Vermont Business MagazineThe Sanders Institute announced their inaugural conference,The Sanders Institute Gathering,late last week. Scheduled to be held in Burlington, Vermont, fromThursday, November 29ththroughSaturday, December 1st, 2018, the array of speakers come from both the national and international progressive community. Among the participants will be AIDS Healthcare Foundation(AHF) and several AHF officials. In late 2017, AHF launched theHealthy Housing Foundation(HHF), part of a community-based effort to address the exploding housing and homelessness crisis in Los Angeles and elsewhere in the U.S. Since then, the Healthy Housing Foundation has purchased three underutilized single-room-occupancy hotels (SROs) on Skid Row in Los Angeles and a motel in Hollywood, adaptively reusing and repurposing the buildings as nearly 600 housing units for homeless and/or extremely low-income individuals. HHF is also well underway with design and planning a newly built 680-unit affordable housing tower in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.
"TheSandersInstituteGathering is an important opportunity for progressives to discuss, debate,compare notes and strategize. We are grateful to JaneSandersfor creating this very special opportunity for AHF, and its new subsidiary the Healthy Housing Foundation, to present our ideas on housing justice,” saidMichael Weinstein, President of AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) and a scheduled panelist at the event. “TheSandersInstitute understands that affordable housing has become the number one economic inequality issue in many American cities and it must be addressed."
Founded in 2017 on the belief that a vital democracy requires an informed electorate, civil discourse and bold ideas, the Sanders Institute focuses on progressive solutions to economic, environmental, racial and social justice issues.
David Driscoll, Co-Founder & Executive Director of the young, non-partisan think tank, said that the event will host, “elected officials, organizers, educators, economists, writers, artists and emerging leaders from a full spectrum of experience and expertise.”
MayorsCarmen Yulin Cruz(San Juan, Puerto Rico),Bill deBlasio(New York, NY),Ada Colau(Barcelona, Spain) andMichael Tubbs(Stockton, CA) will be on a Mayors’ Roundtable. Labor leaders such as UE PresidentPeter Knowlton, APWU PresidentMark Dimondstein, NNU Co-PresidentJean Rossand former NNU Executive DirectorRoseAnn Demorowill be speaking.Yanis Varoufakis(former Finance Minister of Greece),Nikki Ashton(Member of Canadian Parliament),Bernie Sanders(Vermont Senator),David McWilliams(Irish author/economist) and others will discuss international cooperation and the need for a Progressive International movement.
Other speakers include well-known names likeDanny Glover, Stephanie Kelton, Shaun King, Naomi Klein, Ben Jealous, Tulsi Gabbard, Winona LaDuke, Bill McKibben, Nina Turner, Simon Sinek, Cenk UygarandJames Zogby. Other exemplary researchers and policy developers likeJane Kim, Robert Pollin, Chirlane McCray, Michael Weinstein, Radhika Balakrishnan, Matt Nelson, Brenda Torpy, Joseph Geevargese, Karin Ryan, Jo Beardsmore, Diane Archer, Ron GoldfarbandJohn Davisand many more will be part of the program – which includes fifteen of the Institute’s eighteen fellows. More information on the conference and speakers can be found atwww.sandersinstitutegathering.org.
Jane Sanders, Co-Founder & Fellow, said, “the selection of topics and speakers will ensure that the conference is insightful and relevant, as we discuss some of our nation’s most pressing issues and share innovative solutions. Medicare for All, the climate crisis, housing issues, criminal justice, workers’ rights, international cooperation, civil rights and austerity in Puerto Rico are some of the issues that will be addressed.”
“Social justice, economic justice and human dignity will be focuses threaded throughout the conference,” said Driscoll, concluding, “The core intent of The Sanders Institute Gathering is to share replicable policies, develop actionable steps, establish ongoing networks and articulate a progressive vision.”
Sanders Institute Gathering Contact:[email protected]
AIDS Healthcare Foundation(AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to over 1,000,000 individuals in 42 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Eastern Europe. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website:www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook:www.facebook.com/aidshealthand follow us@aidshealthcare.
Source:(BUSINESS WIRE)--11.28.2018