End Violence: Learn, Explore and Act - A Community Conference

Dedicated to improving the health of children and families, CHI St. Joseph Children’s Health improves access, linkage and coordination of local children’s health services and programs while serving as a leading voice in collaborative efforts to improve the health and well-being of the Lancaster Community.Every child and family has a unique health journey, our goal is to serve as a supportive voice and companion on their path to growing up healthy and happy.

CHI St. Joseph Children's Health

What would a community free of violence look like?  Explore, learn and discover the potential to create a violence-free Lancaster Community.

The Inn at Leola Village

Lancaster County has not experienced the level of violence seen and reported in other parts of the United States and around the world. While that is a blessing, we cannot assume this will always be the case unless we actively work to create a healthy and safe community in which every resident can thrive.Join CHI St. Joseph Children's Health and leading scholars from across the United States for a unique community-wide event as we learn about the causes and impacts of violence on individuals and communities. Explore how we can plan to appropriately respond, address and prevent violence from ever becoming a common and on-going problem within our community.Many sessions are free and open to the public. The lunch sessions each day require a ticket to cover a portion of the cost for the lunch provided. Both evening sessions are also ticketed events. Individuals may attend as many sessions as they desire. Please select the appropriate registration option to participate in your preferred sessions and programs.The Conference to End Violence is presented in collaboration with The Steinman Foundation and financial support from The Lancaster County Community Foundation.

Tuesday, March 19

Beverley Kingston, PhD, Director - Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence at the University of Colorado Boulder, explores how violence in our community impacts the health and wellbeing of individuals and the entire community and is a critical public health issue to address.  Speaker Bio:  Dr. Kingston is the director of the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder). Her research interests focus on addressing the root causes of violence and other problem behaviors by creating the conditions that support healthy human development throughout the life course.

Session 1:  Violence as a Public Health Issue

Samantha Francois, PhD, Associate Professor of Psychology at Tulane University explores the causes of violence in our communities drawing upon her research to help us gain an understanding of the root causes of violence within communities.  Speaker Bio:  Dr. Francois is a developmental scientist with expertise in adolescent development, structural violence, and anti-racist research. As an interdisciplinary, community-engaged scholar, Francois uses systems perspectives and critical race theory to understand the intersections of individual, community, and structural factors that impact development in Black and African American adolescents and emerging adults. Dr. Francois recently served as co-executive director of Tulane University’s Violence Prevention Institute and co-director of the Center for Youth Equity, a CDC Center of Excellence in Youth Violence Prevention.

Session 2: Community Violence - Causes and Impacts

James E Hawdon, PhD, Director of the Center for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention at Virginia Tech, explores the rise in political violence within our communities and the potential impacts of the increasing tensions.  Speaker Bio:  Dr. Hawdon’s research investigates the role of communities in promoting, deterring, or reacting to crime, violence, and tragedies. His most recent work focuses on how communities are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, and his ongoing research studies online communities and how these pattern exposure to and participation in online extremism.

Lunch Plenary:  Political Violence and Extremism (Ticketed Session)

Barbara Chasin, PhD - Professor Emeritus - Montclair State University and Author of Inequality & Violence in the United States: Casualties of Capitalism explores the cost of violence for individuals and communities.  Speaker Bio: Dr. Chasin is a Professor Emerita at Mountclair State University.  Her research interests include Violence and Conflict; Development (with field research in Kerala, India, and the Sahel Region of West Africa)


Session 4: Economic Inequality and Forms of Violence: The Linkage

Americans have become accustomed to tragic headlines of mass shootings in schools, grocery stores, and other public places—these shootings still shock, but they no longer surprise. Jillian Peterson, PhD, of Hamline University, and James Densley, PhD of  Metropolitan State University, authors of The Violence Project: How to Stop a Mass Shooting Epidemic, explore their research on what drives most mass shooters, why thinking of mass shootings as suicides as well as homicides can suggest new ways to combat them, and what can be done in schools, workplaces, and elsewhere to make the next mass shooting less likely.

How to Stop a Mass Shooting Epidemic (Ticketed Session)

Wednesday, March 20

Schools used to be the safest place for children - or so we always thought.  Now, students (and teachers) face challenges and threats from within and from outside and are left to navigate a complicated world often with confusing guidance.  
We're excited to have Dr. Amanda Nickerson from the University of Buffalo join us on Wednesday, March 20 at the Conference to End Violence to help us understand the challenges facing our schools and how we can best assure that our local private and public schools remain safe and thriving institutions of learning for every student and family.

Session 6: Violence and Schools

With increasing incidents of domestic and intimate partner violence being reported and documented, what is driving this trend in our communities?  What can be done to reduce both incidents and impacts?  Speaker Bio: Jeff R. Temple, P.h.D is the John Sealy Distinguished Chair in Community Health at the University of Texas Medical Branch, as well as a Licensed Psychologist and the Founding Director of the Center for Violence Prevention. His research focuses on the prevention of interpersonal, community, and structural violence, and has been funded through the National Institute of Justice, National Institutes of Health, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Session 7:  Domestic and Intimate Partner Violence

Chad Dion Lassiter is a national expert in the field of American Race Relations. He currently serves as the Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission and has developed and launched a ‘No Hate in Our State Town hall’ to address the surge of White Nationalism in Pennsylvania.  He will explore the state of hate in Pennsylvania and what policies and steps are being taken to assure the safety and wellbeing of our communities.

Lunch Plenary:  The State of Hate  in Pennsylvania (Ticketed Session)

Between 2017 and 2019, LGBT people experienced 6.6 violent hate crime victimizations per 1,000 people, compared to 0.8 victimizations per 1,000 people for non-LGBT people. How do we create a safe space in our community for members of the LGBTQ community? What does creating a safe space for our LGBTQ neighbors say about us as a community?
On Wednesday, March 20, join CHI St. Joseph Children's Health in welcoming former Pennsylvania Representative Brian Sims as we explore the current state for LGBTQ Americans and the path to ending the dangerous and violent path we are currently on as we create a healthier community in which all residents have the opportunity to thrive.

Session 9:  LGBTQ and Gender-Expression Motivated Violence

What does it mean to create and sustain a healthy community?  Join The Washington Post's Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and MSNBC political analyst Eugene Robinson for an intimate discussion with CHI St. Joseph Children's Health President Phil Goropoulos about the current state of our communities and what brings us hope for a healthier future.

End Violence: Learn, Explore and Act - A Community Conference

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End Violence: Learn, Explore and Act - A Community Conference

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