About Lift Every Voice Oregon’s
Youth Leadership Academy

Highlights from the Youth Leadership Academy to End Gun Violence

2021 SPRING CONFERENCE (April 10, 17. 24 & May 1, 2021)

YLA’s 2021 Spring Conference program and list of presenters is available here.

Distinguished speakers and guests included:

  • U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon)

  • U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) (video appearance)

  • Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici (D-Oregon)

  • Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon)

  • C. Anthony Hunt, Ph.D., Epworth Chapel UMC and St. Mary's Seminary and University

  • Penny Okamoto, Ceasefire Oregon

  • Sandy and Lonnie Phillips, Survivors Empowered

  • Dr. Lovett H. Weems, Jr., Wesley Theological Seminary

  • Dr. Cassandra Crifasi, Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Prevention and Policy

  • Teri Kanefield, Author and Lawyer

  • Po Murray, Newtown Action and Alliance

  • Gregory Engel, M.D., MPH, National Steering Committee on Firearm Injury Prevention, Doctors for America

  • Rev. Dr. W.J. Mark Knutson, LEVO Ballot Initiative Chief Petitioner and Senior Pastor, Augustana Lutheran Church

  • Rabbi Michael Z. Cahana, LEVO Ballot Initiative Chief Petitioner, Senior Rabbi, Congregation Beth Israel

  • Marilyn Keller, YLA Artist in Residence, Recording Artist and Activist

  • Rev. Dr. LeRoy Haynes, Jr., Albina Ministerial Alliance for Justice and Police Reform and Pastor of Allen Temple CME Church

  • Joyce Harris, Educator and Activist

  • Pastor J.W. Matt Hennessee, Vancouver Avenue First Baptist Church

  • Darren Golden, Real Police Accountability PAC

  • Alissa Keny-Guyer, former Member of the Oregon House of Representatives

  • Devin Hughes, GV Pedia

  • Ladd Everitt, Gun Control Professional, and Volunteer

  • Liz McKanna, Chair, Lift Every Voice Oregon Legislative Team

  • Youth Over Guns Panelists (Andrea Alejandra Gonzales, Luis Hernandez, and Alliyah Logan)

  • Peren Tiemann, Students Demand Action National Advisory Board Member

  • Hannah Banwell, Student Activist and Participant in Tivnu Gap Year Program

  • Jacob Martinez, Executive Director, American Youth in Politics

  • Ben Iboshi, YLA Founder and Youth Activist

  • Andrea Robideau (Dakota, Ojibwe), Foster Care Support Specialist, Native American Youth and Family Association

  • Darren Golden, Founder, Golden Solutions, LLC

  • Lakayana Drury, Founder & Executive Director, Word is Bond

  • Dre Miller, Community Justice Organizer

  • Janey Paterno and Joe Paterno, Head of LEVO’s Field Organizing and Training Team

INAUGURAL YOUTH LEADERSHIP ACADEMY (June 22 -26, 2020)

LEVO held its inaugural Youth Leadership Academy to End Gun Violence in June 2020, with an amazing array of topics and speakers.

Speakers at the 2020 event included:

  • Opening Address by the Rev. Dr. Bernard Lafeyette, Jr., Civil Rights Activist & Organizer, Southern Christian Leadership Conference

  • Fred Guttenberg, Orange Ribbons for Jaime

  • Dr. Daniel Webster, Director of the Center for Gun Policy and Research, Johns Hopkins University

  • Donna Dees Thomases, Founder of The Million Mom March

  • Po Murray, Newton Action Alliance

  • Sandy Phillips, Survivors Empowered

  • Penny Okamoto, Ceasefire Oregon

  • Devin Hughes, Founder of GV Pedia

  • Ladd Everitt, Gun Control Professional, and Volunteer

  • Pat Maisch, Gun Control Activist

  • Rev. Dr. LeRoy Haynes, Jr., Chair of the Albina Ministerial Alliance Coalition for Justice and Police Reform and Pastor of Allen Temple CME Church

  • Rev. Dr. W.J. Mark Knutson, LEVO Ballot Initiative Chief Petitioner, Senior Pastor, Augustana Lutheran Church

  • Michael C. Gleason. Ph.D. and Theresa Moore, Ph.D., Wartburg College Institute for Leadership Education

  • Heidi Yewman, Author and Award-Winning Filmmaker, “Behind the Bullet”

  • Ian Johnstone, Gun by Gun

  • Marilyn Keller, YLA Artist in Residence, Recording Artist, and Activist

Thank you for supporting the work of the Lift Every Voice Oregon Youth Leadership Academy. Please reach out and join our efforts!