8:00 - 9:00 am

SU Foyer

Check-in and Onsite Registration

Coffee and tea service will be provided

9:00 - 9:15 am

Rogue River Room

Welcome and Land Acknowledgement

Southern Oregon University Student Sustainability Team members

9:15 - 9:45 am

Rogue River Room

Keynote Address

Teresa Cisneros

Connectedness of Humanity, Hope, and the Land: Considering Climate Justice through an Indigenous and Racial Equity Lens

Teresa is the mother of 3 children and sister of 2 brothers and a super funny sister. Her 20 years of experience in social justice work, community organizing, organizational development and facilitating training in equity, diversity and inclusion has earned her insight into the barriers and opportunities organizations have to make systemic changes. She is a leading educator in Tribal History/Shared History in Oregon, having provided professional development training in the subject in several school districts around the state as well as Indian Education program support and conflict resolution. More than 100 teachers and administrators have completed her training, so she created a Community of Practice for these educators to continue their professional development in understanding tribal culture in public education. She is also the vice-president of the Oregon Indian Education Association and board member of Coalicion Fortaleza, an organization developed in response to the Almeda fire to develop sustainable housing and fire-ready communities. Her engagement in growing more equitable people, systems and our local communities and governments is consistent and constant. She will continue to speak up and call in those who uphold oppressive practices and systems through keynotes, trainings and lots of fortitude.

10:00 - 11:00 am | Friday

BREAKOUT SESSIONS

Rogue River Room

Fighting from the Inside (via livestream)

Shyrah Kum (she/her) – Equal Access Advocate, DC Green Bank

How do organizations adopt a racial equity lens and operate in restorative justice, even with histories of systematic oppression? How do they gain community trust in helping close the equity gap? This session will focus on what it means to fight from the inside of an organization and center racial equity in environmental work.

Integrating Racial Justice and Climate Action

Erika Giesen (she/her) – Faculty, Rogue Community College; Leilani Janes (she/they) – Student, Rogue Community College

Becoming aware of how and why to utilize a racial and class-based equity lens is essential to establishing meaningful climate action. Learn what this lens looks like in practice: how and why to promote racial diversity and inclusivity in climate change organizations; how to build on shared interests in climate justice across diverse groups; and how participatory and transparent governance can create community-specific solutions.

SU 323

Who owns the Data? Community Mapping, Digital Storytelling, and Equitable Community Engagement in Disaster Recovery

Tucker Teutsch (he/him) – Executive Director, Firebrand Resiliency Collective; Sabra Cronk (she/her) – Firebrand Resiliency Collective

The Loss & Recovery Project is a multi-pronged effort to tell the story of our community’s post-fire recovery and redevelopment through community-created maps, dashboards, and Storymaps that use survivor stories and community data to highlight resource gaps and systemic inequities. We will also discuss how new digital tools-combined with a traditional approach to cultural competency, translation and analog media-are breaking down barriers to participation from survivor and marginalized communities in our recovery.

Digging Deeper School Partnership – How we pivoted to support our school communities, focusing on resilience, creativity, justice and connection

Ellie Cosgrove (she/her) – Education Program Manager, Rogue Valley Farm to School; Elise Pfrommer (she/her) – School Partnership Educator, Rogue Valley Farm to School; Meghan Murphy (she/her) – Lead Educator, Rogue Valley Farm to School; Abigail Blinn (she/her) – Procurement Coordinator, Rogue Valley Farm to School

Rogue Valley Farm to School has been using school gardens to support students’ physical and mental wellbeing for over a decade. Facing ever-changing school conditions during the pandemic and catastrophic wildfires, we had to re-envision our Digger Deeper school partnership program to support the school community in building resilience through challenge by bringing in themes of gratitude, celebration, social justice, mindfulness and connection. Join us to hear our story of how we brought together teachers, cafeteria staff, people in the community who needed work, farmers who had lost their markets during the pandemic, and volunteers who wanted to help their neighbors in a time of need, to bring healthy food, art, joy and connection to the people in our community who needed it most.

11:15-11:45 am | Friday

BREAKOUT SESSIONS

Rogue River Room

Building Equitable & Climate Resilient Strategies in Lane County, Oregon

Paige Hopkins (she/her) – Climate Justice Organizer, Beyond Toxics; Tonya Graham (she/her) – Executive Director, Geos Institute

This session will focus on the climate resilience planning Beyond Toxics and Geos Institute have done in collaboration with Lane County to bring community members and county staff together to develop the first Lane County Climate Resilience Plan. This process is the first of its kind in Lane County to include a climate action plan that centers equity & community first. The session will be a case study in what climate resilience planning looks like at the local level when community partners and local governments are working together.

Climate Justice Statewide Listening Session and Advocacy Report Out

Becca Phelps (she/her) – Climate Resilience and Environmental Justice Program Manager, Unite Oregon

Unite Oregon’s Climate Resilience and Environmental Justice department led statewide listening sessions in 2022 around environmental/climate justice. We heard from primarily black and indigenous community members from the Rogue Valley, Central Oregon, Portland Metro, and the Oregon Coast. Folks shared their experiences with climate change and offered solutions and goals for a just transition to climate. Our team is currently writing a BIG report on our findings, with a special qualitative data tool, and we will have the report finalized in January. Then, we will have an accompanying presentation with our findings. We would love to share those findings AND talk about how this work is centered around climate activism and learning for future policy work at the local and statewide level.

SU 323

Lessons learned by SOU students about equity and resilience in relation to the 2020 Almeda fire (panel)

Speakers: Cameron Aalto (he/they), Maroun Eduardo Aguero-Dagdug (he/him), Reese Rosenberg (she/her), Katie Sheely (she/her) - Students at Southern Oregon University. Moderated by Jessica Piekielek (she/her) – Professor, Southern Oregon University Institute for Applied Sustainability

This panel brings together SOU undergraduates from a range of majors to reflect on their formative capstone, internship, and/or volunteer experiences related to the 2020 Almeda fire. Panelists will describe their work; discuss what they learned about equity, resilience, and climate justice; and reflect on their education in relation to climate justice.

1:30 - 2:15 pm

Rogue River Room

Keynote Address

Thomas Joseph

The Dangers of Promoting False Solutions to Climate Change

Thomas Joseph is a tribal member of the Hoopa Valley Tribe, and descendant of the Lone Pine Shoshone Paiute Tribe. Both tribes are located in the occupied and unceded lands of California. Thomas has spent the last decade defending his lands from carbon brokers, hydro dams, and other false solutions. He is the Carbon Price Educator with Indigenous Environmental Network. As a former social Justice organizer, Thomas has passed ballot measures securing the nation’s strongest sanctuary laws for dreamers to passing racial profiling laws for California police officers to abide by.

4:45 - 5:30 pm

SU Arena (bottom floor)

Reception

An array of vegetarian appetizers will be served, compliments of Sustainability at Southern Oregon University

5:30 - 7:30 pm

SU Arena (bottom floor)

INHABITANTS Film Screening and Talk

Speakers (via Zoom) include: Costa Boutsikaris – Co-Director/Cinematographer/Editor, Anna Palmer – Co-Director/Producer, Ben-Alex Dupris, Colville Confederated Tribes - Producer / Advisor. Moderated by SOU Assistant Professor Christopher Lucas. inhabitantsfilm.com

INHABITANTS is a feature documentary that follows five Native American Tribes across deserts, coastlines, forests, and prairies as they restore their traditional land management practices. Stay after the screening for a conversation with the filmmakers Costa Boutsikaris, Anna Palmer, and Ben-Alex Dupris about the making of INHABITANTS and the lessons Indigenous ways can offer for reshaping modern agricultural practices and protecting our planet. Speakers (via Zoom) include: Costa Boutsikaris – Co-Director/Cinematographer/Editor, Anna Palmer – Co-Director/Producer, Ben-Alex Dupris, Colville Confederated Tribes - Producer / Advisor. Moderated by SOU Assistant Professor Christopher Lucas.

8:00 - 9:00 am

SU Foyer

Check-in and Onsite Registration

Coffee and tea service will be provided

9:15 - 9:45 am

Rogue River Room

Plenary Panel Discussion

Fire Relief & Mutual Aid: After the Almeda Fire

Panelists: Adriana Sanchez (she/her/ella) - Fire Relief Organizer, Rogue Action Center; Alli French (she/her) - Executive Director, Talent Maker City; Lucas Wedeman (he/him) - Community Engagement Coordinator, Rogue Food Unites; Nicole Greider (she/her) - Disaster Relief Team Organizer, Rogue Action Center; Sara Cervantes (she/her/ella) - Former Resource Navigator, Rogue Climate. Moderated by Elib Crist-Dwyer (he/him) – Lead Organizer, Rogue Action Center. 

Building upon the lessons learned from the September 2020 Almeda Fire, Rogue Action Center, Rogue Climate, Rogue Food Unites, and other organizations presents a panel on empowering communities with support through mutual aid and advocacy. These organizations have been vital in identifying pre-existing barriers and addressing inequities as survivors recover from the Almeda Fire.

10:45 - 11:15am | Saturday

BREAKOUT SESSIONS

Rogue River Room

The Intergenerational Struggle of Being a River Based Community in Modern Day America

Danielle Frank (she/her), Youth Coordinator, Save California Salmon, Miss Na:tini-xwe', Hoopa Valley Tribe Native Youth Coordinator, Native Americans in Philanthropy (via livestream)

During this presentation follow nineteen year old Hupa tribal member, Danielle Frank, through her journey as a water and land protector. Throughout her life Danielle has been involved in various movements centering Indigenous Justice, she will be sharing her perspective of growing up in a family determined to see justice for their lands and people. She will be discussing the Klamath Dam Removal, public policy, and education reform work and what it’s like to be an indigenous youth activist, nonprofit professional, and a student.

COVID and then the Fires Hit: Multiplied Crises, Housing and Climate Injustice within Migrant Communities in Southern Oregon

Celinés Garcia (she/ella) – Lead Cultural Community Organizer, Coalición Fortaleza; Erica Ledesma (she/ella) – Executive Director, Coalición Fortaleza

In the summer of 2020, with the backdrop of a global pandemic, Southern Oregon faced some of the most devastating wildfires recorded in history. Two years after the wildfires, housing recovery efforts have been uneven for Latinx and Indigenous farmworker and immigrant communities faced with the aftermath of wildfires and ongoing impacts of climate change to their livelihoods. Despite living decades in the area, these displaced families have felt a heightened sense of uncertainty and constrained capacity to financially support families through resettlement processes, while balancing care needs and the emotional and mental toll caused by climate grief. Mobilized by these realities, we will discuss the role of the Southern Oregon Housing Needs Assessment, a community-engaged endeavor by Coalición Fortaleza and CASA of Oregon in informing housing recovery efforts and re-envisioning communal homeownership among Latinx and indigenous mobile-home communities.

SU 323

Lessons on Equity from 2020 Fires & Climate Justice/Housing Justice Activism

Rene Braga (he/him/el) – Rogue Valley Community Organizer, Unite Oregon; Erika Bucio (she/her/ella) – Rogue Valley Community Organizer, Unite Oregon

Lessons learned on the aftermath of the 2020 fires viewed from an equity lens by Unite Oregon community organizers. We will touch on housing displacement, lack of equity due to immigration status and funding opportunities that were missed because of undocumented status, lack of accessibility to resources due to language barriers, and emergency housing. A conversation on how Unite Oregon approached these issues as an organization as community leaders and stepped up to support 1000s of people.

Following their presentation the staff from Unite Oregon invite individuals interested to stay and discuss their presentation and upcoming legislation.

SU 319

​A Re-envisioned Multicultural STEM Education for All

Amanda Casto - Assistant Professor of Education, Southern Oregon University (she/her)

Multicultural STEM education is not yet a renowned practice in U.S. K-12 schools at large, but adopting it could be the path forward for schools to become more culturally responsive, equitable, and socially- and environmentally-responsible in the 21st century. This session will introduce the concept of multicultural STEM education and explore some action steps for educational policymakers, curriculum developers, teacher educators, teachers, and school administrators to enhance learning for all students.

Connecting Coursework with Coalition-building for Seasonal and Service workers in the Rogue Valley

Robert Arellano (he/him/el) – Professor, Southern Oregon University

Every year at SOU, several Emerging Media & Digital Arts (EMDA) course offerings address social justice through inclusive design. Robert Arellano, a professor who lives in Talent, will draw connections between the winter EMDA 401 course “Somos oregonenses,” where students are designing a digital project for stories of southern Oregon’s Latinx communities, and year-round volunteer opportunities through the Northwest Seasonal Workers Association (NSWA) organizing workers vulnerable to dependence on contingent labor. Like-minded educators and lifelong learners will be encouraged to adapt these educational models to other struggles for climate and social justice, as well as to connect with each other and offer their own examples of connecting coursework with coalition-building.

12:15 - 12:45 pm

Rogue River Room

Keynote Address

Margaret Corvi

Finding strategies to yield abundance

Niishanax, dai estes, hello. Margaret Corvi is a hanis coos and citizen of the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw. She is a consultant working to support the protection of cultural and environmental resources important to the traditions and identity of Tribal Nations and citizens. She views cultural and natural resources as intertwined and connected to how we fish, hunt, harvest, heal, celebrate and create.

She volunteers on Siuslaw Watershed Council acting as the President of the Board of Directors, Ocean Policy Advisory Committee as the Tribal representative, Natural and Working Land Committee of the Oregon Global Warming Commission and works with Tribes, state agencies, universities, and other organizations to support the use and protection of cultural and environmental resources and places important to the traditions, practices and identity of indigenous people and Tribal sovereigns. She regularly brings forth concerns, ideas and recommendations in written and oral testimony to state and federal agencies. She is a guest speaker at universities and supports work that brings frontline voices to environmental and climate work happening in the state.

2:30 - 4:30 pm | Saturday

BREAKOUT SESSIONS - WORKSHOPS

Rogue River Room

Finding Our Place in the Climate Movement

Blanca Gutierrez (she/her/ella) – Leadership Development and Cultural Director, Rogue Climate; Jordan Bruyn-Fry (she/her) – Co-Executive Director, Rogue Action Center

In this session we will grow a shared understanding of climate change, the science and root causes of climate change (especially capitalism, colonization, and the extractive economy as the major driving force), and who is disproportionately impacted & who benefits. After this we will dig into what Organizing is and why we do it. We will wrap up by cultivating a vision for the solutions we are building towards, and collective strategies to get there.

SU 323

1st Foods: Cultivating Resilience, and Connection

Lorri O’Neill (she/her) – Indigenous Organizer, Unite Oregon; Marion Powell (she/her) – Clackamas County Climate Justice Organizer; Emilie Pilchowski (she/her) – Climate Justice Organizer, Unite Oregon

In this session we will provide an overview of food justice and food sovereignty with an emphasis on Indigenous first foods. Questions we will address are: How does the traditional conservation movement fail to uplift Indigenous communities and food sovereignty? What are 1st foods? How is climate change impacting access to first foods? How can we envision and build a more resilient food system that centers Indigenous sovereignty?