2023 YWCA RACIAL JUSTICE BREAKFAST
PROGRAM
7:30 a.m.
Breakfast
8:00 a.m.
Welcome & Opening Remarks
- Rickell Howard Smith, Esq., President & CEO, YWCA Greater Cincinnati
- Taylor Curtis, Director, Racial Justice & Equity, YWCA Greater Cincinnati
Partner Recognition
- Anne Mulder, Board Chair, YWCA Greater Cincinnati
YWCA Racial Justice Awards
- Honorees: The Honorable Janaya Trotter Bratton & Alandes Powell
8:25 a.m.
Keynote Address
- Verna Williams, Esq., CEO, Equal Justice Works
Questions and Answers
9:20 a.m.
Closing Remarks & CLE Information
- Anne Mulder, Board Chair, YWCA Greater Cincinnati
- Rickell Howard Smith, Esq., President & CEO, YWCA Greater Cincinnati
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THANKS TO OUR 2023 PARTNERS
Fifth Third Bank
ACTIVIST PARTNERS
U.S. Bank
CHAMPION PARTNERS
Game Day Communications
Interact for Health
DEFENDER PARTNERS
BakerHostetler
Cincinnati Children’s
The E.W. Scripps Company
EyeMed Vision Care
84.51
Bricker Graydon LLP
Dinsmore & Shohl
Duke Energy
Frost Brown Todd
ADVOCATE PARTNERS
Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati
FEG Investement Advisors
KeyBank
YMCA of Greater Cincinnati
SUPPORTER PARTNERS
Johnson Investment Council
Keating Muething & Klekamp PLL
Knox Presbyterian Church
Paycor
Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP
Government Strategies Group, LLC
Hard Rock Casino
Humana Healthy Horizons in Ohio
Thompson Hine LLP
Ulmer & Berne LLP
University of Cincinnati College of Law
NON-PROFIT PARTNERS
African American Chamber of Commerce
Alloy Development Co
Best Point Education & Behavioral Health
Black Art Speaks
Judge Janaya Trotter Bratton
Caracole
Center for Closing the Health Gap
Cincinnati Bar Association
*Partnerships through September 25, 2023
Cincinnati Museum Center & National
Underground Railroad Freedom Center
Community Action Agency
Legal Aid Society of Greater Cincinnati
Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center
Northern Kentucky University
Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region
Rickell Howard Smith
Urban League of Greater Southwestern Ohio
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BT Rise
The Greater Cincinnati Foundation
2023 KEYNOTE SPEAKER
VERNA WILLIAMS, ESQ.
As chief executive of Equal Justice Works, Verna leads the organization’s efforts to create opportunities for lawyers, transforming their passion for equal justice into a lifelong commitment to public service.
Verna has an extensive background in teaching and practicing law, as well as researching civil and women’s rights. Verna previously served as the dean of the University of Cincinnati College of Law, where she was a professor prior to becoming dean, and taught courses on family law, gender discrimination, and constitutional law. Additionally, she founded and co-directed the Judge Nathaniel Jones Center for Race, Gender, and Social Justice at the University of Cincinnati.
Before her work at the University of Cincinnati, Verna was the Vice President and Director of Educational Opportunities at the National Women’s Law Center, where she focused on gender equity in education. In this role, she was the lead counsel and successfully argued before the United States Supreme Court Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education, which established that educational institutions have a duty to respond to and address complaints of student-to-student sexual harassment.
Verna clerked for the Honorable David S. Nelson, U.S. District Judge for the District of Massachusetts. After the clerkship, she practiced law at Sidley Austin LLP and the U.S. Department of Justice.
Verna also has a background in research, which examines the intersection of race, gender, and class in law and policy. She has authored and co-authored many articles and essays on her area of expertise.
Among her other achievements, Verna has presented papers at the Latina/o Critical Race Theory Conference and meetings of the Association of Law, Culture, and the Humanities. She also served as a consultant for the Ford Foundation, where she chaired the convening of a national conference at UC entitled Women Coming Together: Claiming the Law for Social Change.
Verna received the Goldman Prize for Excellence in Teaching in 2004 and 2011. She was recently honored by the Black Lawyers Association of Cincinnati and the Cincinnati Bar Association, which presented her with the Themis Award for exemplary service to the law and the community.
Verna is a cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School and Georgetown University.
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2023 RACIAL JUSTICE AWARD HONOREES
THE HONORABLE JANAYA TROTTER BRATTON
Judge Janaya Trotter Bratton has served on the Hamilton County Municipal Court since 2019. Prior to joining the bench, Judge Trotter Bratton was a civil rights litigator with the law firm of Gerhardstein & Branch. As a trial attorney, she fought to protect the rights of clients in state and federal courts across Ohio. Judge Trotter Bratton’s representation of the NAACP, National Office, earned her the NAACP Foot Soldier in the Sands award for her efforts on behalf of the organization and its civil rights agenda.
Always an active participant in the community, Judge Trotter Bratton is the first Black woman to serve as President of the Cincinnati Bar Association. She has served on the Cincinnati Bar Association’s Board of Trustees since 2016. She is Chair of the Salmon P. Chase College of Law Alumni Council; former Vice President of the Black Lawyers Association of Cincinnati; former Chair of the Cincinnati Bar Association’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee and former board member for the Ohio Justice and Policy Center.
Judge Trotter Bratton has been honored with the Cincinnati NAACP Marion Spencer Outstretched Hands Award and the Cincinnati Women’s Political Caucus’ Outstanding Achievement Award.
ALANDES POWELL
As Executive Director at Black Art Speaks, a non-profit organization she co-founded in 2020, Alandes promotes black culture, social justice, and expression through the uplifting of Black artists’ voices through every form of art. She provides opportunities to artists across the greater Cincinnati area.
Widely recognized as a community advocate and champion for equality, Ms. Powell has forged a path for many, thanks to her extensive connections throughout the Midwest and an unwavering commitment to support. She was the driving force behind Cincinnati’s Black Lives Matter Mural and has been a dedicated member of various boards. She previously chaired the Board for the Urban League of Greater Southwestern Ohio and is an active member of the Cincinnati Ballet, GenNow, and ROMAC Boards.
Powell has co-authored several books, including Cincinnati’s Black Lives Matter Mural. Her exemplary contributions have earned her numerous accolades, such as the Black and Brown Faces - Paying Homage award, UC Health MLK Humanitarian Award, the Mayerson Strength Hero title, Cincinnati Enquirer/Greater Cincinnati Foundation Woman of the Year, and the Triumph Humanitarian Award.
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PAST KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
2022 Dorothy Roberts
2021 Richard Rothstein
2020 Christina Fialho
2019 Roy Austin
2018 Fania Davis
2017 Adam Foss
2016 Bryan Stevenson
2015 Kimberle Crenshaw
2014 Michelle Alexander
2013 Richard Thompson Ford
2012 Andrew Young
2011 Julian Bond
2010 Charles J. Ogletree, Jr.
2009 Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum
2008 Thomas N. Todd
2007 Morris S. Dees, Jr.
2006 John Payton
2005 Gay J. McDougall
2004 Fred D. Gray
2003 Melba Patillo Beals
2002 Douglas Jones
2001 Judge Nathaniel R. Jones, Sharon J. Zealey, Judge Jack Sherman, Jr., Nancy A. Lawson
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PAST HONOREES
2022 Ozie Davis, III and Claire Mengel
2021 Renee Mahaffey Harris and Bishop Ennis Tait
2020 Vincent R. Brown and Dr. Janet Reid
2019 Robert “Chip” Harrod and Iris Roley
2018 Shakila Ahmad and Dr. Clarence G. Newsome
2017 Donna Jones Baker and Robert Brand Newman
2016 Mary Asbury and Kenneth L. Parker
2015 Sister Rose Ann Fleming and David Singleton
2014 Alphonse A. Gerhardstein and Pauline Strayhorne
2013 Judge S. Arthur Speigel and Judge Nathaniel R. Jones
2012 Frances Wilson Canty, David Fankhauser and Betty Rosemond
2011 Donald and Marian Spencer
2010 John and Francie Pepper
2009 Bea Larsen and Judge Jack Sherman, Jr.
2008 Charles M. Judd and Judge Susan Dlott
2007 William C. and P. Jeane Goings
2006 Judge Robert L. Black, Jr.
2005 Judge William A. McClain
2004 Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth
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