Conference Day 1

Friday, May 5, 2023

9:00 AM - 10:30 AM Opening Session

North Exhibition Hall 2

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Welcome - Will Ratliff, Chairperson, 2023 International Peace Conference 

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Topic: Building Peace in Birmingham featuring Mayor Randall L. Woodfin, City of Birmingham, AL 

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Topic: Rotary & Peace featuring Jennifer Jones, President, Rotary International 

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Topic: The Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham featuring Odessa Woolfolk, Founding President and Chair Emerita of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute

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Topic: UAB's Contribution to Peace in Birmingham featuring Dr. Ray Watts, President, University of Alabama at Birmingham 

10:30 AM - 10:45 AM Coffee Break

10:45 AM - 11:35 AM Breakout Session 1

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Pillar #1 Topic: Meditation for Peace & Health - featuring Dr. Yolanda Lewis-Ragland, Director of Community Impact and Health Equity, National Collaborative for Health Equity

Location: Forum Meeting Room A

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Pillar #2 Topic: Prevention and Treatment - Domestic Violence featuring Susann-Montgomery Clark, Founder, Megan's Fund; Allison Dearing, Executive Director, One Place Metro Alabama Family Justice Center; and Dr. LaRhonda Magras, CEO, YWCA Central Alabama

Location: Forum Meeting Room B

 

Pillar #3 Topic: Innovative Early Learning featuring Dr. Tommy Bice, Board Chair, i3 Academy; and Lella Carl Hamiter, Executive Director, Preschool Partners

Location: North Meeting Room B

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Pillar #3 Topic: Envisioning the Future of Youth Peacebuilding featuring Patricia Shafer, Founder and Executive Director, NewGen Peacebuilders

Location: North Meeting Room DC

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Pillar #4 Topic: Community-Based Healthcare and Peace featuring Dr. Meghan Bonds, Medical Director, Hale County (AL) Hospital; Dr. Robert Record, Founder and CEO, Family Medicine Residency Faculty for Christ Health Center; and Teresa Shufflebarger, Chief Administration Officer, Live HealthSmart Alabama

Location: North Meeting Room E

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Pillar #4 Topic: Creation of Peace Environments - Red Trail System and Cool Green Trees featuring Rusha Smith, Executive Director, Freshwater Land Trust; Francesca Gross, Executive Director, Cool Green Trees

Location: North Meeting Room F

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Pillar #4 Topic: New Birmingham Violence Intervention featuring Sherah Liverpool, Associate Director, Health Alliance for Violence Intervention and Deborah Daniels, Co-Founder, Offender Alumni Association

Location: North Meeting Room G

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Pillar #5 Topic: Educating to Prevent Human Trafficking featuring Ashlie Bryant, Founder and CEO, 3 Strands Global Foundation; Valerie Ellery, Educator & Best Selling Author; Veronica McDaniel, Teacher, Atlanta International School

Location: Forum Meeting Room C

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Pillar #6 Topic: Non-violent Movement for Peace & Reconciliation featuring Carolyn McKinstry, Author & Civil Rights Foot Soldier; Janice Kelsey, Educator & Civil Rights Foot Soldier; James Stewart, Activist & Civil Rights Foot Soldier

Location: North Meeting Room I

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Pillar #7 Topic: Starting Anew featuring Melinda McGahee, Executive Director of Lovelady Center

Location: Forum Meeting Room G

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Pillar #8 Topic: Rotary International and the United Nations featuring Mark Maloney, Past President,

Rotary International

Location: Forum Meeting Room H

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Pillar #8 Topic: Northern Ireland: Is it a Model or Are There Other Models? featuring Byron Bland, Associate Director, Stanford Center on International Conflict and Negotiation

Location: Forum Meeting Room I

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11:35 AM - 11:45 AM Coffee Break

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11:45 AM - 12:35 PM Breakout Session 2

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Pillar #1 Topic: Unconscious Bias featuring Joel Lesko, President of Sunshower Learning;

Location: Forum Meeting Room A

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Pillar #2 Topic: Saving Families, Together or Apart featuring Rebecca Morris, Sr. VP External Affairs, Embrace Alabama Kids; and Frances Ross Nolan, Attorney, Collaborative Divorce Practitioner, Nolan Pyers PC

Location: Forum Meeting Room B

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Pillar #3 Topic: Teaching Hard History featuring Bishop Van Moody, Founding Pastor, Freedom Schools;

Zoe Weil, Director of Education Engagement, Alabama Holocaust Education Center

Location: North Meeting Room B

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Pillar #3 Topic: Unique Charter Schools in the Magic City featuring Dr. Patton Furman, Principal, Magic City Acceptance Academy; Ruben Morris, Founder & CEO, Alabama Aerospace & Aviation High School

Location: North Meeting Room DC

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Pillar #4 Topic: Mobile Health Clinic and Housing featuring Gloria Howard, Chief Operating Officer for Alethia House; Dr. Lemeshia Chambers, Operations Director, Live HealthSmart Alabama; and Teresa Shufflebarger, Chief Administration Officer, Live HealthSmart Alabama

Location: North Meeting Room E

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Pillar #4 Topic: Importance of Leadership featuring Rev. Denny Blake, Senior Pastor, Disciples of Jesus Ministries and Gay Malony, Past President, Decatur Daybreak Rotary Club

Location: North Meeting Room F

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Pillar #5 Topic: Healthcare and Human Trafficking featuring, Bethany Biesenthal, Partner, Jones Day, Dr. Hanni Stoklosa, Founder, Heal Trafficking; Rachel Fischer, Survivor & Activist; and Laura Castellanos, Hospitals Against Violence, AHA

Location: North Meeting Room G

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Pillar #6 Topic: Promoting Successful Black Businesses featuring Felicia Beard, Assistant Vice President of Racial Equity Initiative, Community Foundation of Greater Buffalo

Location: Forum Meeting Room C

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Pillar #6 Topic: Racial Healing featuring Lucy Wairimu Mukuria, Kenyan Psychologist and Radio Personality, Founder of True North Society; and Salaam Greene

Location: North Meeting Room I

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Pillar #7 Topic: How Rotary Empowers Women & Girls featuring Elizabeth Usovicz, Director of Rotary International; and Jennifer Jones, President, Rotary International

Location: Forum Meeting Room G

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Pillar #8 Topic: Peace in Space featuring Rajiv Doreswamy, Manager, Exploration Transportation and Development Office, NASA

Location: Forum Meeting Room I

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Pillar #8 Topic: Protection of Civilians featuring Urs Broennimann, Consul General, Swiss Consulate and Ambassador Dominik Stillhart, Head of Swiss Humanitarian Aid, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.

Location: Forum Meeting Room H

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12:35 PM - 1:45 PM Lunch & General Session 2

North Exhibition Hall 2

Featuring Stephanie Sinclair, Photojournalist and Founder, Too Young To Wed; Grace Ndanu, Graduate of Egerton University in Kenya in Gender, Women's' and Development Studies; 

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1:45 PM - 2:00 PM Coffee Break

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2:00 PM - 2:50 PM Breakout Session 3 

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Pillar #2 Topic: Meditation for Family Peace & Health - featuring Dr. Yolanda Lewis-Ragland, Director of Community Impact and Health Equity, National Collaborative for Health Equity

Location: Forum Meeting Room A

 

Pillar #3 Topic: Quality Education for Every Student featuring Mark Dixon, President, A+ Education Partnership; and Dr. Tommy Bice, Board Chair, i3 Academy; 

Location: Forum Meeting Room B

 

Pillar #4 Topic: Intentional Communities as a Pathway to Peace featuring Marcus Briggs-Cloud, Co-Director, Ekvnv Yefolecvlke; Elizabeth Dede, Koinonia Farms

Location: North Meeting Room B

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Pillar #4 Topic: Accessible Healthcare and Peace featuring Dr. Eva Czermak, Physician and Rotary Peace Fellow; and Dr. Meghan Bonds, Medical Director, Hale County (AL) Hospital

Location: North Meeting Room DC

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Pillar #4 Topic: Birmingham: Leading the Way in LGBTQ+ Equality featuring Carmarion Anderson, Alabama State Director Human Rights Campaign and Executive Director of Black Transwomen, Inc.; Alexander Bautisa, LGBTQ+ Latinx Director, AIDS Alabama; Michael Fordham, Program Director, 1917 Clinic; and Gina Mallisham, Executive Director, Jefferson County Memorial Project

Location: North Meeting Room E

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Pillar #5 Topic: Mobilizing Against Human Trafficking featuring, Laura Ellsworth, Partner-in-charge of Global Community Service Initiatives, Renata Parras, Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Counsel, Paul Hastings; Heather Fischer, Senior Advisor for Human Rights Crimes,Thomson Reuters Special Services

Location: North Meeting Room F

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Pillar #6 Topic: Educating for Racial Progress featuring Andrea Miller, Executive Director of AlaQuest Collaborative for Education; and Bishop Van Moody, Founding Pastor, Freedom Schools

Location: North Meeting Room G

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Pillar #6 Topic: Recovering from Community Trauma featuring Felicia Beard, Senior Director, Racial Equity Initiatives, Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo

Location: Forum Meeting Room C

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Pillar #7 Topic: Programs for Stronger Girls featuring Kristen Greenwood, Executive Director, GirlSpring; and Jessica Rodgers, Director of Program Operations, Girls Inc. of Central Alabama

Location: North Meeting Room I

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Pillar #8 Topic: Refugees and Immigrants featuring Luma Mufleh, Founder, Fugees Family; Din Blakenship, Award-winning Filmmaker; and Dr. Carlos Enrique Alemán, Chief Executive Officer, ¡HICA!

Location: Forum Meeting Room G

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Pillar #8 Topic: Institute for Human Rights at the University of Alabama at Birmingham featuring Dr. Tina Kempin Reuter, Director, Institute for Human Rights at the University of Alabama at Birmingham

Location: Forum Meeting Room H

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2:50 PM - 3:00 PM Coffee Break

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3:00 PM - 3:50 PM Breakout Session 4 

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Pillar #1 Topic: Peace and Mental Health Through Art featuring Dori DeCamillis, Owner, Red Dot Gallery; Kimberly Kirklin, Director, UAB Arts in Medicine

Location: Forum Meeting Room A

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Pillar #2 Topic: Supporting New Families featuring Brandi Moore, Nurse Home Visitor, Office of Clinical and Global Partnerships at UAB; Grace Ndanu, Graduate of Egerton University in Kenya in Gender,

Women's and Development Studies

Location: Forum Meeting Room B

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Pillar #3 Topic: Education for At-Risk Students featuring Dr. Jeremiah Newell, Superintendent, ACCEL Academy; and Donna Dukes, Founder and Executive Director, Maranathan Academy

Location: North Meeting Room B

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Pillar #3 Topic: Teaching Youth to Make a Difference featuring Jennifer Hatchett, Executive Director, YouthServe, Inc.; and Andrea Miller, Executive Director of AlaQuest Collaborative for Education

Location: North Meeting Room DC

 

Pillar #4 Topic: Homeboy Industries as a Model featuring Fabian Debora, Executive Director,

Homeboy Industries

Location: North Meeting Room E

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Pillar #4 Topic: Jefferson County Department of Health Programs Promoting Peace featuring

Dr. Mark Wilson, Health Officer, Jefferson County Department of Health

Location: North Meeting Room F

 

Pillar #4 Topic: Peace Through Sports featuring Shan Foster, CEO, Fostering Healthy Solutions and Retired NBA Player; Luma Mufleh, Founder, Fugees Family; and Ron Froehlich, Honorary Life President, The World Games

Location: North Meeting Room G

 

Pillar #5 Topic: Fighting Human Trafficking Business: Hospitality, Transportation and Commerce featuring Mark VanBeest, VP External Affairs, Motel 6; Penny Davidson, Amazon; Erica Sarkissian, Delta Airlines;

Location: Forum Meeting Room C

 

Pillar #6 Topic: Birmingham Civil Rights Institute Today featuring DeJuana Thompson, President of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute

Location: North Meeting Room I

 

Pillar #7 Topic: Supporting Women Recovering from Trauma featuring Rev. Becca Stevens,

Founder and CEO, Thistle Farm

Location: Forum Meeting Room G

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Pillar #8 Topic: International Programs for Cities of Peace featuring Rudy Westervelt, Past Governor,

Rotary District 5330

Location: Forum Meeting Room H

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3:50 PM - 4:00 PM Coffee Break

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4:00 PM - 5:30 PM General Session 3

North Exhibition Hall 2

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Topic: The Physiological Benefits of Meditation featuring Bob Roth, Chief Executive Officer, Spokesperson for Transcendental Meditation and the David Lynch Foundation

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Topic: Empowerment of Women and Girls featuring Liz Huntley, Author, Attorney and Co-Founder of

The Hope Institute

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Topic: The Institute for Economics and Peace: Theory and Practice featuring Steve Killelea,

Founder and CEO, Institute for Economics and Peace 

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5:30 PM - 8:00 PM Cocktail Hour in Friendship Hall 

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