UC Berkeley School of Social Welfare Second Annual Social Justice Symposium
Saturday, January 26, 2008
9:00am to 5:00pm

Online registration opens December 3, 2007.

Address: Click here for details

Please email ucbsjs@gmail.com with questions. Thank you.

Thanks to our Sponsors

Volunteers!

Consciousness-raising
The Consciousness-Raising workshops are intended to provide background information about different social justice issues. These workshops are:

1. Respect for All: Respecting the Needs of LGBTQ Youth and Families

Presenter:  Andrea Fazel; panel of youth TBD, Ally Action

Andrea Fazel, a licensed attorney and former teacher, is the Program Director at Ally Action, a leading non-profit organization that educates and engages people to create school communities that are safe, inclusive, and effective for all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression.

This workshop will engage participants to explore and reflect upon LGBTQ-sensitive and inclusive social work practices. A panel discussion with LGBTQ youth will highlight our dialogue about anti-LGBTQ bias and oppression and their effects on us all. Together we will examine approaches to interpersonal practices with youth and family clients, constituents and colleagues as well as considerations for addressing institutionalized anti-LGBTQ bias and/or heterosexism within work settings. 

2.  Mental Health: We All Have It, Reducing the Stigma of Mental Illness and Co-Occurring Disorders

Presenter:  Debi Berzon-Leitelt, MSW, Training Coordinator for the County of Los Angeles, Department of Mental Health

Debi Berzon-Leitelt, MSW, is a Training Coordinator for the County of
Los Angeles Department of Mental Health, and provides trainings on
mental health to social workers, foster parents, relative caregivers,
and community partners.

This workshop will educate participants about working with people with mental illness and co-occurring disorders and will raise awareness about mental illness as a treatable healthcare condition. This workshop will provide insight about different cultural views of mental illness. Participants will also discuss how the media portrays people with mental illness and the misconception that correlates violence and mental illness.

3.  Social policy change through a new model of prison addiction treatment, training and reentry programs at San Quentin State Prison

Presenter:  Claire-Elizabeth DeSophia, MFT, Executive Director; Bryan Smith, Program Director, Full Circle Addiction Recovery Services

Ms. DeSophia has 22 years of experience in addiction treatment and has led workshops on a variety of related topics.  Mr. Smith is a prison-trained speaker who has led workshops for inmates and has appeared on several radio and television programs.

Bryan Smith, recently released after 25 years in prison, and Claire-Elizabeth DeSophia, Founding Executive Director of Full Circle Addiction Recovery Services of Berkeley, will seek to raise consciousness about how drug and alcohol addictions are affecting our current social institutions. They will explore and explain the problem behind the criminal behavior exhibited today in our communities.  They will present the innovative pilot programs they created together at San Quentin State Prison that are intended to reduce recidivism, which is currently at a rate of 74 percent in California. 

4. Introduction to Restorative Justice

Presenter:  Jon Kidde, Jack Dison and Heather Manchester, Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth, Center for Peacemaking and Conflict Studies, and Insight Prison Project
Jon Kidde, MSW, has experience running a juvenile court diversion program based on the concept of restorative justice and is currently a consultant for Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth (RJOY). Jack Dison, Ph.D. (Sociology), participates in various restorative justice activities and projects, including facilitating victim-offender groups of lifers at San Quentin and elsewhere through Insight Prison Project.  Heather Manchester works for RJOY and is a case manager for the Oakland Unified School District.

This workshop will introduce participants to the concept of restorative justice. Participants will explore some of their own values and learn how they relate to the values and principles of restorative justice. A comparison to our current adversarial system of justice will help participants better understand this different way of responding to crime and conflict. Participants will develop an understanding of accountability, community safety, and competency development from a restorative justice perspective.

5.   Juvenile and Criminal Justice: Understanding Present and Future Trends

Presenter:  Kevin Lynch, Marin County Probation Department

Kevin Lynch, MSW, is the Probation Analyst for the Marin County Probation Department, and is responsible for tracking outcomes for the Department, monitoring legislative changes related to the corrections field, and keeping informed of developments in evidence-based practices relevant to criminal and juvenile justice.

This workshop will connect juvenile and criminal justice with social work and social justice, by commenting on the historical relevance of social work and criminal justice, the often overlapping populations and the ongoing inter-connection between these fields. This workshop will cover key criminal justice policies such as Three Strikes, Proposition 36, and Proposition 21. Participants will also learn about disproportionate minority contact and the re-alignment of the Division of Juvenile Justice. This workshop will discuss evidence-based practices such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapies and Motivational Interviewing, and risk instruments.

6. Activism Under Occupation: Solidarity, Resistance and Non-Violence in Palestine

Presenter: Nicholas Chambers, International Solidarity Movement (ISM)

International Solidarity Movement (ISM) is a Palestinian-led organization that brings international activists to Palestine to provide direct support and solidarity. Nicholas Chambers works with ISM and has spent 3 1/2 months this year doing solidarity work in the West Bank. 

The primary objective of the workshop will be to raise awareness regarding the ongoing conflict in Palestine.  This workshop will include a condensed ISM training which will be similar to the training solidarity activists would receive if they were in the Occupied Territories (Palestine). The training includes non-violent tactics from resistance movements throughout the world, a historical training and a summary of the reality of the West Bank and Gaza. The workshop will link the situation in Palestine to the increased encroachment of imperialism into the Middle East, and explore the difference between "saving" people who are oppressed and standing in solidarity with them.

7. Transportation and Land Use: a Critical Aspect of Social Justice

Presenters: Carli Paine, Joel Ramos, Ann Cheng, Sandra Padilla, Transportation and Land Use Coalition (TALC)

This workshop is designed to introduce transportation as a critical aspect of social justice. This session will explore the significant challenges and opportunities that regional and local transportation and land use choices can present to individuals and families, which social work practitioners are likely to see on a daily basis. The workshop will be interactive through an exercise as well as provide information on how to advocate for transportation and land use equity. There will be several presenters from TALC each with significant experience in working towards transportation justice in low-income and communities of color

8. Decades of Failure: The Government’s Role in Creating and Maintaining Homelessness and Poverty.

Presenter: Paul Boden, Executive Director of WRAP

Paul Boden was a co-founder and longtime director of Coalition on Homelessness, San Francisco (1988-2005). Homeless at 16, a self-described “streetpunk” for years, Mr. Boden is now one of the Bay Area’s (and perhaps country’s) best known, highly respected and fiercest advocates and allies for homeless and poor people. Western Regional Advocacy Project (WRAP) is a coalition of west coast social justice-based homelessness organizations.  WRAP released a report that documents how more than 25 years of federal funding cuts to affordable housing have created the contemporary crisis of homelessness and near-homelessness

This workshop will challenge the prevailing myths about why people are homeless and provide a more comprehensive analysis. It will examine the disconnect between federal policies and funding priorities, and the reality of local homelessness and poverty. It will  provide insight into how can social workers address these root causes in the context of their direct service in order to address systemic realities and create true social change.

9. History of the Juvenile Justice System 1500- present

Presenter: Malachi Larrabee-Garza of the Haywood Burns Institute

Haywood Burns Institute is a national leader working on federal, state and local levels throughout the U.S. to reduce racial disparities within the Juvenile Justice system.

10. Marriage Equality Now!

Presenters: Molly McKay, Sharon Papo, Marriage Equality USA, and UCB Queer Caucus

Molly McKay from Marriage Equality USA is a nationally known advocate for same sex marriage and had done hundreds of presentations and workshops on the subject. Sharon Papo is an MSW student who has spoken to multiple high schools in Santa Cruz County about LGBT civil rights and the fight for marriage equality. 

The Social Welfare Queer Caucus in conjunction with Marriage Equality USA are presenting a workshop to inform and inspire participants about what is currently happening with the movement for same sex marriage in California. Workshop participants will be informed through an interactive presentation about the difference in legal protections between domestic partnerships and marriage, as well as become informed about the local movement for same sex marriage in California.  Participants will  be inspired to participate in the movement and will learn how to get involved in the movement.