Is Race for Real?
We all know that people look different. Anyone can tell a Czech from a Chinese. But are these differences racial? What does race mean? Come learn the answers to these and other questions as we explore the Power of Illusion.
Please join us on Thursday, April 19th to learn more about the current Houston's ordinances that are negatively impacting the lives of the homeless community in Houston.
The time has come to stand up and demand full health coverage for everyone in this country!
As part of our national strategy, the Houston DSA chapter will be kicking off their local campaign efforts with a Town Hall event on April 21st at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church. You're invited you to come listen to our great guest speakers, learn more about the national campaign, and find out how you can get involved to fight for health justice here in Texas!
The event is free and open to all who may be interested in learning more or figuring how they can participate.
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.
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.
"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."
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 gcs.lrc@gmail.com with any questions.
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.
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.
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."
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.
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 long_stephen@att.net, as space is limited.
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.
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.
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.
People of Faith in the 21st Century: What is Our Role?
Presenter: TBD
Iftar and Kosher dinner served.
Free and open to the public
RSVP required
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.
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.
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.
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.
ANNUAL SUMMER CONCERT: A JUNETEENTH CELEBRATION
"Steady Soldier"
Music commemorating the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
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.
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/
In observation of World Refugee Day, join us for a panel discussion on the vulnerability of refugees and other displaced persons to human trafficking, both domestically and internationally. The panel will include, Christa Mayfield, Assistant Executive Director, Unbound Houston; Danielle Bolks, MSW, Senior Program Director, YMCA International Services; and Anne Chandler, Executive Director, Houston Office Tahirih Justice Center. The event is sponsored by A 2nd Cup, FAWCO Alumnae USA (FAUSA) Houston and the Zonta Club of Houston. Cookies and coffee will be provided.
Cherry Steinwender, Executive Director of the Center for the Healing of Racism, and Laura Gallier will reflect on their experience at the 19th Annual White Privilege Conference.
Please join the Honorable Keith Ellison, the Anti-Defamation League, and American Constitution Society for a conversation with Rebecca Heller, director and co-founder of the International Refugee Assistance Program.
Rebecca will be discussing the legal framework for refugee and asylum applicants, the current policies and laws surrounding this issue, and ways the legal community and others can help.
School textbooks have played a key role in reinforcing and maintaining white supremacy and racism in the United States. James W. Loewen’s bestselling book Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook got Wrong, explores how historical myths continue to be perpetuated about everything from Columbus’s historic voyages to an honest evaluation of U.S. foreign policy. Please join us for one or both of two dialogues to discuss the issues presented in Loewen’s book: Tuesday, July 17, 2018 — Noon to 2:00 PM and/or Wednesday, July 18, 2018 — 6:30 to 8:30 PM.
You are invited to attend a talk reviewing the book, The War on Science: Who's Waging It, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do About It.
The Houston community is greatly impacted by youth incarceration, as Harris County commits the highest number of youth to Texas' state secure youth lockups. Additionally, local Harris County officials plan to build a new juvenile detention center at an estimated cost of $65-70 million. Kids do not belong in prisons, and the voices of Houston residents- particularly those most affected by youth incarceration- must be heard if a youth justice transformation is to take hold and be successful in Texas. Join us for a visioning session to answer this question: What do young people need to avoid justice involvement and lead successful lives?
Christ the King Evangelical Lutheran Church invites you to a monthly environmental education web meeting series whose theme in 2018 is Stewardship. On Sunday, July 29 at 6 p.m., we welcome Steve Stelzer, Program Director for Houston’s Green Building Resource Center. Steve is an architect with 30 years’ experience who is focused on making Houston a greener place to live and work. He will discuss the center’s work to educate the public on healthy and energy/water/material-conserving design & construction. This mission is accomplished in a number of ways: a showroom highlighting building components, water conservation, site, and energy efficiency, monthly educational seminars on a wide variety of topics, and plan review services to suggest strategies to conserve energy and water, save money, & create a healthier building environment.
