The Pro-Voice Project hosts statewide seminar

By Reader Staff

The Pro-Voice Project will host “Courage in the Face of Fear: Social Justice Elders on the Importance of Speaking Out,” a live seminar and Q&A session bringing together national experts on human rights and community organizing.

The webinar will be livestreamed at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 20, with the public invited to attend at the Sandpoint United Methodist Church (711 Main St.). Participants can also watch online at bit.ly/4ypwMz2.

Speakers include Loretta J. Ross, an activist, professor, MacArthur Fellow and co-founder of the National Center for Human Rights Education and the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective; Suzanne Pharr, a queer feminist, political strategist and former director of the Highlander Center; and Shea Howell, an activist, writer, educator, professor emerita and co-founder of the Boggs Center and Riverwise Magazine. 

All three guests are members of the National Council of Elders and will draw from their decades of experience in social justice, grassroots activism and human rights education to discuss what it takes to speak out in a threatening environment.

“In Idaho, fear often keeps us silent,” said PVP Executive Director Jen Jackson Quintano. “We fear being ostracized or abandoned by our communities, and some of us fear violence or retaliation, so we stay quiet. But our voices can do more to connect us than divide us. When we speak up, we find others who share our values. In building courage, we also build community.”

The event will stream statewide, with local watch gatherings planned in towns across Idaho. In-person attendees will have the opportunity to discuss how to apply what they’ve learned as a community.

For more information, visit theprovoiceproject.com.