As facilitators and mediators, an important part of what we are mediating and facilitating is our human diversity and the complex rank and privilege dynamics associated with those differences. This experiential training includes key diversity awareness concepts,practical tools, awareness development work, and small and large group sessions to give you ample opportunities to practice, learn, explore, discuss and grow.

Wed. Oct. 16, 7:30 pm Unsettlers of the Mission In Adriana Camarena's new work the most precarious residents of the Mission are the central storytellers. This will be the latest presentation of her ongoing work-in-progress, covering a range of their historic tales of Californian daily life: Indigenous migrants on their day off from construction or cooking on the line, watch movies inside their shared group apartments. Parents, raising children in the Mission, fend off poverty by working hard, with the result that their dutifulness sometimes translates into absence for their kids. Lost in plain sight, young kids in gangs troll the neighborhood flexing their muscles over territorial disputes, and seasoned convicts in their twenties run the drug exchange at corner depots. War veterans and the mentally ill fill the neighborhood shelters, while the neighborhood gentrifies around them. These are stories of abandon, but also of love, loyalty, laughter, and a fierce will to survive adversity.

If The World without Us imagined how the planet might respond to our absence, Countdown explains how it will look in our presence In his bestselling book The World without Us, Alan Weisman considered how the Earth could heal and even refill empty niches if relieved of humanity's constant pressures. Behind that groundbreaking thought experiment was his hope that we would be inspired to find a way to add humans back to his vision of a restored healthy planet -- only in harmony, not mortal combat, with the rest of nature.

Are you wondering what's going on with the nuclear power plant in Fukushima and whether the effects of the Fukushima meltdown have reached California? What must we do to contain the problem? What should we be asking our officials to do, locally, nationally, internationally? Did you know about the campaign to ask the UN to appoint an International INDEPENDENT Commission of Experts (IICE) to handle the crisis? What about radiation monitoring? Do you know what to do to protect yourself from radiation? Speakers and videos will provide information on the situation and suggested actions. Come with your questions and concerns; you will leave with practical actions to take re. this critical situation. With John Bertucci, Fukushima Response Network Sonoma County; Professor Masaki Shimoji, anti-nuclear activist, Osaka Japan; Dr. Carol Wolman, Nick Thabit and Holly Harwood, Fukushima Response Network; Steve Zeltzer, KPFA, LaborFest; Chizu Hamada; Brad Newsham, "Fukushima is Here" project; Vic Sadot, "No Nuke Blues", Cynthia Papermaster, Codepink

These application seminars are for potential Creative Work Fund applicants. Applicants are not required to attend, but are encouraged to do so—especially if they are unfamiliar with the Fund.

A Fierce Green Fire: The Battle for a Living Planet, the first big-picture exploration of the environmental movement – grassroots and global activism spanning 50 years from conservation to climate change. Directed and written by Mark Kitchell, Academy Award-nominated director of Berkeley in the Sixties, and narrated by Robert Redford, Ashley Judd, Van Jones, Isabel Allende, and Meryl Streep, the film premiered at Sundance Film Festival 2012, has won acclaim at festivals around the world. In 2013 the film begins its theatrical release as well as educational distribution and use by environmental groups and grassroots activists. A Fierce Green Fire is a California Documentary Project-supported film. Inspired by the book of the same name by Philip Shabecoff and informed by advisors like Edward O. Wilson, A Fierce Green Fire chronicles the largest movement of the 20th century and one of the keys to the 21st. It brings together all the major parts of environmentalism and connects them. It focuses on activism, people fighting to save their homes, their lives, the future – and succeeding against all odds. Following the film, filmmaker Mark Kitchell will lead an audience Q&A. Local environmental leaders will facilitate an audience discussion connecting the film to our own communities.

As part of Litquake 2013, San Francisco Cinematheque presents a screening of film/video works in which written text is visualized and plasticized, explored and displayed. Battering, caressing and seducing viewers/readers while exploring syntactical forms (including poetic lyric, introspective essay,, journal, harangue, laundry list, love letter and song), the seven film/video works on this program form a thumbnail catalog of the diverse expressive potentialities of language’s graphic notation displayed as light moving in time. Screening Jeanne Liotta’s Dark Enough (2011), a celestial contemplation, “a virtual proscenium stage for the poetry to play itself upon,” a collaboration with poet Lisa Gill; Stan Brakhage’s I… Dreaming (1988), a sound film visualizing the lyrics of Stephen Foster; Word Movie (1966) by Paul Sharits, a radically flickering, optical/conceptual sound/text conflation, a three-and-ahalf minute word; Stephanie Barber’s letters, notes (2000) a melancholy compendium of lost correspondence and found photography; David Gatten’s silent love letter How to Conduct a Love Affair (2007); Su Friedrich’s harrowing dream journal Gently Down the Stream, Jesse Malmed’s sound/image/data morass Supernym (2013) and a very rare screening of Michael Snow’s 1982 epic monolithic film/text essay So Is This, a direct confrontation/repudiation of the very notion of cinematic language itself. (Steve Polta)

“After Tiller validated my belief in the power of pro-voice. The filmmakers artfully allow the stories of the four doctors and their patients to shape the film without outside influence such as factoids or data points to drive audience conclusions. Each story is unique and is used ethically – that is, told wholly, personally, and not used out of context towards any political end. The goal of the film is greater understanding, the purity of which allows the audience no choice but to listen.”

Stories From San Quentin is an original performance piece written and produced by San Quentin State Prison inmates that will take place on the grounds of the prison for an audience of inmates and members of the public, followed by a moderated panel discussion. Stories from San Quentin is a Community Stories-funded project. The performance is the product of an autobiographical writing and theater workshop, conducted alongside with the Marin Shakespeare Company’s annual production of a Shakespeare play by and for the prison community. This performance piece will share the life stories of a group of 20 inmates.

Join Californians Against Fracking for the 2nd Annual Frackdown...this year its gonna be even bigger and better with speakers, actions, art, and all the inspiration you need to join the movement to protect California from fracking

THE BATTLE FOR OSCAR GRANT PLAZA is a short documentary by Jacob Crawford about how the City of Oakland and its Police tried to shut down the budding "Occupy Wall Street" movement, turning downtown Oakland into a teargas filled war zone and injuring numerous people. Police video obtained in discovery in the National Lawyers Guild's successful lawsuit and interviews with activists and journalists about their experiences, tell the real story of the disastrous Fall, 2011, police actions that pushed the troubled OPD to the brink of federal receivership. Co-produced by Dave Id, Indybay.org. MANUFACTURING GUILT is a short film that appears as a Bonus Feature on our dvd MUMIA: LONG DISTANCE REVOLUTIONARY (www.firstrunfeatures.com/mumiadvd.html). The short takes on the colossus of Abu-Jamal's contentious case, distilling a mountain of evidence and years of oft-repeated falsehoods to the most fundamental elements of police and prosecutorial misconduct that illustrate a clear and conscious effort to frame Mumia Abu-Jamal for the murder of patrolman Daniel Faulkner. Based on the actual record of investigations and court filings from 1995 to 2003 - evidence denied by the courts and ignored in the press - MANUFACTURING GUILT cuts through the years of absurdities and overt racism to produce a clear picture of how Abu-Jamal's guilt was manufactured and his innocence suppressed beginning only moments after he and Faulkner were found shot in the early morning hours of December 9th, 1981. This historic and courageous film is the perfect companion to Long Distance Revolutionary - a film that is unequivocal in its force regarding Abu-Jamal's innocence.

Wine, dinner and awards. Speakers include Angela Davis and Michelle Alexander.

Longhaired 42-year-old Mark Bittner, like the parrots who fly over San Francisco, is an anomaly: a penniless North Beach dharma bum living in one of the city’s most expensive neighborhoods and devoting himself (without pay) to studying the wild birds that flock the city. The film is a beautiful and eccentric love story of an articulate, formerly directionless man and the parrots he names and befriends. All of these threads combine to tell a single tale of bonding, goodbyes and self-discovery that comes to a satisfying—and delightful—conclusion.

These application seminars are for potential Creative Work Fund applicants. Applicants are not required to attend, but are encouraged to do so—especially if they are unfamiliar with the Fund.

Make your own TV shows or films in our full-service Large Studio, the second biggest studio in the East Bay! This 4-part class will show you the basics of all aspects of studio production, from camera and lighting to audio and graphics. Take turns on crew positions as you produce actual shows. Get certified and then it’s your turn to create your own shows!

“Chan is an unusual model for an artist, being one for whom creating objects in the studio and dynamic situations outside it are equally important,” the New York Times noted. Our two programs highlight this diversity in Chan’s artistic and activist output, focusing on his single-channel and online work. Tonight he shares documentation from the performances of Waiting for Godot he produced in Katrina-devastated neighborhoods in New Orleans, an experiment in community art, and discusses the ideas underpinning it and a number of his other projects. He also screens two video explorations of the state of the U.S., post-9/11, Untitled Video on Lynne Stewart and Her Conviction, The Law and Poetry and Now promise now threat.

John Nichols and Robert McChesney discussing their new book Dollarocracy. Book signing and discussion.

The Creating Minds conference aims to stimulate a discussion on the radical, surprising, and unpredictable reorganization of cognition that has emerged from the revolution in the digital production of texts. Through a series of presentations and panel discussions, participants will evaluate the deeper consequences of this cognitive reframing for both authorship and the acts of reading. The conference is divided into two sessions: “Creative Disruption– Expression and the Digital Form,” and “Thinking Technologies– Reading the Digital Mind.” In the first, speakers from across the globe who work at the intersection of writing, publishing, and critical thinking will question how new technology and new forms of mediation have affected old practices that are deeply embedded in the human experience. In the second, two of the most influential intellectuals studying the relationship between human experience and technology– the French philosopher Bernard Stiegler and the leader in post-human studies, Duke professor N. Katherine Hayles– will probe the ways in which the act of thinking is always something mediated, shaped, and disrupted by its technological forms of prosthesis.

AMERICAN WINTER is a documentary feature film that follows the personal stories of eight families struggling in the wake of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. The film presents an intimate snapshot of the state of the economy as it is playing out in the lives of American families, and highlights the human impact of budget cuts to social services, a shrinking middle class, and the fracturing of the American Dream. Please join NCCLF and 211.org of Alameda for this gripping documentary, followed by a discussion on what you can do to help families in the Bay area who are experiencing the same struggles.

John Nichols and Robert McChesney discussing their new book Dollarocracy. Book signing and discussion.

As our triple crises of war, financial meltdown, and environmental destruction intensify, it is imperative that we dig beneath the surface of Christianity’s benign reputation to examine its contribution to our social problems. Living in the Shadow of the Cross reveals the ongoing, everyday impact of Christian power and privilege on our beliefs, behaviors, and public policy, and emphasizes the potential for people to come together to resist domination and build and sustain communities of justice and peace.

Join Radical Women in a discussion on gender-variant identities, with a focus on fighting the oppression that trans people face under patriarchal capitalism, and brainstorm how to advance trans issues in political and social justice movements. Also learn about Radical Women’s upcoming activities. Thursday, October 24 at 7:00 pm. A full course Autumn buffet with vegetarian option for $7.50 served at 6:15 pm.

KQED and ITVS are hosting a FREE Community Cinema screening of The Graduates, followed by a panel discussion and reception highlighting local thought leaders, educators, and students. This award-winning PBS film highlights teens facing the most challenging time in their life: High School. Facing the challenges of teen pregnancy, gangs, immigration, discrimination, and homelessness – these students are inspirations. Come get inspired with us for a night celebrating San José.

October 25, 2013 9:00am - 12:30pm The Art of Convergence: Blending Career and Life Priorities to Move from Ordinary to Extraordinary Gina Rudan, author of PRACTICAL GENIUS: The Real Smarts You Need to Get Your Passions and Talents Working for You October 31, 2013 9:00am - 12:30pm Stand Out: Lead Your Teams With Greater Impact Holly Dowling, Vice President of Program Delivery for The Marcus Buckingham Company November 8, 2013 9:00am - 12:30pm Leading While Governed Bill Ryan, author of High Performance Nonprofit Organizations and, with Richard P. Chait and Barbara E. Taylor, Governance as Leadership: Reframing the Work of Nonprofit Boards November 15, 2013 9:00am - 12:30pm The Truth About Leadership Jim Kouzes, coauthor with Barry Posner of The Leadership Challenge

Award-winning filmmaker Dorothy Fadiman will premiere World Peace is a Local Issue, at a celebration of local, community-based projects. Activists from East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Palo Alto and Redwood City will participate by presenting currently important local issues. The evening will include a Memorial Tribute in which former Palo Alto Mayor Peter Drekmeier will honor two former Palo Alto Council Members, Gary Fazzino and Ellen Fletcher who are featured in the film. Fadiman’s film documents a memorable event in mid-Peninsula history: the efforts of Palo Alto residents (in 1983) to convince their City Council to adopt a resolution endorsing a Nuclear Weapons Freeze. This drama takes place against a backdrop of worldwide grassroots efforts to rein in the alarming nuclear arms race during the Cold War era. The film focuses on the tension of the council meeting where impassioned pleas of residents result in two council members changing their positions, ensuring passage of the controversial Resolution. The evening’s program will also feature presentations by activists from East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Redwood City and Palo Alto, who are hard at work on local issues and who’ve been involved in past successful efforts. Guests will be welcomed by a local jazz trio.

The Queerness and Games Conference brings together developers and academics for an interactive exploration of LGBT issues and video games (feel free to interpret those concepts broadly). The event combines traditional presentations and panels with design discussions and creative workshops. Our goal is to put scholars and practitioners into discussion to help us imagine a future for a queer presence in video games, the games industry, and games studies. QGCon 2013 is free and open to the public. Because the event is interdisciplinary and interactive, academics, game developers, and journalists alike are welcome to attend, whether or not they are presenting. Register for free and join the cutting-edge conversation about queerness and video games! Learn about research and game design from top academics and games industry representatives through panels, a game jam, and workshops. Together, academics and developers can create a roadmap for the future of LGBT issues in game studies and game design!

LPFI will be holding “Level The Coding Field” youth hackathons this fall to give students (from minority groups underrepresented in computer science) the opportunity to build apps that improve their community while they gain valuable technology skills. What A hackathon is a gathering of people who get together over a weekend and use technology to create solutions. Students will work in teams of five and be assigned two mentors per team to work together and build a mobile app. On Saturday you'll learn the basics of mobile application development, brainstorm ideas to solve real problems in your community and start designing your team's mobile app. On Sunday you'll put the final touches on your app and present with your team in front of a panel of judges. Who Students in 6th - 12th grade who are interested in technology, mobile, tablets, gaming and the Internet from minority groups underrepresented in computer science. Enter individually or request to join with your team (of up to 5 students).

In an increasingly urbanized, compact world, where political instability and violence break out, the impact is concentrated and direct: buildings are leveled, cityscapes are transformed, people, property, and infrastructure displaced and destroyed. Forensic Architecture is a collaborative project that analyzes maps, images, and models sites of violence to provide evidence and facts in the context of international law and human rights. Eyal Weizman will explore through Forensic Architecture the history and trajectory of architectural analysis: its applications to international law and analysis of atrocities, criminal damages assessment, and its expanding uses in environmental, political, and social movements as well as discuss the evolving role of media and technology in creating and presenting spatial and architectural modeling. Eyal Weizman is an architect, Professor of Visual Cultures and director of the Centre for Research Architecture at Goldsmiths, University of London. Since 2011 he has also directed the European Research Council funded project, Forensic Architecture, an institute that focuses on the place of architecture in international humanitarian law. He is also a founding member of the architectural collective DAAR in Beit Sahour/Palestine. His most recent books include "Mengele's Skull" (with Thomas Keenan at Sterenberg Press 2012), "Forensic Architecture" (dOCUMENTA13 notebook, 2012), and "The Least of all Possible Evils" (Nottetempo 2009, Verso 2011). He has worked with a variety of NGOs worldwide and was member of the B'Tselem board of directors. He also serves on the advisory boards of the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London, and the Human Rights Project at Bard in NY.

This updated course gives you the building blocks for successful foundation fundraising. It provides effective strategies for including foundations as a part of your organization’s fundraising plan, with a focus on the importance of connecting your organization’s needs to funder interests. Learn how to use Foundation Directory Online Professional to find funders and get tips on using research to approach your prospects with confidence.

CreaTV San Jose is now accepting entries for The 2013 CreaTiVe Awards, a competition honoring the best in video production. Videomakers of all ages in the nine Bay Area counties plus Santa Cruz County are invited to enter videos and TV shows to CreaTV San Jose in one or more of ten categories.

Since “A Nation at Risk,” through “No Child Left Behind” (NCLB) and into the “Elementary and Secondary Education Act” (ESEA), our national conversation has centered on the importance of access to an excellent education for every child in America. It is uncontested that educational achievement is a leading indicator for an individual’s quality of life. Yet the challenges that confront our education system are far-reaching. These challenges include unequal access for diverse learners and underserved populations in K-12 education, through high school and college students graduating with inadequate mathematical, scientific, cross-cultural and linguistic skills needed to compete in the global workforce. These concerns are not new, but the ways in which we tackle these issues can be. The 2013-2014 JBL Awards will recognize grassroots advocates who are working diligently to bring about educational equity. Eligible nominees are activists who are working at a state level and collaborating with others to: Develop innovative approaches and systems Support responsive and effective teachers and leaders Identify and more deeply involve key stakeholders such as families, educators, and agencies Remove obstacles to making all levels of education affordable, accessible and attainable The award recipients will be honored with up to $10,000 each. Nominees will have organized and mobilized educational resources, stakeholders or personnel to affect statewide policy or education systems. They will be tireless advocates for educational equity and access. The nominee’s actions and attitude will be one that strives for accountability and excellence, all while promoting collaboration and inclusion.

The TFI Documentary Fund furthers the development of exceptional character-driven, non-fiction works that spotlight contemporary themes with an original focus and bold, creative filmmaking. This fund allows TFI to fund many audience-grabbing genres that fall under the documentary umbrella including arts, sports, hybrid and experimental projects.

Labeled a “domestic terrorist” by the McCain campaign in 2008 and used by the Radical Right to castigate Barack Obama for “pallin’ around with terrorists,” Bill Ayers is In fact a dedicated teacher, father, and social justice advocate with a sharp memory and even sharper wit.

Nikki Giovanni is a world-renowned poet, writer, commentator, activist, and educator. One of the most popular, widely read American poets, she prides herself on being “A Black American, a daughter, a mother, a professor of English.” For several decades she has been an eloquent and outspoken voice in the struggle for civil rights and equality. She is one of Oprah Winfrey’s twenty-five “Living Legends.”

Each year, the awards recognize outstanding achievement in the following categories: Volunteer of the Year, Excellence in Board Leadership, Excellence in Leadership, Achievement in Nonprofit Excellence, Excellence in Innovation, Corporate Community Service, and Youth Volunteer of the Year. Those chosen in the first five categories will be awarded $5,000 each for their organizations. Additionally, up to five youth will be presented with $1,000.

Under the leadership of founder Sylvia Siegel, and those who followed her footsteps, TURN has grown to become the largest and most successful utility consumer advocacy organization int he state, racking up billions of dollars in savings for California consumers. Join TURN veterans, friends and even some of our opponents on November 14th as we celebrate our legacy, present awards to our heroes, and look forward to another 40 years of championing the rights of Californians.

The launch of Obamacare is likely to be one of the biggest stories for California news media in the coming year. We'd like to help you figure out how to tell it. For eight years, The California Endowment Health Journalism Fellowships program at USC's Annenberg School of Communication has been providing all-expenses-paid mini fellowships to help journalists understand how to cover complex health issues in a way that engages their audiences. We're writing to invite you to apply for our next competitively selected Fellowship for California journalists, which will focus heavily on Obamacare.

The Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles is excited to announce that submissions for the 2014 festival are officially open. All films must be officially submitted through Withoutabox via the link provided below. Our preference is for online screeners, though if physical DVDs are sent, we require two (2) copies sent to: Submission DVDs must be labeled with the Withoutabox tracking number, film title, running time, format (PAL or NTSC), and contact information on the DVD label. Submission DVDs will not be returned.

LPFI will be holding “Level The Coding Field” youth hackathons this fall to give students (from minority groups underrepresented in computer science) the opportunity to build apps that improve their community while they gain valuable technology skills. What A hackathon is a gathering of people who get together over a weekend and use technology to create solutions. Students will work in teams of five and be assigned two mentors per team to work together and build a mobile app. On Saturday you'll learn the basics of mobile application development, brainstorm ideas to solve real problems in your community and start designing your team's mobile app. On Sunday you'll put the final touches on your app and present with your team in front of a panel of judges. Who Students in 6th - 12th grade who are interested in technology, mobile, tablets, gaming and the Internet from minority groups underrepresented in computer science. Enter individually or request to join with your team (of up to 5 students).

“Thank you” is what I thought I was supposed to say when told that I didn’t “look Jewish.” What will make it irresistible for Jewish women to free ourselves of internalized anti-Semitism, expanding our sense of possibility? Hope into Practice responds with a rare blend of healing stories, fascinating history, and a fair-minded perspective on Israel-Palestine–asking us to love ourselves enough to face our fears without acting on them. Anchored in Jewish ethical tradition and community, it’s an activist’s call to repair the world. And it includes an action-oriented Reader’s Guide, for groups or individuals.

Taking its name from Thomas Edison's seminal 1893 film studio, the 33rd Black Maria Film and Video Festival is accepting short works which explore or enrich any topic or which expand the expressive possibilities of the medium. All genres are accepted - from documentary to animation to experimental.

The Cambodian Photography Project invites you to attend an exhibition of documentary photography by disadvantaged and orphaned children. 40 children ages 9-18 participated in the project, taking photo lessons while documenting their lives at Sunrise Children’s Villages, orphanages in Siem Reap and Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

This renowned program offers 20 journalists the opportunity to spend 10 months experimenting, testing and developing innovative ideas for the future of journalism.

We are pleased to announce this call for nominations for the 2014 Oak Human Rights Fellowship, sponsored by the Oak Institute for the Study of International Human Rights at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. The fellowship is a one-semester appointment as an activist-in-residence. It is designed to provide human rights defenders doing "on-the-ground" work at some level of personal risk a respite from front-line duties to enable them to reflect, write, and communicate their work to our campus community. We are writing to ask your help in identifying the Oak fellow for the fall of 2014.