Online
Oct 23, 2020
(GMT+Array)
Host:
The Kairos Center
On October 23–24, the Kairos Center Presents: Moral Policy in a Time of Crisis, an online conference on the urgent struggles and policy solutions of the poor and dispossessed.
This is a free virtual conference, but all participants must register to attend. Click here to register and to view the full conference agenda.
We are living through a kairos moment, a time defined by both extraordinary danger and possibility. All around us the old ways of the world are crumbling and millions more are joining the ranks of the unemployed, uninsured, unhoused, unfed, and unwell. To dig ourselves out of the wreckage of the present, we desperately need a new moral vision, a blueprint for society that values and defends all life. This is what the Poor People’s Jubilee Platform offers.
The Jubilee Platform is not a proposal to tinker around the edges. Rather, it is a plan to reconstruct society around the needs and hopes of the poor, from economic and racial justice to an end to militarism and ecological devastation. “Jubilee” is a reference to the ancient moral commitment to cancel debts, release slaves, pay fair wages, provide for the poor and hungry, and allow the land to recover from overuse and abuse. Jubilee was not merely a set of ideas, but a comprehensive economic program that centered those who were most impacted by the injustice of the day.
The conference will begin with a keynote by Kairos Center Director Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis and Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, President of Repairers of the Breach. We will also hear from organizers, economists, policy experts, theologians, historians, musicians, and other leaders on how we arrived at this moment of crisis and what we can do to chart a new way forward.
On Friday, October 23, at 3:30 pm Eastern Time, The Right to Welfare and an Adequate Standard of Living will look at the history of poor people’s organizing and the policy frameworks that have both influenced and been shaped by their struggles.
Panelists include:
- Anthony Prince (National Union of the Homeless),
- Dawn Plummer (Pittsburgh Food Policy Council),
- Kenia Alcocer (Union de Vecinos),
- Kristin Colangelo (National Union of the Homeless),
- Maureen Taylor (Michigan Welfare Rights Organization),
- Salaam Bhatti (Virginia Poverty Law Center),
- Shawn Fremstad (Center for Economic and Policy Research)
Sponsoring Partners:
Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR)
National Union of the Homeless
Union de Vecinos
Put People First! PA
Nonviolent Medicaid Army
Michigan Welfare Rights Organization
Raise Up NC!
National Women's Law Center
Food and Water Watch
Institute for Policy Studies
Common Defense
