Pathways to Respecting American Indian Civil Rights
Education, Health, Nutrition, Justice, Employment, Housing and Other Services
Conference Details
August 8 - 9, 2012
King Center, Auraria Campus
Denver, Colorado
Presentations and Videos: Click here to view.
Agenda: Now available. Click here to download.
Overview:
The Region VIII Inter-Departmental Task Force on Civil Rights, along with the City and County of Denver; Metropolitan State University of Denver Equity Assistance Center; Midwest Equity Assistance Center; IDRA Equity Assistance Center; Region IX Equity Assistance Center at WestEd; University of Colorado Denver; University of Northern Colorado; The BUENO Center for Multicultural Education at the University of Colorado Boulder; Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies, Division of Civil Rights; AARP-Colorado and other organizations, are hosting a two-day training and education conference to promote the civil rights of American Indians. The conference will feature training, education, and sharing of information between American Indians on and off-reservation with various federal, state, and local agencies, community organizations, educators, health care providers, nonprofit organizations and others.
Featured speakers:
Michael E. Bird, MSW, MPH
Former President, American Public Health Association; Public Health Consultant
Mr. Bird, Santo Domingo, San Juan Pueblo, MSW, MPH, was the first American Indian (and the first social worker) to serve as President of the American Public Health Association (APHA). Mr. Bird was elected President of APHA after decades of working in program development and health policy at the tribal, state, and national level. He also served as executive director of the National Native American AIDS Prevention Center (NNAAPC). Currently he is a public health consultant.
Eve Hill
Senior Counselor, Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice
Eve Hill is a nationally known expert on disability rights law. Ms. Hill is a Senior Counselor to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Justice, where she is responsible for oversight of the Division’s disability rights enforcement. Ms. Hill was previously Of Counsel with the law firm of Brown Goldstein & Levy, where she participated in the firm’s disability rights practice. Prior to joining Brown Goldstein & Levy, Ms. Hill was Senior Vice President of the Burton Blatt Institute at Syracuse University (in the Washington, D.C. office), where she was responsible for the Institute’s disability civil rights work. Previously, Ms. Hill was the founding Director of the Washington, D.C. Office of Disability Rights, a cabinet-level D.C. government agency dedicated to improving access for people with disabilities to government programs. Prior to joining the District, Ms. Hill was Executive Director of the Disability Rights Legal Center in Los Angeles. She was also a Visiting Associate Professor of Law at Loyola Law School. Ms. Hill is the co-author of a treatise and casebook on “Disability Civil Rights Law and Policy.”
Henrietta Mann, Ph.D
Professor Emeritus, Montana State University
Dr. Henrietta Mann is a Cheyenne enrolled with the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes located in Oklahoma. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Southwestern Oklahoma State University in 1954, and a Master of Arts Degree from Oklahoma State University in 1970. In 1982, she earned her Doctor of Philosophy Degree in American Studies from the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. She is Professor Emeritus in Native American Studies, Montana State University where she continues to serve as Special Assistant to the President. On leave from Montana State University, she is the founding president of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribal College temporarily located on the campus of Southwestern Oklahoma State University, Weatherford.
Dr. Mann has been a professor/administrator at: The University of California, Berkeley; University of Montana, Missoula; Graduate School of Education, Harvard University; and Haskell Indian Nations University, Lawrence, Kansas. She was the first person to fill the Katz Endowed Chair in Native American Studies at Montana State University, Bozeman. In 1991 Rolling Stone Magazine named her as one of the ten top professors in the nation. Southwestern State Oklahoma State University inducted her into its Hall of Fame in 1997. The University of New Mexico Alumni Association honored her as its 2008 recipient of the Bernard S. Rodey Award for her leadership in education. She also received the 2008 National Indian Education Association Lifetime Achievement Award.
Gyasi Ross
Attorney, Crowell Law Office
Author, Columnist for Indian Country Today
Mr. Ross is a member of the Blackfeet Tribe and his family comes from the Suquamish Tribe. In addition to being an author, he is a father, an entrepreneur and an attorney. He wrote “Don’t Know Much About Indians (but I wrote a book about us anyways).” He is a Columbia Law School graduate and currently practices law representing tribes for the Crowell Law Office Tribal Advocacy Group. Mr. Ross also is co-owner and vice president of Red Vinyl Records and a frequent contributor to Indian Country Today Media Network. He has contributed to The Seattle Times and the Huffington Post.
Leon Rodriguez
Director, Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Mr. Rodriguez was previously Chief of Staff and Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Civil Rights Division. In addition to overseeing the administrative operations of the Civil Rights Division, Mr. Rodriguez’ leadership portfolio includes civil rights matters involving discrimination based on national origin and immigration status, legislative affairs and community outreach. Before joining DOJ, Mr. Rodriguez served as the County Attorney for Montgomery County, Maryland, was a shareholder in the Health Law department of the law firm of Ober, Kaler, Grimes & Shriver and served as a federal and state prosecutor in various jurisdictions. He is a graduate of Brown University and Boston College Law School and is fluent in Spanish and French.
Agenda: Download Now
Accreditations: CLE - credited; HRCI accreditation is pending
Thank you to the following conference sponsors and planners:
- AARP- Colorado
- City and County of Denver
- Agency for Human Rights and Community Partnerships
- Denver American Indian Commission
- Denver Anti-Discrimination Office
- Denver Housing Authority
- Colorado Commission on Indian Affairs
- Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies
- Division of Civil Rights
- Equity Assistance Centers
- South Central Collaborative for Equity, Intercultureal Development Research Association
- Metropolitan State University of Denver Equity Assistance Center
- Midwest Equity Assistance Center
- IDRA Equity Assistance Center
- Region IX Equity Assistance Center at WestEd
- The BUENO Center for Multicultural Education at the University of Colorado Boulder
- The Classical Academy
- U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
- U.S. Department of Agriculture
- Food and Nutrition Service
- U.S. Department of Education
- Office for Civil Rights
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
- Administration for Community Living
- Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
- Health Resources and Services Administration
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
- Office of Minority Health
- Administration for Children and Families
- Office for Civil Rights
- Office of the Regional Director
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
- Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity
- U.S. Department of Justice
- Community Relations Service
- U.S. Department of Labor
- Women’s Bureau
- Office of Federal Contract Compliance Program
- U.S. Department of the Interior
- Bureau of Land Management
- U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
- U.S. Social Security Administration
- University of Colorado Denver
- American Indian Student Educational Programs and Outreach
- Anschutz Medical Campus
- College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
- College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Ethnic Studies
- Educational Opportunity Programs
- University of Northern Colorado
Registration and Conference Options
Registration: Online Registration has ended.
For further CONFERENCE information please contact Francie McDonald at Frances.McDonald@dora.state.co.us or at 303.894.7821