Alejandro Jimenez is a formerly-undocumented immigrant, poet, writer, and educator from Colima, Mexico, living in New Mexico. He is the 2021 Mexican National Poetry Slam Champion, he is a two-time National Poetry Slam Semi-Finalist (US), multiple time TEDx Speaker/Performer, and regional Emmy-nominated poet. He was featured in TIME Magazine as one of 80 Mexican artists shaping contemporary Mexican culture. His work centers and touches on cultural identity, immigrant narratives, masculinity, memory, and the intersections of them all.

Colorado based artist and facilitator, Assétou Xango (AH-say-too SHAWN-go), is known as the Dark Goddess Poet. Xango’s work dismantles the dangerous, colonial binaries that restrict our full existence. As a black, pansexual, polyamorous, genderqueer womxn, Xango exists as the in-between, the darkness that serves as the entry to our deeper selves. Xango is the Emeritus Poet Laureate of Aurora, Colorado (2017-2021) and founder of Dark Goddess Collective. In all their work, Xango is dedicated to the visibility and rights of womxn and gender non-conforming people of color, through storytelling to dismantle binaries and divisions.

Put On Your Boots, We Have Work To Do: Taking Intersectional Action for People and Planet

In their keynote, intersectional environmentalist and drag queen Pattie Gonia (she/they) shares their unlikely journey to becoming Pattie, defines intersectional environmentalism and helps you create your personalized action compass to advocate for people and the planet. Pattie also helps us discover the ways we can be guided by nature in order to move through the work of advocacy and activism. This keynote is a lively, queer, and interactive opportunity to learn and yes, there will be a drag performance or two.

Jason Vitello is the Past President of the Colorado Public Health Association, Equity and Community Development Manager at the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition, a practitioner at the Public Health Institute at Denver Health, and an Adjunct Professor at the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Denver. His ultimate interest is in collective liberation and the betterment of the human condition through fierce compassion, unity across struggles, the peaceful obliteration of structural inequalities, and comprehensive paradigm transformation.

Dr. Adriana Alvarez is an Assistant Professor in the Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Education program at the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Colorado Denver. Adriana was a bilingual teacher in the border community of El Paso, Texas for 11 years where her work with students and families inspired her to pursue a doctorate and advance educational equity. She has a Ph.D. in Educational Equity and Cultural Diversity from the University of Colorado Boulder. She is also a Faculty Fellow at the Renée Crown Wellness Institute at the University of Colorado Boulder where she was worked in partnership with an elementary school in the Roaring Fork School District.

Join us for this Equity Speaker Series event organized in collaboration with VOICES. The evening starts with a sneak preview of the upcoming performance of Nuestras VOCES, celebrating the voices, stories, and heritages of the Spanish-speaking community. In the panel discussion, we speak with the creative team and cast on stage about a process called devised theater and the intimate and powerful journey this process embarks on. Detrás de Nuestras VOCES explores each individual’s unique footprint in the valley as an immigrant, an artist, and a member striving to create a vibrant and diverse community.

This conversation will begin by helping to define “disability” and how different disabilities may impact an individual’s employment opportunities. This will be followed by a panel discussion representing folks living with disabilities, businesses, government agencies, and service providers. The panel will speak about the challenges and opportunities they have faced regarding accessing or providing employment. Businesses and community members will leave this session with a better understanding of the opportunities and challenges that individuals living with disabilities face when seeking employment, as well as available resources.

Facilitating Racial Equity Work Through a Cultural Humility Lens

This engagement discussed how to facilitate race equity work and dialogue with a cultural humility lens. It challenged the historical teachings of cultural competence and offered cultural humility as a best practice against the barriers that prevent us from forming authentic connections, practicing holistic wellness, and shifting the way power is seen and used. We highlighted that there is no “expert” or ending point in race equity and how to have an authentic dialogue to work toward equity.

The Holly | The Holly Book

This feature-length documentary won the Audience Award at its premiere at the 2022 Telluride Mountain film festival. Julian Rubinstein, author and filmmaker of The Holly and Terrance Roberts, Activist and the film’s main subject discussed the history and reasons why this film was created.