Social Service Speakers

Jonathan Kozol

A former inner city teacher, Kozol has been an activist and advocate for social justice and equity in public education for over 40 years. His newest book, Letters to a Young Teacher, reignites a number of controversial issues: the mania of high-stakes testing, the invasion of our public schools by private ...

Stacey Bess

Stacey Bess - the author of the memoir Nobody Don't Love Nobody, about her first teaching job at a school for homeless children - shares a powerful message of mentorship & service.

Geoffrey Canada

Profiled on 60 Minutes, Canada has achieved great success as President and CEO of the Harlem Children’s Zone, an agency that fuses community building with academic achievement to improve the futures of inner city youth. Recently, President Obama launched an initiative to create “Promise Neighborhoods” around ...

Judge Glenda Hatchett

Judge Hatchett is the former Chief Presiding Judge of the Fulton County Juvenile Court in Atlanta. Her highly successful court television series, Judge Hatchett, provides a forum where she can reach beyond her courtroom to a larger and more diverse audience. She is the author of Say What You Mean and Mean What You Say! ...

Michael Patrick MacDonald

Author of the incendiary New York Times bestselling memoir All Souls: A Family Story from Southie, and the companion bestseller Easter Rising: A Memoir of Roots and Rebellion, MacDonald shares his remarkable story of survival and redemption while examining the tangled relationship between poverty and ...

Wes Moore

Wes Moore is a youth advocate, keynote speaker, Army combat veteran, promising business leader and the best-selling author of The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates - contrasting his childhood choices against another Wes Moore's who was eventually imprisoned.

America Ferrera

Best known for her Emmy-winning starring role in Ugly Betty, America Ferrera - an artist ambassador for Save the Children - is also an activist committed to issues surrounding education & children.

Alvin Poussaint

A veteran of the Civil Rights Movement, Dr. Poussaint is a Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School who is renowned as an expert and educated crusader for the African American family within our multicultural society. He has worked closely with Bill Cosby, serving as an advisor on The Cosby Show, and has ...

Bertice Berry

An expert on cultural diversity, Dr. Berry is an inspirational and humorous motivator who empowers people to improve their lives. She is the best-selling author of such books as When Love Calls, You Better Answer, Redemption Song, and her latest, The Ties That Bind: A Memoir of Race, Memory, and ...

Robin Karr-Morse

Co-author of Ghosts from the Nursery: Tracing the Roots of Violence, Karr-Morse presents compelling evidence that violent behavior in children is linked to abuse and neglect that occurs in the first three years of life. As director of The Parenting Institute, she works to provide parents with developmental knowledge ...

James Garbarino

Dr. James Garbarino holds the Maude C. Clarke Chair in Humanistic Psychology and was founding Director of the Center for the Human Rights of Children at Loyola University Chicago. An expert on youth violence and bullying, Dr. Garbarino has served as consultant or advisor to a wide range of organizations, including the ...

Jonah Edelman

One of the most inspiring leaders of his generation and one of the country’s leading education reformers and voices for children, Edelman is the Co-Founder and CEO of Stand for Children. In his inspirational presentation, he teaches advocacy skills to child serving professionals, students, and civic leaders and shares a ...

Lonise Bias

Mother of college basketball star Len Bias, who died of a cocaine overdose, and James Bias, who was murdered in a drive-by shooting, Dr. Bias aims to save a generation from self-destruction by fighting violence and drugs.

Consuelo Castillo Kickbusch

Kickbusch is the highest ranking Hispanic woman in the Combat Support field in the US Army, who is recognized at national level for her work on issues including teen pregnancy, gang violence and parenting education.

Kweisi Mfume

Former President and CEO of the NAACP, Maryland Congressman, and Chairman of the Black Congressional Caucus, Mfume is credited with rebuilding and revitalizing the NAACP. As a leader, activist, and seasoned political voice for diversity, he continues to follow his dream of impacting society and shaping a more humane public ...

Brenda Combs

Brenda Combs is a symbol of inspiration and perseverance to all who meet her. Fewer than 12 years ago, she was a homeless crack addict, petty criminal, and hopeless wreck who had been shot, beaten and raped during the years she called a freeway underpass home. It took hitting rock bottom for Combs to find the strength to ...

Deborah Prothrow-Stith

Dr. Deborah Prothrow-Stith is a nationally recognized public health leader. As a physician working in inner-city Boston, she broke new ground with her efforts to have youth violence defined as a public health problem, not just a criminal justice issue. Her passion for prevention was not satisfied with the emergency room ...

Melissa Moore

Melissa G. Moore is the daughter of Keith Hunter Jesperson, a man infamously known as the "Happy Face Serial Killer," and the author of Shattered Silence: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer's Daughter. As a national best-selling author and speaker, she shares a dynamic message of having the courage to shine through ...

Regina Louise

Triumph of the spirit is the only way to describe Regina Louise’s trials as an orphan discarded by most—if not all the adults in her life. Her life story is one of a child who prevails against all odds, whose resilience shines through each attempt to break her, and whose sheer will to not only survive, but to thrive, ...

William Cope Moyers

William C. Moyers is Executive Director of Public Policy for the Hazelden Foundation, based in Minnesota. For the past decade, he has committed himself to helping people, families and communities understand the power of addiction and the promise and possibility of recovery. Moyers uses his own personal experiences to carry ...