Houston’s Annual Compassion Week 2018

Live Oak Friends Meeting House 1318 W. 26th, Houston, TX, United States

Join us for a week of compassionate action and education to celebrate and cultivate Houston’s compassionate culture!

Please go to http://compassionatehouston.org/cw2018/ for more info.

Heart of HoUSton 2018: Lessons in Servant Leadership on the Road to 2036

St. Mark's Episcopal Church 3816 Bellaire Blvd., Houston

Join us to explore how to create sustainable leadership, personal transformation and authentic involvement for individuals and organizations. Based on Lawrence J. Payne’s edited volume of the same name, attendees will hear from Houston leaders across disciplines to gain an understanding of how to sustainably impact our communities for the better.

Free

The Living Library

Jungman Library 5830 Westheimer, Houston

"Living Books" are members of the community who have volunteered their time and their personal experiences as representatives of different segments of society. One of the great features of the Living Library and checking out a Living Book is that there are no such things as stupid questions. Books have been prepared and made themselves available to you to be able to dig deep and find out what you always wanted to know about the book topic. They are familiar with the topics they represent and are available to discuss that topic with "Readers."

Free

Addressing Ongoing Air Quality Challenges in Houston

online not applicable, not applicable, United States

Christ the King Evangelical Lutheran Church invites you to a monthly environmental education web meeting series whose theme in 2018 is Stewardship.

At the April web meeting, we welcome Bakeyah Nelson, Air Alliance Houston's Executive Director, who will discuss Addressing Ongoing Air Quality Challenges in Houston. Bakeyah will provide her perspective on some of the current air quality challenges that Houston is facing - ones that Air Alliance Houston is working to address to improve public health. These range from concerns about concrete batch plants and metal recycling facilities, to the proposed expansion of I-45. Air Alliance Houston is also working with community partners to address some of the challenges exposed during Hurricane Harvey. Bakeyah will also highlight how you can get involved. After her talk, there will be time for Q&A.  Please register for this talk, and you will receive an invitation to the web meeting.  Contact Lisa Brenskelle at [email protected] with any questions.

Free

“Dialogue on the Plantations”

Center for the Healing of Racism 3412 Crawford Street, Houston, TX, United States

The Center for the Healing of Racism presents it’s third annual “Dialogue on the Plantations”, a tour of three historic plantations in Louisiana, the weekend of May 5-6, 2018.  Learn about the role of slavery in the southern plantation economy.  Tour includes visits to St. Joseph Plantation (sugar cane), Laura Plantation (a Creole plantation) the the Whitney Plantation Museum, which pays homage to all slaves throughout the southern United States.

$275.00

Socialist Reading Group: Happy Birthday, Karl Marx!

Cafe Express River Oaks 1422 West Gray Street, Houston, United States

Karl Marx has achieved a lasting global impact, one that is greater and wider than any other philosopher before or afterwards. The Smithsonian Magazine published an article titled "Karl Marx Is the World's Most Influential Scholar". The article is based on a study and paper in Nature. Several information scientists from Indiana University Bloomington came to that conclusion based on how often Marx's work was cited plus the number of works.

After the global financial crisis of capitalism in 2008, Marx was often cited to help explain the crisis. Marx is relevant because his work is based on science and an advanced method of critical analysis in philosophy and economics.

ACLU Presents Screening of Death Row Stories: Family Lies

14 Pews Arts Theater 800 Aurora, Houston

In 2010, Anthony Graves walked out of prison a free man after serving 18 and 1/2 years for a crime he did not commit.Today, he shares his story with people around the country to bring meaningful change to Texas’ justice system. Hear Anthony’s story at a free screening of the CNN documentary, "Family Lies."

Free

A New Agenda & Bipartisanship for the Americas & the U.S. (panel)

A.D. Players Theatre 5420 Westheimer Rd., Houston

The past two decades have provided great successes and collaborations between the U.S and Latin America, especially in the areas of: economic integration and trade; combatting organized crime and narcotics trafficking; strengthening collaboration on anti-corruption efforts; expanding and improving educational exchanges; and addressing the opportunities and challenges of actors from outside of the hemisphere.

In 2017, Global Americans convened a High-Level Working Group on Inter-American Relations and Bipartisanship to discuss cross-regional ways the current U.S. administration can build and improve upon the achievements of the past twenty years of inter-American cooperation.

Free – $35

Guided Birding Outing to Brazos Bend State Park

The Nature Center at Brazos Bend State Park 21901 FM 762, Needville, Texas 

Christ the King Evangelical Lutheran Church invites you to join a guided bird walk with “birders extraordinaires”, Mike & Joyce Bradshaw.  Meet at the Nature Center at Brazos Bend State Park in Needville on Saturday, May 19 at 8:30 a.m.  Bring binocs if you have them.  We’ll spend a couple leisurely hours on trails in the park looking for birds and other wildlife.   If you are planning to join us, please contact Steve Long at [email protected], as space is limited.

small fee to enter the park, payable at the park entrance

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper – Facts and Fears: Hard Truths from a Life in Intelligence

The Ballroom at Bayou Place 500 Texas St., 2nd floor, Houston

When he stepped down in January 2017 as the fourth United States director of national intelligence, James Clapper had been President Obama's senior intelligence adviser for six and a half years, longer than his three predecessors combined. He led the U.S. intelligence community through a period that included the raid on Osama bin Laden, the Benghazi attack, the leaks of Edward Snowden, and Russia's influence operation during the 2016 U.S. election campaign.

In Facts and Fears: Hard Truths from a Life in Intelligence, Clapper traces his career through the growing threat of cyberattacks, his relationships with presidents and Congress, and the truth about Russia's role in the presidential election. He describes, in the wake of Snowden and WikiLeaks, his efforts to make intelligence more transparent and to push back against the suspicion that Americans' private lives are subject to surveillance.

A copy of DNI James Clapper's book Facts and Fears is included in the cost of every ticket.

$35

Lessons from a Storm: Public Ed and Hurricane Harvey

HCC West Loop Campus 5601 West Loop South, Houston

After seeing their cities flooded and homes destroyed in Hurricane Harvey, Texas teachers and students spent the rest of the academic year struggling to get back to baseline, working through the negative academic and mental health effects of one of the worst natural disasters in the state's history. How are teachers and students focusing on classroom demands while continuing to pick up the pieces of their lives?

Join The Texas Tribune in person or on our livestream for a conversation about the impact Hurricane Harvey had on public education in Houston and across Texas moderated by the Tribune's public education reporter Aliyya Swaby.

Free

Transforming Our Juvenile Justice System

Provision Charter School 4590 Wilmngton St., Houston

A Right2Justice conversation on transforming our juvenile justice system. This is a system that for far too long has criminalized  and dehumanized young people of color, instead of providing them with the support and resources they need to get back into public life and enter the workforce. At this event, we'll be having discussions on what a reformed juvenile justice system looks like.

Free

Can Public Policy Control Rising Drug Prices?

Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy 6100 Main Street, Houston

Prescription drug expenditures are projected to reach $360.2 billion in 2018. Per capita spending on these drugs rose 5 percent in 2015 and 3.5 percent in 2016. The public is outraged by stories of Martin Shkreli raising the price of Daraprim by 5,000 percent, and Mylan raising the price of a pair of EpiPens by 400 percent. Meanwhile, the cost of treatment with the most novel anticancer drugs has risen by 400 percent over the past 10 years, and the cost of treatment with new drugs that can cure Hepatitis C is tens of thousands of dollars. Will the prices of prescription drugs continue to rise at extraordinary rates? Are a handful of blockbuster drugs to blame, or will all patients be forced to pay rapidly rising prices? At this event, Vivian Ho, director of the Baker Institute Center for Health and Biosciences, will explore these questions and describe the policy options to control drug price increases being recommended by policymakers, researchers and clinicians.

$50

Walk Gently on Earth

Emerson Unitarian Universalist Church & online 1900 Bering Dr., Houston

  Last fall, world religious leaders presented the interfaith climate declaration, Walk Gently on Earth, to the UN Conference on Climate Change in Bonn. The Interfaith Environmental Network of Houston invites you to a talk about the declaration by Imaad Khan, of the Texas Interfaith Center for Public Policy (TICPP), who was there. Imaad will discuss the presentation of the declaration, its message, and how houses of worship and their members can leverage this initiative. Walk Gently on Earth invites people of faith to lead the world in adopting a sustainable lifestyle.

Free

Texas Migrant and Refugee Leadership Academy

TBD Houston

Do you have what it takes?  Calling on all migrants and refugee leaders in the State of Texas to attend a statewide migrants and refugee leadership training to be held in Dallas, Texas on Friday, June 15* to Sunday, June 17.

This all day training event offers migrants and refugees the opportunity to come together to share experiences, connect with each other, and develop the skills necessary to advocate on issues of importance to migrants and refugees in Texas.

The training is designed to hone your leadership skills; create opportunity for networking; and incentives for participants to take the experience back to their local communities and advocate for issues of concern to the broader migrant and refugee community.  Our goal is to lift up the voices of all refugees in order to create more welcoming communities in Texas.

Free

Going Green for Home Building/Remodeling Projects

The amount of resources borrowed from our Earth to create the buildings in which we spend 93% of our lives is staggering. If we look at just the residential building industry, we see that we are building homes with a life span of 40-100 years, with the interior materials having an even shorter lifespan.

Through this discussion, Caroline Kostak, secretary of the Texas Gulf Coast Region chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council, will look at how we can meet the need to shelter and provide work space for a growing population while also being respectful of the resources given to us on Earth.   We will explore different strategies that can lead to efficient resource management and produce beautiful, healthy, and efficient buildings that celebrate the gifts and abundance of the Earth while also protecting them.

Free

Houston Ebony Opera Guild Annual Concert

Westbury United Methodist Church 5200 Willowbend Blvd., Houston

ANNUAL SUMMER CONCERT: A JUNETEENTH CELEBRATION

"Steady Soldier"
Music commemorating the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.

$10 – $50

One Thousand Texans for Transit – Houston in Houston

MATCH (Midtown Arts & Theater Center Houston) 3400 Main Street, Houston

Join us on Sunday, June 24 in Montrose to hear about and discuss paths to realizing the the goal of high-quality public transportation! We'll have a panel of local transit leaders, hear remarks from elected officials, and break out into groups to work shop strategies for statewide coordination.

Free

Town Talk: Being a Transgender & Nonbinary Ally

Hamburger Mary's 2409 Grant St., Houston

In honor of LGBTQIA+ pride, our Town Talk this month will focus on how to be an ally to the transgender and nonbinary community. Lou Weaver, queer transman & transgender programs coordinator for Equality Texas, will moderate a panel discussion with members of the transgender and nonbinary community. Over the course of the evening, Lou will explore the simple language and terminology we can use as allies, when talking about the transgender and nonbinary community.

Register at https://events.mobilizeamerica.io/hcdp/event/1102/