BELOVED COMMUNITY: SOCIAL ENGINEERS FOR TRANSFORMATIVE CHANGE
“A Social Engineer [is] a highly skilled, perceptive, sensitive [person] who [understands] the Constitution of the United States and [knows] how to explore its uses in the solving of problems of local communities and in bettering conditions of the underprivileged citizens.” - Charles Hamilton Houston
“The end is reconciliation; the end is redemption; the end is the creation of the Beloved Community. It is this type of spirit and this type of love that can transform [foes] into friends. It is this type of understanding goodwill that will transform the deep gloom of the old age into the exuberant gladness of the new age. It is this love which will bring about miracles in the hearts of men.” - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Houston and King were social engineers, among others, that set the precedence on how to effectuate transformative change. We are the social engineers of our time; we can’t afford to be complacent.
Keynote Speaker
Rev. Willie Bodrick II, J.D., M. Div., Senior Pastor of the Historic Twelfth Baptist Church (Roxbury); Law Clerk at Brown Rudnick
MODERATOR:
Diana Saintil, Ed.M., Founder of BeProximate
Panelists
Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, U.S. House of Representative for the Massachusetts’ 7th Congressional District
Steven W. Tompkins, Sheriff of Suffolk County
Rachael Rollins, District Attorney of Suffolk County
Elizabeth ‘Liz’ Miranda, Massachusetts State Representative for the 5th Suffolk District
Rahsaan D. Hall, Esq., Director of the Racial Justice Program at the ACLU of MA
Chidi Umez, Esq., Deputy Program Director at the Council of State Governments Justice Center
Nan M. Gibson, Executive Director of Public Policy & Corporate Responsibility at JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Carson Whitelemons, Criminal Justice Manager at Arnold Ventures
MODERATOR:
Diana Saintil, Ed.M., Founder of BeProximate
Panelists
Yolanda Smith, Superintendent and Special Sheriff of Suffolk County
Alvin C. Jacobs Jr., Photojournalist and Image Activist
Michael J. Bobbitt, Executive Director at Mass Cultural Council
Artists
Students at the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department
Students at Boston University
MODERATOR:
Diana Saintil, Ed.M., Founder of BeProximate
Panelists
Ruth Delany, Program Manager at the Vera Institute of Justice
Dr. Erin Corbett, Co-Founder/CEO of Second Chance Educational Alliance, Inc.
Emmanuel Allen, Director of the Re-Engagement Center at Boston Public Schools
Dr. Kaia Stern, Director of the Prison Studies Project, Harvard University; Practitioner in Residence, Radcliffe Institute; Faculty, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Dr. Hilary Binda, Founding Director of Tufts University Prison Initiative of Tisch; Director of the Program in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; Senior Lecturer in Civic Studies
MODERATOR:
Diana Saintil, Ed.M., Founder of BeProximate
Panelists
Dr. Renee Boynton-Jarret, Associate Professor of Pediatrics & Director of the Vital Village Network at Boston Medical Center/Boston University
Judge Nancy Gertner, Senior Lecturer of Law at the Harvard Law School; Managing Director at the Harvard/MGH Center for Law, Brain & Behavior; Former Federal Judge at the U.S. District of Massachusetts
Dr. Robert Kinscherff, Professor, Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology at the William James College; Associate Managing Director (Juvenile and Young Adult Justice Project) at the Harvard/MGH Center for Law, Brain & Behavior
Dr. Craig Haney, Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of California (Santa Cruz); Researcher on the Stanford Prison Project
G.W., Student at the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department
MODERATOR:
Diana Saintil, Ed.M., Founder of BeProximate
