Events
Who’s Afraid of DEI?: Challenging the Nativist, Divisive, and Colonial Attacks on DEI and Global-Majority Solidarity Movements
Date: June 15th
Time: 12:00 EST
Speakers: GCNYC Lecturer Dr. Tammy Hodo and Community Organizer Debbie Wei
It can be argued that over the last decade, just as social justice movements and diversity, equity, and inclusion programs have made significant headways in integrating liberatory policies and practices into modern society, a simultaneous process focused on “internationalizing the right” has been underway. This can be noted in significant events such as the Leave Campaign in the UK that led to the passing of Brexit in 2016, to the Hungarian government’s withdrawal of accreditation of university gender studies programs in 2018, the US Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade in 2021, the January 8, 2023 invasion of the Brazilian Congress, and the recent signing of anti-DEI legislation by Florida’s governor.
Ahead of the Juneteenth holiday, we invite you to join us for a conversation aimed at contextualizing the observed strategic, colonial, and divisive attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in the United States and social justice organizing globally. With a focus on harnessing the potential of intersectional and cross-border understanding of these issues and corresponding movements, we will offer a global take on why the liberatory knowledge of global majorities is under attack. We will also explore some solutions that are currently being implemented by practitioners and encourage attendees to reclaim their power to join this critical fight for diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Please register in advance: REGISTRATION LINK
Debbie Wei
Activist, Community Organizer, and Educator
Debbie Wei is a veteran activist and community organizer, an educator with decades of experience as a teacher and curriculum specialist.
As an educator Ms. Wei has taught English language learners was the founding principal and CEO of Folk Arts-Cultural Treasures Charter School (FACTS) in Philadelphia, provides students in grades K-8 with an exemplary education that utilizes traditional arts and cultures found within their own and neighboring communities. Ms. Wei has also served as the principal of the Elementary School for the American Embassy School in New Delhi, India and as elementary school director at Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences in Santa Monica, California.
A dedicated activist and community organizer, Debbie is a founding member of Asian Americans United, which organizes low-income and working Asians in Philadelphia. Part of her work with Asian Americans United included the production of Look Forward and Carry on the Past: Stories from Philadelphia’s Chinatown, a documentary film that illustrates the strength and complexity of Philadelphia’s only remaining community of color in the city’s center. Most recently, as featured on NPR, the Philadelphia
Inquirer, and the Washington Post, Debbie’s cross-racial community organizing work challenging the proposal build a stadium in ChinaTown, Philadelphia garnered national attention and support from all communities in the city.
Ms. Wei completed her bachelor’s degree in English from Oberlin College, holds a master’s in education from Temple University, and completed a Pennsylvania Principal Certificate from Holy Family University.
Tammy Hodo, Lecturer in DEI Leadership at GCNYC. Dr. Hodo is the founder and President of All Things Diverse LLC, which provides consulting services to businesses, academic institutions, non-profit organizations, and government entities who value diversity and want to develop a high performing inclusive workforce.
** EVENT RESCHEDULED***
Learning to Achieve Sustainability in Large Organizations: GCNYC’s Center for Social Impact and Sustainability presents: A Conversation with Stanley Litow and Marcela Manubens
Date: Thursday, June 22, 2023
Time: 12pm ET
How can large organizations learn to deliver on their commitments to sustainability?
This question will motivate the conversation between Stanley Litow and Marcela Manubens, pioneers and leaders of large public and private organizations, whom the Center is privileged to host. Each learned through decades of illustrious experience how to face the opportunities and challenges for deep learning and transformation to drive today’s leading organizations towards sustainable management.
You are invited to join the session live to pose questions that GCNYC’s Gastón de los Reyes will present to the panelists. [The session will be recorded.]
Stanley Litow is a Professor and Innovator in Residence at Duke University, and is also an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University. He is President Emeritus of the IBM Foundation and Vice President Emeritus of IBM’s Global Corporate Citizenship program, leading IBM’s renowned global corporate social responsibility program.
Stan is former Deputy Chancellor of Schools for the City of New York, where he created many innovative school-reform efforts, and former Executive Director of the New York City Urban Corps, operated out of the Mayor’s Office of the City of New York. He managed and led three National Education Summits and created the P TECH program a new model for high school and college that has been replicated across the US and globally. Stan also served as a member of the President’s Welfare to Work Commission and the President’s Urban Affairs Council as well as several Gubernatorial Commissions and helped create the Corporate Service Corps. Stan is the author of the 2018 book, The Challenge for Business and Society: From Risk to Reward (Wiley & Sons), and serves as a Trustee of the State University of New York as Chair of SUNY’s Academic Affairs Committee.
Marcela Manubens is a global senior business executive with over 25 years of experience developing and leading sustainable business with an integrated triple bottom line approach. A world class leader in sustainability, human rights, and social impact, she will be teaching GCNYC’s innovative new course, The Chief Sustainability Officer.
Starting in 2013, Marcela led the creation of Unilever’s social sustainability strategy and global goals, resulting in the expansion of the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan with the Enhancing Livelihoods ambition and its three pillars: fairness in the workplace, opportunities for women, and inclusive business models. She created Unilever’s human rights policy framework and the Responsible Sourcing Policy and promoted transparency by publishing Unilever’s first Human Rights report. In the early 1990s, Marcela led the vision, strategy and implementation of one of the first Global Human Rights and Corporate Responsibility programs in the fashion industry at PVH Corp. Marcela serves as an independent corporate board member and on Sierra Global Management’s Responsible Investment and Business Advisory Group. She is on the Advisory Board of the Center for Business and Human Rights at the Geneva School of Economics and Management. Previously she taught business and human rights at Columbia University and macroeconomics at Universidad de Belgrano, Argentina, and was lecturer on business and human rights at the University of Bergen.
