“Continuing Difficult Dialogues” Is the Theme
(Long Island, NY) The Social Justice/Diversity Summit – a forum to create awareness among Long Islanders of a broad range of social justice issues – will be held at Farmingdale State College on Saturday, April 23.
The event begins at 9 a.m. at the college’s Campus Center Ballroom. Admission is free and open to the public, but attendees must register in advance at https://www.farmingdale.edu/academics/centers-institutes/social-science-research-institute/registration.shtml. The summit is sponsored by Farmingdale’s Social Science Research Institute.
Roundtables led by community leaders and social justice advocates will address issues such as Environmental Justice, Health Disparities, Homelessness, Immigration, LGBTQ, Race, Housing Discrimination, Educational Disparities, Mental Health, Criminal Justice, Food Justice (and Food Security), and more.
A focal point of the event will be inspiring Long Islanders to lobby for equal access to vital resources regardless of race, ethnicity, class, age, religion, gender, disability, and sexual orientation.
Among the featured speakers are Bernice Sims, author of Detour Before Midnight, an account of the infamous Neshoba County, Mississippi, murders of civil rights workers James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman; Elaine Gross, president of ERASE Racism, a Long Island-based, nationally acclaimed organization known for its cutting-edge work on institutional and structural racism, especially in the areas of housing, education, and community development;and the Reverend Dr. Alfonso Wyatt, author, mentor, and founder of Strategic Destiny: Designing Futures Through Faith and Facts.
Marge Rogatz, a life-long champion for social equity, justice and the rights of the homeless, will be honored as Lifetime Community Advocate. She has been president and CEO of Community Advocates, Inc. for 30 years; was a co-founder and officer of both the Nassau-Suffolk Coalition for the Homeless and Sustainable Long Island; is a founding officer and current co-chair of ERASE Racism; a board member emerita of the Long Island Community Foundation; and a director of the State of New York Mortgage Agency (SONYMA).
For more information contact Dr. Miriam Deitsch at 631-420-2751.
Farmingdale’s Social Science Research Instituteencourages and implements multidisciplinary social science research to benefit the residents and organizations of Long Island, and, more broadly, the state, the nation, and the world. It promotes excellence guided by ethics in fostering scientific and social advances. The Institute aims to foster social justice and equality in the region through community involvement and individual empowerment and to inspire students to increase their community involvement and maintain a lifelong commitment to social equity and justice.
Farmingdale State College prepares students with the education, skills, and critical thinking needed to meet tomorrow’s challenges. As the largest of SUNY’s colleges of technology (with almost 8,700 students), FSC equips students with the resources and knowledge sought by today’s emerging industries. Offering bachelor and associate degrees, FSC will soon offer its first graduate program. At FSC, students learn in small, personalized classes and have abundant opportunities for applied learning—internships, clinical training, and guided research—that provide practical instruction and personal growth. Located an hour east of Manhattan, the campus offers residential halls, a lush 380-acre campus undergoing major renovation, and a highly successful NCAA Division III athletics program with modern facilities to make FSC one of the fastest-growing colleges in the region. In addition, in 2015, 2014 and 2013, FSC was listed one of the best colleges in the North and in 2013 FSC was the only SUNY school (and the only LI school) listed in the LEAST debt category in the section titled Student Debt Load at Graduation for regional colleges in the north. In 2015 UniversityPrimeTime.com again listed FSC the fifth safest college in the nation. Like us on Facebook www.facebook.com/farmingdale.
