Our panelists:
Voices of Healing: Generations of Community, and Change
A LIVE online conversation on racial healing, cultural resilience, and youth leadership in Baltimore and beyond.
Join us as we…
honour the intention of the Day of Racial Healing by creating space for reflection + action: exploring how racial healing plays out at individual, community, institutional, and generational levels.
elevate the lived experience of young people in West Baltimore alongside seasoned leaders, underscoring that healing and transformation require all voices working together.
highlight the intersection of arts, health equity, and higher education as strategies for racial healing and community flourishing.
generate tangible next steps: commitments, resource sharing, connection building among participants.
Dr. Gail C. Christopher
is an award-winning social change agent and author with expertise in the social determinants of health and well-being and related public policies. A prolific writer and presenter, Dr. Christopher is an author and co-author who has contributed to 14 books, hundreds of articles, presentations, publications, and more. She is known for her pioneering work to integrate holistic health and diversity concepts into public-sector programs and policy discourse. She retired from her role as Senior Advisor and Vice President at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, where she was the driving force behind the America Healing initiative and the Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation effort. In 2019, Dr. Christopher became a Senior Scholar with George Mason University’s Center for the Advancement of Well-Being and became the Executive Director of the National Collaborative for Health Equity.
Dr. Tia Brown McNair
is a nationally recognized higher-education leader, author, and advocate for equity, student success, and institutional transformation. Formerly a Vice President at AAC&U and now a partner at Sova, she guides colleges and universities in implementing inclusive practices, racial healing initiatives, and evidence-based strategies that improve outcomes for all students.
Moderator
Mama Rashida Forman-Bey
is a Baltimore native and multifaceted artist whose work spans directing, acting, teaching artistry, songwriting, storytelling, and community activism. Known affectionately as Mama Rashida, she is a founding director of WombWork Productions, Inc., a Baltimore-based 501(c)(3) social change theatre company dedicated to addressing critical social issues through performance and community engagement. For more than three decades, she has used the performing arts as a tool for transformation—empowering urban youth, families, and communities through culturally grounded programs, character-building workshops, and spiritually rooted creative practices centered in love, learning, and collective healing
Dr. Valerie Sheares Ashby
is the sixth president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County(UMBC). Prior to assuming the presidency in August 2022, she served for seven years as dean of the Trinity College of Arts and Sciences at Duke University. She is a chemist by training, focused on synthetic polymer chemistry with an emphasis on designing and synthesizing materials for biomedical applications. She earned her B.A. and Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and has spent much of her career as a faculty member and leader at public universities, first at Iowa State University and then at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she also chaired the chemistry department from 2012 to 2015.
WombWork’s Nu Generation Ensemble
representing the lived experience, truth-telling, and vision of young people in West Baltimore.” Nu Generations Wombwork’s Ensemble is the dynamic youth arm of WombWork Productions, Inc., where artistic excellence and social consciousness meet. Through a powerful three-tiered mentoring model, professional performers mentor young adults, who in turn guide teen artists—creating a cycle of leadership, growth, and accountability. Under the guidance of master drummers, dancers, and directors, ensemble members develop strong theatre and performance skills while using art as a tool for social change. Rooted in Baltimore’s communities, the Teen Ensemble creates impactful performances that address urgent social issues while blending traditional African dance, music, and storytelling with contemporary hip-hop, spoken word, and rap to inspire healing, dialogue, and transformation.