THURSDAY morning 7/29
OPENING GATHERING
Join us for an exciting opening gathering to celebrate the start of CSTI and meet and mingle with the people that you’ll be spending the next four days with!

THURSDAY evening 7/29
LIVING WITH CONVICTION IN CYNICAL TIMES
Explore what leads some people to get involved in larger community issues, how ordinary citizens can make their voices heard and their actions count, what it takes to maintain commitment for the long haul, and how involvement can give back a sense of connection and purpose. Learn about extraordinary citizen activists and get inspired!

-Paul Rogat Loeb

FRIDAY morning 7/30
BIG MONEY OUT OF POLITICS
Present day elections--more commonly referred to as "Wealth Primaries"--are determined all too often by which candidate has the most money. The chase for campaign dollars relegates the agendas of working people, environmentalists, civil rights activists and poor people to the backwater of public policy. Campaign finance reform is no longer an intellectual pursuit, as 4 states have passed sweeping reforms that take big private wealth out of elections. Learn how it’s changing the face of politics as we know it!

-William McNary

FRIDAY evening 7/30
SALSA DANCING!
Come prepared for a night of rolicking fun! As Emma Goldman put it, “If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution! Join us for shimmies, shakes and revolutions to some great music.

SATURDAY morning 7/31
INTERSECTIONS OF VIOLENCE AND ECONOMIC INJUSTICE
Join us in examining the obvious effects of western capitalist madness on violence and economic injustice. We will look at the increasing assaults on communities of color, immigrants, and queers within the context of a society that very consciously targets marginalized peoples to maximize profit.

-Carmen Vasquez

SATURDAY evening 7/31
BANQUET AND KEYNOTE!
Enjoy great food, and a stirring and powerful keynote address by longtime civil and human rights leader Loretta Ross. The title of her keynote is “Human Rights U.S.A.: Bringing Human Rights Home.” Ms. Ross will explain the history and meaning of the international human rights covenants, and suggest how the human rights framework can help unite our different groups and movements into a more powerful force for global justice. Ms. Ross is also the founder and Executive Director of the Center for Human Rights Education in Atlanta, Georgia.

SUNDAY morning 8/1
BUILDING ELECTORAL POWER FOR COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS
People of color and other marginalized communities increasingly find their civil rights put up for a vote through statewide and local ballot initiatives. Anti-affirmative action, anti-immigrant and "English-only" are among the attacks that have recently surfaced in western states. Breaking the traditional barrier between community organizing and electoral work, Californians for Justice has developed a model that seeks to build a permanent electoral infrastructure for California's "emerging majority" of people of color, poor people and youth.

-Norma Martinez

ALSO: EXCITING LUNCHTIME PRESENTATIONS... STAY TUNED FOR MORE DETAILS!