Increasingly, public officials at all levels of government, especially Black, Indigenous, immigrant, and other women of color, are subjected to threats and abuse, inflamed by the rise of violent white nationalism and other extremist groups. This session offers space for legislators to unpack recent findings about the threats that state and local officeholders face and exchange strategies for protection against future threats.
How do we move past electoral cycles to ensure that real change is felt by the communities who need it most? More so than any particular civic engagement or electoral strategy, a burgeoning practice of collaborative governance holds the greatest promise of giving people the power to truly drive meaningful change. Across the country, policymakers, advocates and grassroots leaders are employing collaborative governance to build lasting power and to win justice for their communities. This is the first of a two-part, repeating series in which speakers will share inspiring stories of this new practice at work, giving the audience glimpses of a future political reality they will find irresistible—one in which intersectional problems are met with intersectional responses, and in which the people most impacted by policy have true power in shaping it.
Technology can be used to advance or undermine progress. Tech companies and employers that use these tools are taking advantage of the emergent nature of these technologies to dictate regulatory frameworks, including whether there is one at all. But contrary to what the tech industry might suggest, the proliferation of these abusive tools isn’t inevitable or uncontrollable. They can and should be regulated, including prohibited, to safeguard our rights. It is imperative that state legislators understand these harms, who is behind them, and to collaborate with impacted communities to fight back. This workshop focuses on a series of reports released by SiX, Kairos, and Economic Security Project—centering the work of legislators and organizers to hold Big Tech accountable and center people as well as equity in AI.
