Creating Opportunity Conference Agenda

RAINBOW ROCCS - Restore Our Church and Community Seminar

Discovery to Recovery: Thriving In a Changing Economy

 

                                                     Thursday, October 2, 2014 – Hyatt Regency

 

4:00-7:00 p.m.                       Best of the Hip Hop Generation-New Paradigm for a

Morehouse                               Digital Age – Envisioning the Future

College                             

King Chapel                       Moderator:   Mr. Munson Steed, Rolling Out

                                                    

                                                     Ms. Khay Barnes, Microsoft

                                                     Ms. Jewel Burks, Google

                                                     Ms. Marypat Hector, Black Girls Rock

                                                     Mr. Nathaniel Smith, Partnership for Southern Equity

                                                     Mr. Greg Street, WVEE

                                                     Rev. Will Hall, Rainbow PUSH Coalition

                                                     Daryl Parks, Esq, Parks and Crump, LLC

                                                     Robert Patillo, Esq. Patillo Law Group

                                                     Mr. Nicholas Clements, Magnify Money

                                                      

 

7:00 p.m.                                  Town Hall Meeting – ROCS Seminar

Salem Bible Church

                                                     Dr. Joseph Williams

                                                     Nicholas Clements, Magnify Money

 

                                                     Friday, October 3, 2014 – Hyatt Regency Hotel

 

7:00 a.m.-5:00p.m.              Registration - Regency

 

8:00 a.m.                                  Opening Plenary and Business Networking Breakfast–

Regency VII                             Breaking Glass Ceilings

                                                    

                                           Moderator:    Davida Mathis, Esq.

 

                                                     Invocation:  The Honorable Penny Brown Reynolds

                                                     Pledge of Allegiance:  MLK Jr. High School NJROTC Color Guard                                                    

                                                    

                                                     Keynote Speaker:  Ms. Georgette Dixon, Wells Fargo

 

                                                     Remarks:  Ms. Lori Billingsley, The Coca-Cola Company

                                                    

                                                     Entertainment:  Goodwill Inspiration Choir

 

 

9:00 a.m.                                  Education Is Power

Regency VII

                                                     Keynote Speaker:

                                                     Michael L. Thurmond, Esq., DeKalb County Schools

 

                                                    

                                                     Closing Remarks:

                                                     Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.

 

10:00 a.m.                                My Church ROCS – Church Growth and Development

Regency V                               

                                                     Panelists:

                                                     Mr. Maurice Coleman, Sr. , Bank of America Merrill Lynch

                                                     Dr. Wilson Lattimore, Jr., Chestnut Grove Baptist Church

                                                     Dr. Lamar Barden, Peachtree Planning Corporation

                                                     Mr. Hugh Rowden, Outreach, Wells Fargo

                                                     Dr. Joseph Williams, Salem Bible Church

                                                     VITAS

                                                    

10:00 a.m.                                Entrepreneurship and Supplier Diversity

Hanover F-G

                                                     Moderator:  Michael R. Hatcher, Esq., Jackson Lewis, P.C.

 

                                                     Panelists:

                                                     Mr. Greg Calhoun, Calhoun Enterprises

                                                     Mrs. Verlyn Calhoun, Calhoun Enterprises

                                                     Ms. Janelle Baranco, Baranco Automotive Group

                                                     Mr. Sylvester Johnson, Sr., Home Depot

                                                     Ms. Terrez Thompson, The Coca- Cola Company

                                                     Mr. Joel Stenson, UPS

                                                           

10:00 a.m.                                Crisis Public Relations

Hanover A-B                     

                                                     Moderator:  Ms. Chountelle Bullock, CBULL Enterprises

 

                                                     Speakers:

                                                     Ms. Bunnie Jackson-Ransom, First Class, Inc.

                                                     Ms. Diane Larche, Larche Communications

                                                     Ms. Yalanda Lattimore, DryerBuzz Blog

 

11:30 a.m.                                 Press Conference – Learning Center

 

12:00 p.m.                                FAITH AND THE MARKETPLACE LUNCHEON

Regency VII

                                                     Speaker:    Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.,

                                                                          

                                                     Award Recipients: 

                                                     Bishop Finace Bush, Jr., Crown Christian Church

                                                     Bishop Teresa Snorton, The CME Churches

                                                     Rev. Isaiah J. Waddy, Greater St. Peter AME Church

                                                     Pastor Jesse Curney, III, New Mercies Christian Church

 

 

 

 

2:00 p.m.                                  Opportunities in Transportation Roundtable

Regency VI                              

                                                     Moderator:  Ms. Janice L. Mathis, CEF

 

                                                     Keynote:  Mr. Anthony Foxx, U.S. Secretary of Transportation

                                                    

                                                    

 

                                                     Panelists:    

                                                     Ms. Kimberly King, Georgia Department of Transportation

                                                     Mr. Richard Krisak, MARTA

                                                     Ms. Cynthia Parks,  Jones Worley

                                                     Ms. Pam Smith, Smith Real Estate Services

                                                     Mr. Al Edwards, CERM

                                                     Ms. Paquita Bradley, National Black Coalition of Federal Aviation Employees

                                                     Ms. Roberta Abdul Salaam

 

2:00 p.m.                                  Charter Schools:  The Promises and the Pitfalls

Hanover A-B                          

                                           Moderator: Senator Floyd McKissick, Jr., N.C. Senate

 

                                                     Panelists:

                                                     Ms. Valarie Wilson, Candidate State School Superintendent

                                                     Mr. Bob Weil, American Federation of Teachers

                                                     Mr. Steven Lee, Atlanta Public Schools

 

2:00 p.m.                                  A Charge to Keep

Regency V

                                                     Speaker:    Rev. Jasper Williams, Jr., Salem Bible Church

 

6:30 p.m.                                  Red Carpet Reception – Regency V

                                                    

7:00 p.m.                                  Keep Hope Alive Gala – Regency VI and VII

 

                                                     Master of Ceremony:  Mr. Robert Calloway, WVEE

                                                     Mistress of Ceremony:  Ms. Ramona DeBreaux, WVEE

 

                                                     Award Recipients:

                                                    

                                                     Ms. Donna Bowman, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated

                                                     Ms. Nancy Flake Johnson, National Urban League of Greater Atlanta

                                                     Rep. Hank Johnson, U.S. 4^th Congressional District of Georgia

                                                    

                                                     Toastmasters:         Ms.  Ann D. Avery Cooper

                                                                                          Ms. Rhonda Briggins Ridley

                                                                                          Mr. Hank Stewart         

 

                                                     Entertainment:     The Wardlaw Brothers

                                                                                           Mr. Cedric Ceballos

                                                                          

                                                 

10:00 p.m.                                Midnight Prayer Service – Regency VI and VII

                                                    

                                                     Rev. Jasper Williams

                                                     Dr. Joseph Williams

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday, October 4, 2014 – Hyatt Regency

 

7:00 a.m.-12:00p.m.            Registration

Regency

 

10:00 a.m.-2:00p.m.            College Exhibit

Grand Hall East

 

10:00 a.m.                                Career Planning  - Innovation and Technology Drive

Grand Hall East                      Today’s Economy

 

                                           Moderator:  Michael R. Hatcher, Esq., Jackson Lewis, P.C.

                                                    

                                                     Keynote:    Mr. Ray Bishop, Goodwill Industries of North Georgia

 

                                                     Panelists: 

                                                     Mr  Ferdinand L. Risco, MARTA

                                                     Dr. Lance McCarthy, Black Silicon Valley

                                                     Dr. Romelda Simmons, Ft. Valley State College

                                                     Mr. Faisal Hoque, SHADOKA, LLC

                                                     Mr. Rob Sunderland, Georgia Power

                                                     Mr. Ronco Johnson, R.L. Johnson & Associates

                                                     Ms. Kim Paige, The Coca-Cola Company

                                                     Mr. Richard Hicks, CFY Atlanta

 

10:00 a.m.                                Public Policy Roundtable – Elected Officials

Hanover F-G                           Defeating the Southern Strategy

 

                                           Keynote:   Ms. Goldie Taylor – MSNBC Commentator

 

                                                     Panelists: 

                                                     Senator Gail Davenport, District 44

                                                     Rep. Patricia Haynes Smith, Chair, Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus

                                                     Senator Floyd McKissick, Jr., N.C. Senate

                                                     Senator Connie Stokes, Candidate Ga. Lieutenant Governor

                                                     Mayor Steve Benjamin, Columbia, S.C.

                                                     Mr. Ceasar Mitchell, President, Atlanta City Council

                                                     Ms. Doreen Carter, Candidate Georgia Secretary of State

                                                     Ms. Robin Shipp, Candidate State Labor Commissioner

 

10:00 a.m.                                Youth Talk Back Session - Don’t Let the Games Play You

Hanover C-E                          

                                                     Moderator:  Mr. Axel Adams, National Director CEF One Thousand Churches

 

                                                     Panelists:

                                                     Hubert Grimes, Esq., 7^th Judicial Circuit, Florida

                                                     Mr. Cedric Ceballos, NBA All Star

                                                     Daryl Parks, Esq., Parks and Crump, LLC

 

 

 

 

 

 

12:00 p.m.                                YOUTH AND YOUNG ADULT SPORTS LUNCHEON-

Regency VII                             LIFE BEYOND THE PLAYING FIELD

 

                                                     Master of Ceremony:  Mr. Hasani Pettiford

                                                    

                                                     Invocation:  Rev. Joseph Bryant

 

                                                     Keynote Speaker:  Mr. Terry Cummings, NBA All Star

 

                                                     Award Recipients:  Jonesboro High School Boys Basketball Team

                                                                                             AAAA 2013-2014 State Champions

 

                                                                                             Wilkinson County High School Boys Basketball Team

                                                                                             A 2013-2014 State Champions

 

                                                     Presenters:   Mr. Cedric Ceballos, Former NBA All Star

                                                                               Mr. Chuck Miller, Georgia Secretary of State

 

 

#Createopportunity

@rainbowpushcoal

@rpcoalition

@revjjackson

FB Creating Opportunity

Mark Zuckerberg with Sheryl Sandberg at FB shareholder meeting.

Rainbow PUSH Gets Diversity Assurance from Facebook CEO Sheryl Sandberg

ANNUAL MEETING: Jesse Jackson Urges Facebook To Add Minorities To Board, C-Suite

David Cohen on May 23, 2014 12:52 PM

The Rev. Jesse Jackson urged Facebook to include minorities on its board of directors in a brief speech prior to the question-and-answer session at the company’s annual meeting Thursday at the Sofitel San Francisco Bay in Redwood City, Calif.

Highlights of Jackson’s comments follow:

I speak to you today representing the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, about the need to open up a new era of growth and inclusion of African Americans, Latinos, and other people of color in Silicon Valley’s technology industry. Inclusion leads to growth, and when there is growth, everybody wins. Facebook is uniquely positioned to lead this new era.

We won’t know how good Silicon Valley can be until everybody can participate. All we ask is that everyone plays by one set of rules, and that there is an even playing field for all. It’s the moral imperative. We want mutually beneficial two-way trade. We share consumer patterns together, pay taxes together. We serve in the military together to keep our nation secure. We should share in America’s opportunity and growth together. Today, there is an imbalance — too much one-way trade, too many left out, too many gaps between the surplus and depths with cultures just are changing. Those who are left out represent money, market, talent, and location. You have technology, expertise, and resources. We can all win if we close the gaps. African-American and Latino colors will comprise a huge and fast-growing part of your customer base.

In a short period of time, minorities will comprise the new majority population in California. Technology is supposed to be about inclusion, but sadly, patterns of exclusion remains the order of the day. Let me state some facts. There are zero blacks and Latinos in the C-suites all too often. Tech powerhouses including Facebook, Apple, and Google, new media companies like Twitter, have zero blacks on their boards of directors. In the C-suites, Facebook, Twitter, Apple, and far too many companies have zero African Americans on their boards or Latinos in their leadership positions in the C-suites.

Would Facebook make a commitment to include blacks and Latinos on your board of directors? Specifically, would you agree to place a bylaw and amendment similar to Apple that will require an explicit and active search for women and people of color for all of your board openings? Will Facebook commit to a bylaw provision to mandate that women and people of color are included as part of any search for C-suite-level positions? Will Facebook commit to the inclusion of black and minority firms in all debt offerings and future financial transactions, and building pipelines for education?

Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg responded to Jackson’s comments:

Rev. Jackson, it’s an honor to have you here, and we thank you for your support, your appreciation of our technology, and also your very strong words on the importance of diversity. We agree with you. We have a community that’s over 1.2 billion people around the world, and that’s an incredibly diverse community. And it is good for us, and important that the people who are building Facebook represent the community we serve fully. And that means representation of all kinds of people who have historically been underrepresented.

We’ve taken this quite seriously. Over the past year, we’ve set up our first very explicit diversity hiring and diversity program under the leadership of (Global Head of Diversity) Maxine Williams, who is here with us today. And we are in the early days of what we’re doing, but I’ll share a few words on where we’re focusing at first and where we intent to grow.

So our focus right now is really on trying to hire more people into the company, as well as grow their careers. And so we do this in three years. We have built a number of great partnerships, groups like the National Society of Black Engineers, the Hispanic Alumni of Georgia Tech, Grace Hopper for girls who code, Management Leadership of Tomorrow. And these partnerships have been great because they are really helping us get great candidates and reach out.

We set-up last summer for the first time our own Facebook U, Facebook University, which is a minority and women paid summer internship program looking for candidates who don’t necessarily already have the coding skills that we normally hire for, but people who we believe we can train. And we had a really successful summer getting people up to speeds who had great technical skills in the areas we needed them, and we’ve grown the program by 60 percent this summer.

We’re also working really hard in our internal recruiting programs. We believe, as you do, that transparency is really important. And we’re on a path to get there. We’re looking at our numbers internally. We’re seeing growth already from what we’re doing and we would like to be on a path to share them.

When it comes to board candidates, when and if our board expands, we are very committed to looking broadly, including looking at candidates with diverse backgrounds. And on minority firms, they participated in our IPO, and we continue to keep in touch with them for future opportunities.

 

Moral Monday Georgia Update - This Tuesday - Georgia Board of Regents

Undocumented students, Moral Monday, community organizations and faith leaders will be addressing the cr...owd outside of the BOR building, calling the Board of Regents to bring policy 4.1.6. to the table to be voted on once again as the people of Georgia witness a new era of segregation in the making.

Georgia has effectively instituted a new era of educational segregation. Three years have passed since the Ban came into effect, we can count the students who have not been able to attend this five top universities in the state they call home, but we cannot count the broken dreams and hopes as a result of this segregating policy.

Taking inspiration from the brave students of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, who organized and fought for their right to education in Georgia five decades ago, today, undocumented youth have mobilized in opposition to separate and unequal education in the 21st century.

Students who are effected by policy 4.1.6 have requested to be allowed to address the nineteen members composing the Board of Regents at the meeting on May 20st. We hope that the Board of Regents will listen to the request that is being made not only by undocumented students but by the bigger community across the state of Georgia.

The Moral Monday Georgia movement has offically joined this effort.

#LiftBan #GAINSTATE #RISEUPGA

Sterling Exhibits Classic Racism

Sterling does not believe that the NBA League owners will vote to force him to relinquish ownership of the Clippers. That claim may not be as incredible as it sounds.  75% of the owners would have to agree for the punishment to stick. His confidence in the favor of his fellow owners is consistent with the delay in announcing the vote.  It has been twelve days since the commissioner said Sterling has to go.  In another month, the players will have dispersed and the championship will be over.  And The Sterling camp may be betting that public interest in the story will die down in another few weeks. 

There is an indication that Stiviano is being investigated for possible extortion.  Sterling implied that Earvin “Magic” Johnson was in communication with Ms. Stiviano.  He contradicts the assertion that Stiviano was his “archivist” and routinely recorded his conversations to help him remember them.  Sterling says Magic offered to help him because he knows Stiviano and that Johnson wanted to buy the team.  This is turning into a sordid mess.  Billionaires don’t go quietly into any good night.  Sterling did not have lawyers or PR people with him during the Anderson Cooper interview.  But some of his statements were PR 101.   Profess innocence.  Blame others – the woman made me do it.  (An excuse as old as Eve in the Garden of Eden.)  Claim incompetence – his wife now says she thinks Sterling is demented. 

Sterling denies being a racist, but admits he was jealous that Stiviano was interested in black men.  She was proving not to be the delicate Latina he fantasized.  Black men are often blind to the charged resentment that some white men have about black romantic pursuit of white women, often to their tragic detriment.  Sterling’s resentment and jealousy are exactly what racism is made of. 

GUN SAFETY?

Georgia’s “Safe Carry Protection Act of 2014,” becomes law on July 1st and was signed by Governor Deal on Wednesday April 24th.  The law expands the right to carry to schools, churches, bars and airports. 

It will take years to reverse the extreme laws sailing through the Georgia General Assembly.  But it took only a few hours on Wednesday to demonstrate just how absurd the new Georgia gun law is.  On the same day that the bill was signed, a man with a gun visible in the waistband of his pants terrorized children and their parents in a Forsyth County park.  Police received 22 calls to 911.  All to no avail.  He was doing nothing illegal.  The children hid.  The soccer games were called off. 

RPC’s Stand Your Ground nemesis Georgia Carry defends Guns Everywhere with the canard that unregulated gun toting  makes Americans safer.  The Forsyth families in the park didn’t feel very safe on Wednesday.  Georgia Carry was reduced to contacting the man with the gun and urging him to cool it.

Ironically, Forsyth is one of the reddest of Georgia’s 159 counties.  Mitt Romney defeated Barack Obama 80-18 in the November 2012 general election.  The County’s population is 2.5% black.  Those old enough will recall that Forsyth drew Oprah Winfrey to town for a race relations Town Hall meeting after the Klan marched there.  Yet, when parents are confronted with a real world experience of Tea Party/ALEC/GOP extremism, they reach out for help.  Next time, they should not call 911.  After all, Guns Everywhere is the law in Georgia.  Instead, call the Governor, or the state legislature...or even Georgia Carry.

 

Janice L. Mathis, Esq. is Vice President of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.  She and Robert H. Patillo have filed suit on behalf of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition against the state of Georgia to invalidate its Stand Your Ground law.

Georgia’s “Safe Carry Protection Act of 2014,” becomes law on July 1^st and was signed by Governor Deal on Wednesday April 24^th.  The law expands the right to carry to schools, churches, bars and airports. 

It will take years to reverse the extreme laws sailing through the Georgia General Assembly.  But it took only a few hours on Wednesday to demonstrate just how absurd the new Georgia gun law is.  On the same day that the bill was signed, a man with a gun visible in the waistband of his pants terrorized children and their parents in a Forsyth County park.  Police received 22 calls to 911.  All to no avail.  He was doing nothing illegal.  The children hid.  The soccer games were called off. 

Ironically, Forsyth is one of the reddest of Georgia’s 159 counties.  Mitt Romney defeated Barack Obama 80-18 in the November 2012 general election.  The County’s population is 2.5% black.  Those old enough will recall that Forsyth drew Oprah Winfrey to town for a race relations Town Hall meeting after the Klan marched there.  Yet, when parents are confronted with a real world experience of Tea Party/ALEC/GOP extremism, they reach out for help.  Next time, they should not call 911.  After all, Guns Everywhere is the law in Georgia.  Instead, call the Governor, or the state legislature.

Axel Adams, National Director of 1000 Churches Connected, Honored in Augusta March 22, 2014

Ann Cooper, Dextor Clinkscale, Trina Heathington, Janice L. Mathis, Esq., Tina Jones, Sintonio Hobbs, Senator Gail P. Davenport and Rev. Fred Favors Congratulate Axel Adams (center).