2019 Keynote Speakers
Brittany N. Packnett
Brittany N. Packnett is an unapologetic educator, activist, writer, and national leader in social justice. Known as @MsPackyetti on social media, Brittany is Vice President of National Community Alliances for Teach For America, where she leads a team engaging in partnerships with communities and children of color.
Brittany is Co-Founder of Campaign Zero, a comprehensive policy platform to end police violence, a video columnist for Mic News, and a frequent writer for major publications, including her recent series, ‘Falling In Love,’ challenging diverse women to move boldly in their power. Recently she founded Love + Power, a platform to inspire and outfit people for justice.
An active protestor, Brittany was a member of the Ferguson Commission and President Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing. She continues to advocate for urgent systemic change in protest, policy, and the media.
Among her many honors, Brittany has graced the cover of Essence Magazine, been named one of TIME Magazine’s 12 New Faces of Black Leadership, and honored at the 2018 BET Awards. Brittany has received the Peter Jennings Award for Civic Leadership and shares the number 3 spot on Politico’s 2016 50 Most Influential list.
Brittany is an alum of Washington University in St. Louis, American University in Washington, and is a current Aspen Institute Education fellow. She is a proud board member of Rise To Run, an organization committed to recruiting grassroots, diverse, progressive women to run for office, and Erase The Hate, NBCUniversal’s Emmy winning initiative to rid the world of discrimination.
Dr. Pedro Antonio Noguera
Pedro Noguera is the Distinguished Professor of Education at the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at UCLA. His research focuses on the ways in which schools are influenced by social and economic conditions, as well as by demographic trends in local, regional and global contexts. He is the author of twelve books and over 200 articles and monographs. He serves on the boards of numerous national and local organizations and appears as a regular commentator on educational issues on CNN, MSNBC, National Public Radio, and other national news outlets. Prior to joining the faculty at UCLA he served as a tenured professor and holder of endowed chairs at New York University (2003 – 2015) Harvard University (2000 – 2003) and the University of California, Berkeley (1990 – 2000). From 2009 – 2012 he served as a Trustee for the State University of New York (SUNY) as an appointee of the Governor. In 2014 he was elected to the National Academy of Education. Noguera recently received awards from the Center for the Advanced Study of the Behavioral Sciences, from the National Association of Secondary Principals, and from the McSilver Institute at NYU for his research and advocacy efforts aimed at fighting poverty.
Roberto Rivera
Roberto Rivera is an artist, educator, and change agent who specializes in applying best practices in engaging youth using practical and relevant methods. He is also the Chief Empowerment Officer at 7 Mindsets Academy.
Roberto Rivera received his undergraduate degree at UW-Madison where he created his own major entitled “Social Change, Youth Culture and the Arts”. He received his masters degree at UIC in Youth Development with a focus on Social Justice, Urban Education, and Hip-hop. He currently is the President and Lead Change Agent of the Good Life Org., an organization that publishes multi-media educational tools and trains educators, youth workers, and parents in connecting positive youth development to community development. His experience in working in the field of community-based popular education over the last decade have won him awards from former president Bill Clinton, Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, and others. Despite these accolades, Roberto sees his work as giving back, since being labeled “at-risk” and “disadvantaged” as a teen himself, his relationships with key educators and youth workers helped him to turn his life around. Roberto’s presentations are unique in that they not only include scientific based research, but that they also include his own story of transforming from a dope dealer to a hope dealer, to incorporating stories from his work with communities around the nation. His unique ability to code-switch from sharing research and data to stories and poems leaves audiences standing with enlightened minds and moved hearts. He is also a proud husband and father and sees being a good dad as one of his lifelong goals.
Dr. Bettina L. Love
Dr. Bettina L. Love is an award-winning author and Associate Professor of Educational Theory & Practice at the University of Georgia. She is one of the field’s most esteemed educational researchers in the areas of Hip Hop education and urban education. Her work is also concerned with how teachers and schools working with parents and communities can build communal, civically engaged schools rooted in intersectional social justice for the goal of equitable classrooms.
For her work in the field, in 2016, Dr. Love was named the Nasir Jones Hiphop Fellow at the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. She is also the creator of the Hip Hop civics curriculum GET FREE. In April of 2017, Dr. Love participated in a one-on-one public lecture with bell hooks focused on the liberatory education practices of Black and Brown children. In 2018, Georgia’s House of Representatives presented Dr. Love with a resolution for her impact on the field of education.
Dr. Love is a sought-after public speaker on a range of topics, including: antiblackness in schools, Hip Hop education, Black girlhood, queer youth, Hip Hop feminism, art-based education to foster youth civic engagement, and issues of diversity and inclusion. In 2014, she was invited to the White House Research Conference on Girls to discuss her work focused on the lives of Black girls. In addition, she is the inaugural recipient of the Michael F. Adams award (2014) from the University of Georgia. She has also provided commentary for various news outlets including NPR, The Guardian, and the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
She is the author of the books We Want To Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom and Hip Hop’s Li’l Sistas Speak: Negotiating Hip Hop Identities and Politics in the New South. Her work has appeared in numerous books and journals, including the English Journal, Urban Education, The Urban Review, and Journal of LGBT Youth. In 2017, Dr. Love edited a special issue of the Journal of Lesbian Studies focused on the identities, gender performances, and pedagogical practices of Black and Brown lesbian educators.
The Summit is defined by 6 major strands.
- Best Practices in Improving School Climate
- Multi-Tiered System of Supports
- Cultural Profiency
- Social, Emotional and Physical Health
- Stakeholder Engagement
- Leadership