*Keynote Presenter Elaine Brown:

Elaine Brown is a former leading member of the Black Panther Party, and author of A Taste of Power and The Condemnation of Little B. In 1996, after living seven years in France, Brown moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where she established the nonprofit education corporation Fields of Flowers. Brown recently ran for mayor of Brunswick, Georgia (November 2005), toward creation of a base of economic power for the city’s majority black and poor population through redistribution of the massive revenues of the city’s port. Brown is presently writing For Reasons of Race and Belief, the biography of Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin (formerly H. Rap Brown) with Karima Al-Amin (for 2007 publication by Carroll & Graf). She is the editor of Trapped! Messages from Behind the Wall, a collection of autobiographical essays by black prisoners in New Mexico, set for publication by the State’s Department of African American Affairs in 2007.

Brown is Executive Director of the Michael Lewis Legal Defense Committee, supporting the legal appeal of Lewis (“Little B”), who, arrested at the age of 13 for a murder he did not commit, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison (1997). In 1997, Brown co-founded Mothers Advocating Juvenile Justice, and, in 2002, co-founded and became a Board member of the National Alliance for Radical Prison Reform. Presently, Brown is a member of the Geechee Council of Georgia, a partner in Seize the Time, Inc., and a founder of the Brunswick Women’s Association for Community Improvement.

Brown regularly lectures at colleges and universities throughout the country on “New Age Racism” and realization of the vision of eliminating racism, gender oppression and class disparity toward an inclusive and egalitarian world society.Brown, who studied classical piano for years, has recorded two albums of original songs, one for Motown records, and her 1969 album, Seize the Time, which includes The Black Panther Party National Anthem (The Meeting), was re-released as a CD in January 2007 by Warner Bros.

Tapping into the Power of the Female Community: Social Networking for Social Change

Networking is not only about getting ahead. Networking can be a powerful tool to help create a powerful and supportive female community that helps to further issues you care about. One of the most common topics of conversation among young women activists is social networking. This can include everything from finding out about career fields to advertising an event or raising funds for a cause. Women have been informally networking for centuries, however in today's world there is much more competition for resources and women need to be more direct creative in their approaches. This session is designed to teach the attendees how to use the skills they already have to be able to maximize their use of the people and resources around them to their advantage.

Presented by: Women's Information Network (WIN) -- Christine LeMieux and Nicky Smolter

Kicking the Habit: How Feminists are Partnering with Public Health to Change Community Norms around Domestic Violence

In this interactive and multi-media workshop, state domestic violence coalition staff and local advocates in the field will share their communities’ experiences of entering this path towards social change. The team will take participants through their journey of learning how to make sense of a public health approach within grassroots activism, develop and maintain partnerships with groups beyond just the “usual suspects”, and explore how innovative and effective prevention activities can come to life.  

Presented by: Delaware Coalition Against Domestic Violence

Breaking OUR Silence: The Domestic Violence Industrial Complex and the Future of the Battered Women’s Movement

Have we unintentionally created a “domestic violence industrial complex?” If so, what does it mean for the future of the battered women’s movement? This workshop will begin with an historical review of the battered women’s movement from the 1970’s through the present. You will reflect upon your own experiences, explore the challenges of maintaining organizations founded in feminist philosophies in current times, and envision possibilities for building an authentically feminist movement in the 21st century.

Presented by: Jessie Croom and Andrea Kurtz of the North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence

Panel on Sex Work

Individuals who work in the sex industry are frequently subject to stigmatization based on the often simplistic analyses of this highly sensationalized trade. As a social movement which often suffers from a lack of support from other “lefty” organizations, sex workers have overcome many obstacles in building community amongst each other. Through grassroots organizing, sex workers are demanding basic human rights, including workers rights, comprehensive health care and other social services, and a forum in which they are able to discuss their experiences without fear of recourse. This panel will discuss mechanisms of building community amongst sex workers, which include, but are not limited to, independent publications, harm reduction, peer-run social service organizations, and legal advocacy.

Presented by: Constance Long of HIPS, Theresa Anasti and Eliyanna Kaiser of Spread Magazine

Let's Throw a Party: Creative Community Building

What is the best way to get a whole bunch of like-minded folks together to start conversations about creating change? What is a really good way to fund your brilliant and deeply radical ideas about how to forge a brave, new, feminist world? Throw a kick ass party. This panel will explore the agony and the ecstasy of partying as a tool for social change.

Presented by: Karl Jones, Kristy and Natasha Abbas, and Kristina Gray

Confronting Gender and Sexuality Norms

This workshop aims to provoke discussion about protecting ourselves and our friends against sexism and gender expectations. With the use of role-playing, we want to open people's minds about the nuances of daily life situations, and give people the tools to fight for new gender and sexualities.

Presented by: the Genderfuckers Alliance

Rock Paper Scissors: Community Building Through Art

This panel will focus on feminists who are building community and creating dialogue through music, art, writing and theater. Panelists will discuss the power of art to communicate ideas, bridge difference, and create change.

Presented by: Tim'm T West, Natalie Illum, Aimee Argote

This workshop will allow participants the opportunity to view an educational DVD produced by the Feminist Majority Foundation, The Global Majority…Again, about how U.S. foreign policy affects women’s rights globally. The goal is to challenge the participant’s idea of how local activism can empower women around the world. This workshop is particularly relevant to your conference because in this we are acknowledging that the global community is a community of color.

Presented by: Kassidy Johnson

This workshop will use Iranian student movements and the Iranian revolution as a case study. We will discuss the practical ways to reach our communities to build a base of support for activism. There will be brief discussion of the Feminist and other revolutionary theories as the building blocks for our practical approach. Using first hand experience from the Iranian Student movement and the Iranian revolution, we will learn from its failures and success.

Presented by: Simin Royanian

The Washington Area Clinic Defense Task Force is an all-volunteer, non-violent group founded in the 1980s to promote peaceful and safe access to women's health clinics in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. WACDTF provides escorts to ensure a peaceful and reassuring presence for patients, their companions, and staff, at several local clinics. You may want to attend a training if you: want to be a clinic escort and have never been trained; want to find out what clinic escorting is like before you decide to start; have received only a mini-training at a clinic; or were trained by an organization other than WACDTF.

Current escorts are also welcome to participate in trainings for a refresher or to offer their experience.

Beyond, Beats, and Rhymes—A Screening & Dialogue on Race, Gender, and Hip-Hop

As Membership Director of WIN, Christine LeMieux is the liaison between WIN members and the Executive Committee. She is responsible for the recruitment and retainment of WIN's membership, which is currently about 1,000 members in the DC metropolitan area. Christine has been an active member in WIN since joining in 2005. She was chosen as part of the leadership team for the 2006 Young Women of Achievement Awards to fill the role of Volunteers/Development Coordinator.

In her full time job, Christine is a Program Instructor for middle school and high school students at the Close Up Foundation. The Close Up Foundation is the nation's largest nonprofit (501(c)(3)), nonpartisan citizenship education organization. Since its founding in 1970, Close Up has worked to promote responsible and informed participation in the democratic process through a variety of educational programs.

Before joining Close Up, Christine worked for various lobbying firms in DC including Edison Electric Institute, Russ Reid Company, and National Farmers Union, as well as Reluminati LLC. A native of Topsham, Maine, Christine holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and International Relations from Syracuse University where Christine was a member of the SU Women's Soccer Team.

Toni Durbano is a Training and Prevention Specialist for the Delaware Coalition Against Domestic Violence (DCADV). Her experience includes working as a Victim Advocate for military families at McGuire Air Force Base, a Volunteer Advocate at the Victim Advocacy Center in New Castle County Family Court, and a Victim Assistant at the National Center for Victims of Crime. She holds a Master of Science in Justice, Law and Society from American University.

Stephanie Rensch, MSCC, has been with Wilmington Police Department since spring 2002. She is the Domestic Violence Coordinator of the Victim Services Unit. Her position allows her to do direct service and advocacy as well as trainings and outreach. Ms. Rensch has worked in several domestic violence shelters and programs in both Maryland and Delaware. Ms. Rensch has a bachelor’s degree in Sociology with a certificate in Women’s Studies from the University of Maryland, College Park and a master’s degree in Community Counseling from Wilmington College. She is a National Certified Counselor and is a Domestic Violence Specialist in Delaware.

Different Avenues:

Darby Hickey and Erika Smith are co-directors of Different Avenues, a D.C. service and advocacy organization that works for the health, rights and safety of people at high risk for HIV, violence and discrimination. They are concerned about DC’s new "prostitution-free" zones and active participants in efforts by sex workers and allies are organizing against this legislation and its implementation. Erika and Darby are also involved in national organizing for sex workers' rights, particularly highlighting the leadership of transgender women and the marginalization of
street-based workers (what most people think of when they say "prostitutes.")

$pread Magazine:
Theresa Anasti spent most of her childhood and teenage years in the rural and staunchly Republican stronghold of eastern North Carolina, where she constantly got into fights with her peers due to her pro-choice and LGBT rights activism. She then moved back to her birthplace of New York City where she received a bachelor’s degree in community psychology at New York University, completing her senior thesis on the effectiveness of harm reduction practices within the homeless population. After graduation, she continued to pursue her interest in the effectiveness of harm reduction, and became actively involved in the sex workers' rights movement. She was a research assistant on Dr. Melissa Ditmore’s Encyclopedia of Prostitution and Sex Work, continues to volunteer with the Sex Worker Project at the Urban Justice Center, and is the current advertising director of $pread Magazine.

Eliyanna Kaiser is originally from western Canada and is a political activist with a background in public policy. At $pread, Eliyanna writes the Healthy Hooker column and edits Intercourses , other recurring features and reviews, and manages subscribers. She lives in New York City with her girlfriend and their lizard, Celebration the Leopard Gecko.

Andrea Kurtz is an attorney, currently working as the Director of the Ten Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness in Winston-Salem, NC. She has worked in the battered women’s movement for over 20 years as a peer advocate for teens, a peer educator, victim advocate and attorney. She is currently a Board Member for the North Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence and participates in the Domestic Violence Community Council in her community.

Kristina Gray is one of the founding members of the First Ladies DJ Collective, an all-female dj crew dedicated to breaking the "vinyl ceiling" and making dance floors safe for women everywhere. Since 2002, the collective has moved crowds up and down the East Coast and remains committed to bringing music to the community and more women to djing. Performing under the moniker K La Rock, she's spun everywhere from clubs to house parties to fundraisers to punk shows. She's also performed for various community events and organizations such as the Incite! Sisterfire tour, NOW Women of Color Conference and Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League (SMYAL). When she's not taking back the decks, she serves as a senior program coordinator at the Young Women's Project, which builds and supports teen women leaders. In the past she's worked with the National Women's Alliance, Points of Light Foundation, and Ms. magazine. A DC area native, she's been involved in various grassroots organizing efforts such as Ladyfest DC, Visions in Feminism and Tearing at the Seams. She also was published in the anthology Colonize This: Young Women of Color on Today's Feminism and is a longtime zinemaker and diy crafter.

Kristy and Natasha Abbas can be found hijinxing it up on Radio CPR together when they're not kicking booty with their fellow DC HOT COMMODITIES, a local collective that has been spotted up and down the east coast challenging Norweigans to dance-offs with gourmet baked goods (that double as anti-street harassment weapons) in hand.

Genderfuckers Alliance:

Amy (KC) Oden is currently shooting “From the Back of the Room” a documentary about women in the punk community, and is helping put together a three-day C.L.I.T.fest in Richmond this June. She works at MHz Networks, an independent public television station in Falls Church, VA. She has her bachelors in Journalism, with a minor in Literature and Women’s Studies from the University of Maryland.

Michelle Zenarosa is a writer and activist. She has had her work published in various publications including LOUDmouth, a feminist magazine based in Los Angeles, and has been an organizer for various feminist campaigns including WriteGirl, a Los Angeles nonprofit focused on empowering low-income teenage girls through creative writing. She is also currently a member of INCITE! DC, a national organization of radical womyn of color, and was just awarded a fellowship to pursue a masters in journalism at University of Maryland.

Christine Cunniff is entering her junior year as a Women's Studies major at the University of Maryland College Park and is a worker-owner of the Maryland Food Collective. She is a member of the band Powernap, and identifies as a radical punk feminist.

Natalie E. Illum: I am an activist-turned-poet-turned-promoter-turned federal employee, so everyone in that cycle can get paid. My work centers around survival and erosion, visibility and invisibility: of the body, of our voices, of whole communities that are being misrepresented or ignored. Not only do I care about raising consciousness around the above issues, but I want to hear how we rise above and alter whatever holds us down into what holds us up. Because most of the time I feel held by something. I am a founding board member of mothertongue--a spoken word, poetry and creative writing women's organization in D.C. We are an all volunteer-run nonprofit organization dedicated to providing women and young girls a safe space to be creative and empowered by the strength and courage of their own voices and experiences. I also facilitate sliding scale for beginning and advanced writers of all genres in Washington, D.C.

Aimee Argote of Des Ark has been playing and recording in feminist bands since she was 15, and has toured extensively throughout the US and Japan. For Argote, music is a venue for expressing her deeply intertwined internal and external politics, and her strength lies in viewing the public world through a private prism to relate experiences of drug addiction, sexual identity and punctuating sorrow.