Keynote Series
2021 Annual Meeting: "Repairing Harm"
September 8-9
Violence Free Minnesota’s member programs working year round to end relationship abuse gather together each September for a two-day, state-wide meeting. Typically held in-person, the Annual Meeting provides an opportunity for advocates throughout the state to connect and learn from one another. This year, as our Annual Meeting goes virtual, our theme is "Repairing Harm." We invite you to join us as we host three keynote speakers on September 8-9, who will help guide us in our journey of repairing harm.
Nan Stoops
SEPTEMBER 8, 2021
In Conversation with Nan Stoops and Dr. Beth Richie
1:00PM CT to 2:00PM CT
LIVESTREAM LINK: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfHnrDqMGiF4s21qVVIdGDQ/featured
Nan Stoops has worked in the anti-violence movement as an advocate, trainer, and organizer for more than 40 years. Currently, she is the Strategic Advisor of the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence (WSCADV), where she served as the Executive Director for 17 years. WSCADV is a non-profit organization that works on behalf of nearly 70 community-based domestic violence advocacy agencies to create a world where all people can live and love freely without fear.
Before joining WSCADV in 1998, Nan was the Associate Director of the Faith Trust Institute, a national organization that mobilizes religious leaders and communities to address sexual and domestic violence. She was also a founding member of INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence, is a past board chair of the National Network to End Domestic Violence, and has served on numerous boards and advisory groups.
Dr. Beth Richie
SEPTEMBER 8, 2021
In Conversation with Nan Stoops and Dr. Beth Richie
1:00PM CT to 2:00PM CT
LIVESTREAM LINK: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfHnrDqMGiF4s21qVVIdGDQ/featured
Beth E. Richie is Head of the Department of Criminology, Law and Justice and Professor of African American Studies at The University of Illinois at Chicago. The emphasis of her scholarly and activist work has been on the ways that race/ethnicity and social position affect women's experience of violence and incarceration, focusing on the experiences of African American battered women and sexual assault survivors. Dr. Richie is the author of Arrested Justice: Black Women, Violence and America’s Prison Nation (NYU Press, 2012) which chronicles the evolution of the contemporary anti-violence movement during the time of mass incarceration in the United States and numerous articles concerning Black feminism and gender violence, race and criminal justice policy, and the social dynamics around issues of sexuality, prison abolition, and grassroots organizations in African American Communities. Her earlier book Compelled to Crime: the Gender Entrapment of Black Battered Women, is taught in many college courses and is cited in the popular press for its original arguments concerning race, gender and crime. Dr. Richie is a board member of The Institute on Domestic Violence in the African Community, The National Network for Women in Prison, A Call To Men and a founding member of INCITE!: Women of Color Against Violence. In 2013 she was awarded an Honorary Degree from the City University of New York Law School and in 2014 she was appointed as a Sr. Advisor to the NFL to work on their domestic violence and sexual assault prevention program.
Lavon Morris-Grant
SEPTEMBER 9, 2021
1:00PM CT to 2:00PM CT
LIVESTREAM LINK: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfHnrDqMGiF4s21qVVIdGDQ/featured
For 24 years, Lavon Morris-Grant has offered powerful keynote presentations and specialized trainings across the US and globally. Key areas of focus include violence against women, gun violence, Black women’s wellness, racial equity, and other social justice issues. She also works with non-profits as a consultant in developing marketing strategies that promote and enhance their missions and build their capacity. Lavon has written many articles and two critically praised books. Whom Shall I Fear: A Spiritual Journey of a Battered Woman describes the brutality she and her family endured at the hands of an abusive spouse. In Who Will Speak For My Children: Healing Through the Trauma, she shares about the powerful, debilitating and lingering effects that trauma leaves behind and how she, and her three children, personally survived, recovered and thrived through multiple, devastating traumas. In 2014, she founded MACOSH Healing Network, a social justice organization that provides holistic, culturally-specific resources through the Arts to domestic violence and sexual assault survivors in the African-American community.
Laura Chow Reeve
Graphic Recorder
Laura Chow Reeve is queer mixed Chinese femme writing and drawing in Richmond, VA. She is a co-organizer of and contributor to the Color out Cash Bail coloring book and political education resource. She is currently writing a novel, studying transformative justice practices, dreaming about abolitionist futures, and supporting movement organizations through graphic recording.