Past Ventures

The Social Justice Initiative (SJI) was conceived in 2016, born in 2017, and started to walk its talk at our May 2017 launch. We are now 7 years old. In that time, the SJI has been active in convening a variety of conferences, webinars and learning opportunities that utilize the Four Pathways - Forgiveness, Cultural Humility, Courage and Compassion, and Radical Love - to advance the knowledge, values, and skills essential for dismantling the structures and systems of injustice in all its manifestations.

Below is a snapshot of some of our ventures through the years.

September 2024: Building Community Power

Dr. Darlyne Bailey was one of three panelists at the opening plenary for the Building Community Power Community of Practice event hosted by the HealthSpark Foundation. Facilitated by CEO Emma Hertz, the panel also included Rev. Dr. Gregory James Edwards of POWER Interfaith and Anjali Verma of the National Student Council. Building Community Power is centered on how nonprofits and advocates can build their power to make substantive change in our communities, with themes on inclusive leadership development, coalition-building, shifting nonprofit culture to include advocacy, harnessing voter power, and more.

May 2024: Bucks-Mont Collaborative Community Summit

Dr. Darlyne Bailey was one of four keynote speakers at the 2024 Bucks-Mont Collaborative Community Summit. Dr. Bailey and Dr. Roberta Waite were on the morning panel moderated by Dr. Sandra L. Bloom, while Dr. Quaiser Abdullah provided closing remarks. The summit's theme was Strengthening Our Leadership, Our Organizations, and Our Community.

May 2024: Daddying Film Festival and Forum

The SJI is proud to support the 3^rd annual Daddying Film Festival and Forum (D3F), the world’s first and only film fest focused exclusively on promoting the importance of positive dad/father figure involvement for kids and families. After a virtual viewing and audience judging event taking place May 2-9, a film screening and community discussion event will be held in-person on May 17th at the Parkway Central Library in Philadelphia, PA.

April/May 2024: Arrive Already Loved Workshops

SJI Project Coordinator Gwenn Prinbeck proposed and helped coordinate a two-day workshop series offered by Ron Gladis, Marianne Kaplan, and Josette Cicacci of the Mariah Fenton Gladis Foundation to the counseling staff of Laurel House. The curriculum focused on the Arrive Already Loved workshops developed by Mariah Fenton Gladis at the Pennsylvania Gestalt Center.

February 2024: Black Activism in Healthcare and Social Services

Dr. Darlyne Bailey was one of three speakers at the Black Activism in Healthcare and Social Services panel webinar. Dr. DaVonti' D. Haynes, Assistant Professor at Temple Unviersity moderated this discussion, which also featured Dr. Claiborne Childs, Vice President of Medical Affairs at Main Line Health-Riddle Hospital, and Dr. Taylor Geyton, Assistant Professor at Portland State University. 

2018 - 2024: Juvenile Assessment Center

Since 2018, the SJI has served as a "thought partner" with the Juvenile Assessment Center towards improving interactions between youth, police, and social service organizations in the Greater Philadelphia Area. The Juvenile Assessment Center (JAC) offers a centralized, developmentally appropriate processing location to local police districts across the City of Philadelphia. The developmental differences between young people and adults, as well as the societal injustices implicated in the incarceration system can lead to escalated interactions with law enforcement, making it critical that officers are trained both to understand and respond appropriately to young people’s behavior. Youth who are arrested often face long wait times and potentially traumatizing conditions. By changing the ways officers and youth interact, there is tremendous potential to reduce unnecessary escalation and establish trusting relationships that can lead to improved community safety

Dr. Bailey began this work with Graduate Assistants Qádriyyah Major-Gray and Isabel Lee, and then continued with Cole Simmons, Gwenn Prinbeck, and Sarah Spath.

October 2023: National Human Services Assembly's 2023 Centennial Summit

The SJI co-sponsored the National Human Services Assembly's 2023 Centennial Summit: Advancing Human Services. To commemorate a century of service to the sector, the Summit recognized the sector’s greatest accomplishments, address its most pressing issues, and envision our next 100 years. Board Chair Dr. Darlyne Bailey offered key remarks as part of the program.

June 2023: Macro United Conference

The SJI co-sponsored the 2023 Macro United Conference: Rising Together to Protect Our Rights, hosted by the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. Dr. Darlyne Bailey and Graduate Assistant Isabel Lee represented the SJI in two roundtable discussions.

April 2023: Talk That Walks: Biodiversity and the Climate Crisis

The SJI co-sponsored this talk from the Alliance of Leadership Fellows (ALF), part 4 of a series on the climate crisis and effective actions to address it. 

October 2021 

Unlocked!: Transforming Youth Justice Systems to Create Safe and Resilient Communities

SJI staff member Qádriyyah Major-Gray and Dr. Darlyne Bailey participated in a national conference that brought together social justice nonprofits, law enforcement professionals, social workers engaged in education and direct practice with individuals, organizations and communities who shared their experiences in working with youth and navigating the youth justice systems.

June 2021

The Power of MACRO Social Work: Forging Pathways Toward a More Just and Equitable World 

Sentencing people to life without parole also referred to as “death by incarceration” has traumatizing impacts not only on the individual sentenced, but also on family members and the community. The SJI convened a conference focused on exploring the lived experience of those sentenced for life without parole, policy development around mass incarceration and sentencing, as well as perspectives about clinical care and policy change. 

November 2020

Crisis at the Southern Border of Mexico: The Realities of 'Extracontinental' Migrants

Immigration policy changes in the U.S. and Mexico have endangered the lives of "extracontinental" migrants from Africa and Asia at the Guatemala and Mexico borders. This international panel at the Council on Social Work Education conference featured SJI staff members Qádriyyah Major-Gray, Jenna Spitz, and Dr. Darlyne Bailey with Advisory Council member Dr. Eva Moya and Mexican community organizer and social policy analyst Carmen Villa. The panelists discussed the need for a closer exploration of migrants’ experiences using Critical Race Theory, formulating a call-to-action for clinical and macro-level practitioners. Participants left with strategies and tools to advocate for and grapple with immigration policy issues in their own communities, and gained an understanding of the adversities experienced by “extracontinental” migrants attempting to seek refuge in the United States and Mexico.

September 2020: Social Workers 4 Justice Across the Nation​

The SJI convened a multi-part conversation that engaged three protesters leading “Black Lives Matter” demonstrations across the country and focused on observations and lessons learned for future advocacy and outreach, as well curriculum development and training. 

September 2019

Film Screening and Panel Discussion of "The Mayor of Graterford" (2018)

This documentary highlighted the issue of life without parole sentencing in the Pennsylvania prison system. This film - created through Villanova University’s Social Justice Documentary Program - recounts the harsh realities of those serving life sentences and the effect on individuals, families, and communities. A panel presentation and active exchange with attendees followed the documentary at the Bryn Mawr Film Institute, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.

March 2019

Conference Keynote "Social Justice Warriors: Unleashing the Combined Power of Case and Cause"

Representing the SJI, Dr. Darlyne Bailey was the keynote speaker at the 9th Annual Cuyahoga County Conference on Social Welfare “Integrating Micro and Macro Practice: The Impact on Advocating for Social Justice.” This Conference gathered together 400+ human service professionals as co-sponsored by the National Association of Social Workers, Ohio Chapter, Cleveland, Ohio.

November 2018

Co-creating Global Food Security: Deepening Our Understanding through the Four Components of the Social Justice Initiative

Advisory Council Member Kelly McNally Koney and Dr. Darlyne Bailey presented this perspective of Food Justice at the “Global Summit: Food Security and Thriving Communities," in Atlanta, Georgia.

November 2018

Uniting for Social Work Macro Education and Practice to Promote Social Justice

Dr. Darlyne Bailey was the lead presenter for faculty and staff university-affiliated members of the Special Commission to Advance Macro Practice in Social Work at the 64th Annual Program Meeting of Council of Social Work Education in Orlando, Florida. 

October 2018: Heeding the Call for Social Justice

On behalf of the SJI, Dr. Darlyne Bailey was a keynote speaker at the 2018 two-day gathering of The Strong Families Commission Symposium Organizing Committee's “The Child Wellbeing in Pennsylvania and the Urgent Need for Father Involvement.” This presentation utilized the Four Pathways of the SJI to examine some of the ways that we can co-create a just society for all, including fathers who want and deserve healthy generative relationships with their children. The event took place in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. 

June 2018: Teddy Bear Bank 

Through the establishment of a collaboration with the “Teddy Bear Bank” (Peter Freimark, Founder) of Temple Israel Ner Tamid of Cleveland, Ohio, the SJI helped send teddy bears to mothers and children who were survivors of domestic violence and living in shelters and clinics in Cuidad Juarez, Mexico. This partnership continues today, where teddy bears—“ositos de peluche”—are sent to children in detention centers within the borderlands between Texas and Mexico.

May 2018: Film Screening and Panel Discussion of RBG

This invited collaboration with the Bryn Mawr Film Institute was a special screening of the documentary “RBG,” the life of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. A post-screening discussion with 25 pre-registered members of the audience was facilitated by the SJI at the Bryn Mawr Film Institute, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. 

April 2018: Social Justice and Dialogue, á la Paulo Freire

As the 2018 Moses Visiting Professor of the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College, New York City, N.Y., Dr. Darlyne Bailey presented a working session for their faculty, students, and staff.

February 2018

Community Work and Activism for Social Justice: Past, Present, and Future

Focusing on ”Promoting Personal and Organizational Leadership for Social Justice,” Dr. Darlyne Bailey was invited to speak at Ben Gurion University of Negev, Jerusalem, and at community meetings in Tzfat and Tel Aviv, Israel. 

January 2018: The Meaning of Social Justice within a Country in Transition

The SJI hosted a series of "faculty talks" in partnership with the Bryn Mawr College Alumni Association travel program “Cuba by Land and by Sea." Offered on an alumni cruise, this series focused on several topics related to Cuba‘s transition from one governmental regime to another. Time was spent in several Cuban towns and cities, including Havana.

November 2017

Creating Socially Just Communities of Forgiveness, Racial Healing, and Race Equity: Moving from "Me" to "We." 

Offered by Dr. Darlyne Bailey on behalf of the SJI, this college-wide presentation was hosted by the Department of Social Work, College of Health Sciences at the University of Texas at El Paso.

May - November 2017: SJI Podcast

The SJI recorded podcast episodes that feature highlights from the one-day conference in May 2017: Practicing the Science and Art of Forgiveness. Founder and Director Dr. Darlyne Bailey provided an introduction and overview of the Social Justice Initiative. The Opening Keynote address was delivered by Dr. Fania Davis - co-founder and director of Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth (RJOY). The Closing Keynote was delivered by Marina Cantacuzino - journalist, author and the founder of The Forgiveness Project. SJI Advisory Council member Dr. Eva Moya participated as a Group Facilitator and filmmaker and author Ulysses Butch Slaughter was a panelist.

This conference inspired Rodney Whittenberg - founder of Melodyvision - to create the Music For the New Revolution podcast, where he discusses contemporary political music. Rodney Whittenberg also hosted several SJI podcast episodes, including Dr. Moya speaking about her journey from her youth growing up on the U.S.-Mexico border to becoming an associate professor in the department of Social Work at the University of Texas at El Paso. The SJI also hosted a film viewing and Q&A conversation exploring three perspectives on healing - featuring Ulysses Butch Slaughter; Mariah Fenton Gladis, founder of the Pennsylvania Gestalt Center; and Rabbi Debra Bowen of Temple Beth’El.

May 2017

Practicing the Science and Art of Forgiveness: Beginning a Transformative Journey

The SJI convened a one-day conference on social justice that included national and local speakers and panelists focused specifically on Forgiveness as a critical component of social justice. Through large and small group formats, the conference was designed to provide interactive experiences as well as evidence-based research to enable the 150+ participants to reflect on their personal journeys and explore what forgiveness meant to each of them. Employing social work’s “micro to macro” continuum of care, discussions explored the internal process of forgiveness, how forgiveness impacts relationships, and the impact of forgiveness on communities and policies.