2017 Opening Celebration: “Where Are We Now? Chaos or Community?”

 

 

Keynote Speaker

Tamika D. Mallory, National Co-Chair, Women’s March on Washington; Former Executive Director, National Action Network

Tamika is nationally recognized as a fiery and outspoken champion for social justice who has worked closely with the Obama Administration as an advocate for civil rights issues, equal rights for women, health care, gun violence, and police misconduct.

Tamika has been publicly applauded as “a leader of tomorrow” by Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama, Valerie B. Jarrett and was selected to serve on the transition committee of New York City Mayor-Elect Bill de Blasio. She served as a national organizer for the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington, which drew 300,000, as well as Justice or Else!, where she delivered a national address to over 700,000. A leading figure in the grassroots, community-based effort to stop gun violence in New York City, Tamika was instrumental in creating the NYC Crisis Management System, an official gun violence prevention program that awards nearly $20 million annually to innovative violence intervention organizations. After serving as National Action Network’s youngest Executive Director, Tamika founded Mallory Consulting, a strategic planning firm in New York City.

Douglas Grace, Director, Ecumenical Advocacy Days

Douglas Grace is the Coordinator of Ecumenical Advocacy Days for Global Peace with Justice. He brings nearly twenty years of experience in ecumenical and interfaith religious leadership with a focus in faith-based public witness. He has given talks and written numerous theology and public policy articles on caring for creation and human needs issues, including the Stewardship of Public Life series and Church & Society magazine.

Douglas served as a presidential election observer in El Salvador, at the invitation of the Salvadoran Council of Churches, following the country’s devastating civil war, and he has participated and lead eco-justice delegations in Brazil’s Amazon Rainforest, Mexico, the Mississippi Delta and in West Virginia coal country. Douglas was a presenter at the faith and science Climate Forum 2002 at Oxford University, and appeared as a religious commentator for the 2003 CBS Religious Unit production entitled, “A World to Share,” In 2004, he served as Co-Director, with the Rev. Dr. James Reese, of the national Presbyterian Peace and Justice Conference entitled, “Hope for A Global Future,” and he was a keynote dinner speaker at the 2009 Ecumenical Advocacy Days: “Enough for All” on climate change, immigration and migration in Washington, DC. He currently serves as an organizational consultant to the Presbyterian Network to End Homelessness.

Douglas received The Barbara West Scholarship to study at Union Theological Seminary in NYC, and he was awarded the Master of Divinity (2008) with a specialization in Biblical Studies, and the Master of Sacred Theology in Systematic Theology (2009). While studying at Union, Douglas served as a consultant to the Faith and Order Commission of the National Council of Churches

Douglas has served as Interim Director of Outreach Ministry at Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church (MAPC) in New York City and as the director of the Washington Office of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment and its Interfaith Climate & Energy Campaign. He has also served as domestic policy analyst and representative for the Washington Office of the Presbyterian Church (USA) on Capital Hill, and as an environmental associate at the U.S. Conference of Mayors, also in Washington, D.C.

Douglas is a member of Rutgers Presbyterian Church (NYC) and a candidate for ordination to the Word and Sacrament in the Presbytery of New York City.

Dr. Leslie Copeland-Tune, Director, Ecumenical Poverty Initiative

Dr. Copeland-Tune will serve as co-moderator for EAD 2017.

Rev. Dr. Leslie Copeland-Tune is the director of the Ecumenical Poverty Initiative, an anti-poverty ministry led by an active partnership of denominational leaders which adds a prophetic voice and collective action to the fight to end poverty. A chapter she wrote on Christian leadership, “The Heart of the Matter,” is included in the book, The Church on Purpose: Reinventing Discipleship, Community & Justice, which was edited by Dr. Adam L. Bond and Rev. Laura Mariko Cheifetz.

Previously, she was the Director of Communications & Resource Development for the D.C. Baptist Convention. She also served as Assistant Director of Justice and Advocacy for the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA.

A consultant, strategist, writer and advocate, Dr. Copeland-Tune has also worked on a number of other issues including environmental stewardship, racial reconciliation, domestic violence, human trafficking, education and health care. During her career, Dr. Copeland-Tune has also served as a communications and marketing professional for non-profit organizations and corporations.

Dr. Copeland-Tune, who is an ordained Baptist minister, was born and raised in Mt. Vernon, NY. She has a bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University, master’s degrees from the University of Maryland and Duke University, and a doctorate from New Brunswick Theological Seminary. In addition, she attended Oxford University’s Summer Theology Program in England, where the focus of her study was on religion, ethics and public theology. Dr. Copeland-Tune is blessed to have two wonderful children.

Emma Tacke, Grassroots Mobilization Coordinator, NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice

Emma will serve as a co-moderator for EAD 2017.

At NETWORK, Emma’s focus is to reach out to members and grassroot contacts to work with them on advocating for policies motivated by principles of Catholic Social Justice. Emma graduated in 2015 from the College of Saint Benedict with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Gender Studies. After graduation, she lived in Seattle for a year as a Jesuit Volunteer with the Jesuit Volunteers. Emma served under the Providence Hospice of Seattle in the palliative care program.