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Seeking grassroots input on justice
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Contact:
Debbie Bell, 604.291.5145, debbie_bell@sfu.ca
Shanthi Besso, 604.291.5201, sbesso@sfu.ca
Carol Thorbes, Media & PR; 604.291.3035, cthorbes@sfu.ca
Debbie Bell, 604.291.5145, debbie_bell@sfu.ca
Shanthi Besso, 604.291.5201, sbesso@sfu.ca
Carol Thorbes, Media & PR; 604.291.3035, cthorbes@sfu.ca
October 24, 2003
Organizers of a symposium at Simon Fraser University hope that efforts to reach beyond the academic setting will encourage typically excluded groups of people to participate in the series. SFU’s community outreach program in continuing studies launched the Social Justice series last January. It built lectures and follow-up discussions around the topic of poverty.
This second installment, Seeking Justice: Human rights in our communities, will use the same vehicles to examine another piece of the social justice pie. But, rather than using high profile academics, professionals and advocates to lead grassroots discussions after the lectures, this series will train 15 to 20 community leaders to generate discussion. "We didn’t have as many traditionally-hard-to-reach members of the community taking part in the follow up discussions as we would have liked," says Debbie Bell. She is the director of SFU’s community outreach education program.
Bell and her program assistant David Kolber hope that a leadership training session for community leaders, who deal daily with disadvantaged groups, will broaden their participation. "Trained community leaders can choose settings and use language that encourage people to participate in the discussions. The setting could be a women’s shelter, a half way house, a church," says Bell.
Community or circle leaders interested in leading discussions based on the upcoming symposium will attend an orientation session on Saturday, November 15. The symposium, featuring lectures on five topics linked to human rights, takes place Friday, November 7, 7:00-9:30 p.m and Saturday, November 8, 9:00 a.m.-5:30 p.m. at SFU’s Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue.
Gwen Brodsky, a research associate with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, is among the many speakers on human rights topics. She will talk about a growing concern that Canada’s social net is being shredded, and that its dissolution is a violation of basic human rights.
—30—
Website:
for more information about the symposium.
www.sfu.ca/cstudies/community/
This second installment, Seeking Justice: Human rights in our communities, will use the same vehicles to examine another piece of the social justice pie. But, rather than using high profile academics, professionals and advocates to lead grassroots discussions after the lectures, this series will train 15 to 20 community leaders to generate discussion. "We didn’t have as many traditionally-hard-to-reach members of the community taking part in the follow up discussions as we would have liked," says Debbie Bell. She is the director of SFU’s community outreach education program.
Bell and her program assistant David Kolber hope that a leadership training session for community leaders, who deal daily with disadvantaged groups, will broaden their participation. "Trained community leaders can choose settings and use language that encourage people to participate in the discussions. The setting could be a women’s shelter, a half way house, a church," says Bell.
Community or circle leaders interested in leading discussions based on the upcoming symposium will attend an orientation session on Saturday, November 15. The symposium, featuring lectures on five topics linked to human rights, takes place Friday, November 7, 7:00-9:30 p.m and Saturday, November 8, 9:00 a.m.-5:30 p.m. at SFU’s Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue.
Gwen Brodsky, a research associate with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, is among the many speakers on human rights topics. She will talk about a growing concern that Canada’s social net is being shredded, and that its dissolution is a violation of basic human rights.
—30—
Website:
for more information about the symposium.
www.sfu.ca/cstudies/community/