October 22-25, 2025

Wealth, Water, and Health: Navigating Political Economies in California’s Central Valley

The Central Valley Social Justice Conference is a collaborative, multi-campus event that brings together students, faculty, community leaders, and advocates to explore critical social, environmental, and economic issues impacting our region.

This year’s theme: Wealth, Water, and Health, invites us to examine how structural inequalities shape daily life in California’s Central Valley, from housing access and labor rights to environmental justice and public health. Through panels, workshops, performances, and interactive activities, we’ll explore the intersection of policy, identity, and community action in shaping a more just and sustainable future.

What to Expect

  • Inspiring keynote speakers and thought-provoking discussions
  • Engaging workshops, creative sessions, and student contributions
  • Opportunities to connect with community partners and advocacy organizations
  • Interactive activities promoting civic engagement and social change

A Regional and Global Perspective

The conference aligns with several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including:

  • Goal 3: Good Health and Well-Being
  • Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation
  • Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities
  • Goal 13: Climate Action

Through these global lenses, we anchor local struggles in a broader framework of justice, resilience, and sustainable change.

Stay Informed

For updates, speaker announcements, and the full schedule, please check back regularly or follow us on social media.

Interest Form

Register for Stockton Campus Event on 10/25/2025

Evening Keynote Livestream Link

Daily Program & Schedule

Wednesday, Oct. 22– Saturday, Oct. 25

 

Keynote Schedule

Date & Time Keynote Speaker / Location
Wednesday, Oct. 22
6:30 p.m.

Abraham Bedoy: "Fighting for All Californians in a Time of Mass Deportation: CA Immigration Policy Advocacy in Action” a brief overview of the dire context immigrant families are enduring, the impact of federal efforts to hurt immigrant families, and the importance of CA policy to counteract these efforts and better protect all Californians.

Nolan Cabrera: “White Immunity”: Working through Unconscious Bias and the Pitfalls of “Privilege” Discourse to Foster Racially Inclusive Learning Environments

(Mainstage)

Thursday, Oct. 23
6:30 p.m.
William Davis (UN) and Winona La Duke
(Mainstage)
Friday, Oct. 24
6:30 p.m.
The Performance of Crisis and Resolution
Featuring Sam Pierstorff, Angela Drew, and Bethany Padron
(Mainstage)
Saturday, Oct. 25
9:15–9:45 a.m.
Retired Senator Eggman
(Morning Keynote)

Wednesday, October 22

Theme: Understanding One Another and Advocating for Issues that Matter

Time Activity / Location
10 a.m.–1 p.m. Kickstart and Community Tabling at  Warrior Wednesday with Community Partners (Library Patio)
2–3 p.m. Issues and Advocacy Student Pitches (Room L102)
3–4 p.m.

Workshop: Healing Self-Inflicted Wounds and Dismantling White Supremacy: Tools for Fostering Empowerment and Systemic Accountability to Create Truly Racially Inclusive Institutions, Policies and Cultural Norms

Nolan Cabrera (L102) 

4–5 p.m.

Workshop: “Know Your Rights: Central Valley Community Safety in an Era of Due Process Violations” how allies and directly impacted people can exercise their rights in an era of clear disregard for rule of law.

Abraham Bedoy (L102)  

5 p.m. Drum Circle: Dave Rogers (Art Gallery Patio)
5–6:30 p.m.

Art Gallery Digital Art Exhibition: "Fables of Fire and Water" Shiva Ahmadi

Gallery Page

Mainstage Lobby/Art Gallery

6:30–7:15 p.m.

Fighting for All Californians in a Time of Mass Deportation: CA Immigration Policy Advocacy in Action

Keynote: Abraham Bedoy (Mainstage)

7:20–8:20 p.m.

“White Immunity”: Working through Unconscious Bias and the Pitfalls of “Privilege” Discourse to Foster Racially Inclusive Learning Environments

Keynote: Nolan Cabrera (Mainstage)

8:20–8:50 Q&A

Thursday, October 23

Theme: How Can Development Be Sustainable and for All?

Time Activity / Location
11 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Community Speakers Panel: Central Valley Issues: Eric Alvarez, Mani Grewal, Homero Mejia, Lourdes Perez  (Room L102)
1–3 p.m.

Workshop: Roots & Resilience: Culture, Trauma, and Mental Health

Maychee Mua, Indy Rishi Singh and Vicki Cha (Room L102)

3–4 p.m. Workshop: Winona La Duke (Room L102)
4–5 p.m.

Workshop: Doughnut Economics

How can Doughnut Economics regenerate social and environmental justice?

Indy Rishi Singh (Room L102)

5 p.m.

Art Gallery Digital Art Exhibition: "Fables of Fire and Water" Shiva Ahmadi

Gallery Page

Mainstage Lobby/Art Gallery

6:30–7:20 p.m. Keynote: William Davis (UN)
7:20–8:20 p.m. Keynote: Winona La Duke (Mainstage)
8:20–8:50 Q&A

Friday, October 24

Theme: Culture in Crisis: What’s Urgent

Time Activity / Location
1–1:45 p.m.

Workshop: Human Security and Sustainable Development

Dr. Andrew Conteh (Room L102)

2-3 p.m.  Every Drop Counts Project: Valley Improvement Project (Room L102)
5 p.m.

Art Gallery Digital Art Exhibition: "Fables of Fire and Water" Shiva Ahmadi

Gallery Page

Mainstage Lobby/Art Gallery

6:30 p.m. Keynote: The Performance of Crisis and Resolution — Sam Pierstorff, Angela Drew, Bethany Padron (Mainstage)

Saturday, October 25

Theme: From Isolation to Impact: A Journey of Advocacy Through Storytelling and Systems Change

Time Description
8:30–9:00 a.m.

Check-in & Networking

9:00 a.m.

Welcome
Dr. Britt Rios-Ellis, California State University, Stanislaus

9:15 a.m.

Keynote: An Individual Journey in Intersecting Systems Change – Water, Education, and Health Equity
Retired Senator Susan Talamantes Eggman

This keynote address explores one community member’s journey from the Northern San Joaquin Valley farm to the halls of the California Legislature, harnessing community spirit and collaboration to make systems-level changes that increase water, education, and health equity in the region and across California.

Learning Objectives:

  • Participants will learn how to engage in the legislative process to create intersectional changes so that individuals, families, and communities can thrive locally, regionally, and statewide

9:45 a.m.

Legislative Panel: Engaging with Your Elected Officials
Tiffany Dobson (Rep. for Congressman Josh Harder)
Joel Reyna (Rep. for CA Senator Jerry McNerney)
Jazmin Gutierrez (Rep. for CA Assemblywoman Rhodesia Ransom)
Moderator: Dr. Matthew Derrick, Associate Dean, Stockton Campus, Stanislaus State

This panel introduces participants to current state and federal elected official representatives and focuses on learning how to engage with them to share community voice, activate community supports, and drive local, state, and federal systems change.

Learning Objectives:

  • Participants will explore pathways of political advocacy through local, state, and federal elected office positions and roles.

  • Participants will explore how and when to access the offices of local, state, and federal elected representatives and the services provided through these offices.

10:30 a.m.

Building Collective Power for Change
Tony McNeil, Executive Director, Concrete Development Inc.

An interactive session exploring power—who holds it, how it operates, and how communities can build and use it collectively to create lasting change. Participants will unpack the conceptsof visible and invisible power, identify key decision-makers in their local, state, and federal landscapes, and map out pathways to influence them. Through guided reflection and group exercises, we’ll transform individual passion into collective strategy — turning awareness into action and solidarity into strength.

Learn more about Toni McNeil

Learning Objectives:

  • Participants will understand visible vs. invisible power.

  • Participants will identify power players and decision-making

  • processes.

  • Participants will reflect on the importance of building coalitions and

  • leadership from within the community.

  • Participants will recognize “heroes” and “champions” who help drive

  • change

11:10–11:25 a.m. Break
11:25 a.m.

Building Coalitions for Workforce Development
Josanna Kiggins, Regional Career Pathways Director, Health Force Partners

This presentation will explore how local cross sector coalition building can be a powerful tool in addressing regional workforce gaps and improving community health, education, and economic outcomes.

Learning Objective:

  • Recognize how cross-sector coalitions can stabilize the workforce, increase public health, and drive social mobility.

11:45 a.m.

From Voices to Votes: Turning Advocacy into Action
Tony McNeil, Executive Director, Concrete Development Inc.

In this follow-up session, participants will learn how to move from understanding power to using it effectively in the policy and legislative arenas. We’ll demystify how a bill becomes a law, explore the key moments in the legislative calendar, and discuss concrete ways to
influence outcomes — from lobbying and research meetings to public testimony and community mobilization. This workshop empowers participants to elevate their advocacy into tangible results, ensuring their voices are heard where decisions are made.

Learning Objectives:

  • Participants will recognize the legislative processes at multiple levels of governance.
  • Participants will gain insight into various forms of political advocacy,including lobby days, public comment, research meetings, and others.
  • Participants will practice ways to communicate with elected officials and allies
  • Participants will strategize actions that lead to measurable policy change
12:30 p.m. Lunch
1–3:00 p.m.

Dear Change: Letters That Speak Back
Angela Drew and Sam Pierstorff

In this generative writing workshop, poets will explore the epistolary form—writing poems as letters to the forces that shape our lives. Together, we’ll transform frustration into art, and art into action, crafting letter-poems that confront, confess, or call for change.

Learning Objectives:

  • Participants will demonstrate the use of poetry and spoken word as a conduit for community story telling and giving voice to community strength and power.
  • Participants will explore finding their own voice and harnessing that voice to communicate with elected officials and allies to tell the stories of their communities and advocate for policy change
3–3:15 p.m.

Closing Thoughts & Call to Action
Angela Drew and Sam Pierstorff

Speaker Bios

As the ILRC's policy specialist, Abraham Bedoy manages their California Policy Portfolio (bills and budget advocacy) in Sacramento. For the conference, and keeping in mind it’s theme, he will be discussing the difficult and violent realities facing our immigrant families at the federal level, how families and allies can best prepare for immigration enforcement campaigns heavily targeting our region, and what California is doing to fight back.

Dr. Nolan Cabrera is an award-winning scholar and nationally recognized expert in the areas of racism/anti-racism on college campuses, whiteness, and ethnic studies. He is currently a Professor in the Center for the Study of Higher Education at the University of Arizona, and was the only academic featured in the MTV documentary White People. Dr. Cabrera's book, White Guys on Campus: Racism, White Immunity, and the Myth of "Post-Racial" Higher Education, is a critical examination of race in higher education, centering whiteness, in an effort to unveil the frequently unconscious habits of racism among white male undergraduates. It was the winner of the 2019 Outstanding Book Award from the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE).

Will Davis was appointed by United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, as the Director of the United Nations Information in Washington, DC beginning in August, 2024. Mr. Davis brings a wealth of experience to this post, having spent more than two decades working in various positions in the UN, as well as the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Mr. Davis has also served in numerous positions in the U.S. Federal Government, including Director of Legislative Affairs at the National Security Council, and as a Senior Advisor in the State Department’s Bureau of Legislative Affairs. Mr. Davis is an expert in the budget and appropriations process for the U.S. international affairs budget, and he brings a deep understanding to his current role of the often complex relationship between the U.S. and the United Nations system. Mr. Davis holds a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science from Duke University, and a Master’s Degree in Public Policy, also from Duke. He has been an adjunct member of the faculty at George Washington University’s Elliot School of International Affairs and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Angela Drew is a mother, dancer, author, poet and self-proclaimed linguistic artist who has loved the rhythm of words for as long as she can remember. Born in Berkeley, CA, she began writing at age eight and has always understood that words have the power to soothe, stir, or solidify connection. She has played with the magic of storytelling ever since. 

Angela is the current Poet Laureate of Modesto, CA and is the winner and first-place slam champion of Modesto’s 2021 ILL List 16 Poetry Slam. She has performed her spoken word poetry at an array of venues, just to name a few: Yoshi’s Jazz Club, Oakland, CA, Gallo Center for the Arts and The State Theatre, Modesto, CA, Brickhouse Art Gallery, Sacramento, CA, and Apache Cafe, Atlanta, GA – a landmark poetry lounge that is home to some of ATL’s finest creatives. She is the author of ElderBerry Wine, a children’s book written in poetic verse, that celebrates the beauty & majesty of our elders and the richness they bring by simply being a part of our lives.

Angela (a.k.a. She Spits Fire) is currently curating a spoken word poetry album, along with accompanying book, slated for release in April 2025.

Winona LaDuke (Anishinaabe) is one of the world’s most tireless and charismatic leaders working on issues of sustainable development, climate change, Indigenous rights, local food systems, grass-roots organizing, alternative sources of energy, and the priceless value of clean water.

She co-founded and is the former Executive Director of Honor the Earth, whose mission is to create awareness and support for Native environmental issues and to develop needed financial and political resources for the survival of sustainable Native communities. Her other organizations, Akiing and Winona’s Hemp and Heritage Farm, help communities produce sustainable energy and materials for a restorative and regenerative economy.

Winona lives and works on the White Earth reservation in northern Minnesota and is the founder of the White Earth Land Recovery Project, one of the largest reservation-based, non-profit organizations in the country. She is also a two-time vice-presidential candidate with Ralph Nader for the Green Party. A rural development economist and graduate of Harvard and Antioch Universities, she writes extensively on Indigenous struggles for environmental justice.

Her seven books include: Recovering the Sacred: The Power of Naming and Claiming; All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life; The Militarization of Indian Country; and a novel, Last Standing Woman. Her latest book, To Be a Water Protector: Rise of the Wiindigoo Slayers is an expansive, provocative engagement with issues that have been central to her decades of activism, including seven years battling Line 3, an Enbridge tar sands oil pipeline in northern Minnesota.

Winona is also the recipient of many awards, including a 2007 induction into the National Women’s Hall of Fame and in 1994, recognition by Time Magazine on their list of fifty most promising leaders under forty years of age. Her White Earth Land Recovery Project won the prestigious 2003 International Slow Food Award for Biodiversity. Winona was also Co-founder and Board Co-chair of the Indigenous Women’s Network for fifteen years and maintains a significant role in international advocacy for Indigenous people, including numerous presentations at United Nations forums.

Bethany L. Padron is a third-year doctoral student in Interdisciplinary Humanities at UC Merced, where she focuses on Critical Race and Ethnic Studies. An alumna of Stanislaus State’s McNair Scholars and University Honors Programs, she is also a Chancellor’s Fellow for Inclusive Excellence. A mother, partner, and multidimensional artist, Bethany has published books and albums, performed as a musician, and creates art that extends her research. Her work bridges Black feminist theory, performance, music, and art—treating creative practice as both archive and liberatory method.

Sam Pierstorff is a poet, professor, podcaster, president, and part-time ninja. He has been teaching at Modesto Junior College for more than twenty years after earning his Master of Fine Arts degree in poetry from CSU Long Beach. He became the youngest Poet Laureate ever appointed in the state of California when he was selected to the position in 2004 by the city of Modesto, and in 2019, his college honored him with The Purdy Award for Teaching Excellence.

Sam is also the co-owner of the Queen Bean Coffee & Social House, a historic 1908 home converted into a coffee shop and event space that has become the epicenter of arts in Modesto. From poetry and comedy nights to film screenings, music showcases, and community gatherings, the Queen Bean has become a hub for creativity and connection.

He is the founder and executive director of the award-winning Modesto Artists Movement, a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating great art and cultivating the next generation of artists through events, education, and support. Believing that art transforms lives, builds empathy and joy, and can transform entire communities, Sam has made it his mission to expand access to art in the Central Valley.

He is also the host & creator of The ILL LIST, California’s most prestigious annual poetry slam competition at the historic State Theatre, where he also serves as President of the Board of Directors. As a performer, he has won UC Merced's Grand Slam championship, the Rogue Festival Poetry Slam, and he was the first non-singer to ever win the Grand Prize at The Valley Talent Project presented by the Gallo Center for the Arts.

Sam has published more than 200 poems, and his autobiographical story about growing up Muslim in America was selected as the opening piece in the anthology Salaam, Love (Beacon Press). He was subsequently invited to Harvard University to read and was later invited to deliver a TEDx Talk. He is the author of Growing Up in Someone Else's Shoes and co-editor of More Than Soil, More Than Sky: The Modesto Poets, which launched to #1 on Amazon's Poetry Best Seller list upon its release.

He is one-third of the Burn & Rave comedy podcast, and a two-time contestant on NBC's American Ninja Warrior, certifying him as the world's first #NinjaPoet. He can also be found on TikTok & IG @njapoet, where his fitness and teaching tips have amassed more than 485,000 followers.

Indy is the Executive Director of Cultivating Self, whose mission is to expand the framework of healthcare to include ecological medicine, food and nature as medicine, cultural medicine, and health advocacy and civic engagement.  He is an avid regenerative farmer, an ecological steward, and advocate for farmers. Indy is also the lead Pollinator with California Doughnut Economics Coalition, which is researching and documenting the holistic economic health of the state of California and launching regional doughnut accelerators throughout California. Indy co-founded Cosmic Labyrinth to reimagine work and mitigate disasters through nature-based solutions and community action festivals. Indy has been a commissioner in local government, regularly secures business contracts with municipal and state governments, and organizes hyperlocal citizen assemblies that bring stakeholders together in more dynamic civic spaces. He also hosts the podcast, Political Hope, which is a journey to connect with people and projects practicing civic imagination and systemic metamorphosis. 

Art Exhibition

an exhibition of three animation works by Shiva Ahmadi.  Her works address issues of migration, war, and brutality against marginalized people. While painting remains her primary medium, she pushes its boundaries through video animation, extending it into time and movement. Each animation is meticulously hand-painted, with characters, landscapes and abstract forms transforming from static images into dynamic narratives that unfold across space and echo the oral traditions of storytelling.

More about this Artist

Fables of Fire and Water by Shiva Ahmadi

"Marooned" Single-channel video animation with sound (handmade animation)
Edition of 3; Collection of Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 2021

Updated: October 22, 2025