Bring your lunch, family members, and more. No sessions will be recorded. Agenda is subject to change. Please have your cameras off if you are not speaking. When you speak or ask questions and it is not in the chat, turn your video on if you feel comfortable.
There may be disturbing/explicit images and language.
Disclaimer – EJBC does not own the rights to any of these videos, also some of the content may have strong language and disturbing photos.
The views expressed by guest speakers do not reflect the State of Minnesota or any Agencies in the State of Minnesota. They are their own personal views and beliefs.
Ramsey Sorrells is a proud North Minneapolis native who currently resides in the Lind-Bohannon Neighborhood. He is a graduate of Breck and Saint John's University with a bachelor's in Global Business Leadership. He is recently engaged and resides with his three fur babies, two of which are cats, and 1 dog, named Willow, Waffles, and Fern. In addition to being passionate about his family life, he has a huge passion for real estate. His career was birthed in 2020, in fact, the day George Floyd was murdered was the same day his license for real estate went active. At a time of much despair, he felt more called than ever to participate and be amongst his community as he participated in many protests, donation drives, and projects to help the betterment of the Northside.
In addition to being active in his community, he has another business called Triple Kings, which is a Minneapolis collective, focused on community, clothing, and art. His main passion resides in educating people on the topic of real estate as he believes it's one of the best tools for creating and building generational wealth, as well as a great career path. He has a huge goal of educating and helping 40 families, business owners and first-time homebuyers/sellers strategize their way to success in real estate, whether that is through buying, selling, or investing in the year 2023.
Title: Nigeria, the ‘African Giant’ and the Renaissance of the Black Continent
Guest Speakers: Dr. Razaq Adedayo and Dr. Fatai Popoola
This talk will focus on Nigeria’s precolonial and colonial history and the country’s role in the rejuvenation of the African/Black pride through trailblazing global impacts on film, music, technology, politics etc.
Presenter’s Bio:
Dr. Razaq Adedayo is an experienced Nursing Consultant and Leader with over 15 years in the Long Term Care sector; has worked as Director of Nursing Services in several facilities in the Twin Cities. Dr. Razaq obtained Master of Nursing degree and the Doctor of Nursing Practice (Health Innovation and Leadership) from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. He currently works as Nursing Supervisor with the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs (MDVA) and is as a consultant in the Long-Term Care space. Dr. Razaq is a community organizer and leader; currently the General Secretary of NAPAC-MN (Nigeria-American Public Affairs Committee).
Fatai Popoola is a Clinical Social Worker with a special focus on substance use disorder and mental health treatment. He has over a decade of experience across public and private agencies. Presently, Dr. Fatai is a Supervisor with Hennepin County Drug, DWI, and Mental Health Courts. He is also a co-owner of Hope Counseling LLC, which provides comprehensive assessments and individual and group therapy for the underserved. Fatai completed a Master's in Clinical Social Work through the University of Thomas and recently completed a doctorate in Addiction Psychology from Capella University.
Title: Black Joy and Imagination in Advancing Equity
Guest Speakers: Rev. Anthony Calloway
This talk will focus on the omission of black imagination and joy in educating our communities and dealing with our current racial realities in America.
Presenter Bio:
Reverend Anthony Galloway holds a BA degree in Ethnic Studies from Metropolitan State University. He is a Senior Partner at Dendros Group, a firm dedicated to cultural change in organizations towards equity. Reverend Galloway is also a founding member of the Award-winning "Counterstories" Podcast. He’s worked in educational equity for 15 years with youth and adults around racial discourse and intercultural engagement when Reverend Galloway's high school classmate Philando Castile was killed by police officer six blocks from his home, murdered in Minneapolis. And further still, when George Floyd was Galloway towards healing discourse work. He currently serves as Pastor of St. Mark African Methodist Episcopal Church in Duluth, MN. In his free time, Anthony enjoys pc gaming with his family and anything involving fishing and camping.
Dendros Group is dedicated to Building Racial Consciousness in organizations through experiential explorations of socialization, History, Racial Patterns, and interruption. Contact Dendros Group to see how we can help you engage out framework for racial consciousness development in your community, organization, or company. Dendros Group, LLC
Topic: Advocate to the Voiceless
Guest Speakers: A'mirra Rose and Marsha King
A'mirra Rose
• Having a loved one surviving on one of AmeriKKkas modern day plantations, it sparked a passion for A'mirra Rose in becoming a voice to those most often forgotten. Her advocacy includes fighting against concerns such as the DOC's unjust system, inhumane living conditions, over sentencing, c/o brutality, and the lack of preparing those behind the wall for re-entry, just to name a few.
• Amirra is also the creator of "Night of Powertry" which is a virtual on line poetry show that includes poets from both sides of the prison wall. Under NOP, she has created a college scholarship fund for a child of an incarcerated parent, a card program for inmates with no means to send a card to a loved one.
• In 2023, A'mirra will also be launching a program called Books Behind Bars, allowing the opportunity for inmates to read books to their smaller loved ones, as well as, putting books in the hands of those behind the wall.
• A recent new member to the Brown Berets, Amirra is also a community activist, and a strong advocate for the black and brown communities.
• Ultimately A'mirra is dedicated to being a voice for anyone in need.
Marsha King
• Formerly impacted by the justice system, Marsha endured circumstances that taught her the necessity of having an advocate on the outside. Understanding these limitations, the protection of the rights of inmates are the muse to her desire to serve as an activist to present and formal incarcerated individuals
• Marsha King is the Chief Executive Officer of 13th Liberation Village. M2K’s mission is to provide an effective plethora of prison services to prisoners and their loved ones such as consulting on the First Step Act passed in 2018, Criminal Case Review, Second Chance Act, early termination of supervised release etc. In addition, Marsha has vowed to be a resource to those who are victims to the policies of the penal system.
• As an advocate, Ms. King has personally prioritized to embrace and implement a comprehensive knowledge of the policies and operations of the Federal Bureau of Prison as well as federal criminal and civil procedure thus possessing a proven track record of success. She has successfully supported prisoners and their families with providing legal information related to incarceration, supervised release, and prison reforms.
• As a mother, Marsha believes that it is important for parental rights to be preserved and honored upon the completion of a sentence. This aids in preserving the family structure and good mental health of children that determines and influences the normality of society. Ms. King aspires to extend her work into legislative policy in implementing laws that address the accountability of lawyers and judges who violate the rights of offenders during the pretrial phase that later effects the restorative success of ex-offenders.
• Marsha is devoted to continuing to massively spread an awareness message of prison advocacy through public speaking, social media communications, and organizational consulting. Currently, she is enjoying her internship at Dream.org advancing her skill in advocacy.
• Mr. Terrence Crowley is The Founder and CEO of TMV SUBSTANCE SOLUTIONS LLC and Director of Programming of TMV’S Apple Tree Program. The Apple Tree Program pilot launched in 2018 as an alternative to juvenile detention programming The Program has served over 120 St. Louis County Family Courts youth, bolstering a 96% program completion rate and 0% recidivism since its inception. The Apple Tree Program provides justice involved youth with educational services in partnership with the Jennings School District. Since its inception, the program has expanded to provide program participants with a variety of personal development opportunities including social emotional learning and wellbeing, employment, financial literacy, entrepreneurship, athletics and therapeutic services.
Topic: The Unteachables: Disability Rights and the Invention of Black Special Education
Guest Speakers: Dr. Keith Mayes
• Title: The Unteachables: Disability Rights and the Invention of Black Special Education.
• Dr. Keith Mayes is an Associate Professor at the University of Minnesota and currently serves as an Associate Dean in the Office of Undergraduate Education for DEI Initiatives. Dr. Mayes is also the Director of the Center for Race, Indigeneity, Disability, Gender & Sexuality Studies in the College of Liberal Arts; former chair of the Department of African American & African Studies; and the Horace T. Morse-Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor. Dr. Mayes earned his Ph.D. in History from Princeton University. His teaching and research interests include civil rights; education policy and history; black holiday traditions; critical ethnic studies pedagogy; and the history of African Americans. Dr. Mayes has published new book entitled, The Unteachables: Disability Rights and the Invention of Black Special Education.
Title: Peace in the House: Healing Racial Trauma in the Community through Circle
Guest Speakers: Brenda Burnside
Speaker Bio:
Brenda Burnside is the founder and CEO of Let’s Circle Up Restorative Services, LLC which offers restorative services to the community through training, consulting and circle keeping. Ms. Burnside is the former Restorative Practice Coordinator for Nokomis North Montessori School in St Paul, MN. She has previously served as the Restorative Practices Coordinator for the Dispute Resolution Center (DRC) in St Paul, a local non-profit organization and the oldest mediation organization in the state of Minnesota. Prior to her work at DRC, Ms. Burnside worked as an Outreach Director at Educators for Excellence, where she was instrumental in organizing teachers to use their voice and their stories to make changes in education for more equitable outcomes for students and families. Ms. Burnside, is a graduate of the University of Minnesota and has 12 years of experience working in the Roseville Area School District with Special Education student scholars and as the Restore Room Coordinator at the Roseville Area Middle School. Ms. Burnside previously served as the President of Conflict Resolution Minnesota’s Twin Cities Chapter, and is a contributing member of (Re)Imagining Justice for Youth Initiative in Ramsey County and is a member of the Collaborative Review Team that resulted from that initiative.
Ms. Burnside is a skilled educator, trainer, circle-keeper and restorative practitioner. She resides in St Paul with her 2 adult children.
Title: Growing up Black and Adopted in a Multiracial Family
Guest Speakers: Joy Horton-Klutz
Speaker Bio:
Joy Kluttz-Horton holds B.S. in Sociology from University of Wisconsin- River Falls, M.A in Organizational Management from Concordia University and a diploma in Multicultural Human Resources from Dakota County Technical College. In addition to her formal education, she is an Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) Qualified Administrator, and has extensive training and background in Social Justice, Intergroup Dialogue, Restorative Justice, and Cross-cultural Communications.
Joy is currently a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Learning & Development Consultant with Enterprise Talent Development (ETD) team at the Minnesota Management & Budget Agency (MMB). As the DEI Learning & Development Consultant, Joy leads the program design and implementation of the DEI learning and development activities for MMB as well as consult with other agencies across the Enterprise.
Before joining MMB, she worked at Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) as a DEI Training and Development Specialist. While working at the MPCA, Joy was instrumental and building out their DEI organizational learning initiatives. Prior to working for the State, Joy spent over 20 years in Higher Education leading departments that supported the institutions Diversity, Equity and Inclusion mission and goals with a focus on the educational access, retention, engagement, and graduation.
Title: Failure is Not an Option: Centering the Mental Health and Well-being of Black Women at Work and in Life
Guest Speakers: Melissa R. Smith
Fostering radical self-love and greater self-understanding
Boundaries and communal care
Unlearning internalized oppression
Thriving as a woman of color in white-centered spaces
Speaker Bio:
Melissa Smith is the founder and principal consultant of Authentically Grounded, a coaching and consulting firm focused on empowering individuals, teams, and organizations to challenge their current practices and use data to shift perspectives and drive behavioral change. Melissa’s approach "gracefully agitates" individuals as they reach beyond their comfort zones to notice, name, and disrupt systemic barriers and enable inclusive practices within their organizations.
Melissa also specializes in supporting the mental health and well-being of women of color, specifically Black women, in their journey to self-discovery and liberation. She is committed to helping Black women explore cultural and systemic factors that may impact their well-being and shed internalized messages that are oppressive and self-sacrificing. In her work with women, Melissa helps them practice vulnerability, navigating race-related stress, boundary setting, and interpersonal challenges. Ultimately Melissa wants to help create a compassionate and just society where cultural humility and emotional intelligence rule the world! –full bio here
• SOCIAL MEDIA OR WEBSITE LINKS
o Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-smith-authenticallygrounded/
o Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authentically_grounded/
Title: My Story, Your Story, Our Stories: The importance of Stories
Guest Speakers: Dr. Teresa Taylor
Presenter Bio:
Dr. Teresa Taylor, the Director of Student Access and Opportunity for the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE). The team provides leadership and support for school and district efforts focused on equitable opportunities and outcomes for all Minnesota’s students. This work includes state and federal accountability efforts (including Minnesota’s system under the Every Student Succeeds Act), district strategic planning, and continuous improvement processes.
Before joining MDE, Dr. Taylor directed various initiatives in the higher education sector that focused on bridging equity gaps that exist throughout schools, organizations, and communities. Passionate about empowering others through education, she has taught various courses, from preparing preservice teachers for K-12 licensure to instructing doctoral candidates for educational leadership roles. A teacher at heart, Dr. Taylor has also served as a classroom teacher in the K-12 public education sector.
Dr. Taylor is a proud graduate of Minneapolis Public Schools. She holds degrees from three Minnesota universities, including a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Metropolitan State University, a Master of Arts in Education (including a Collaborative Urban Educator certificate) from the University of St. Thomas, and a Doctor of Education in Leadership from Bethel University.
Title: The Earliest Muslims in America
Guest Speakers:Zafar X Siddiqui
The presentation describes the earliest Muslims in this country, namely the enslaved West Africans and features stories and experiences of individual enslaved Muslims, including “Prince”, who is featured in a PBS documentary called “Prince Among Slaves”, which was aired in 2007. It also chronicles the development of proto-Islamic movements in the African American community and the impact of West African Muslim culture on the United States. The presentation also traces the presence of African, Arab, and other immigrant Muslims from pre-Columbus times.
Title: Stop the Stigma: A Family’s Journey Through Mental Illness
Guest Speakers: Ruby Brown-Herring
Ruby is the CEO of RBH Wellness Solutions, where she assists businesses, government agencies and nonprofits with creating employee well-being strategies that support mental health at work while improving belonging, engagement and retention.
Ruby holds a Bachelor of Social Work from UNC Wilmington and a Master of Education in Student Personnel Services from the University of South Carolina. She has over 20 years of experience in program management, adult, continuing and higher education. She is a collaborative leader always looking to connect with organizations that need a subject matter expert on wellness to step in and build the foundation for a healthier workforce. She is also recognized as a state and national leader in corporate wellness and community mental health education.
Ruby lives in Raleigh, NC with her husband and is the mother of college age twin daughters, both of whom have lived experience with mental health challenges. In her free time, she enjoys hanging out with her family and singing.
RBH Wellness Solutions
Clients include Wolfspeed, Spotify, South Florida PBS, The Diversity Movement, Pfizer, Northrop Grumman African American Task Group - Melbourne, SAS's Work/Life Center and Women’s Initiatives Network (WIN) Employee Inclusion Group, UNC Greensboro Center for Youth, Family and Community Partnerships, IBM Black Constituency Group, East Coast Migrant Head Start, Durham County Libraries, Wake Missionary Baptist Association, Youth Thrive, National Farmers Union, NC Agromedicine Institute, Fayetteville State University, Prince William County (VA) Schools, Guilford County Schools, Sampson County Schools, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. South Atlantic Region, Hope Reins, and Eastern AHEC
Title: The Sounds of Blackness!
Guest Speakers: Gary Hines
Since their beginning in 1971 at Macalester College, St Paul - Jazz, Blues, Spirituals, Rock & Roll, R&B, Gospel, Hip-hop & Soul. These are The Sounds of Blackness!
They've performed for Kings, Queens, Presidents, and Ambassadors at Concert Halls, Colleges, Schools, and Corporations & Festivals all over the World. Sounds of Blackness appearances include The Olympics, The World Cup, Ryder Cup, The NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, World Figure Skating Championships and The Super Bowl.
The Grammy Essence, SoulTrain, Stellar and Image Awards, Denver Summit of 8, The NAACP National Convention and The White House. Sounds of Blackness has appeared with Quincy Jones, Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jackson, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Kirk Franklin, Shirley Caesar, Yolanda Adams, Sting, Prince, Elton John, Maya Angelou, Usher, Dolly Parton, Harry Belafonte, Aloe Black, Common, John Legend & many more.
Sounds of Blackness has won Image, Soul Train, and International Time for Peace, Stellar and 3 Grammy Awards! Their Life-Changing Top 10 Single & Video “ROYALTY" was nominated for 2 Stellar and 2 NAACP Image Awards!
Sounds of Blackness Single -
“ TIME FOR REPARATIONS ” was nominated for NAACP Image Award! It is an Anthem of Today’s Movement for Racial Justice.
Guest Speakers: Ramsey Sorrells 
Title: Black Joy and Imagination in Advancing Equity
Topic: The Unteachables: Disability Rights and the Invention of Black Special Education
