SmartWorks Collaborative

HOW WE GOT STARTED


In June of 2020, we launched The Uncomfortable Conversation Series — virtual events featuring national experts addressing urgent issues concerning social equity.


In 2021, we created SmartWorks Collaborative and now have a track record of developing relevant programs in response to challenging times, and helping businesses prioritize and achieve a more inclusive set of social and economic goals.

The series included:









Systemic Racism and Emotional Intelligence

Racial injustice and unrest aren’t new but are becoming increasingly overwhelming. The event featured discussion about the deep listening necessary to generate the emotional intelligence required to address this topic.

Presenter: Gloria Browne-Marshall


Gloria is a professor of constitutional law and founding member of the gender studies faculty at John Jay College (CUNY) spoke about the struggle for physical freedom, personhood and education that Black women have faced despite the existence of strong faith communities. Dr. Browne-Marshall is also a civil rights attorney and playwright and the author of The Voting Rights War and Race, Law, and American Society: 1607 to Present. Her upcoming book, She Took Justice, depicts the impact of dozens of willful, but uncelebrated Black women on U.S. history. 


Health Inequities of Racial and Ethnic Minorities and Underserved Populations

African-Americans and other people of color have been historically underserved in health-care settings. The event featured how to understand and recognize health disparities and effective interventions to reduce these disparities in community and clinical settings.

Presenter: Dr. Eliseo Pérez-Stable


Dr. Pérez-Stable is the director of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) spoke about the need for improving the health of racial and ethnic minorities and underserved populations. The necessary changes, he said, include advancing patient-centered care, improving cross-cultural communication skills among health care professionals and promoting diversity in the biomedical research workforce. Previously, Dr. Pérez-Stable, was a professor of medicine, chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine and director of the Center for Aging in Diverse Communities (CADC), which is funded by NIH's National Institute on Aging (NIA).


Food Deserts, Swamps and Pantries: Food Equity and Racial Justice

Participants discussed food deserts, food swamps, and how food injustice is intertwined with health inequity and systemic racism.

Presenters:

Rev. Dr. Heber Brown, III  |  Marianna Wetherill, Ph.D., MPH, RDN-AP/LD


Rev. Dr. Heber Brown, III is the pastor of Pleasant Hope Baptist Church in Baltimore and Marianna Wetherill, Ph.D., MPH, RDN-AP/LD, an associate professor at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and a registered dietitian, spoke about the need to address greater food insecurity that exists among Black and Latinx households when compared to the national U.S. average. 


Dr. Brown is the founder of the Black Church Food Security Network (BCFSN), a multi-state alliance of congregations working together to inspire health, wealth and power in the Black community. Using an asset-based approach, the BCFSN mobilizes the vast resources of African-American churches to establish gardens on church-owned land and cultivates partnerships with rural Black farmers to pipeline what they grow to urban Black communities that are hampered by food apartheid.

 

Dr. Wetherill's research involves the design of "food as medicine" interventions for building nutrition equity among vulnerable populations affected by food insecurity.


Voting Rights

The 2020 presidential election highlighted the large portion of disenfranchised voters in our population and the need to preserve the democratic right of all Americans to have their vote counted.

Presenters:

David Daley  |  Professor Gilda Daniels


David Daley is former editor-in chief of Salon, author of the national best-sellers, Ratf**ked: Why Your Vote Doesn't Count and Unrigged: How Americans Are Battling Back to Save Democracy, spoke about the devastating effects of voter ID laws, partisan gerrymandering and voter suppression on minority communities. 


Professor Gilda Daniels is a voting rights expert and former deputy chief in the U.S. Dept. of Justice Civil Rights Division, Voting Section, spoke about the continuous assault on access to the ballot box for Black voters, as well as all voters of color, the poor and the elderly. Dr. Daniels is a professor of law at the University of Baltimore Law School and the Director of Litigation for Advancement Project’s National Office, a multi-racial civil rights organization. Her first book is Uncounted: The Crisis of Voter Suppression in America. 

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