2022 Racial Justice Breakfast

October 11th, 2022

7:30 – 9:30 am

Music Hall

cta

Information from our speaker for those seeking CLE credit

2022 RACIAL JUSTICE AWARDS

YWCA Greater Cincinnati is proud to present the YWCA Racial Justice Awards annually to two community leaders who have dedicated their lives to racial justice and equity. We are humbled to honor these two local heroes for their service to our community.

Ozie Davis,III

Ozie Davis, III is a lifelong Avondale resident. Before joining Congressman Steve Driehaus’ office as his Community Liaison, Davis spent five years in the field of Community Development as a Program Officer at the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) where he worked on Housing, Safety, Education, Workforce Development, Commercial Development, Community Organizing, and other community based initiatives.

Davis is an active member of the Avondale Community Council, where he co-founded the Avondale Youth Council and Residents United for a Better Avondale (RUFABA). He served as board member on Cincinnati’s Citizens Complaint Authority, and as a member of Parents for Public Schools of Greater Cincinnati. Davis also founded and is Board Chair of the Queen City Youth Development Program, a program for 13-18yr old inner city student athletes and is Chair of the Cincinnati Recreation Foundation.

Watch Ozie’s video!

Claire Mengel

Claire Mengel is a high school graduate and activist. Passionate about female empowerment, queer issues, and voter registration, they have been involved with Girl Power Politics, the Hamilton County Commission on Women and Girls, and the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection’s Reconciling in Christ Team.

Claire recently addressed the Congressional Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties on “ongoing efforts to prohibit discussion in K-12 classrooms about American history, race, and LGBTQ+ issues.” Claire and other students organized a student walkout and a replacement event for Diversity Day at Turpin High School after the event had been abruptly cancelled by the Forest Hills School District School Board, many of whom had campaigned and protested on an anti-critical race theory platform. For several years, Turpin’s Diversity Day raised awareness of cultural and racial issues for junior and senior students. More than 300 Turpin High School students participated in the walkout to protest the cancelation of Diversity Day.

Watch Claire’s video!

Structural Racism & Health Inequities

2022 Keynote Speaker Dorothy Roberts is an internationally recognized scholar, public intellectual, and social justice advocate. She studies the interplay of gender, race, and class in legal issues and has been a leader in transforming public thinking and policy. Professor of Africana Studies, Law & Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, Dorothy directs the Penn Program on Race, Science, and Society.

She has authored and co-edited ten books, including the award-winning Killing the Black Body; Shattered Bonds; and Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-Create Race in the Twenty-First Century. She has also written more than 100 articles and book chapters, including “Race” in the 1619 Project. She received the 2015 Solomon Carter Fuller Award from the American Psychiatric Association for “providing significant benefit for the quality of life for Black people.”