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• Community Leadership Roundtable: Health, Equity, and Nature in Lake County | July 19, 2023

3rd Annual Community Leadership Roundtable:
​Health, Equity, and Nature in Lake County

Wednesday, July 19, 2023 | 8:45am-11:00am
​
Eleanor Murkey Community Center, College of Lake County Lakeshore Campus, Waukegan
​34 North Sheridan Road, 5th Floor Waukegan, IL
Complimentary Parking Garage: 30 North Sheridan Road

Join community, civic, and business leaders from across Lake County to address economic and racial disparities at the intersection of health, climate, and nature. Learn about exciting efforts underway in Lake County, key findings, and actions shared in the just-released report, Health, Equity, and Nature: A Changing Climate in Lake County, IL. This report is a tool for community members, organizations, and decision-makers to improve our communities’ environment, health and wellbeing and to empower change. A hot breakfast will be served. 

The goal of the Community Leadership Roundtable is to: 

• Create a community space for understanding the impact of access to greenspace and environmental justice on health equity in Lake County;
• Collaboratively identify assets and strengths in our communities; 
• Cultivate connections with other leaders, community members, and organizations committed to a thriving Lake County.

We hope to use our time together to create connections, document resources, and collaborate on actions to advance health equity in our communities. Your voice will help shape the future of this work.

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Program Agenda:

• 8:45am Event Begins, Buffet Breakfast Served 
• 9:15am Program Begins 
• Opening Remarks
  • Marvin Bembry, Master of Ceremonies, Executive Director of The John Maxwell Team 
  • Catherine Game, Executive Director, Brushwood Center
• Presentation and Q&A
  • Dani Abboud, Director of Community Programs and Partnerships, Brushwood Center
  • Nydia Gonzalez-Carson, Creative Entrepreneur, Gathr Creative Studio and Tortilleria y Supermercado Gonzalez
  • Nickie Figueroa, Health, Equity, and Nature Accelerator, Brushwood Center
  • Celeste Flores, Director of Community Building, Mano a Mano Family Resource Center
• Table Breakout Discussions and Asset Mapping
• Concluding Remarks and Next Steps
• ​​11:00am Event Concludes

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About the Speakers

​Master of Ceremonies
Marvin Bembry, Executive Director | The John Maxwell Team
Marvin serves as Executive Director of The John Maxwell Team, where he facilitates, speaks, trains and coaches individuals and groups in the areas of leadership development, professional skills and personal growth. He has over 20 years of corporate leadership experience in Government Affairs, Human Resources, and Training and Development.  His most recent experience was as the Midwest Regional Director of State and Local Government Affairs for a Fortune 100 pharmaceutical firm. In this role, he supported the legislative and regulatory interest at the Federal, State and Local levels. Prior to this, he was the Senior Manager of Organizational Development for the Engineering Division of a major Health Care company. In that role I led a team dedicated to improving organizational effectiveness, training and development. I haved served my community in a variety of civic and leadership roles. He has received many awards for community service, leadership, and volunteerism, and has travelled extensively and been the featured speaker/trainer to thousands of people throughout North America, Canada, Europe, Asia, Africa and Israel.

Dani Abboud, Director of Community Partnerships and Programs | Brushwood Center
Dani builds and maintains Brushwood Center’s partnerships with community organizations, manages program coordination, and oversees the It's A W.I.N. and At Ease programs. They work with community partners across Lake County to increase equitable access to nature and the arts through community-determined youth and family programs, resource sharing, and curriculum training.  They graduated from Loyola University Chicago’s Institute of Environmental Sustainability, where they studied Environmental Science and Sociology. They bring a wealth of experience in community engagement, environmental justice issues, and qualitative research. Dani is a lover of all things art and nature related, and spends their free time baking, doing yoga, and exploring their community in Rogers Park with their goofy dog, Max. 

Eliza Fournier, Urban Farm Director | College of Lake County - Lakeshore Campus
Eliza currently serves as the Urban Farm director at the College of Lake County’s Lakeshore Campus, tasked with the development of the building and programming for an innovative center for urban agriculture and controlled environment agriculture to open in fall 2025.  Fournier comes to CLC from the Chicago Botanic Garden where she served in various leadership positions within the Garden’s Windy City Harvest program. During her time at the Garden, she helped develop the Farm on Ogden, the inspiration for the Urban Farm Center at CLC.  Eliza has also served as a Coordinator with the City of Chicago Mayor’s Office of Workforce Development and an adjunct professor at Lake Forest College where she helped design and implement an on-campus food production garden. Fournier earned a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies from Lake Forest College and her master’s degree in urban management and community development from Indiana University.

Nydia Gonzalez-Carson, Creative Entrepreneur, Gathr Creative Studio and Tortilleria y Supermercado Gonzalez
Nydia is a self-taught, multidisciplinary, freelance artist whose current artistic focus is illustration and design, and ceramics. Nydia's work is influenced by her life as a Mexican-American mother and wife, and daughter of entrepreneurial immigrants.

Though Nydia is a licensed Speech-Language pathologist deeply interested in the language development of children aged birth-5, Nydia has spent much of her life as a second-generation grocer in the community that watched her grow. Currently she manages the grocery store with her husband while curating the boutique and programming for Gathr Creative Studio. She is interested in finding ways to give back to her community through art, workshops, and thoughtful partnerships.

Nickie Figueroa, Health, Equity, and Nature Accelerator Distribution Intern | Brushwood Center
Nickie is an accomplished rising senior at Lake Forest College, where she majors in Sociology and Anthropology with a minor in Religion. Her passion for advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts in the Lake County area led her to her current role as the Health, Equity, and Nature Accelerator Distribution Intern at Brushwood Center. In this position, she plays a crucial role in distributing the Health, Equity and Nature Report, while building and maintaining relationships with various community stakeholders. On her time off she enjoys baking and spending time outdoors, biking and hiking.

Celeste Flores, Director of Community Building, Mano a Mano Family Resource Center
Celeste, a child of immigrant parents, serves as Director of Community Building at Mano a Mano Family Resource Center. She is responsible for developing and implementing civic engagement, immigrant community organizing, and policy advocacy. She also oversees the Democracy in Action program and the Liderazgo program for emerging leaders in Lake County.

Celeste has also worked in the national environmental justice movement for the past nine years. Her work with frontline community members has drawn national attention to the environmental injustices associated with corporate polluters in Lake County, Illinois. As the former Co-Chair of Clean Power Lake County, she has built pivotal relationships with coalition partners and elected officials around the country, and champions for environmental justice and frontline communities to be part of conversations shaping policy decisions.

She has earned significant recognition for her tireless state and federal legislative work. Celeste received the 2017 Archdiocese of Chicago Hispanic Ministry Gaudium et Spes Award, was a recipient of the 2020 Energy News Network 40 under 40 award and was the guest of Senator Tammy Duckworth at the State of the Union address in 2020.
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Celeste recognizes that political engagement is critical at every level of government. In 2022 she was appointed to the Warren Newport Library Board. She was reelected in 2023 and became Vice President of the board. Additionally, in 2022, Celeste was named an Edgar Fellow. Most recently she was chosen to be part of the 2023 Illinois Women Institute for Leadership Training Academy.