| YWCA Racial Justice Summit Phoebe Eng will keynote From YWCA-Madison |
| On October 30, this year's YWCA Racial Jutice Summit, to be held at Monona Terrace, will feature Phoebe Eng as the keynote speaker. Eng will talk about Cultural fluency and the power of a new America. PHOEBE ENG Phoebe Eng is a national lecturer, strategy consultant, and author of Warrior Lessons (Simon & Schuster, 1999), a memoir-based account of race, empowerment and leadership in a rapidly changing world. In recent years, Eng has worked with a broad range of institutions - city and state governments, the Ford Foundation, Texaco, Lucent Technologies, Fortune 500 companies, churches and universities -- helping them understand the complexities and challenges of providing access and opportunity in a multicultural society, and develop communications strategies to enhance the participation of underrepresented groups. Eng is also an active national speaker, addressing dozens of groups every year on race-related issues. In 2002, Eng launched an international tour on the theme of Fluency: Crossing Borders and Creating Change, intended to foster thought in creating transracial social justice movements. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, A&E, NPR and Newsweek. Eng's commentary has also been broadcast in China (where Warrior Lessons has been translated and read widely) through Voice of America. She is most recently the author of the foreword of Yell-Oh Girls!, an anthology of young Asian American women's voices (HarperCollins, 2001). Eng started her career as an attorney with the New York-based law firm, Coudert Brothers, leaving the legal profession to become the publisher of A Magazine, an Asian American issues magazine, as well as the chairman of its holding company. Since then, Eng has been involved in several communications campaigns, including a press campaign for the Center for Women's Global Leadership's human rights tribunal presented at the 1995 UN World Conference on Women in Beijing. Recently, Eng served as project consultant to the Ford Foundation, coordinating their efforts around the UN World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, which was held in South Africa this past summer. In 2001-2002, Eng worked again with the women's community, this time as a strategic consultant to the Ms. Foundation on a large-scale funding initiative to elevate the voices and perspectives of women of color in local, state and national public policy. Eng is currently on the board of Breakthrough, an international media organization that creates popular culture projects for human rights education. Eng received the New York City Mayor's Innovator Award in 1995, the Arthur T. Vanderbilt Medal and a 1999 Distinguished Service Award from NYU School of Law, and a Sisterhood Award from the Asian Pacific American Women's Leadership Institute in 2001. Eng received her J.D. from New York University School of Law, and her undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley. |
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| Features of this year's Summit After the welcome remarks of Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz at 8:30 a.m., the workshop titled "Racial Wealth Divide" will proceed. This workshop debunks myths of wealth creation and explores how racial economic inequality is shaped by government politics and subsidies. This workshop will be presented by United for a Fair Economy, a national, independent, nonpartisan nonprofit. Communities of Opportunity, which will be presented by Jason Reece of the Kirwan Institute of Race and Ethnicity, provides a comprehensive strategy to confront the persistent racial and social inequalities that separate us. Partners for a Racism-free Community is a a movement in Grand Rapids, Mich. of committed citizens and organizations working to move Grand Rapids from "the way it is" to "racism free" through personal commitments, institutional efforts, social advocacy and persistent intolerance of racial attitudes, words, and behavior. Cost: $75 standard; $60 nonprofit; $55 Best Practice Q Participant; $50 Community Partner/Supporter. Space is limited so please register early to ensure your seat. RSVP Deadline: October 22. To register, or for more information, call Colleen or Debra at (608) 257-1436; racialjustice@ywcamadison.org. Visit www.ywcamadison.org. |