Keynote Speaker: Leah Greenberg
Co-founder and co-Executive Director of the Indivisible Project. She most recently served as Policy Director for the Tom Perriello for Governor of Virginia campaign. Previously, she managed the Partnership for Freedom, a $6 million public-private partnership on human trafficking, served as an Advisor to the State Department’s Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review process, coordinated interagency engagement for the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, and worked on the Hill for Congressman Tom Perriello. Leah holds a bachelor’s degree from Carleton College and a master’s degree in international affairs from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. https://indivisible.org/staff/leah-greenberg 
Speaker and Panelist: Penny Franklin
Penny Franklin is a lift truck operator in Shipping Utility at Hubbell Lighting, and she serves on and is former chair of the Montgomery County Board of Education; member of the Virginia School Board Association Board of Directors; president of Local 82160 of the IUE/CWA; former board chair, now Area Chair of the Montgomery Count-Radford City-Floyd County NAACP; and member of the national Executive Council of the IUE. She is co-founder of the Community Group, an African American civil society organization in Montgomery County; founding member of the New Mountain Climbers, the first giving circle in southwest Virginia, the first African American philanthropy in southwest Virginia. 
Emcee: Ivonne Wallace Fuentes
Founder of Roanoke Indivisible and Co-Organizer of the 2019 Women's March on Roanoke Dr. Ivonne Wallace Fuentes is a historian of Latin America, who received her PhD from Duke University. Her research interests include Latin American revolutionary politics, and the role of women in public life, especially in Peru and Guatemala, and is the author of Most Scandalous Woman: Magda Portal and the Dream of Revolution in Peru, (University of Oklahoma Press, 2017). She is the founder and one of the leaders of Roanoke Indivisible, an Indivisible chapter whose successful and creative acts of resistance against the Trump agenda has been featured in the national press, including the Rachel Maddow Show and CBS News. She is an Associate Professor of History at Roanoke College and the mother of two young children. |
Speaker and Panelist: Jennifer Lewis
2018 candidate for Congress in the 6th District and running for same office in 2020. Jennifer Lewis is a mental health worker, community advocate, and leader in the fight against the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. She's been a civically active member of her community in Augusta County and Waynesboro, volunteering for various local groups, serving on boards and commissions, and fighting on the front lines for the values of the 6th District. Jennifer spent the early part of her professional career working in the Virginia public school system, providing mental health services to at-risk youth. She currently works with adults with mental illness who are transitioning from inpatient care back into the community. Jennifer lives in Waynesboro with her husband and their three cats and dog. Over the past four years, they've fostered scores of kittens through Cat's Cradle in Harrisonburg. https://jenniferlewisforcongress.com/ 
Speaker and Panelist: Djuna Osborne
Djuna Osborne is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with her BA in English and an MSW from the University of South Carolina. She has an 11 year career in community mental health, treating impoverished individuals with chronic medical and mental health issues, substance abuse, and acute crisis in hospitals, jails and clinics. She currently has a private practice in Roanoke County serving a variety of clients throughout the Roanoke Valley. Her profession has taught her the importance of affordable, accessible health care and the consequences of not having adequate funding for mental health services or our schools. Djuna chose social work as her career path because her goal in life is to provide a voice for the voiceless. Djuna ran for State Delegate and is now a member of Roanoke's City Councli. 
Speaker and Panelist: Julia Tanner
Founder of the Virginia Equal Rights Coalition Julia founded the Virginia Equal Rights Coalition, which works with VAratifyERA for ratification by Virginia of the U.S. Equal Rights Amendment. She is Chair of the ERA Committee of the Arlington League of Women Voters, serves on the Legislative Committee of the county Civic Federation, and serves as a VP for the Ashton Heights Civic Association. She is also a telecommunications attorney, and lives with her husband and their two teenage daughters in Arlington County. |
Panel Discussions
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Healthcare is a Human Right: Teach-In
This teach-in with Joey Warren and Kellen Squire will focus on the state of healthcare law and policy in the United States, activism by average people to effect change by sharing their personal stories, and what people can do to move the needle on providing healthcare for all Americans. In addition, the teach-in will address upcoming legislative and policy implications for the coming year in the Virginia legislature. Bring your questions and enthusiasm and learn how you can make an impact!
Family Separation, Travel Bans, Walls: The State of Immigration in America Today
Bring your questions about policy, laws, and the realities for immigrants with all levels of documentation. Learn about the family separation policy and its effects on children, and the realities and consequences of the proposed wall between the U.S. and Mexico. With Jennifer Dean, attorney with Grace Immigration PLLC.; Whitney Anderson, Roanoke Indivisible Leader and Immigration Volunteer Organizer; and Dr. Celeste Delgado Librero, Roanoke Indivisible Leader, and Immigration Volunteer Organizer.
ERA: It's Time!
A workshop organized by the founder of Virginia Equal Rights Coalition Julia Tanner. Participants will learn about efforts to make Virginia the final state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, making it the law of the land. https://varatifyera.org/
Diversity in America: A facilitated Discussion
Our Circle is facilitated by 2 people trained in neutral facilitation. "Diversity in America Today" will examined from the points of view of the different individual participants. Norms or guidelines are established to create a safe place to explore any differences and to ask difficult but respectful questions. Points of Diversity is a program of the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities.
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Pipelines: The intersection of economic, social and environmental justice
Join us for a lively discussion to learn more about why pipelines are at the intersectionality of economic, social and environmental justice in America; How Big Money paved the way for dangerous fracked gas pipelines in Virginia and the impact on affected and poor communities, our environment and lasting costs for everyone. We will bust some frackin’ pipeline myths, hear updates on current legal battles, legislation and growing environmental coalitions, as well as news from the ‘frontlines’ in activism and direct action. With Diana Christopulos, Ph.D., Volunteer Leader Appalachian Trail Conservancy and Roanoke Valley Cool Cities Coalition; Jennifer Lewis, President and founder of Friends of Augusta, a pipeline opposition group, elected member of Headwaters Soil and Water Conservation Board; 2018 and 2020 Congressional Candidate Sam Rasoul; 11th District, Virginia House of Delegates Mara Eve Robbins, Preserve Floyd, 1000 flags 1000 waters, Pipeline Resistance; Minor Terry, Bent Mountain Tree Sitter and Pipeline Activist. Disarming Hate: A Community Picture of Gun Violence Our discussion will detail the complete picture of gun violence in SWVA: gun suicide, gun homicide, intimate partner coercive control with guns, and how guns are used for political intimidation. Gun suicide and gun intimidation are prevalent but stigmatized topics, we will break down the barriers and stereotypes with panelists who have been directly impacted. Our discussion will include how community norms, legislation and a public health approach can address different forms of gun violence and gun intimidation in SWVA. We will wrap up with a discussion of the bills in the current legislative session in the General Assembly, effective citizen lobby techniques you can use in Richmond on Monday, and the positive outlook for future gun reform efforts in Virginia. With Susan Cloeter Johnson, 1st VP of Roanoke Valley Democratic Women; Brenda Hale, President of the Roanoke NAACP; Paul Stromberg, MD, Emergency Physician at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital. Organized by Dr. Catherine Koebel Stromberg
Run for Something, Sister!
A Roundtable with Penny Franklin, Montgomery County School Board; Jennifer Lewis, 2018 VA Congressional District 6 candidate; running for same office in 2020; Djuna Osborne, Roanoke City Council and 2017 VA House of Delegates (HOD 17) candidate. This roundtable will focus on encouraging women to consider running for office. The event is envisioned as a free flowing, open conversation, with lots of opportunity for audience members to ask questions.
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Musical talent
Bernadette Brown
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TriColor
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After Jack
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