The Madison Street Boutique will be open during this time for your perusal.

Initial welcome to conference by YWCA CEO, Renita Robinson.

The implications related to how implicit bias impacts the everyday lives of community members shed light on Green Bay’s recent declaration of racism as a public health crisis. Participants in this workshop will be presented with a functional definition of implicit bias and information demonstrating how it affects our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner without an individual’s awareness or intentional control.

Madison Street Boutique will be open during this time.

Workshop participants will learn strategies to eliminate the wiggle room for implicit bias to creep into their work with clients or the public. Transformational exercises will help identify when implicit bias is at play: how to combat it and how to decrease the overall amount of implicit bias.

Madison Street Boutique will be open during this time.

According to the Annual Wisconsin Birth and Infant Death Report: “The death rate for infants born to black mothers is the highest in the nation and getting worse.” Participants in this workshop will gain perspective on how implicit bias is influencing an upward trend in infant deaths for American Indian, black and other Asian or Pacific Islander mothers indicating growing racial and ethnic disparities.

Facilitated community discussion held during lunch period.

Once you know Asian stereotypes, you can avoid perpetuating them, stop prejudicial behaviors and bias statements and ultimately stop implicit bias.

Madison Street Boutique open for business during this time.

Andrea Huggenvik | Social Justice Specialist, YWCA Green Bay
DJ Daniels | Talent Acquisition & Global Mobility, Schreiber Foods
Jenni Oliver | Director, The Privilege Institute
Renita Robinson, MEd, MS, ABD | CEO, YWCA Greater Green

This facilitated panel discussion will include individuals from several industries sharing experiences and practical strategies for eliminating bias in the hiring process.

Participants in this workshop will be exposed to effective tools for dismantling bias in communication from the wisdom, and patience of a first nations’ midwife (whose commitment to change at the personal and professional level has been forged through decades of reflection and engagement).

This introspective workshop is a demonstration of the principle “to whom much is given, much is required.” It details the journey of an MD, PhD through educational attainment, school board presidency and personal experiences learning the costs, benefits, privileges and responsibilities associated with being white, educated and female in a big-small conservative community.

Participants in this workshop will be presented with information on how implicit bias shows up in the form of discriminatory practices that hurt, instead of help, seekers of supportive services. Real stories from members of our community will be shared and discussed.

Participants in this workshop will learn about how implicit bias creates a barrier to receiving services for victims of sexual violence and human trafficking. Workshop content will explore the role of human trafficking in relation to oppression and what aspects contribute to vulnerabilities and how to empower resilience across different communities. More specifically, participants will learn about sex trafficking misconceptions and trauma informed recommended practices to better interact with survivors of trauma.

Huelmely De Jesus received her Bachelor of Arts degree from University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee where she studied the relationships between the fields of Urban Studies and Political Science with a concentration in public policy and urban planning. Her experience derives from working with different organizations that serve survivors of abuse, individuals in the youth justice system, advocating for sexual assault and human trafficking survivors throughout the state. She is passionate about the power of education, creating spaces, and promoting introspective learning.

Mr. Derius “DJ” Daniels began his career in human resources in 2004 and has experience working in the corporate and agency settings as well as manufacturing operations. Before relocating to Green Bay and working for Schreiber in 2010, DJ lived in Atlanta, Georgia and worked for Coca-Cola and AirTran Airways, respectively. While at Coca-Cola, he worked on the launch of the University Talent Pipeline program (UTP). One of his primary initiatives was the recruitment of students from HBCU’s and other colleges and universities throughout the east coast. From 2013-2018, DJ lived and worked in Southern California for Schreiber Foods at one its West Coast facilities. DJ has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Alabama in Business Management (Tuscaloosa, AL), and master’s degrees in human resources management and Healthcare Management, both from Troy University in Troy, Alabama.

Andrea has a BA Psychology/Political Science and an MS Sustainable Systems. Andrea Huggenvik is the Executive Director at YWCA Wausau, and a certified trainer of the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI). She has a background in higher education student affairs and workforce development. She loves presenting and training about implicit bias and other kinds of biased behavior and uses her training in neuroscience to add a new dimension to the topic.

LeKecia is passionate about serving families in the community as she was raised by a single mother of two small children and can identify with the hardships many families face. The rise of infant mortality rates, impoverished living conditions, and economically disadvantages within Milwaukee County are driving forces behind the lifelong vision of Encompass Solutions. Having received formal education from Rufus King High School for the College Bound (Milwaukee, WI) and Central State University (Wilberforce, OH) her education and experiences have exposed her to the overwhelming increase in maternal and infant disparity amongst families of color in Milwaukee County, WI.

Mai’s role as the Diversity Director is to be liaison for multi-ethnic college students with faculty, staff and senior administration on retention efforts, academic support services, and leadership opportunities. Mai is an actively engaged community member, serving on community boards and volunteering withing the Northeast and Fox Cities regions. She received a master’s degree in Education from the University of Wisconsin-Ls Crosse and a bachelor’s degree in Mass Communication and English from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

Jenni Oliver has over seventeen years of results driven leadership and project management skills. Recognized by Kenexa as a “culture leader,” Jenni has managed highly engaged, diverse teams within a Fortune 50 Company and also in Higher Education. Jenni has a passion and success for advancing diversity and inclusion strategies, equitable policy development, and creating safe spaces for crucial conversations. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Human Resources (Concordia University Wisconsin) and an Associate degree in Leadership Development (NWTC). Jenni also studied “Leadership & Service Excellence” at the Disney Institute, Disney World and Irish Culture, Communications & Humanities at Waterford Institute of Technology, Waterford, Ireland.

Renita is the Chief Executive Officer of the YWCA Greater Green Bay. Prior to this post, Renita spent over 30 years serving women and children. Formerly licensed as a graduate social worker (LGSW), and 6 th-12th grade English and social studies teacher, Renita has developed effective programs and influenced policy related to services for youth and their families. She has been an advocate, educator, and supporter of the homeless, victims of sexual and domestic violence and children across the life, gender, and race span.

For over 20 years, Renita has developed curriculum, designed conferences and programs, conducted workshops, and addressed a wide range of audiences as the owner of Teach ‘Em To Fish, LLC, a non-profit consulting business dedicated to curriculum development and training on a variety of social justice issues. Renita’s workshops range from tools creating culturally responsive workspaces to the impact of witnessing violence on children. Though honored as Teacher of the Year by the Anti-Defamation League in 1997, her favorite accomplishment is raising two compassionate sons.

Beverly has lived on the Oneida Nation Reservation in Wisconsin since 1991. Beverly apprenticed as a Traditional Lay Midwife with Alice Skenandore. Her work has shifted to Community Midwifery, as they continue to work to create safe space for individuals, groups and community to struggle through difficult challenges on their journey of healing. As one of the women that met around the original kitchen table that became Wise Women Gathering Place, Beverly became a founding member of the organization.

Alice became a strong community activist, in Laughlin, Nevada, where she lived with her family for seven years prior to moving back to her native state of Wisconsin, helping to push the county forward in the development of schools and family centered events and infrastructure. Alice also served her communities as a Traditional Midwife for more than 27 years, attending over 740 home births, following the basic tenet that, all women are innately midwives and every woman deserves a midwife. She believes that midwifery has always been a ‘cradle to grave’ role for the wise women of all communities. She has helped many other women, through the apprenticeship model, to become practicing midwives themselves.

Brenda has been on the Green Bay School Board since 2004, serving as president from 2012-2020. She was a pediatrician in Green Bay for seven years before “retiring” to become a stay-at-home mom in 1996. Over the course of the last 24 years, Brenda has been a community volunteer in various capacities: active volunteer in Green Bay schools and on leadership teams for United Way and Achieve Brown County, current member of the Basic Needs Giving Partnership Grants Team, currently serving on the Community Advisory Board for the Medical College of Wisconsin-Green Bay and the Board of Directors for the Greater Green Bay Community Foundation. Part of her work for the Medical College has included working with a team to help improve access and opportunity for students of color who want to become physicians.