Sandy Hudson

Safe neighborhoods, rather than featuring an increased police presence, are rich in resources and social programs.

Based on her highly anticipated research and new book, Sandy Hudson shares her vision on how to support a model of security and protection that increases public safety overall.

She’s leading a campaign to encourage others to rethink how we provide safety and security services in society. We can provide safety and security especially without anti-Black, anti-Indigenous militarized forces. 

Hudson’s movement is to defund the police – noting communities can save both money and lives by investing in themselves rather than in policing. She shows how simple changes to educational resources, community centers, and civic engagement can not only make communities safer, but also better able to provide for their citizens in countless ways. 

Sandy’s talks offer compelling insights on social justice, activism, and community building.

Oftentimes, those who are best suited to design solutions for social issues are not in positions of power to do so. Organizations today need a sophisticated strategy in order to effectively influence decision-makers. In this presentation, Sandy uses her experiences as a student, labour and anti-racist organizer to show participants how they can meet their goals. Whether strategizing to change organizations, public policy or legislation, Sandy helps organizations to understand that change is possible and helps them to design a roadmap to achieve it.

Key Takeaways:
• How to engage via a vision 
• Collective and coalition change making 
• A strategic framework for planning campaigns.

Racism is far more complex and pervasive a phenomenon than how it is commonly understood. This workshop is a comprehensive introduction to what racism is, how to recognize it, how it operates and how to actively address it in organizations and as individuals. Engaging in anti-racist work for over 15 years, Sandy has developed a participatory teaching style using interactive activities, case studies, and audience participation to create the ideal atmosphere to learn about the difficult topic of racism. As an anti-racist scholar and activist, Sandy will also use first-person storytelling to engage participants to consider how they can shift into active anti-racist action throughout their lives.

Key Takeaways:
• An understanding of social location, power and privilege
• An understand what society constructs as “normal” and “other”
• How to critically reflect on media and cultural narratives about race

If there’s one constant truth in the world of digital organizing, it’s that organizations struggle to meaningfully connect with their supporters. In engaging with new media as an approach to organizing, we cannot forget the fundamental peer-to-peer organizing skills we need to engage people in real life. We need to blow open our imaginations and find new ways to build real community as part of our work. In this keynote, Sandy explores what it means to break through to isolated communities.

Key Takeaways:
• One-on-one campaign organizing strategies
• Public speaking skills
• Crafting a compelling message for individual consumption

The first step to almost any organizational initiative typically includes a meeting. In order to have an effective meeting, your participants need to feel prepared and included. Almost everyone has had the experience of attending a meeting that meanders or of being overwhelmed by rules of order. As an experienced facilitator, Sandy knows how to make meetings run smoothly, and to encourage every participant to feel prepared and supported. The goal of this workshop is to provide participants with effective strategies to ensure that meetings help the decision-making process and contribute to an effective organizational structure.

Key Takeaways:
• Engaging all participants
• Meeting preparation
• Rules of order