Sustainability Conference Series

Welcome to the Race and Sustainability Conference page. The term sustainability is used here to refer to access to all the tools necessary a full and healthy life.

Substantial impediments to healthy living and self-actualization still prevail for many in our society. From subjugation to segregation, marginalization and mass incarceration, today, simple efforts at subsistence by people of color and the poor are met with terrifying and debilitating hurdles. These barriers render directly affected communities vulnerable to destructive and systematic inequities. Further, when analyzed carefully, these hurdles and inequities also harm society as a whole.

Specifically, basic access to food, education, health, and housing, necessary for sustenance and social advancement, still elude the vulnerable. The historical roots of these realities are deep and numerous. To fully grasp and remedy these documented inequities, these roots and their connected legacies need to be studied, faced, and converted into healing action plans.

When this is done, it becomes apparent that historical trauma from long established debilitation connects us all. This form of connection is seldom highlighted and maximized. Instead, as lack of education about historical patterns of inequity still persists, we remain divided. And, ongoing divisions, in turn, impede efforts to build effective coalitions to solve chronic marginalization.

For these reasons, a deeper understanding of historical connections, healing, and renewed commitment to progressive action are primary goals of this year’s Race and Sustainability Conference. To do so, the conference will examine root causes of vulnerability across communities, share historical research/data collected on sustainability, as well as models for healing from experts in the United States and abroad.

View Schedule and Application for 2017 Conference

View 2015 Conference

View 2012 Conference