Community Issues Speakers

Gary Baney
Top 100 IT Leader (and Dragon Boat Racer)

Topics include:

• Career Management into your 60’s … and beyond (for an older crowd – encouraging, practical advice)

• Katie Brennan
  Police Reform and Northern Ireland Expert

  

  Topics include:

  • Police reform in Cleveland
  • Northern Ireland’s police reform process (and how we in Cleveland can learn from them)humanitarian concerns, economic impact
  • Key issues in Cleveland/America and how we can learn from Ireland/Northern Ireland’s experience (namely: police reform, immigration issues, prejudice)

  ---

  Veronica Dahlberg
  Founder and executive director of HOLA

  

  Topics include:

  • Northeast Ohio Latino immigrants and their families
  • Immigration:  including policies, history, current trends, influence on politics, humanitarian concerns, economic impact
  • Advocacy and grassroots organizing

  ---

  Darcy Downie
  Chapter Director at Prevent Blindness

  

  Topics include:

  • Age Related Eye Diseases
  • Eye Health & Safety
  • Vision Problems In Ohio

  ---

  Sanjay Garg
  Founder of Shiksha Daan (Gift of Education)

  

  Topics include:

  • How to start a community volunteer effort
  • How Asian Indian community is giving back to the Greater Cleveland Community through volunteerism and service
  • Opportunities to help with education and development of youth from low income families – how you can contribute

  ---

  Wendy Hoke
  Story Teller and Survivor

  

  Topics include:

  • The cancer year: facing the worst fear to discover what’s possible
  • The power of story

  ---

  Ken Kovach
  Board Certified Coach 

  

  Topics include:

  • Nonprofit Board Development – How to keep your nonprofit board accountable and connected with its stakeholders; special board assessment tool – Board Rx.

  ---

  Li Li, MD, PhD
  Director, Swetland Center for Environmental Health

  

  Topics include:

  • Environmental Health
  • Health Disparities
  • Global and International Health
  • Clinical Translational Science
  • Chronic Disease Prevention Research
  • Obesity, Energy Imbalance and Cancer
  • Environmental Determinants of Health Disparities
  • Cancer, Genomics and Primary Care
  • Acculturation and Health Disparities
  • Sleep and cancer
  • Gut microbiome and health

  ---

  Jim McIntyre
  Communications and Marketing Manager
  American Red Cross

  

  Topics include:

  • American Red Cross services
  • Disaster Preparedness and Response
  • Home Fire Safety

  ---

  Joseph Patrick Meissner
  Attorney, Green Beret Vietnam Veteran, Author

  

  Topics include:

  • What is wrong with Chief Wahoo?
  • Why are your utility bills so high and what can you do about this?

  ---

  Erika Puussaar
  Estonian Community Leader

  

  Topics include:

  • Growing up as a Displaced Person in WWII in a Refugee Camp
  • Respecting the Flag and National Anthem

  ---

  Paramjit Singh
  Sikh leader promoting Peace and Non-Violence.

  

  Topics include:

  • Mistaken Identity – A beard and turban do not make a terrorist
  • Sikhs and Sikhism
  • Peace and Non-Violence projects
  • Making Cleveland the City of Peace and Non-Violence
  • Guns don’t Decide Who is Right, Guns Decide Who is Left

  ---

  Michael Sreshta
  Diabetes and Medication Management for Seniors

  

  Topics include:

  • Diabetes in Seniors
  • Medication Management in Seniors

  ---

  Chris Thompson
  Founder and president of
  Civic Collaboration Consultants, LLC

  

  Topics include:

  • Beyond CoBLABoration: What it takes for leaders to leave their logos and egos at the door so they can get things done together.
  • The Civic Superpower: How the practice of inquiry – asking new, compelling questions and listening deeply to the answers that emerge – can transform a stuck community into a vibrant community.
  • Collaboration Moves at the Speed of Trust: Why trust is essential to effective collaboration and what you can do to build trust within your community.
  • System Change: What is it? What does it take? And why our communities will remain inequitable until we accomplish it.

  ---