COF Fall Conference for Community Foundations

Join your Community Foundation colleagues to dig deep on issues from the power of design thinking to preparing for international grantmaking. As always, Media Impact Funders and the Council will present our annual Film + Video Festival with screenings, in-room viewing options and special events including The Interrupters lunch and conversation and a conversation about Freedom Riders with acclaimed filmmaker Stanley Nelson.

Location: Oasis, Level 2

Register here or learn more about the conference.

Tuesday, Sept 11 @ 11:30 a.m.–1 p.m.  
The Interrupters a Henry Hampton Award-winning film by Steve James, Alex Kotlowitz, and Zak Piper

Join us for lunch and a thought-provoking and idea-igniting dialogue around violence in our communities. With the powerful award-winning film, The Interrupters, as a backdrop, engage with fellow funders and other key leaders in meaningful conversations where we identify strategies and solutions to stem this violence. The Interrupters is the powerful story of Ameena, Eddie, and Cobe, three antiviolence crusaders from CeaseFire Chicago who use bravado, humility, and humor to protect their communities and “interrupt” the cycle of violence they once perpetuated. Shot over the course of a year, the film captures their profoundly important work and reveals their inspired journeys from criminals to courageous allies for peace. From acclaimed producer-director Steve James (Hoop Dreams) and best-selling author Alex Kotlowitz, The Interrupters has “put a face to a raging epidemic and an unforgivable American tragedy,” according to the New York Times. Saving young people from self-destruction and reclaiming our communities from the grip of violence is everyone’s business. The Interrupters is the catalyst for this important conversation. This event is cosponsored by the Council on Foundations.

Presenters will include Leon Andrews, senior fellow, Institute for Youth, Education & Families, National League of Cities.

A Conversation About Freedom Riders a film by Stanley Nelson

This film is the powerful, harrowing, and ultimately inspirational story of six months in 1961 that changed America forever. From May until November 1961, more than 400 black and white Americans risked their lives—and many endured savage beatings and imprisonment—for simply traveling together on buses and trains as they journeyed through the Deep South. Deliberately violating Jim Crow laws, the Freedom Riders met with bitter racism and mob violence along the way, sorely testing their belief in nonviolent activism.

After viewing clips from the film, Saket Soni, Executive Director of the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice, will lead a lively discussion about the continuing relevance of the Freedom Riders in two of today’s civil rights struggles: the fight for good jobs and dignified immigration laws.  

Featuring:
•    Alfred Marshall, of Stand With Dignity and a resident of the B.W. Cooper housing development
•    Delmy Palencia, of the Congress of Day Laborers, has been on the forefront of post-Arizona efforts to win basic civil rights for immigrant communities in the South

Watch the trailer.