United Methodist Women’s “The Power of Bold” quadrennial Assembly will bring nearly 8,000 women of faith to the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio, May 18-20, 2018, for workshops on faith, social justice and action.

We invite you to cover the Assembly plenary sessions and town hall events below:

Friday, May 18
11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m., Town Hall, Regency Ballroom
Climate Justice and Faith

• • Katharine Hayhoe, an atmospheric scientist and evangelical Christian, will lead a Town Hall on Climate Justice. Ms. Hayhoe is known for her work to bridge the broad gap between scientists and Evangelicals. She jointly authored with her husband Climate for Change: Global Warming Facts for Faith-Based Decisions. She was named to TIME magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2014 and as one of Christianity Today’s “50 Women to Watch” list in 2012.

Press conference
• 2:15-2:45 p.m.—Katharine Hayhoe
In Press Room

7:00-8:30 p.m., Plenary, Mainstage
Women and the Work to Build Peace

• • Leymah Gbowee, 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate will give the opening keynote address to Assembly. Ms. Gbowee won the international honor for her work in leading a women’s peace movement that brought an end to the Liberia’s Second Civil War in 2003. She is the founder and president of Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa providing educational and leadership opportunities to girls, women and youth in West Africa.
  • Press conference
    • 8:30-9:00 p.m.—Leymah Gbowee
    In Press Room
  • Saturday, May 19
    9:00-10:30 am, Plenary, Mainstage
    Mass Incarceration: Interrupting the School-to-Prison Pipeline
    • Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness and Marian Wright Edelman, Civil Right Movement veteran and founder of Children’s Defense Fund, will discuss U.S. mass incarceration, the school to prison pipeline, how the Old Jim Crow morphed into a New Jim Crow—and what United Methodist Women can do to change this. Interrupting the school-to-prison pipeline is one of United Methodist Women’s four a priority advocacy issues.

    1:00-3:00 pm, Town Hall, Regency Ballroom
    Ending the Criminalization of Communities of Colors

    • Michelle Alexander will speak and field audience questions in this Town Hall gathering.

    Press conferences

    • 10:45-11:15 a.m.—Marian Wright Edelman
    • 3:30-4:00 p.m.— Michelle Alexander
      Both events in the Press Room

    7:00-7:30 p.m., Plenary, Mainstage
    Millennials Organizing for Change
    Panelists:

    • Tamika D. Mallory was one of four co-chairs of the Women’s March on Washington in drawing the participation of more than 5 million people worldwide and landing her on the Time magazine’s 2017 100 Pioneers list and Fortune’s World’s Greatest Leaders in 2017. She is president of Mallory Consulting, a strategic planning firm, and a director of The Gathering for Justice, founded by Harry Belafonte.
    • Linda Sarsour is an award winning racial justice and civil rights activist, and one of the organizers of the Women’s March on Washington. A Palestinian-Muslim-American mother of three from Brooklyn, New York., Ms. Sarsour is the former executive director of the Arab American Association of New York and the co-founder of the first Muslim online organizing platform, MPower Change. She is a member of the Justice League NYC, a leading force of activists, artists, youth and formerly incarcerated individuals committed to criminal justice reform through direct action and policy advocacy.
    • The Rev. Hannah Adair Bonner is a filmmaker and the director of the Wesley Foundation of Tucson, serving the University of Arizona. Dedicated to amplifying the voices of young women, she has produced two short film series, “The Impact of Sandra Bland” and “Facing Christmas”, as well as a documentary released in 2017, “Awaken the Voice.”

    Press conference

    • 6:00-6:30 p.m.—Tamika D. Mallory, Linda Sarsour and The Rev. Hannah Adair Bonner

    Event in the Press Room

For press credentials

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  United Methodist Women is a nearly 800,000-member organization of women turning their faith, hope and love into action for 150 years. Members raise more than $12 million annually to support ministries empowering women, children and youth. United Methodist Women’s four mission priority issues are Climate Justice, Economic Inequality, Maternal and Child Health, and Mass Incarceration and Criminalization of Communities of Color.

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