Social Justice Summit Speakers

Hope Starts Here
2021 Social Justice Summit
Virtual Summit | November 16th & 18th | 5:30pm – 7:00pm

Denise Smith
Implementation Director, Hope Starts Here
Denise Smith is a native Detroiter and a mother to four children. For more than six years has focused her efforts on collaborative, community-based work to improve the early childhood education and care system for children and families in our most vulnerable communities. Before returning to her hometown to continue leadership in early childhood system-building, Smith served as the executive director of the Flint Early Childhood Collaborative and Educare Flint, a system-level address to the needs of young children and their families as a result of the Flint water emergency. Previous posts have included vice president of early learning at Excellent Schools Detroit, and director of Great Start to Quality, Michigan’s statewide and tiered quality rating and improvement system at the Early Childhood Investment Corporation.
Denise Smith is the first implementation director of Hope Starts Here Detroit Early Childhood Partnership. Denise brings to this role a wealth of experience as an early childhood leader in Detroit and throughout the state of Michigan, rooted in her deep, personal commitment to children, families, and community.

Tamika Davis
Professor of Anthropology, Wayne County Community College District
Tamika Davis is a mother of four sons that absolutely inspired her to be her absolute best self. Her children range in age from 7 to 21. It is because she wants to raise excellent men for husbands, uncles, dads and community leaders that she does everything that she does.
Tamika Davis is an anthropology professor at Wayne County Community College District. She enjoys giving students an opportunity to discuss shared and culturally unique experiences that we have as Americans and as individuals.
Davis also enjoys community service through her church, Fellowship Chapel. She is currently a project manager for Detroit Champions for Hope (DCH) where we support parents and caregivers as children's first teachers. Her latest projects have her planning the Unconference for 2022, working with The Children's Center, participating in United Way’s Literacy Fair and capturing vital reflections on video of the impact of working with DCH.
Davis believes that we as individuals have so much power and ability. If we are just able to believe in ourselves and work on being our best selves, then that energy will take hold not only in us and our households, but also in our communities, in our cities, our art, our education, our politics. It would be great if through that energy someday humanity returns to the world.

Najwa Dahdah
Founder and CEO of Empowered Child Care Consulting, Inc.
Najwa Dahdah and her family immigrated to the United States of America from Amman, Jordan in 1977 and settled in Southwest Detroit. While in school, she witnessed first-hand the challenges immigrant children and families face as they assimilate into the United States.
Empowered Child Care Consulting, founded in 2016, has trained more than 1,000 students for the Child Development Associate Credential (CDA). Understanding the needs of the community, Dahdah is an advocate for bilingual education and provides CDA training in English, Spanish, and Arabic to meet the needs of diverse families and grow the educational pool of trained Early Childhood staffing. She is also a professional development (PD) specialist, a Gold Standard Specialist for the CDA Council for Professional Recognition, and an adjunct faculty member at Wayne County Community College District.
Through her continued work in the early childhood profession, she recognized the need for resources and referral services to families of various services available to improve their socio-economic status. She founded Empowered Community Outreach Services in October 2019 where she has taken the lead on language accessibility to bridge the gap of language barriers. She is a proud partner with Urban Neighborhood Initiative in Southwest Detroit and opened a bilingual Spanish speaking preschool program in their building.
As an Arab American, she has earned the respect and trust of the men and women from various cultures and communities. Najwa is married to Said Dahdah who has supported her endeavors, together they have raised three sons, each with a respect for culture, hard work and education.

Geanine Edwards
ELC Director, Black Family Development
Geanine Edwards’ passion for early childhood advocacy, independent providers, and early learning is what drives her to continue to work in the community, with families, and the partners who help support early learning for all children.
Edwards has been with Black Family Development Inc. for 3 years. She serves as Program Director for 3 Early Childhood grants, (SOAR Scholarship Program, LENA Start and Parents as Teachers.) Prior to working at BFDI, Geanine worked her way through the early childhood ranks as Assistant Teacher, Lead Teacher, Assistant Director and Director in the early childhood Community, which began in 2001. Geanine is a Certified Montessori Teacher, having taught and facilitated Montessori centers throughout her career. Through the help of the Michigan T.E.A.C.H. Scholarship, Geanine was able to earn her Associate’s at Wayne County Community College as well as her Bachelor’s in Child Development from Madonna University in 2012. She completed her Masters of Teaching (MAT) in Early Childhood in 2015 from Madonna as well.
Geanine serves on the Board of Directors for U.N.I.T.Y. (Uniting Neighborhoods and Inspiring Today’s Youth). Geanine is an avid and serious bowler in her spare time, is a Praise and Worship leader at her church, and declares sleeping as her favorite hobby.

Jeffrey Capizzano
President, The Policy Equity Group
Jeffrey Capizzano grew up in a working poor family. His father was an immigrant from Southern Italy who worked as a painter at a shipyard. His mother was mostly a stay-at-home mom, but when money was really tight, she would clean houses or work as a crossing guard for the school. His parents strived to provide different experiences for him, and he benefited from a circle of familiar adults—relatives, teachers, and community leaders—in his tight-knit Italian neighborhood. The adults in his life were humble and generous and modeled the life that he has tried to lead—a life in service to others. Largely because of his childhood, and for as long as he can remember, he has sought to understand the impact of poverty and find ways to improve the lives of children and families caught in it.
Under the Obama administration, Capizzano worked as a senior policy advisor at the Administration for Children and Families within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He also worked as an inter-departmental liaison to the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the White House Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative.
Following his time in the administration, Capizzano founded the Policy Equity Group to help organizations, foundations, and advocates leverage policy opportunities and become stronger supporters for children and families in poverty. He feels truly blessed to be able to use all of my past experiences and skills to support organizations that are changing the lives of children and families.

Carol Brunson Day, PhD
President, Brunson, Phillips & Day, Inc.
Carol Brunson Day grew up in Chicago, where her mother taught kindergarten and first grade. In helping her mother prepare her classroom, Day developed a love for children and decided she wanted to work with them.
Day has spent her 40+ year career as an advocate for quality childhood services. She has spoken at numerous conferences, both domestically and abroad, and has authored publications on professional development, diversity and multicultural education, cultural influences on development, and has a long history of interest and expertise on African-American culture and heritage.
As a recognized leader in the field of education, Day served as CEO and president of the National Black Child Development Institute in Washington, D.C. from 2006 to 2011. Prior to 2006, she served as the CEO and President of the Council for Professional Recognition, the home of the Child Development Associate National Credentialing Program, as well as the National Head Start Fellowship Program. Dr. Day was also the liaison for the international exchange between the schools in Reggio Emilia, Italy and the early childhood community in the United States.
Dr. Day is the president of Brunson, Phillips & Day, Inc., the Distinguished Fellow at the Council for Professional Recognition, and a former CEO of the National Black Child Development Institute. She also volunteered as the former board president of the National Association for the Education of Young Children

Bernita Bradley
Founder, The Village PCL and Engaged Detroit Homeschooling Network
Bernita Bradley is the mother of two beautiful children and a grandmother of one. She is a social entrepreneur who advocates for and with families in Detroit, Michigan. She began working with community organizations to facilitate community engagement after noticing a communication gap between residents and the organizations.
Bradley is the owner and founder of The Village PCL and Engaged Detroit Homeschooling Network: The Village PLC is an outreach and recruitment team that ensures that future outcomes for children are prioritized within the community, philanthropic and education environments. The Village's success is understanding that youth and parent voices are key to all great community partnerships, and The Village team works to be a fair and just liaison between families and institutions. Launched in response to parents' needs, Engaged Detroit is a local network of parent educators that supports parents and children through the homeschooling process.
Bradley holds additional leadership roles across and beyond the city of Detroit, which includes her role as director of outreach for Detroit Champions for Hope. Bernita Bradley invites individuals who have shared values and principles to join her in her work, and together they bring about successful outcomes for all involved.

Angela Reyes
Angela started Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation in 1997 from her living room “because [she] was tired of burying children.” Ms. Reyes was born in Southwest Detroit, and continues to reside there as a community activist for over 30 years. As a teenager, Angie began working with ‘at-risk’ and gang-involved youth. She is the mother of four adult children, and has seven grandchildren.
Passionate about education and policy, she received her Master’s in Public Health from the University of Michigan and is known for her expertise in critical policy issues that impact not only Southwest Detroit neighborhoods, but also common issues facing other urban areas. Angela has addressed international and national audiences sharing best practices in resolving community issues, including cultural awareness, youth gangs and violence, substance abuse, immigration, educational reform, community-based participatory research, policy development, and community organizing.

Carlos Atkins
Carlos Atkins is a Detroit native, born and raised on the northeast side of the city. Atkins is a father of one very bright young man who will be four in February. His son is all the motivation he needs because he never wants his son to go through or experience what he has in life. He intends to break generational curses and habits and hopes the same for others. Atkins is a member of Detroit Champions for Hope, a cohort of parents, caregivers and providers conducting district-based outreach to ensure all Detroit parents and caregivers are their children’s first champions.