FirstRepair

Screening & Conversation: The Big Payback - The Chicago Community Trust
2023-07-11 13:30 - 15:30 (America/Chicago) | Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 North State Street, Chicago, 60601, United States

2023 USBC National Conference
2023-07-19 09:00 - 2023-07-21 17:00 (America/Chicago)
Mark your calendars for the highly anticipated 2023 U.S. Black Chambers, Inc. National Conference powered by Walmart Business and Wells Fargo!
Taking place July 19-21, 2023, at the prestigious Waldorf Astoria in Washington, DC, this event is three days of intensive training and inspiration for Black chamber leaders and entrepreneurs on the latest proven strategies for chamber growth, business expansion, and community leadership.
Featuring networking opportunities, workshops, and evening receptions, this conference is the perfect opportunity for attendees to gain access to valuable expertise and engage in peer-to-peer learning about business trends, practices, and issues.
Whether you’re a seasoned chamber leader or a rising entrepreneur, you won’t want to miss this chance to connect with other Black business professionals and gain valuable insights into the world of Black entrepreneurship.
Join us for this exciting event and take your business to the next level!
REGISTER HERE!

Monthly Reparations Strategy Session - July 2023: GRAMMY Award Winner, Rhymefest, Cultural Currency
2023-07-27 12:30 - 13:30 (America/Chicago)
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR ZOOM
RHYMEFEST’S BIO
As a recording artist, songwriter, humanitarian, and trailblazer; Che “Rhymefest” Smith has shattered countless negative stereotypes in Hip Hop. His creative contributions to the culture have earned him GRAMMY Awards, a Soul Train Award, a Golden Globe and countless nominations and accolades for his Academy Award Winning works. In his current role with Golden State Entertainment, as an artist and strategic advisor, Smith is preparing to release his first creative project, “James and Nikki: A Conversation”, based on the 1971 sit down between James Baldwin and Nikki Giovanni, which was presented on WNET’s “Soul!”
This Chicago native expanded his gifts beyond the borders of music as the storyteller and subject of the Showtime and Break Thru Films documentary “In My Father’s House”, which chronicles the process of Che purchasing his estranged father’s childhood home, during which he discovered that his father had been homeless for most of Rhymefest’s life. He then embarks on a journey to reconnect and redeem their relationship. Rhymefest considers himself a global citizen, partnering with organizations like “The Abolition Institute” as he fights against modern day slavery in places like Mauritania; from there Che’s relationships have found him making diasporic Fusion Hip Hop with the Griot and Wolof tribes in Dakar, Senegal. You might even catch him in Cartagena, Colombia freestyling with the Palenque. It’s Rhymefest’s belief that music should be used as a tool to heal wounds and bridge connections between cultures.
Rhymefest debuted his acting prowess in the Emilio Estevez written and directed film “The Public”, starring alongside Gabriel Union, Michael K. Williams, Jeffrey Wright, Alec Baldwin and Emilio Estavez. He’s made guest appearances on the HBO Max comedy series “South Side” and was a central character in the Kanye West, Netflix documentary “Jeen-Yuhs”. Never straying from his love of music and community service, Rhymefest co-founded the nonprofit organization Art Of Culture, where he mentors youth, teaches writing classes and exposes young people to the world around them with 7-day youth cultural retreats.
“True Power Is The Power To Empower Others” – Rhymefest
RHYMEFEST’S WIKIPEDIA

Peace, Love, and Reparations Benefit Concert
2023-08-12 10:00 - 17:30 (America/Chicago)
Free Concert taking place on August 12, 2023, in the heart of Black Los Angeles, Leimert Park. This event will mark the completion of the California Reparation Task Force’s final report, as we continue to push for federal reparations.
The Peace, Love, and Reparations Concert+Unity Rally will bring together policy creators, activists, and artists to inspire, educate, and empower for community reparations and healing. Join us in this celebration and our efforts to build a national united front to move this nation forward for reparations.
We have an incredible lineup of speakers, including Congresswoman Shelia Jackson Lee, California Secretary of State, Shirley Weber, Evanston’s Robin Rue Simmons and California Reparations Task Force Members, who will share their insights and experiences on reparations policy. And let’s not forget the musical performances from Eric Benet, The Game, and the musical group Sounds Of Blackness!
✊🏿✊🏾✊🏽✊🏼✊🏻 This is our moment to make history and build a more equitable future. ✊🏻✊🏼✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿
🗓️ Date: AUGUST 12TH 2023
⏰ Time: 10AM – 5:30PM
📍 Location: Leimert Park
🌟 Admission: Free at the park or $10 Virtual Ticket (link below)
What We’re Working Towards
Peace, Love, & Reparations Unity Rally
Raise awareness of the urgent need for reparations and justice for the Black Community.
Call for action in securing a Presidential Executive Order for an HR 40 Reparations Commission.
Build a stronger and more cohesive reparations movement.
Spark conversations and dialogue around reparations and related.
Generate financial support to fund community-led reparations initiatives.
GET TICKETS HERE!

Pan African Festival
2023-08-18 18:30 - 20:30 (America/Chicago) | Decatur, GA

How Should Societies Remember Their Sins?: A Zócalo Event Series, Supported by The Mellon Foundation
2023-08-23 18:00 - 20:00 (America/Chicago)
The Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel did not believe in collective guilt. Instead, he asked for repair, and for holding the post-World War II generation of Germans responsible “not for the past, but for the way it remembers the past. And for what it does with the memory of the past.” Other societies and communities have taken up Wiesel’s call—at the national level, South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Argentina’s efforts to prosecute Dirty War military leaders, and at the local level, movements like the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission in North Carolina and land back efforts in the Pacific Northwest. What comes after we remember, from apology and forgiveness to reparations and justice?
Rhetoric professor Andre E. Johnson, the Monument Lab co-founder and artist Ken Lum, and reparations leader Robin Rue Simmons join Zócalo and the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis to discuss what repair looks like, and how different people and places have stumbled and succeeded in its pursuit.
We invite our in-person audience to continue the conversation with our speakers and each other at a post-event reception with complimentary drinks and small bites.
REGISTER HERE!

Why Isn't Remembering Enough to Repair?
2023-08-23 18:00 - 20:00 (America/Chicago)
REGISTER HERE!

Monthly Reparations Strategy Session - August 2023: Reverend Dr. Michael C. R. Nabors, Faith-Based Initiatives
2023-08-31 12:30 - 13:30 (America/Chicago)
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR ZOOM
REVEREND NABOR’S BIO
Reverend Dr. Michael C. R. Nabors is senior pastor of the historic Second Baptist Church in Evanston, Illinois. The 139 year-old Church is one of the oldest African American congregations on the North Shore. Since arriving at Second Baptist, Dr. Nabors has sought to continue leading the church in its historical role as a trumpeter for Christ and as a social justice advocate in Evanston and Metro Chicago. Recently, Second Baptist Church has become a leading faith center in America in facilitating Race Talk Solidarity Circles in local communities.
Dr. Nabors teaches Homiletics and Qualitative Research and Theological Writing at Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, IL. He served as Director of the Master of Divinity and Student Life Programs at Ecumenical Theological Seminary in Detroit where he was professor of Homiletics and African American Religious History. He has taught at Ashland Theological Seminary, Calvin Theological Seminary, and Marygrove College.
Dr. Nabors earned an undergraduate degree in English and Creative Writing at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan, the Master of Divinity with an emphasis in Systematic Theology and the Master of Theology with an emphasis in Ethics at Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey and the Doctor of Ministry focusing on African American Preaching at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. He has been both a Samuel DeWitt Proctor and Benjamin E. Mays Fellow. He was also a Fellow in the Sustaining Pastoral Excellence- Lily Endowment Program as well as a Fellow in the Pastor-Theologian Lilly Endowment Program.
Since 2019, Dr. Nabors has been part of the Steering Committee for Evanston Reparations, the first municipal reparations program in the United States, allocating 10 million dollars to Black Evanstonians to repair historical damages due to racism. He has received over 100 community, church and ministry awards for leadership and service in New Jersey, Michigan and Illinois. Before leaving Princeton, New Jersey, the Mayor and City Council commemorated his leadership by naming October 12th, “Dr. Michael Nabors Day.” He also served as president of the Princeton and Trenton, New Jersey branches of the NAACP and is currently in his third term as president of the Evanston-North Shore Branch of the NAACP. A regarded speaker, preacher and lecturer, he has been invited to address universities, seminaries, high schools, community organizations, churches, religious conventions and symposiums throughout the United States.

REVEREND NABOR’S CHURCH

2023 Early Professionals Summit
2023-09-16 11:00 - 21:00 (America/Chicago)
Saturday Keynote: Robin Rue Simmons of FirstRepair
Robin Rue Simmons was born and raised in the largely segregated 5th Ward of Evanston, and laid the foundation for her life’s work in 1998 when she became a residential real estate broker. Troubled by the wealth disparities and concentrated poverty she witnessed locally and saw in other urban communities, she wanted to help young adults begin to build wealth through home ownership. As 5th Ward Alderman for the City of Evanston from 2017-2021, she led in collaboration with others the passage of the nation’s first municipally-funded reparations legislation for Black residents, which began disbursements in January 2022. The local reparations initiative is being funded by the first $10 million of cannabis sales tax revenue collected by the City, and the first stage targets homeownership. Founder and Executive Director of FirstRepair, a nonprofit that informs local reparations nationally, Robin continues to expand her advocacy while also serving as the chairperson of the City of Evanston’s Reparations Committee.
REGISTER HERE!

Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Annual Legislative Conference
2023-09-20 09:00 - 2023-09-24 17:00 (America/Chicago)
Join us at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center for five days of premium programming and signature events including the Prayer Breakfast, National Town Hall, Phoenix Awards, and Black Party.
GET DETAILS

Monthly Reparations Strategy Session - September 2023: Linda Mann, Co-Founder of the African American Redress Network (AARN)
2023-09-28 12:30 - 13:30 (America/Chicago)
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR ZOOM
LINDA MANN’S BIO
Focus areas: intersection of U.S. history, human rights, and reparations
Linda Mann is the co-founder of the African American Redress Network (AARN), a collaboration between Columbia University, School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), and Howard University, Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center. She is an associate adjunct professor at SIPA and director of the John Mitchell Jr. Program, George Mason University, Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution. Her research and practice focus on the intersection of U.S. history, human rights, and reparations. Mann previously served as the Executive Director for the Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project at Northeastern University’s School of Law and VP of Research for the Georgetown Memory Project. Mann is a seasoned educator with over ten years of postgraduate teaching experience and ten years as a public-school history educator. Mann started her career as a conflict resolution specialist and has decades of experience as a political, grassroots organizer.
Education
PhD Education Policy, George Mason University
LINDA MANN’S BIO

69th Annual Conference & Marketplace in Chicago
2023-10-06 09:00 - 2023-10-08 17:00 (America/Chicago)
The International Downtown Association and co-host, Chicago Loop Alliance, will present the 69th Annual Conference & Marketplace in Chicago, Illinois, on October 4-6, 2023. Over 1,000 inspired leaders shaping cities around the globe will convene and discuss emerging trends in place management and walk away with solutions to apply in their respective cities. Attendees will gain actionable insights and tools to help strengthen vital urban centers and commercial neighborhoods.
The 2023 conference, themed Community, Culture & Commerce, embodies the work of place managers – from implementing and nurturing public-private partnerships to recognizing a city’s unique customs, traditions, and heritage and acknowledging how commerce is the main driver for districts globally.
Chicago provides the perfect backdrop for this year’s conference. Its iconic downtown features rich public art, entertainment, dining, shopping, cultural attractions, nature, business and residents in a harmonious multi-use setting. Attendees will get to know many of Chicago’s 77 neighborhoods and the surrounding area so come ready to experience this world-class city.
REGISTER HERE!

Speaking Engagement: The University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica
2023-10-16 09:00 - 17:00 (America/Chicago)

Monthly Reparations Strategy Session - October 2023: Kamm Howard, Founder of Reparations United
2023-10-26 12:30 - 13:30 (America/Chicago)
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR ZOOM
KAMM HOWARD’S BIO
Kamm Howard, MBA, is a national and internationally reparations activist. Former National Cochair of N’COBRA. While at N’COBRA 2006-2022, he assisted in forming the vision and developed, led and implemented many actions in reparations movement . In addition, Kamm is a Commissioner of the National African American Reparations Commission where he led in revising the federal legislation HR 40, He sits on the Boards of First Repair – founded by Robin Rue Simmons of Evanston Illinois, and Global Black was started by Dr. Amara Enya. Additionally, he sits on the Advisory Council of the African American Redress Network.
REPARATIONS UNITED WEBSITE

Making Connections Annual Summit
2023-10-28 09:00 - 16:00 (America/Chicago)
Making Connections Annual Summit is set to change the way we interact with and as BIPOC-led community-based organizations. Our vision is that you use the Making Connections (MC 5.0) platform and affiliates to access accurate community based organizational news, contact information for willing and eager sponsors, as well as resources for businesses of all sizes. MC 5.0 will also include workshops on fundraising and management for non-profit organizations, and will connect corporations, businesses, and foundations to the non-profit community, building vital business relationships along the way. So get ready for our Making Connections Annual Summit event, where opportunity is greeted with a handshake.
REGISTER HERE!

NAACP Beloit Chapter Freedom Fund Gala
2023-11-02 17:30 - 22:00 (America/Chicago)
PURCHASE TICKETS HERE!

YWomen Honoree: Robin Rue Simmons, FirstRepair's Executive Director
2023-11-04 08:00 - 17:00 (America/Chicago)
DETAILS COMING

National Race Amity Conference
2023-11-10 15:00 - 16:30 (America/Chicago)
The concept of Race Amity has been around for more than a century, and many people understand it to be a cross-racial, collaborative methodology for approaching racial healing.  But how practical is it?  Can we really use this approach to address real world organizational and societal challenges?  Is it too “soft” to address the difficult trials that we face today?
Our focus this year will be on exactly that challenge:  how to create cultures in organizations and society that use Race Amity as a strategic approach.

Champaign-Urbana Reparation Coalition (CURC) - Robin Rue Simmons, Keynote Speaker
2023-11-16 09:00 - 17:00 (America/Chicago)

Evanston Symposium for State & Local Reparations Leaders
2023-11-30 09:00 - 2023-12-02 17:00 (America/Chicago)
CLICK HERE for more information and Registration

Reparations Strategy Session
2024-01-25 12:30 - 13:30 (America/Chicago) | Zoom

The Community Discussion with Special Guest Robin Rue Simmons
2024-01-29 10:00 - 16:00 (America/Chicago) | Bruce R Watkins Cultural Heritage Center, 3700 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. BLVD, KCMO, United States

Buy Black Expo
2024-02-10 10:00 - 16:00 (America/Chicago) | Bruce R Watkins Cultural Heritage Center, 3700 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. BLVD, KCMO, United States

February Reparations Strategy Session featuring Kamm Howard
2024-02-22 12:30 - 13:30 (America/Chicago) | Zoom
Kamm Howard is a Chicago businessman and real estate investor, and a national and international reparations scholar and activist working for over 20 years building grassroots movements to obtain reparations for African descendants in the United States. From 2017-2022, he served as the National Co-Chair of The National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America, or N’COBRA. While at N’COBRA, he assisted in forming the vision and developed, led, and implemented many significant actions pushing forward and keeping alive the fight for redress and repair for the intergenerational harm inflicted on black people and the anti-black policies sanctioned by local, state, and federal governments affecting us to this day. In 2022, Howard founded Reparations United to further his mission for obtaining reparations. He provides advisory and leadership to coalitions and activists in the movement. He serves as a Commissioner of the National African American Reparations Commission where in 2017 he led in revising the federal legislation H.R. 40 – a bill to establish a commission to study and develop reparation proposals for African Americans. Kamm authored a pamphlet, “Laying the Foundation for Local Reparations: A Guide for Providing National Symmetry for Local Reparations Efforts,” that has provided guidance to numerous activists around the country. In addition to being the lead writer for revising the federal HR 40 bill, Kamm wrote the Chicago and State of Illinois reparations legislations that created the Chicago Reparations Subcommittee and the State of Illinois Reparations Commission. Kamm was selected to give testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on HR 40 which led to the historic vote to pass the bill out of the House Judiciary Committee. Also, he sits on the Boards of First Repair – founded by Robin Rue Simmons of Evanston, Illinois, and Global Black started by Dr. Amara Enya, while also serving on the advisory councils of the African American Redress Network (AARN) and the Descendants of the St. Louis University Enslaved, or DSLUE.
Click here to register on Zoom

Black History Chicago Reparations Celebrations
2024-02-24 15:00 - 18:00 (America/Chicago) | The Kehrein center of the Arts, 5628W Washington Blvd, chicago, IL, 60644, United States

March Reparations Strategy Session featuring Nkechi Taifa, Jessica Ann Mitchell Aiwuyor, and Robin Rue Simmons: Women and the Reparations Movement
2024-03-28 12:30 - 13:30 (America/Chicago) | Zoom
Register on Zoom

April Reparations Strategy Session featuring Alvin Tillery: Democracy, Politics, and Reparations
2024-04-25 12:30 - 13:30 (America/Chicago) | Zoom
Alvin B. Tillery, Jr., is the founding Director of the Center for the Study of Diversity and Democracy and Professor of political science at Northwestern University. He earned his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 2001. Tillery is also a summa cum laude graduate of Morehouse College. His research focuses on building leadership capacity and designing equity within organizations. Tillery is a frequent commentator in the national media on diversity, equity, and inclusion issues. He is also the CEO of the 2040 Strategy Group, which provides assessments, trainings, and strategic advice to corporations, governments, and non-profits.
Register on Zoom

May Reparations Strategy Session featuring Kristi Williams and Vanessa Hall-Harper: Self-Determination Now and the History of Black Wallstreet
2024-05-23 12:30 - 13:30 (America/Chicago) | Zoom

2024 American Constitution Society Convention Panelist
2024-06-06 - 2024-06-08 | Westin Peachtree Plaza, 210 Peachtree St. NW, Atlanta, GA, United States
Register at: https://www.acslaw.org/get-involved/acs-conventions/2024-acs-national-convention/

Enterprise Black Employee Network (EBEN) Juneteenth Celebration
2024-06-11 13:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York) | Zoom
Zoom Link:
https://enterprisecommunity.zoom.us/j/97977820185?pwd=[REDACTED]
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