International peacemaker hosts community conversation at EOU

Conversation Project brings speaker to EOU

Oct. 20, 2017 La Grande, Ore. — Global displacement, as it relates to conflict, economics, and climate change, impacts local communities in increasingly visible ways. A free talk at Eastern Oregon University on Oct. 25 will address how to build more informed, responsive, resilient and vibrant communities as international immigration grows.

“The Space Between Us: Immigrants, Refugees, and Oregon,” will be led by experienced facilitator Manuel Padilla at 6 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 25 in Hoke Union Building, Room 339. The EOU Multicultural Center partnered with Oregon Rural action to host Padilla, and his visit is sponsored by Oregon Humanities as part of their Conversation Project program.

Padilla is the executive director of Portland Meet Portland and is a teacher and consultant in dialogue, conflict transformation, social change, and international aid and development. He has a master’s degree in peace, conflict, and development studies from the UNESCO Chair for the Philosophy of Peace. He has done peace work in Haiti, Chad, and Washington, DC, working with internally displaced people, immigrants, and refugees. He implements reconciliation workshops in refugee contexts with the Jesuit Refugee Service, and works with youth through restorative justice frameworks.

The Conversation Project offers free programs that engage community members in thoughtful, challenging conversations about ideas critical to our daily lives and our state’s future. Oregon Humanities, an independent, nonprofit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities and a partner of the Oregon Cultural Trust, connects Oregonians to ideas that change lives and transform communities through this and other programs.

For more information about this community discussion, contact EOU’s Multicultural Center at 541-962-3741 or mccenter@eou.edu. View more details on the event poster.