Monday, January 15, 2018

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

9:30 – 10:30 WOMEN SPEAK

The Real Meaning of It Takes a Village

Speaker: Titilayo Bediako, Founder and Executive Director, WE WIN Institute

It Takes a Village is a powerful African proverb popularized by Hillary Clinton which been misunderstood and reduced to rhetoric. WE WIN Institute’s Women of Distinction program demonstrates that as with a village– family, community, and loving, caring adults–all children can succeed and thrive. WE WIN utilizes a multicultural and Afro-centric approach with a culturally specific curriculum that addresses the social and personal problems of students over the past 20 years.

10:45 – 11:45 EDUCATION

Keep Your Eyes on the Pies!

Speaker: Rose McGee, Sweet Potato Pie Philanthropist, Storyteller, Cultural Educator, and Story Circle Facilitator.

Our speaker believes there is power in the community coming together to make sweet potato comfort pies. On the weekend of MLK Day in 2015, McGee organized a group of volunteers who baked 86 pies representing the age Rev. King would have been that year. The event has been repeated many times. Today she will share the results of her pie-making philanthropy.

11:45 – 12:00 ANNOUNCEMENTS
12:00 – 1:15 LUNCHEON

1:15 – 2:15 PUBLIC POLICY

Our Homeless Population

Speaker: Cathy ten Broeke, State Director, Heading Home Minnesota

On any given night, it is estimated that there are 10,000 Minnesotans who are homeless, including nearly 3,500 children with their parents. The homelessness of any person or family is both a human tragedy and a community failure, resulting in the loss of human potential and public and private dollars. Heading Home Minnesota is the umbrella initiative for the many public and private efforts across the state to prevent and end homelessness. Heading Home Minnesota is a statewide initiative to end the cycle of homelessness.