Values in Action: Meet the Speakers

Values in Action is less than two weeks away. Who are you most excited to hear from?

Hosted by Trinity Institute and sponsored by Trinity Church Wall Street, Episcopal Community Services is the only site streaming the affair in Philadelphia, joining 60+ partner sites nationwide.

At what promises to be a thought-provoking day, the live stream of Values in Action here at ECS (have you registered yet?) will bring together civically-engaged people from across the country to explore how we can create a better world by working as one. What does that mean exactly? Through dialogue and reflection periods, attendees will learn how the impact of our actions—individually and organizationally—can be amplified with values-based partnerships.

On top of that, this year’s conference has landed a one powerhouse collection of speakers. Come engage with and be, inspired by these leading activists, theologians, and authors whose lives and work show the true power of values in action.

  • The Most Rev. Michael B. Curry Michael Curry has served as the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church since 2015, the first African-American to do so. He has been extensively involved in preaching missions, Crisis Control Ministry, the Absalom Jones initiative, the brokering of millions of dollars of investment in inner-city neighborhoods, and the founding of day camps, daycares, and educational centers for children and families.
  • Liz Edman is an Episcopal priest, political strategist, and writer. She is the author of Queer Virtue: What LGBTQ People Know About Life and Love and How It Can Revitalize Christianity. She has lived and worked on the front lines of the most salient contemporary issues where religion meets sexuality, serving as an inner-city hospital chaplain to people with HIV/AIDS from 1989 to 1995 and helping craft political and communications strategies for marriage equality efforts.
  • Michelle Alexander is a highly acclaimed civil rights lawyer, advocate, legal scholar, and best-selling author. Her award-winning book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, helped to spark a national debate about the crisis of mass incarceration in the United States and inspired racial justice organizing and advocacy efforts nationwide.
  • Pádraig Ó Tuama is a poet and theologian based in Belfast. He teaches religion, storytelling, and conflict transformation and is a popular speaker at conferences and festivals in Ireland, the U.K., the U.S., and Australia. He is the leader of the Corrymeela Community, a Christian witness to peace in Northern Ireland, and is the author of two books of poetry: Readings from the Book of Exile and Sorry for Your Troubles.
  • Jose Antonio Vargas is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and filmmaker whose work centers on the changing American identity. He is the founder of Define American, a nonprofit media and culture organization that seeks to elevate the conversation around immigration and citizenship in America.

With so many promising headliners, we can’t pick just one. Click here for the full list of speakers and their bios, and then click here to register.