8:00 AM

REGISTRATION OPEN → Portland Ballroom Lobby

9:00 AM - 10:00 AM

MORNING PROGRAM → Portland Ballroom

Welcome and Opening Remarks

• Co-Chair of the Northwest Public Employees Diversity Conference - Julia Adebawo

Keynote

• Soup Against Fascism: Building Community Capacity to Undo Political Division - Randall Blazak, Ph.D.

10:00 AM - 10:15 AM

BREAK

10:15 AM - 11:45 AM

WORKSHOP PERIOD 1

• Executive Session (for elected officials, executives and department/bureau directors). Leading Through Complexity: Courageous Leadership, Change Management and Equity in Public Service - April Allen and Shawna Unger

• AI and Equity in Public Service: Practical Tools for Navigating Disruption Without Losing Your Mission - Rafeel Wasif

• From Disruption to Transformation: Centering Belonging When Everything is Changing - Laura N. Shepherd and Preeya Kannan

• Making Menopause Work - Kylie Bayer

• Applying an Equity-Values Framework to Assess, Develop and Implement Policies and Practices - Alma Villegas and Eliza Arai Carrington

• Resilient Leadership: Supporting Peers and Public Employees in Employee Resource Groups - Jonathan Cruz

• From Cultural Friction to Community Resilience - Maria del Pilar Montejo

• Your Nervous System, Racial Trauma and the Workplace - Theresa Logan and Carlos Kareem Windham

• Effective Communication: Working with the Deaf and Hard of Hearing - Timothy Vander Ploeg

• Thinking Differently: Neurodiversity in the Workplace - Trystan Reese

11:45 AM - 12:00 PM

BREAK

12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

LUNCH PROGRAM → Portland Ballroom

• Co-Chair of the Northwest Public Employees Diversity Conference - Leslie Harrington Smith

Keynote

• Don't Automate the Human Out of the Loop - Dr. Carol Parker Walsh, Ph.D.

Robert Phillips Regional Diversity Award

• Award Chair - Victoria Cross

• Chair Emeritus - Percy Winters, Jr

• 2026 Honoree Casey Layton, Clackamas Community College

1:00 PM - 1:15 PM

BREAK

1:15 PM - 2:45 PM

WORKSHOP PERIOD 2

• AI and Equity in Public Service: Practical Tools for Navigating Disruption Without Losing Your Mission - Rafeel Wasif

• From Disruption to Transformation: Centering Belonging When Everything is Changing - Laura N. Shepherd and Preeya Kannan

• Making Menopause Work - Kylie Bayer

• Applying an Equity-Values Framework to Assess, Develop and Implement Policies and Practices - Alma Villegas and Eliza Arai Carrington

• Resilient Leadership: Supporting Peers and Public Employees in Employee Resource Groups - Jonathan Cruz

• From Cultural Friction to Community Resilience - Maria del Pilar Montejo

• Your Nervous System, Racial Trauma and the Workplace - Theresa Logan and Carlos Kareem Windham

• Vancouver for All: Using a Targeted Universalism Approach - Joy Fowler, Nikki Chen, and Jen Dugger Spalding

• Thinking Differently: Neurodiversity in the Workplace - Trystan Reese

• City of Portland's Advancement of LGBTQIA2S+ Equity - Lex Jakusovszky

2:45 PM - 3:00 PM

BREAK

3:00 PM - 4:30 PM

WORKSHOP PERIOD 3

• AI and Equity in Public Service: Practical Tools for Navigating Disruption Without Losing Your Mission - Rafeel Wasif

• From Disruption to Transformation: Centering Belonging When Everything is Changing - Laura N. Shepherd and Preeya Kannan

• Making Menopause Work - Kylie Bayer

• Centering Employees with Disabilities: The Disability Experience Survey - Ashley Carroll

• A Hands-On Tutorial: Risk Mapping with Metro's Social Vulnerability Explorer - Joe Gordon

• Building Trust Through Culturally Responsive Communication - Maria del Pilar Montejo and Melissa McKinney

• Gender Affirming Care Foundations - Tash Shatz and Kalpana Krishnamurthy

• Structure is Culture Change: How Shared Power Becomes Shared Decisions - Kimber Lyann Starr

• Resilience and Perseverance: Driving Change in Uncertain Times - Trystan Reese and Heather Guevara

• Beyond Invisible Scars: Leading Through Change with Trust, Compassion, and Courage - Magdianamy Carrillo-Sotomayor

4:30 PM

CONFERENCE ENDS