of and holds leadership positions in a number of community and civic organizations, including serving on the boards of directors of the Bank of Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum, Glacier Hills Retirement Center, Riverside Arts Center Foundation, and Nonprofit Enterprise at Work (NEW Center). She also served three consecutive years as the University of Michigan United Way Campaign Chair.

Cynthia Wilbanks earned a B.A. in Political Science and a Secondary Teaching Certificate from the University of Michigan.

Laurita Thomas is the Associate Vice President for Human Resources at the University of Michigan. She is responsible for recruitment, benefits, total compensation, academic, staff and union relations, organizational effectiveness, work/life services, employee assistance programs, records and information services, affirmative action/diversity, and health and well being services. She gained a deep understanding of human resources at the University of Michigan as the former Administrator of Human Resources and Director of Allied Health Education in the U-M Health System.

Laurita Thomas’s professional human resources career spans roles in the financial industry, higher education and healthcare.  She is a graduate of the University of Michigan in political science and economics.  Her graduate work is in guidance and counseling and business administration.  Among her many awards are the 2005 Laurita Thomas Diversity Champion Award, the Charles D. Moody Award for Highest Achievement of Diversity and Excellence, the Girl Scouts of the Huron Valley Council Women of Distinction Award, the University Distinguished Service Award, the University of Michigan Woman of the Year in Leadership, the Washtenaw County ETCSG Leadership Award and the Larry Warren Multicultural Health Achievement Award.  She has published articles and book chapters, the most recent of which is Inside the Minds, The Role of Human Resources, Aspatore Books, 2005.