Featured Sessions

Opening Session

Sunday, August 23 • 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

Father Gregory J. Boyle

Father
Gregory J. Boyle
President/CEO
Homeboys, Inc.

TATTOOS ON THE HEART: Empowering Those For Whom Hope is Foreign

Father Boyle has worked tirelessly to provide love and support for kids whose homes are so emotionally impoverished or destructive that they join gangs in search of a surrogate family. He believes that community involvement is essential to bring about change and he emphasizes the importance of not giving up hope. Father Boyle will share stories about his work and the young people he works with.

Father Gregory J. Boyle, S.J., best known as Fr. Greg by all who meet him – was born in Los Angeles, one of eight children. After graduating from Loyola High School in Los Angeles in 1972, he decided to become a Jesuit and was ordained a priest in 1984. He received his BA in English from Gonzaga University, an MA in English from Loyola Marymount University; a Master of Divinity from the Weston School of Theology; and a Sacred Theology Masters degree from the Jesuit School of Theology. Homeboy Industries traces its roots to “Jobs For A Future” (JFF), a program created in 1988 by Fr. Greg at Dolores Mission parish. In an effort to address the escalating problems and unmet needs of gang-involved youth, Fr. Greg and the community developed positive alternatives, including establishing an elementary school, a daycare program and finding legitimate employment for young people. As Executive Director of Homeboy Industries and an acknowledged expert on gangs and intervention approaches, Fr. Greg is a nationally renowned speaker. He has given commencement addresses at numerous prestigious universities, as well as spoken at conferences for teachers,social workers, criminal justice workers and others, about the importance of adult attention, guidance and unconditional love in preventing youth from joining gangs. Fr. Greg and several “Homies” were featured speakers at the White House Conference on Youth in 2005, at the personal invitation of Mrs. George Bush. Fr. Greg is also a consultant to youth service and governmental agencies, policy makers and employers.

This last year, 2008, marked the 20th Anniversary of the work Fr. Greg began. Homeboy Industries, now located in downtown Los Angeles, is recognized as the largest gang intervention program in the country and has become a national model.

Plenary Session

Monday, August 24 • 8:30 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.

Frederick J. Frese

Frederick J. Frese
Coordinator
Summit County (OH) Recovery Project

 

Since deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill in the late 20th century, persons with serious mental illness have increasingly come into contact with the criminal justice system. Dr. Frese will address ways in which criminal justice professionals can better interact with and care for this vulnerable population. He will address new initiatives, procedures, and approaches to decriminalizing the mentally ill.

Frederick J. Frese, Ph.D. is a psychologist with more than forty years experience in public mental health care and is presently coordinator of the Summit County (Ohio) Recovery Project, serving recovering consumers in the Akron area. For fifteen years, until his retirement in 1995, Fred was Director of Psychology at Western Reserve Psychiatric Hospital. He is also a consumer, having been diagnosed with schizophrenia as a young Marine Corps officer. Despite his disability, he was able to gain a degree from the American Graduate School of International Management in Phoenix, Arizona, and a doctorate in Psychology from Ohio University. Fred founded the Community and State Hospital Section of the American Psychological Association. He currently holds psychology clinical faculty appointments in the psychiatry programs at Case Western Reserve University and at the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine. He is the longest serving member of the Board of Directors of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, and is also on the Board of Scientific Advisors for Schizophrenia Bulletin. Dr. Frese is the editor of The Role of Organized Psychology in the Treatment of the Serious Mentally Illness, published by Jossey-Bass in the winter of 2000. He is the author of numerous articles and book chapters, and lectures widely around the United States and Canada. Dr. Frese has been featured on CNN, World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, The Chicago Tribune, The Wall Street Journal, and in the video I’m Still Here: The Truth About Schizophrenia.

Closing Session

Wednesday, August 26 • 9:45 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.

Joseph B. Washington

Joseph B. Washington

 

 

Breaking the Spirit of Average

Are you tired of living an average or ordinary life? Acclaimed author, speaker and motivator Joseph B. Washington reveals his revolutionary approach to overcoming mediocrity in his message, Breaking the Spirit of Average. The objectives are to teach you how to:

Known across America for his passionate style of speaking, Joseph Washington is a dynamic motivator whose gift is to empower individuals and help them embrace their future.

Joseph’s passion for speaking is a result of his own personal struggle to overcome stuttering while growing up in San Diego, California. Due to the embarrassment and teasing he suffered from others, Joseph worked tirelessly to overcome his disability.

It was around the age of fifteen when he noticed his speech began to change. Soon after, he began to develop self-confidence. Joe was no longer afraid to publicly speak what was on his mind. He soon realized that speaking was something that was becoming as natural to him as breathing. Almost immediately, Joe’s life began to take a new direction; he found himself motivating and inspiring others to become all that they were destined to become.

Joseph Washington has worked in corporate America performing in various management capacities for the past 20 years. He was a Corporate Manager at Delta Airlines, an Account Manager and Corporate Trainer at a large CPA firm, and the Director of Sales for an Air Filter Company in the Midwest. There, Joe was awarded the Eli Lilly award for the top sales person.

He is a featured writer in the book “Walking With The Wise” along with such authors as Mark Victor Hansen, Brian Tracy, Zig Ziglar, and Jim Rohn, just to name a few.

Joseph is now the President and CEO of The Joseph Washington Group, Inc. He currently resides in Stone Mountain, Georgia with his wife and children. Along with traveling the world helping others, Joseph spends his spare time reading, writing, and playing football with his sons.