Cost: $15, includes reception
Online registration is now closed. Walk-in registration will be available at the door.

Hear from leaders working for social change with an inaugural event for the UChicago Alliance for the Civil Society, an affinity group targeted at alumni and friends working in the nonprofit, government, and policy sectors. Following a short talk from each speaker, the panelists will engage in a discussion on democracy, poverty & race, and environmental issues before taking questions from the audience. Seize the opportunity to also network with UChicago alumni working in the social sector.

Tuesday, January 13, 2015
6:00-7:00pm Registration and Reception
7:00-8:00pm Program and Q/A
8:00pm Closing Remarks

Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE)
1307 New York Ave. NW (entrance on H St NW)
Washington, DC 20005

Main Speaker:
Heather Booth, AB’67, AM’70, Organizational and Political Consultant, Midwest Academy

Heather Booth is one of the leading strategists about progressive issue campaigns and driving issues in elections in the United States. She has been an organizer for over forty years starting in the civil rights and women's movement.

Heather was the founding Director and is now President of the Midwest Academy, training social change leaders and organizers. She has been involved in and managed many political campaigns and was the Training Director of the Democratic National Committee. In 2000, she was the Director of the NAACP National Voter Fund, which helped to increase African American election turnout by nearly 2 million voters. She has been a consultant to a variety of social change and political groups that have included the National Organization for Women, MoveOn.org, the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, and the National Council of La Raza. She was the lead consultant, directing the founding of the Campaign for Comprehensive Immigration Reform. In 2008 she was the director of the Health Care Campaign for the AFL-CIO. In 2009, she directed the campaign passing President Obama’s first budget. In 2010 she was the founding director of Americans for Financial Reform, fighting to regulate the financial industry. She was the national coordinator for recent events around marriage equality across the United States. She is now consulting with the Voter Participation Center and is advisor to the Alliance for Citizenship (a coalition of the immigration reform campaign). She has been a board member and Executive Committee member of USAction since its founding and a board member of the Center for Community Change. She is a partner in Democracy Partners. Heather received an alumni Public Service Award from the University in 1997 and has volunteered more recently as an annual speaker at Taking the Next Step and the Institute of Politics.

Speakers:
Indivar Dutta-Gupta, AB’05, Director of Project on Deep Poverty and Senior Fellow at Georgetown Center on Poverty, Inequality, and Public Policy

Indivar Dutta-Gupta previously was Project Director at Freedman Consulting, LLC, leading strategic initiatives for major philanthropies, children’s groups, and workers’ organizations. Indivar served as Senior Policy Advisor at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, focusing on budget and tax policies and cross-cutting low-income issues. Earlier, he focused on safety net, tax, and social insurance programs and policies as U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee Professional Staff.

As an Emerson National Hunger Fellow, Indivar worked for DC Hunger Solutions and the Center for American Progress. Indivar is a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance, and has been named a First Focus Campaign for Children Champion for Children, as well as one of Washington Life magazine’s most Influential 40-And-Under Leaders. Indivar is an honors graduate of the University of Chicago and a Harry S. Truman Scholar.

Courtney Hight, Director, Democracy Program at Sierra Club

Courtney Hight began organizing around environmental issues as a student at the University of Oregon, where she helped develop a campaign to make her campus more energy efficient. Since graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies, Courtney has worked with the Oregon Student Association, the United States Student Association, the Obama campaign, the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and Energy Action Coalition.

As Director of the Democracy program for Sierra Club, Courtney currently implements the Democracy Initiative program by working closely with NAACP, Communication Workers of America, and Greenpeace to engage a broad base of labor unions, women's organizations, environmental organizations, civil rights groups and money-in-politics organizations to address root problems facing our democracy

Interested in getting involved with the UChicago Alliance for the Civil Society? Contact Eric Hornik, Associate Director of Affinity Programs at or 773.702.4595.

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