November 16, 2024
3:00 pm
5:00 pm
@ The DuSable Black History Museum & Education Center
740 E 56th Pl.
Chicago, IL
Are you tired of always hearing about violence in Chicago in the news?
Do you see that locking people in cages hasn’t been helping?
Do you want to be part of a positive change?
The youth in our communities need our help. Too many of their elders and peers have written them off as hopeless, but if they are hopeless, the future of our communities is hopeless. Let’s recommit ourselves to lifting up the ones who will either stand for us tomorrow or end up being our downfall.
This will be a forum to bring together educators and service providers currently working with incarcerated youth and those being released from penal facilities. We will share best practices, strategies, lessons and success stories in this work.
This discussion will also be a working meeting with the goal of having actionable follow-up for the panelists and attendees to collaborate moving forward to better be of service to those in need.
Panelists Include:
Ameena Matthews
Dr. Obari Cartman
Orion Meadows
Valerie Goodloe
This panel will be moderated and facilitated by The Earth Center Chicago in partnership with The DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center.
About the Panelists:
Ameena Matthews
Ameena Matthews is a dedicated and influential community activist who works tirelessly promoting conflict resolution in the most challenging inner city environments where she is highly respected. As a founding member of Cure Violence (Ceasefire) she committed herself to ending the mindset that violence is a normal behavior. She has earned countless highly prestigious awards, been interviewed by the major news outlets, and been featured in the International Emmy Award winning documentary The Interrupters. As the founder of Pause for Peace, she leads a team that continues the mission of peace building and social change.
Dr. Obari Cartman
Dr.Obari is the creator of a hip-hop based wellness curriculum called MANifest that guides young men through a series of conversations and interactive activities that develop critical thinking skills, emotional intelligence, systems analysis and cultural identity.
Orion Meadows
National Spoken Word Award winner and The 2024 Carruthers Center for Inner City Studies Slam Champion from Chicago, Illinois. Meadows uses his poetry as a form of activism to bring awareness about issues such as poverty, mass incarceration and the violence that has become prevalent and normalized in our society. He teaches Dr. King's philosophy of nonviolence at The Institute For Nonviolence Chicago and is the Media Manager for Adler University's Illinois Coalition For Higher Education in Prisons. In 2024 Orion Meadows was selected by The Prison and Neighborhood Arts and Education Project to facilitate the Poetry Foundation’s writing program in the Illinois Department of Corrections and curate events at Walls Turned Sideways. Orion also is a member of the editorial board of Statesville Speaks, a newsletter circulating throughout the prisons in Illinois and sits on the board of Chicago Area Peace Action as an advisor in urban community violence intervention and policies concerning prison reform and higher education for the incarcerated. He is an author of three publications, Birthmark, Inside The Box and The Rose That Grew Through The Barbwire.
Valerie Goodloe
Valerie Goodloe was trained as a behavioral science specialist, specializing in sexual abuse, domestic violence and family dynamics. In continuing her training, she became a certified drug & alcohol counselor. Goodloe opened a home for recovering Alcoholic women called the Stepping Stone Recovery Home. She has been a part of many non-profit endeavors, including coordinating Bone Marrow Drives with the National Marrow Donor Program and the American Red Cross in United States Postal Service Offices all over Los Angeles County.
A Southern California native, Valerie directed and produced Gang Girl “A Mother’s Journey to Save Her Daughter” which was nominated for Best Director, and received Best Documentary Film at the San Diego Black Film Festival 2011. The documentary won the Audience Award at the Pan African Film Festival in 2011. She is now traveling the country sharing her experience as a photojournalist, filmmaker, and mother to a daughter who was a gang member, but who is now turning her life around as a result of the film that follows her gang culture affiliation. Her latest venture has her stepping into the community service arena.
We look forward to building this coalition with you, on behalf of the next generations.
