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Two Conference Keynote Speakers Named
A top-flight program is being lined up for The Kirwan Institute’s upcoming conference, Transforming Race: Visions of Change, to be held March 15-17, 2012, in Columbus, Ohio. Van Jones will keynote the welcome reception on the evening of Thursday, March 15 and Vandana Shiva will lead another keynote session.
Van Jones is a globally recognized, award-winning pioneer in human rights and the clean-energy economy, senior fellow at the Center For American Progress, best-selling author, and former green jobs advisor in the Obama White House.
Vandana Shiva is founder of the gender unit at the International Centre for Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in Kathmandu, India, and founding Board Member of the Women Environment and Development Organisation (WEDO). Dr. Shiva chairs the Commission on the Future of Food set up by the Region of Tuscany and is a member of the Scientific Committee which advises President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero of Spain. Time magazine identified Dr. Shiva as an environmental “hero” in 2003 and Asia Week has called her one of the five most powerful communicators of Asia.
Check our conference website for more conference updates, and online registration, coming soon.
Conference Speaker Proposals Still Welcome
There is also still time for other prospective speakers to submit a proposal to lead a conference session. Proposals should offer substantive visions of the racial/ethnic landscape in 2042, in a variety of subject areas including capitalism, race and the mind sciences, global warming and energy, religion and faith, corporations, and much more. See the Call for Proposals for more information, and e-mail your proposal submissions to tr2012cfp@gmail.com by September 30.
Kirwan Honors powell; New Challenges Await
After eight years, Kirwan Institute founder and Executive Director john powell has announced that he will be leaving the Institute on January 1, 2012 to head the new Haas Diversity Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley, his law school alma mater. That multidisciplinary research center’s work will focus on disparities related to race, gender, sexual orientation, disability and socioeconomic status. He also will hold appointments at Berkeley in African-American Studies, Ethnic Studies, and Law.
Under powell’s leadership, the Kirwan Institute has become widely recognized as a national leader in policy-oriented research relating to matters of race and ethnicity while also doing significant work in Ohio and Columbus. From research to teaching, committee memberships to event sponsorships, the Institute’s multidisciplinary staff partners extensively with faculty, staff, and units across The Ohio State University.
Nationally, the Institute has worked on issues ranging from economic recovery to neighborhood revitalization, housing, and relations between African Americans and immigrants, among other topics. Last year alone, its research projects reached from Portland, Oregon to the Mississippi Gulf Coast to Jacksonville, Florida, and staff members made at least 66 presentations in 39 cities across the country.
“I am very grateful for john's leadership of the Kirwan Institute and for his many contributions to the law school,” said Alan Michaels, dean of the Moritz College of Law at Ohio State. “While we will miss john, I also look forward to the possibilities of collaboration between Ohio State and Berkeley from his new position.”
“Under john's leadership, boldness and ambition of the very best kind has marked our work,” said Andrew Grant-Thomas, Kirwan Institute deputy director. "That will not change."
Through December, powell will help facilitate the Kirwan Institute’s transition process. The process of identifying a new executive director is already underway, currently led by Donald Tobin, associate dean of the Moritz College of Law. Meanwhile, the Kirwan Institute is actively involved in the strategic planning process, to set priorities in place for the coming three to five years in order to take its work to the next level.
Projects
Twin Cities African American Leadership Forum Unveils Plan
The Twin Cities African American Leadership Forum, sponsored in part by the Northwest Area Foundation, unveiled their blueprint for transformative change on June 27, 2011 to an audience of almost 300 local leaders committed to improving opportunities for African Americans in their communities. Kirwan Institute Executive Director john powell and Angela Glover Blackwell, CEO of Policy Link, were keynote speakers for the event. The blueprint, entitled “The African American Agenda: A Path to Transformative Change,” was drafted by Kirwan research associate Angela Stanley and senior researcher Christy Rogers and is the first in a series of plans to be created for other cities in the northwestern region of the United States which have African American populations in need of improved conditions. Similar work with Seattle, Portland, and Des Moines will begin this summer with work on an overarching regional plan set to begin by early 2012.
Maps and Study Help Assess Opportunity for Low-Income Seniors
In conjunction with the Ohio State University College of Social Work, Kirwan Institute staff have developed a series of maps which measures access to economic opportunity for low-income seniors in the Baltimore, Maryland area for Senior Service America, Inc (SSAI). This work, which includes an in-depth report of findings, has helped SSAI to better understand the challenges and barriers faced by the population they serve, and will continue to be a guiding resource for their future investments in senior economic opportunity in the Baltimore region and beyond.
Kirwan Mapping Helps Galveston Develop Post-Ike Affordable Housing Strategy
Since the destruction experienced in Galveston, Texas by Hurricane Ike in 2008, the strategy for replacing affordable housing in the city has been marred by controversy. The Kirwan Institute was summoned by local stakeholders on both sides of this issue to use opportunity mapping to help break down these challenges and identify equitable solutions to the remaining need for affordable housing in Galveston. This mapping and analysis will soon be completed, and will hopefully contribute to a more thoughtful and productive community discussion about how to appropriately house and provide opportunity to all of the region’s residents.
People Improving Communities Through Organizing (PICO)
As both access to health care and efficient delivery of care continue to pose challenges nationally, the Kirwan Institute is using its mapping technology in this important field. People Improving Communities through Organizing (PICO), a faith-based network working to solve community problems, has enlisted Kirwan to do a pilot mapping project related to health care access for underserved populations in both New Orleans and Kansas City.
The studies focus on emergency room use in select area hospitals in each city in an effort to create a comprehensive picture of overall treatment needs and patient load. The studies identify areas of health care need and areas of high health care expenditure; areas underserved by health care infrastructure and those underinsured; and areas of hospitalizations due to preventable conditions. Researchers also will assess other community options for prevention and care – with an eye toward both effectively providing care and efficiently serving patient needs. As part of this work, researchers and PICO leaders will conduct community engagement activities to design and drive the mapping process, the analysis, and the development of a narrative for community organizing.
As part of a two-step analysis, the Kansas City study includes an additional survey mapping component of neighborhood factors which may indirectly impact health, such as foreclosures and payday loans. |
