Dorian T. Warren and Mia Birdsong will be explaining how universal basic income can help create a more racially just society. Warren’s presentation will discuss MLK’s and the Black Panther Party’s perspectives on guaranteed income, as well as touching upon how the Movement for Black Lives connects UBI with reparations. Following Warren’s presentation, Birdsong will talk about her Listen First Tour, which highlights the voices of those experiencing economic and racial injustice and the impact UBI would have on them. Professor Bidadanure will close out the event with a moderated discussion between the two speakers.

DORIAN T. WARREN is President of the Center for Community Change Action (CCCA) and Vice-President of the Center for Community Change (CCC). He is also a Fellow at the Roosevelt Institute and Co-Chair of the Economic Security Project.

A progressive scholar, organizer and media personality, Warren has worked to advance racial, economic and social justice for over two decades. He previously taught for over a decade at the University of Chicago and Columbia University, where he was Co-Director of the Columbia University Program on Labor Law and Policy. Warren also worked at MSNBC where he was a Contributor, fill-in host for Melissa Harris Perry and Now with Alex Wagner, and Host and Executive Producer of Nerding Out on MSNBC’s digital platform.

He currently serves on several boards including Working Partnerships USA, the Workers Lab, the National Employment Law Project, Capital & Main and The Nation Magazine Editorial Board. Warren is co-author of The Hidden Rules of Race: Barriers to an Inclusive Economy (Cambridge University Press) and co-editor of Race and American Political Development (Routledge). In 2013, he was included on the list of NBC’s theGrio’s 100 people making history today. After growing up on the South Side of Chicago, Warren received his B.A. from the University of Illinois and his M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from Yale University. Twitter: @dorianwarren

MIA BIRDSONG is a family and community visionary who has spent more than 20 years fighting for the self-determination, and pointing out the brilliant adaptations, of everyday people. As Co-Director of Family Story, she is updating this nation’s outdated picture of the family in America (hint: rarely 2.5 kids and two heterosexual parents living behind a white picket fence). She is a Senior Fellow at the Economic Security Project, where she is expanding the current universal basic income movement to include perspectives and leadership from communities experiencing economic and racial injustice. Previously, Mia was the Vice President of the Family Independence Initiative, an organization that leverages the power of data and stories to illuminate and accelerate the initiative low-income families take to improve their lives.

She is a graduate of Oberlin College, an inaugural Ascend Fellow of The Aspen Institute, and a New America California Fellow. She sits on the Board of Directors of Forward Together and the North Oakland Community Charter School. She lives and dreams big in Oakland, California.

Event Sponsor: McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society, Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity, Basic Income Lab