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6TH ANNUAL MULTICULTURAL ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CONFERENCE, IN PARTNERSHIP WITH E3 AND SPONSORED BY SEATTLE PUBLIC UTILITIES

May 18, 2019 @ 2:00 am - 9:00 am

Free – $40
Attendees of the 5th annual MCEE conference talking at a table.

We are excited to announce that the 6th Annual Multicultural Environmental Education Conference in Seattle is now full! Thank you to all who have registered for your support of diverse, equitable, and justice-driven environmental education!

The IslandWood Multicultural Environmental Education Conference, in partnership with E3 and sponsored by Seattle Public Utilities, confronts the social justice issues within environmental justice, and examine environmental education through a multicultural lens.

Our presenters are active and successful leaders in education and community organizing, who highlight sustainability, earth stewardship, outdoor access, and multicultural education in a diversity of ways from authentically diverse perspectives. There will be opportunities to exchange knowledge, perspectives, and tangible tools for advancing inclusivity in the field. Attendees will learn skills needed to implement innovative solutions that improve the practice of environmental education for their communities.

Support the Conference!

 

If you are unable to attend the Conference, but would still like to support, please consider making a donation so that we can ensure that the Conference remains accessible for all. Thank you!

Accessibility

 

We are committed to ensuring that the MCEE Conference is an accessible event for all participants. Below, please find information on the accessibility of our event space, transportation, restrooms, food, scent, and more. Please do not hesitate to reach out to our team with any questions, concerns, or needs prior to the Conference or during the event itself. You can reach us via email at [email protected] or by messaging us on any of IslandWood’s social media channels.

 

Physical Accessibility: The Hillman City Collaboratory is on street level with two main entrances, both of which are accessible. All the rooms that will be utilized for the Conference have doors that are wide enough for wheelchair access. There are two stages that currently are not accessible. The Collaboratory has two gender-inclusive restrooms, one of which is wheelchair accessible.

 

Transportation: The Hillman City Collaboratory is located on the 7 and 9 bus lines. There is no parking lot attached to the space, but there is free residential street parking in the surrounding neighborhood.

 

Food: The Conference will be catered by local Vietnamese restaurants, who will provide vegan, gluten-free, and vegetarian options. Hot beverages and snacks will be provided throughout the day. BYO travel mugs. If you are observing Ramadan and would like to take food home with you to break your fast later in the evening, please feel free to bring a to-go container.

 

Scent: The Collaboratory is not officially a scent-free space. However, we ask that all Conference attendees not use scented products the day of the event to ensure that the Conference is as scent-free as possible.

 

Teacher Clock Hours: We have applied for Teacher Clock Hours and are waiting on confirmation of approval. We will announce on this page and on our Facebook group when we know more. Please keep checking back!

Meet our Speakers!

Angela Sheffey-Bogan is the Principal of Sartori Elementary School in Renton. She is a veteran educator who began her career as a second- and third-grade teacher in Seattle and has also taught in Houston, Texas. Angela has also worked as a Literacy Coach, Language Arts Skills Specialist, and Summer School Site Coordinator. In 2008 Angela began her administrative internship at Dearborn Park Elementary, in Seattle, and became principal of that school in 2010. While at Dearborn Park, Angela launched the dual language international program, along with community partnership programs that offer assistance to students in need.

Angela holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Western Washington University; Masters in Teaching, Elementary Education from Heritage University; and Principal and Program Administrator Certification from the University of Washington, Danforth Educational Leadership Program. She is recognized as a visionary and creative leader who is passionate about equitable access, building global citizens, and fostering parent engagement.

Bio

Philip H. Red Eagle is a born and raised Northwest photographer, writer, poet, artist, metal smith and carver. He is the author of Red Earth: A Vietnam Warrior’s Journey; styled in mythical realism and now in 2nd Edition (saltpublishing.com). He is also the originator and a cofounder of The Raven Chronicles: A Journal of Art, Literature & The Spoken Word, currently based in Seattle. The Raven is now 26 years old. Philip is an “occasional poet” who, these days, spends most of his time working with Tribal Journeys, a cultural movement using the canoe as a vessel for cultural renewal. His ancestry is from the Dakota, Sioux, S’Klallam and Steilacom tribes and is from Tacoma, Washington.  

 

Presentation

Organizing Community: Tribal Journeys

Philip H Red Eagle will be offering insight into how the Tribal Journeys canoe movement was started and organized, which has been going on for 25 years and now involves over 10,000 people and over 100 canoe families from dozens of tribes around the world. The presentation will include history of the journey, a slideshow of images, and discussing the “rules of the canoe” as an education tool. Attendees should expect to gain insight and inspiration from a monumental example of community organizing and cultural revival. 

Bio

Zsofia is certifiably inspiring. She is a certified horticulturalist, restoration horticulturalist, arborist, low impact contractor, and site manager. She is a farmer and mother of a bunch of kids. She moved to the United States over 30 years ago as a refuge from Hungary and has been helping make this country a better place ever since. She is the Co-Director and Co-Founder of Farmer Frog, an internationally reaching non-profit that targets the growing of food and education on multiple fronts.  

 

Presentation

Becoming American: The Journey of a Refugee and Cultivating a Meaningful Non-Profit

Zsofia will be sharing her personal journey becoming an American and the many things that this means. This will be a passionate discussion into what it means to be American compared to what it means to be European. Zsofia will highlight how her story resulted in the cultivation of Farmer Frog, a multi-county wide and internationally reaching non-profit that focusses on growing food and education. Attendees should expect to gain insight into a new perspective and come away with understanding a prime example for how to cultivate a meaningful non-profit that reflects the needs and assets of diversely thriving communities.

Bio

Narima Amin is a researcher and social business innovator who has pursued best practice, scalable and sustainable solutions to solve world hunger and injustice for more than 20 years. In 1985, at age 17, Narima began her lifetime commitment to empower the poorest of the poor after her escape from poverty in Guyana to a new life in Canada. In 1992, she completed her BA in Economics and International Development Studies at the University of Toronto. Ms Amin is a 2017 graduate of Leadership Eastside’s two-year Leadership Enrichment Program. She also completed Accelerating Social Transformation (AST) certification course from the University of WashingtonMs. Amin completed a Growing Power Commercial Urban Agriculture training in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 2014. She has since partnered with Farmer Frog, another global non-profit, to build a network of permaculture, food system-based incubators, and sustainable economy development that target at-risk children/youth in marginalized communities. On top of everything, Ms Amin is a member of the Muslim Assocation of Puget Sound, and founder and CEO of RISE-UP from Poverty, as well as the founder and CEO of Global Social Business Partners, located in Bellevue Washington. In 2015, GSBP began the incubation of The Bellevue Urban Garden (tBUG), under the leadership of social entrepreneur, farmer, and educator Maybin Chisebuka. She is also a community mental health advocate for NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness), and currently serves on NAMI Eastside’s public policy committee, in addition to facilitating Bellevue’s monthly NAMI Family Support group. 

 

Presentation

Faith in Food, Farm, Forest Solutions

Through a personal slideshow presentation, Narima Amin will be discussing the holistic approach to protecting the environment and climate-smart solutions to building sustainable and just societies. Audience members will have a chance to learn about Islam as a faith that promotes food, social, and environmental justice. Audience members will be guided to actions they can take from their homes and larger community to achieve the 17 UN Sustainable Goals including zero hunger, no poverty, good health and wellbeing.  

Bios

Kaiwen 李愷文 (they, them, theirs) first started working in outdoor and environmental education in 2006 and has since expanded their repertoire to include field ecology, urban agriculture, habitat restoration, environmental justice, and youth work. Lee identifies as queer and non-binary and is committed to advancing equity and building power in communities of color through institutional and systemic change.

 

Presentation (with Joan Hong)

Building Resiliency as POC in the Workplace

Working in the environmental field often means being inundated by dominant culture in historically (and possibly presently) white-led organizations. Share and explore different ways in which to build resilience in your workplace as people of color. Participants can expect to engage in grounding visualization, small group, and creative exploration activities.

Bio

Joan (“Joanne”, she/her) is a first generation Korean-American who grew up in Washington and loves exploring the Northwest hiking, camping, backpacking and eating. She is a founding member of Outdoor Asian and an organizer for Environmental Professionals of Color. She strives to empower communities of color by driving diversity, equity and inclusion both outdoors and in the workplace. 

 

Presentation (with Kaiwen Lee)

Building Resiliency as POC in the Workplace

Working in the environmental field often means being inundated by dominant culture in historically (and possibly presently) white-led organizations. Share and explore different ways in which to build resilience in your workplace as people of color. Participants can expect to engage in grounding visualization, small group, and creative exploration activities.

Bio

Seattle native, Nyema Clark is founder and Director of Nurturing Roots Farm located on Beacon Hill, a program committed to addressing food justice issues in the community. She is also an organizing keyholder of the Black Power Epicenter Collective. As a black small business owner and founder of Avenue South, she produces handmade natural culinary and body products. Nyema is committed to enriching underserved communities, her strength and overall goal is founded in youth empowerment and community economic sustainability.  

 

Presentation

Getting Spicy with Nyema Clark

What do government subsidies and jalapeños have in common? Come find out with an interactive workshop with Nyema Clark. She’ll be getting into politics, media, marketing, and growing food to liberate yourself. This workshop will end with a fun activity involving spices that you can grow yourself. Audience members will learn how system oppression affects our food security and some fun and easy things we can do about it. Come liberate your taste buds and your inner food justice warrior.

Bio

Originally from Cascais, Portugal, Mónica grew up in a multicultural home where she began to develop her deep appreciation for multiple ways of knowing and being. During her second year of her Masters of Education program, Mónica’s queer identity led her desire to research and write a culminating Master’s paper on queer pedagogy and its implications on environmental education. As a former classroom teacher and current garden-based educator, Mónica is always looking for structured and unstructured ways to challenge normativity, to empower youth and develop her ability to be a culturally sustaining educator. 

 

Presentation

Queering Environmental Education: What can a queer pedagogical approach to environmental education look like?

Environmental education is inherently white, masculine, heteronormative, Eurocentric and steeped in western science; therefore, it is critical that we make space for challenging the oppressive impacts of such a narrow and privileged perspective. A queer pedagogical lens offers one way of expanding our possibilities of being, of resisting oppressive narratives that find their roots in processes of naturalization, such as racism, homophobia and sexism. This session will include a presentation, time for questions and a workshop portion where we will consider how you might queer up one of your own lessons, habits of mind or routines. The audience will walk away with an understanding of queer pedagogy and its relevance to environmental education as well as one concrete way to apply it in their workplace. 

Bio

Tiffany Adams is an artist, wildlife photographer, educator, and naturalist with a niche for ornithology. Born and raised in New York City, Tiffany moved out to Seattle to complete a master’s degree in Urban Environmental Education. Tiffany also has a degree in early childhood education. Tiffany bring a unique sense of humor and realism to all her endeavors, which makes learning fun and accessible to a diversity of audiences. She can turn the city into a wild splendor to behold. 

 

Presentation

Bird Your Hood

Tiffany will be discussing the opportunity that ornithology brings to the city landscape for ecological discovery. Learn how Tiffany got into birding deep in New York city. Cities become alive with nature as Tiffany reveals the diversity and natural history of several bird species with a bit of humor and an artistic eye. Be prepared to go outside for a mini bird walk and talk. Audience members should expect to learn how birding can connect city people to their urban environment, and something new about the birds we take for granted in our city skyways. Whether you’re a classroom teacher or simply someone who is trying to go for more walks, this workshop will reveal your inner birder. 

Schedule

Program

Special thank you to our partner, E3 Washington, and to our sponsor, Seattle Public Utilities.

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