Educate-Organize-Advocate is UMKC’s social justice conference for students, faculty, staff, and the Kansas City-area community. This conference will provide our community with the tools necessary to engage in meaningful dialogue over challenging topics; to increase advocacy for self and others; to integrate cultural competence, emancipatory pedagogy, and diversity not only into curriculum, but into our everyday lives as civically engaged members of an urban community.

This year, we are focusing on issues of racial equity, institutional barriers, and accessibility, in light of the exacerbation of inequalities engendered by the Coronavirus pandemic and insufficient response, the racial justice protests, and the 30th anniversary of the American Disabilities Act.

Over the last three years, we have welcomed over 800 community members, practitioners, advocates, faculty, staff, and students to participate in our grassroots-funded and volunteer-led social justice conference. These conferences have featured keynote speakers such as Robin Diangelo (‘19), Carol Anderson (‘18), Sophia Khan (’17), and Emmanuel Cleaver II (’17). Attendees participate in workshops, panel discussions, and presentations on a variety of topics related to inclusion, community building, advocacy, and dismantling structures of oppression.

This year, we are excited to partner with the Kauffman Foundation, Race Project KC, UMKC, and Rockhurst University to bring Ijeoma Oluo, New York Times bestselling author of So You Want to Talk about Race, as well as Andre Perry, author of Know Your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property in America’s Cities for a panel discussion moderated by KC based New York Times journalist, John Eligon. After the keynote from 12-1:30pm, we’ll feature 4-6 breakout sessions across 2 breakout sessions in the afternoon focusing on accessibility, housing, policing, trans issues, student activism and more!