Announcing the 2020 It's Time to Act! Forum Series

YWCA Minneapolis is launching the second annual It’s Time to Act!™ Forum Series, events that engage participants for deeper learning and action planning around issues of race, equity, identity and social justice. The forums are designed to be a catalyst for changemaking, where attendees take a deep dive into issues affecting our community and are inspired to identify their own role and power to create change. Pairing lectures with intentional action planning, it is an opportunity for attendees to move from talk to action.

When/Where:

All events will be held at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 1200 Marquette Ave., Minneapolis, MN 55403, from 5:30 pm - 8:00 pm.

January 16 | Beyond the Ballot: Advancing Electoral Justice

This panel discussion will explore how systems of voting, elections and the census can be transformed through collective action, from suppressive to empowering.Speakers

• Susan Brower, Minnesota State Demographer
• Elizer Darris, Organizer, ACLU
• Shelly Diaz, Hub Coordinator of Minnesota Tribal Coalition for the 2020 Census
• Mónica Hurtado, Racial Justice and Health Equity Organizer, Voices for Racial Justice

Moderator

• Leslie Redmond, President, NAACP Minneapolis

April 16 | Facing the Truth: Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women

During this session, guests will learn the truths surrounding our history and the movement for addressing the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous women, girls, boys, Two Spirit and transgender people. Together we will unfold the attitudes of dominant culture, oppressive systemic policies and the theft of land that has created heightened vulnerability for our Indigenous people.Speakers

• Mary Kelly Kunesh-Podein, Minnesota House of Representatives and Co-Chair of the Task Force on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women
• Christal Moose, Manager of Native Pride Productions, Inc. and Native American Consultant
• Angela Two Stars, Director of All My Relations Gallery

Performance by:

• Native Pride Dancers

June 11 | Rhetoric of Hate: Islamophobia

This session discusses the history of Islamophobia in the American legal system and the racialization of Muslim identity. Professor Beydoun will lead guests through historical policies that were federally institutionalized to exclude Muslim identity from society and deem it irreconcilable with American identity. This presentation will also examine the role liberals play in expanding Islamophobic rhetoric and policies.Speaker

• Khaled Beydoun, law professor and author of the critically acclaimed book, American Islamophobia: Understanding the Roots and Rise of Fear

About YWCA Minneapolis

For more than 125 years, YWCA Minneapolis has worked to create opportunities to overcome social injustice, particularly in matters of gender and race. Last year, YWCA Minneapolis served more than 30,000 people in our community through racial justice advocacy and training, early childhood education, girls and youth programming and health and wellness.Media members are invited to film before and/or after the event and during the presentations. Media is welcome to photograph shots of the event, but not make sound recordings during the participant dialogues. All images and recordings can only be used for media stories about It’s Time to Act! events.

Media Contact:

Cori MattliYWCA Minneapolis(office) 612-215-4107 (cell) 612-460-1125cmattli@ywcampls.org