Event Videos – Spring 2021

April 9, 2021

Since its founding, University of Illinois Chicago students have played critical roles in making the Women’s Leadership and Resource Center a home for students and survivors, and in advocating for gender equity at UIC and beyond.

In this panel discussion, graduate students who have worked at the center share their experiences of working, learning, and building community at UIC while advancing the center’s mission.

Speakers:

• Juliana Bernier, LMSW (Social Work, 2019)
• Meghan Daniel (Sociology, current PhD candidate)
• Dr. Keisha Farmer-Smith (Urban Planning and Policy, 2010)
• Dr. Stephanie Hicks (Policy Studies in Urban Education, 2017)

Moderated by Dr. Meghna Bhat (Criminology, Law, and Justice, 2017).

Hosted by the Women’s Leadership and Resource Center (WLRC) in commemoration of its 30th anniversary.

April 7, 2021

In this panel discussion, Black and Latinx women student leaders shared their academic, leadership, and personal experiences at the University of Illinois Chicago; what they wish they had known when they first got there; and advice for thriving in school and their chosen fields.

Learn about their journeys and explore how we can build bridges of solidarity across campus.

Speakers:

• Jocelyn Bravo, UIC Student Trustee
• Alexis Grant, President, Black Graduate Student Association and President, Graduate Christian Fellowship
• Kiera Hardin, President, Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc., Omicron Beta Chapter
• Ashaley Hassel, President, Black Student Union
• LeRayah Neely-Brown, President, SISTERS

Moderated by Jazmin Vega, President, LPODER.

Hosted by the Women’s Leadership and Resource Center (WLRC) and co-sponsored by the Black Graduate Student Association, Black Student Union, LPODER, and SISTERS.

March 30, 2021

Join us in celebrating Latinx Womxn Leaders Across Social and Environmental Movements! In this 4-part series, each presenter shares their experiences and leadership on topics of labor and worker’s rights, immigrant rights, environmental and climate justice, and building transgender & queer Latinx power. Through an intersectional lens, these presenters reveal the complexity and specificity of Latinx Womxn from a spectrum of identities and action-based agendas.

Event 4 of 4 features
Jennicet Gutiérrez, Community Organizer & Advocate
Familia Trans Queer Liberation Movement

Jennicet Gutiérrez (she/hers/ella) is a transgender immigrant Latina from Tuxpan, Jalisco. She is a National Organizer with Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement – a national trans and queer Latinx and immigrant grassroots organization organizing at the intersections of trans and queer rights, and migrant and raical justice. The organization’s vision is to work at the national and local level to achieve the collective liberation of trans and queer Latinx folks, by leading an intergenerational movement through grassroots organizing, direct action and advocacy. Jennicet, advocates for transgender rights and immigrant rights and prioratizes centering the voices of trans women of color in all racial justice work. Jennicet is determined to fight against all oppressive political and social institutions that stand in the way of the rights and dignity of all people. She currently resides in Phoenix.

Hosted by the Women’s Leadership and Resource Center (WLRC) and Latino Cultural Center.

March 30, 2021

Women’s and Gender Equity Centers serve as critical sites for feminist/social justice education, safety, and community building on U.S. college campuses and beyond.

In this roundtable conversation, center leaders across Illinois reflect on their centers’ histories, what emboldens/challenges/ inspires them, and their visions for the future.

Speakers:

• Rocio Ayard Ochoa, Western Illinois University
• Dr. Shenay Bridges-Carter, Chicago State University
• Dr. Sarah Brown, Northwestern University
• Sarah Colomé, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• Dr. Ann Russo, DePaul University

Moderated by Dr. Jennifer Ash, National Women’s Studies Association.

Hosted by the Women’s Leadership and Resource Center (WLRC) in commemoration of its 30th anniversary.

March 18, 2021

Celebrate Black Deaf communities and the expressive power of ASL!

Performer and educator Crystal Kelley Schwartz performs “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” popularly known as the Black National Anthem, discusses the significance of the song, and teaches a portion of it in ASL.

Introduction by Dr. Johari Jabir, musician, scholar, and faculty in Black Studies at the University of Illinois Chicago.

Hosted by the Women’s Leadership and Resource Center (WLRC) and Disability Cultural Center, as part of WLRC’s Let Our Rejoicing Rise project.

March 17, 2021

Join us in celebrating Latinx Womxn Leaders Across Social and Environmental Movements! In this 4-part series, each presenter shares their experiences and leadership on topics of labor and worker’s rights, immigrant rights, environmental and climate justice, and building transgender & queer Latinx power. Through an intersectional lens, these presenters reveal the complexity and specificity of Latinx Womxn from a spectrum of identities and action-based agendas.

Event 3 of 4 features
Kimberly Wasserman, Executive Director
Little Village Environmental Justice Organization

Kim Wasserman is the Executive Director of the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO), where she has worked since 1998. Kim joined LVEJO as an organizer and helped to organize community leaders to successfully build a new playground, community gardens, remodel of a local school park and force a local polluter to upgrade their facilities to meet current laws. As Executive Director of LVEJO, she has worked with organizers to reinstate a job access bus line, built upon the community’s work to create La Villita Park, continued the more-than-10-year campaign that won the closure of the two local coal fired power plants, and continues to fight for remediation and redevelopment of these sites. Kim is Chair of the Illinois Commission on Environmental Justice. In 2013, she was the recipient of the Goldman Prize for North America. Her biggest accomplishment to date is raising three-community organizers aged 22, 15, and 12.

Hosted by the Women’s Leadership and Resource Center (WLRC) and Latino Cultural Center.

March 15, 2021

Join us in celebrating Latinx Womxn Leaders Across Social and Environmental Movements! In this 4-part series, each presenter shares their experiences and leadership on topics of labor and worker’s rights, immigrant rights, environmental and climate justice, and building transgender & queer Latinx power. Through an intersectional lens, these presenters reveal the complexity and specificity of Latinx Womxn from a spectrum of identities and action-based agendas.

Event 2 of 4 features
Tania Unzueta, Political Director
Mijente

Tania Unzueta Carrasco is the National Political Director and co-founder of Mijente. She is nationally known for her work on immigrant rights, specifically her organizing against deportations and unjust immigration enforcement. She is also a self-taught political campaigner and strategist, working to use grassroots tactics and values to win elections and build political power. Most recently she ran Mijente’s campaign for the Georgia runoff election that contacted every Latinx voter for the first time in the history of the state. Tania was born in Mexico City and grew up in Chicago’s Little Village. She is a proud product of Chicago Public Schools, youth radio training programs, and community organizing. She has a Master’s Degree in Latin American and Latino Studies from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Hosted by the Women’s Leadership and Resource Center (WLRC) and Latino Cultural Center.

March 10, 2021

Join us in celebrating Latinx Womxn Leaders Across Social and Environmental Movements! In this 4-part series, each presenter shares their experiences and leadership on topics of labor and worker’s rights, immigrant rights, environmental and climate justice, and building transgender & queer Latinx power. Through an intersectional lens, these presenters reveal the complexity and specificity of Latinx Womxn from a spectrum of identities and action-based agendas.

Event 1 of 4 features
Rosi Carrasco, Community Defender & Organizer
Chicago Community & Workers’ Rights

Rosi Carrasco works with Chicago Community and Workers’ Rights providing resources and information about immigrant and workers rights in the community. Carrasco has been a community organizer since she emigrated to this country with her family. Throughout the years Carrasco has played key roles in multiple immigrant rights mobilizations in Chicago and nationally, including the massive demonstrations in 2006 and 2007. Carrasco has been very active in the organizing efforts to stop deportations of immigrant families in Chicago.

Hosted by the Women’s Leadership and Resource Center (WLRC) and Latino Cultural Center.

February 25, 2021

In her digital humanities project, “Singing the Nation into Being,” Dr. Sonya Donaldson, Associate Professor of English at New Jersey City University, has created an archive of performances, remixes, and mashups of “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” The song, also known as the Black National Anthem, was written by James Weldon Johnson and J. Rosamond Johnson for 500 schoolchildren to perform in honor of Booker T. Washington in 1900.

Building on this research, Dr. Donaldson lectures about the ways that Black women’s voices have been used in public performances, including this song, to promote a sense of “we-ness” at different moments in U.S. history.

Hosted by the Women’s Leadership and Resource Center (WLRC) and co-sponsored by the UIC African American Cultural Center and Honors College, as part of WLRC’s Let Our Rejoicing Rise project.