Our annual conference will look a little different this year.
*Registration for this event is now closed. Thank you!
After considerable time and thoughtful input we have decided to make this year’s OAESV Annual Conference a Two-Part Virtual Series!
Part One of the conference will be held June 16th-18th. We are planning keynote presentations, a film screening of “No! The Rape Documentary”, affinity group sessions, online self-care spaces, additional interactive sessions, and more.
Part Two will be held August 10th-13th and will be filled with workshops and the SART (Sexual Assault Response Team) Conference.
We’re so excited to still be able to offer our conference in a virtual format, as we know that the sexual assault prevention practitioner and advocate community looks forward to, and truly relies on, this cornerstone event every year. We want to provide this learning experience and also ensure your health and well being by complying with CDC and Ohio Department of Health guidelines.
While we are disappointed we won’t be able to be in person as in previous years, OAESV is always here for you as you address the prevention and eradication of sexual violence and interpersonal violence in the state of Ohio, especially during this unprecedented and challenging time. So, we have been hard at work creating a virtual conference unlike any other. We’ve compiled as much information as possible for you, and as the plans continue to unfold we will update this webpage with more details.
What is the 2020 conference theme?
This year’s Annual Conference seeks to explore three foundations of sexual violence prevention and intervention – accountability, bravery, and community – as we consider ways to “Restore Our Roots”. Just like the survivors who have always inspired this work, our roots are strong, bold, and resilient! But there is always room to grow, and our desire is for this conference to provide the inspiration, tools, training, and conversations to help everyone dig deep and flourish.
As we reflect and honor the work done before us, we must also acknowledge past traumas and shortcomings as well. We can thrive if we are willing to examine our roots and challenge the barriers that have prevented our growth. We hope you will join us in considering new possibilities for accountability, bravery, and community within the sexual violence movement. You might experience a little pruning, but we know you will be nourished!
What’s on the agenda?
Two nationally recognized keynote speakers, Aishah Shahidah Simmons and Dr. Shamariah Arki- Calls to action from Ohio leaders (also nationally recognized!), OAESV founding Board President and past Interim Executive Director CeCe Norwood, and former OAESV board member Dr. Tyffani Dent
- Virtual documentary screening of “NO! The Rape Documentary” by keynote speaker Aishah Shahidah Simmons
- Affinity group sessions, self-care guidance, and more each day
- Breaks between sessions and fun ideas to help keep you engaged
Here is a detailed agenda:
For the PDF version of the event program, click here.
Click the image above to visit OAESV’s Virtual Conference Space to Pause.
Who are the speakers?
We’re extremely excited to announce that we will be welcoming two keynote speakers, Aishah Shahidah Simmons and Dr. Shamariah Arki!
Aishah Shahidah Simmons is an award-winning Black feminist lesbian cultural worker, who, for over 25-years, has examined the intersections of race, gender, sexuality, and sexual violence. Her creative work, published writings, international lectures, and independent scholarship are informed by her lived experiences as a child sexual abuse survivor, adult rape survivor, and Buddhist practitioner committed to disrupting and ending the inhumane, humanely.
Aishah began telling stories cinematically in the early 1990s under the guidance of her teacher, the late Toni Cade Bambara at Scribe Video Center. With her self-defined AfroLez®femcentric pen and camera lens, she wrote, directed and produced her widely acclaimed short videos Silence…Broken ©1993 and In My Father’s House ©1996 address race, gender, homophobia, rape, reproductive justice, and misogyny.
Aishah spent 12-years (1994-2006) producing, writing, and directing the Ford Foundation-funded, internationally acclaimed and award-winning feature length film, NO! The Rape Documentary.
Alice Walker, the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning author of The Color Purple, says, “If the Black community in the Americas and in the world would save itself, it must complete the work that [NO!] begins.”
We are also excited to offer a virtual screening of Aishah’s documentary, “NO! The Rape Documentary.” And the first 200 people that register will receive a conference box that includes a copy of Aishah’s book love WITH accountability: Digging Up the Roots of Child Sexual Abuse as well as other gifts from OAESV. We hope that this gesture will be a way to bring us all together, despite being physically distanced from one another.
Shemariah J. Arki identifies as an educator, an activist and an organizer. Currently serving as the inaugural post-doctoral scholar in intersectional feminisms at the Flora Stone Mather Center and as the founder and program director for of the Ellipsis Institute for Women of Color in the Academy, both housed at Case Western Reserve University, and as an adjunct in the department of Pan African Studies at Kent State University, she is an intersectional feminist scholar with expert knowledge and skills to develop, implement, facilitate and evaluate curricula that promote institutional equity, communication, and access for traditionally marginalized students and families. Shemariah received her BBA and MEd from the American Intercontinental University and her EdD from Northeastern University. Dr. Arki’s dissertation research centers the voices of northeast Ohio youth as they respond to hate, particularly in the wake of #BlackLivesMatter.
As an auto/ethnographic researcher and creative non-fiction writer, her work centers cultural epistemologies and the construction of a #BlackCommaFeminist pedagogy. Shemariah is one of five editors for the forthcoming textbook, Teaching Brilliant and Beautiful Black Girls, curated to position classrooms as places of radical transformation and to amplify the voices of the Black girls who inhabit them. Forthcoming in spring 2021, her book Gender and Sexualities in Ghanaian Societies, which chronicles her ‘year of return journey’ to Ghana and being enstooled as Queen Mother Bonyi Bofor Akosua Kalesea of the Igbagba lineage, in the village of Akpafu Todzi in the Oti region of Ghana, will be released.
Shemariah also serves outside the academy as an ordained minister through the Universal Life Church and the Founder and Lead Experience Curator for Sankofa Circle International, where she engages creative entrepreneurs through a variety of channels with one goal: lift as you climb. Shemariah also serves on the board of Shooting Without Bullets. Most recently, Shemariah’s work is has been recognized by the office for Inclusion, Diversity and Equal Opportunity at Case Western Reserve University (2019 Diversity Collaboration Excellence Award), Who’s Who in Black Cleveland (2016-2019), Kaleidoscope’s 40 under 40 Club and by the Kiwanis Club at High Tech Academy. A proud Clevelander and mom of Solomon Tafari and Malcom Saadiq, Shemariah enjoys traveling, yoga and creating memories with her family.
We’ll also be inspired by two calls-to-action from other Ohio leaders CeCe Norwood and Dr. Tyffani Dent.
CeCe Norwood is the founder of Nirvana Now! an organization dedicated to the eradication of all forms of sexual violence. Nirvana Now! facilitates survivor SPEAK OUTs! publishes articles, maintains a speaker’s bureau, and provides consultation to organizations committed to developing diversity competent practices for engaging and assisting diverse survivors. CeCe is a featured national speaker on child sexual abuse and rape in the Black community, recognized workshop trainer, Life Coach, author of numerous articles and her book There IS Happiness After Incest and Child Sexual Abuse.
CeCe has worked in domestic violence shelters answering hotlines and providing case management services. She has also worked in chemical dependency treatment. Because of the intersections of domestic and sexual violence, Nirvana Now! often assists survivors who are experiencing both forms of violence in addition to being chemically dependent.
Ms. Norwood is founding Board President of the Ohio Alliance To End Sexual Violence (OAESV), past Interim OAESV Executive Director and founding principal of the Sexual Assault Prevention, Awareness, Treatment, Healing (SA PATH) Coalition of Northwest Ohio. The primary mission of both organizations is to work toward eliminating all forms of sexual violence, advocate for the rights and needs of survivors/co-survivors and provide professional development opportunities. Additionally, she is the founding principal of the Women Of The World Symposium which yearly hosts a multi-generational empowerment event for women and adolescent girls.
CeCe is an approved trainer for both the Ohio Human Services Training System and Ohio Child Welfare Training Program. She facilitates and develops learning opportunities for caregivers and professionals on a variety of child welfare, sexual development, elder sexual abuse, and diversity issues. She is a lifetime certified Bridges Out Of Poverty trainer and co-developer/trainer of the Ohio LGBTQI+ Task Force Safe Zone training. Additionally, she sits on the Board of the Ohio Network Of Child Advocacy Centers (ONCAC) and the Lucas County Bridges Out Of Poverty Steering Committee.
Ms. Norwood is committed to assisting survivors of child sexual abuse and rape receive the assistance they need to claim the happiness they deserve in their lives. She is dedicated to assisting parents, caregivers, and teachers develop the skills necessary to parent and teach abused and neglected children involved with the child welfare system. Ms. Norwood is equally dedicated to working with professionals to assist them develop the understanding and skill sets necessary to work with families and children who have multiple needs and who may be of a different racial, cultural group or socioeconomic status.
CeCe has volunteered as an education surrogate parent and has been a juvenile court Guardian Ad Litem since 2007. She received the Lucas County Court Appointed Special Advocate Rising Star Award which recognizes CASA volunteers for their contribution to the lives of abused and neglected children. She has been recognized by Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and the Negro Business And Professional Women’s Clubs, Inc. for her years of sexual violence community activism and the Lucas County Child Abuse Task Force for the work of the SA Path Coalition. In 2019, she received the Ohio Attorney General Special Courage Award for her state-wide advocacy work with survivors.
Ms. Norwood holds both a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice and master’s degree in Rehabilitation Counseling. She is an active member of The American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, The National Foster Parent Association and Ohio Coalition for Adult Protective Services.
Most importantly to her, CeCe is the adoptive mom of a FANTASTIC daughter.
Dr. Tyffani Monford Dent is a licensed psychologist. She has served as a consultant and trainer under various federal and state grants. In addition, Dr. Dent has been appointed to various state and county committees focused on those within the juvenile justice system. Dr. Dent provides mental health trainings and has served as a panelist at conferences focused on culturally-informed mental health services, gender-responsive treatment, the school-to-prison pipeline and black girls, educating black girls in white spaces, intersectionality and social justice work throughout the United States. She has been featured on local and national news programs addressing the importance of emotional wellness in Black communities, mental health in times of national crisis, and the school-to-prison pipeline’s impact on Black Girls.
Dr. Dent is the Owner of Monford Dent Consulting & Psychological Services, LLC through which she provides ongoing mental health consultation and assessments. In 2020, she co-founded Centering Sisters, LLC, an organization dedicated to projects that center the needs of Black Women, Girls, and Femmes.Dr. Dent is the author of three books: Girls Got Issues: A Woman’s Guide to Self-discovery & Healing , You Got This! A Girl’s Guide to Growing Up, and Black Girl: Unapologetically and the co-author of two others: Becoming Who I Want to Be: A Good Lives Workbook for Young Women and its accompanying Counselor’s Edition. Dr. Dent’s primary area of interests are sexual violence prevention and intervention on the continuum, the role of intersectionality in the lives of black and brown girls/women, and culturally-informed work with those within the juvenile justice system.
Will there be workshops?
Part 1 of the conference, taking place in June, will have various sessions, but the traditional training workshops will take place in Part 2 in August 2020.
Will sessions be recorded?
While there may be a small portion of the conference that is recorded, we recommend planning to attend all events “live”.
Is there a charge for the Virtual Conference?
We are extremely excited to be able to offer Part 1 of the conference as a gift to you—both members and non-members!
We will let you know asap if Part 2, taking place in August 2020, will have a registration cost.
Who is this conference for?
This conference is created for sexual violence prevention educators and survivor advocates in Ohio, and we welcome and invite all others who work in the various power-based violence fields, including intimate partner and domestic violence.
Do I need to attend both parts of the conference?
While we definitely suggest attending both parts of our conference, this choice is up to you.
Will there be ASL interpreters?
Yes! All sessions of the conference will take place in English, and we will have ASL interpreters. If you will be in need of an interpreter for an affinity group session, please be sure to let us know by answering the related question on your registration.
What technology do I need in order to participate?
At minimum, you can join the conference via phone audio only. However, we recommend connecting to all portions of the conference via a computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone with audio and video playback capability. Video playback capability is required for those who wish to utilize ASL interpreters.
We also suggest having a microphone or webcam for the affinity group sessions, but this is not required. You will, however, need to be able to chat by typing if you don’t have a microphone or webcam.
How do I register?
Registration for this event is now closed. Thank you!
The first 200 people that register will receive a conference box that includes a copy of Aishah’s book love WITH accountability: Digging Up the Roots of Child Sexual Abuse as well as other gifts from OAESV. We hope that this gesture will be a way to bring us all together, despite being physically distanced from one another.
What should I expect after I register?
When you register on the Go to Webinar website, you’ll receive a confirmation email to the email address you provided. If you are one of the first 200 registrants, you will also receive an email letting you know to watch for your gift box to arrive at the address you provided! Then, at the start of the conference on June 16th, you’ll join us on your device (computer, tablet, etc.) by clicking the personalized link you received in your email from Go to Webinar.
When is the last day to register?
The last day to register for Part 1 (June 16, 17, & 18) of our 2020 conference is Monday, June 8th, 2020.
We can’t wait to connect with you!
Have a question that you don’t see answered here? Please feel free to email conference@oaesv.org.
This publication is supported in part by the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) Rape Prevention Education, by Grant No. ODH Project Number: 01860214VW0820 awarded to the Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence by the Department of Health. It is also supported in part by VOCA Grant No. 2020-VOCA-132920668; and by subgrant No. 2019-WF-VA7-8919 awarded by the state administering office for the STOP Formula Grant Program. The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this publication/program/exhibition are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the state or the U.S. Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women, the Ohio Department of Health, or the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.