Theme: And Justice For All

And Justice For All – the final four words of the Pledge of Allegiance – embodies the powerful theme of TEDxPhiladelphia 2015. The daylong multidisciplinary conference will bring together engaging speakers, performers, and participants to spark conversations that matter and showcase great ideas for building more just cities.

Our interest in this phrase is not motivated by politics or blind patriotism, but by a deep belief in the directness and simplicity of its sentiment – the ideal of equality, social equity, and economic justice which is at the root of this country’s founding and its enduring and evolving identity and value. Liberty and justice, after all, touch on such important notions as access, fairness, opportunity and democracy as well as their ever-present threats. In this sense, the pledge is not just a piece of sentimental Americana, but a lens through which we may begin to refocus, sharpen, clarify, and reinvigorate the meanings of these fundamental ideals for Philadelphia, the birthplace of our nation and its democratic ideals.

1837 North Broad Street
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19121
United States

Worldtown Street Music

Worldtown Street Music is a Philadelphia-based global groove collective. The upbeat and inspirational Worldtown Street Music fuses musical elements from around the world. Members hail from Jamaica, Nigeria, Brazil, Alabama, Vermont and Philadelphia, Worldtown Street Music truly captures the essence of global culture through music.

Antonio Valdés

Antonio (Tony) Valdés knows the real impact of adversity in childhood and questions the bootstrap mentality of the “rugged individual” through the lens of resilience research and trauma-informed training. Since his start as a behavioral health-care social worker in 1987, Valdés has raised the bar in providing innovative and much-needed behavioral health services in Philadelphia, while remaining sensitive to the needs of diverse communities. As Executive Director of the Child Psychiatry Center in Philadelphia, he was the catalyst for the organization’s greater involvement in the North Philadelphia community. In 1997, Valdés became the CEO of the Children’s Crisis Treatment Center (CCTC), a Philadelphia nonprofit agency specializing in providing behavioral health services to children and families. Since then, the reach and impact of the CCTC has increased seven-fold as they now serve thousands of families annually.

Brigitte Daniel

A ‘telecom visionary’ according to Marie Claire magazine and a vocal advocate for gender and cultural diversity in the tech industry, Ms. Brigitte Daniel has emerged as a national thought leader and supporter for digital access to underserved communities across the Country. As the Executive Vice President of Wilco Electronics Systems, Inc., her family’s privately owned cable operation, Wilco is one of the last remaining African-American owned cable operators in the Nation and has provided affordable cable and technology services to low-income communities as well as educational institutions, in Philadelphia, for over 38 years.

Chares Ramsey

Retired Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey spent his 48-year law-enforcement career developing policing strategies, evidence-based initiatives, organizational accountability and neighborhood-based programs, while leading organizational change in police departments. As president of Major Cities Chiefs, Ramsey created the Leadership Executive Institute to help prepare police chiefs of the future. Working with the Anti Defamation League and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, he led the creation of “Law Enforcement & Society: Lessons from the Holocaust.” More than 90,000 local, state and federal law enforcement personnel have viewed the program. With the The National Constitution Center, he developed a program for law enforcement that focuses on the role of policing in a complex democratic society. And he was co-chair of President Barack Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, which sought ways to strengthen police community relations across the country.

Charles Ramsey

Retired Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey spent his 48-year law-enforcement career developing policing strategies, evidence-based initiatives, organizational accountability and neighborhood-based programs, while leading organizational change in police departments. As president of Major Cities Chiefs, Ramsey created the Leadership Executive Institute to help prepare police chiefs of the future. Working with the Anti Defamation League and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, he led the creation of “Law Enforcement & Society: Lessons from the Holocaust.” More than 90,000 local, state and federal law enforcement personnel have viewed the program. With the The National Constitution Center, he developed a program for law enforcement that focuses on the role of policing in a complex democratic society. And he was co-chair of President Barack Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing, which sought ways to strengthen police community relations across the country.

Chill Moody

Chill Moody is a young hip-hop artist and one of the top lyricists to hit Philadelphia. Chill Moody attended Millersville University where he refined his craft of creating what he feels is “authentic hip-hop music.” Chill released an independent album “RFM” (Running From Myself) which debuted in the top 100 on the iTunes hip-hop chart. His videos from RFM have been premiered on MTV Jams. Chill has performed throughout the country and is a celebrated artist in Philadelphia. Chill was nominated for an MTV "O Music Award" (online music award) in the "Make A Band Famous" category, he also performed at the award show in Times Square.

David Norse

David Norse is the first openly gay man to be ordained as a Presbyterian Pastor in Philadelphia. An Oregon native, Norse pursued personal wholeness through the intersection of his Christian and LGBTQ identity. David is a graduate of Lewis & Clark College and Princeton Theological Seminary and has served as Pastoral Associate at Broad Street Ministry since September 2013. In his work, Norse challenges the narratives that cut communities off from wholeness and thriving. In so doing his work extends radical hospitality to the most vulnerable adults in Philadelphia.

Fabricio Rodriguez

Fabricio Rodriguez is a Philadelphia troublemaker, hell-raiser, outside agitator and organizer. In other words, he’s a professional protester who helps empower workers, immigrants and communities to fight for their rights. He founded the local Restaurant Opportunities Center and the independent Philadelphia Security Officers Union, and he currently works for POWER Interfaith, which works to ensure that the needs and priorities of all Philadelphians are reflected in the systems and policies that shape the city. Fabricio is also a board member of Bread and Roses Community Fund and the Windcall Institute, and he blogs about his organizing experiences at ThatFinalStraw.com.

Gregory Heller

Gregory Heller is empowering urban and low-income communities across the U.S. to build stronger and more resilient communities through “social-impact real estate”. He argues that we need to think creatively about which projects and spaces are important to our communities, and the policy changes that must occur to make them possible. After a decade in community development, Heller decided to focus on the potential and challenges of physical projects with a social mission. In 2014, Heller is the CEO of American Communities Trust (ACT), a Baltimore-based nonprofit dedicated to “building social impact” in urban and low-income communities across the U.S. Although ACT is based in Baltimore and works nationwide, Heller’s commitment to his hometown has brought several of its initiatives to Philadelphia.

Jeffrey Rosen

Jeffrey Rosen is president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, a museum and civic-education headquarters dedicated to non-partisan Constitutional discussion and debate. Well-versed in American freedoms and rights, he is a law professor at George Washington University and a contributing editor to The Atlantic, and has been referred to as “the nation’s most widely read and influential legal commentator.” Among many other works, he is the author of The Supreme Court: The Personalities and Rivalries That Defined America, and co-editor of Constitution 3.0: Freedom and Technological Change.

Jesse Krimes

Jesse Krimes is a visual artist who was indicted by the United States government, labeled a "drug kingpin," and sentenced to a 70-month prison term. While incarcerated, Mr. Krimes established prison drawing, painting, and independent study art programs and worked collaboratively with his fellow inmates, in addition to maintaining an active independent studio practice. Krimes used art as a means to transcend and psychologically escape his confinement, including a 30’ x 15’ ft. mural, which was digitally reproduced and used to cover the walls of a cell at Eastern State Penitentiary for an art installation titled Apokaluptein:16389067. Krimes' work seeks to challenge events and dogmas, creating paradoxes in perception and memory that alter future translations and understandings of “authenticity.”

Marsha Levick

Marsha Levick is working to shift public thinking and legal policy necessary to achieve true justice for our country’s most vulnerable citizens: kids. As a children’s rights lawyer and national expert in juvenile law, she has dedicated her career to advancing and protecting the legal rights and interests of at-risk youth. Levick founded the Juvenile Law Center, where is currently Deputy Director and Chief Counsel, with three of her Temple Law School classmates in 1975. Levick has been the architect of Juvenile Law Center’s strategic participation in key cases across the country, which has led to several landmark Supreme Court rulings, including: eliminating the death penalty for juveniles (Roper v. Simmons, 2005); eliminating juvenile life without parole sentences in non-homicide cases (Graham v. Florida, 2010); and ending mandatory life without parole sentences for juveniles in homicide cases (Miller v. Alabama, 2012).

Michelle Johnson

Michelle Johnson knows robots. She works in a lab specializing in the design, development, and therapeutic use of novel, affordable, intelligent robotic assistants for persons with disabilities due to brain injury, such as stroke victims. As a graduate student, Johnson witnessed the power of wheelchair robotics firsthand after a family member suffered a stroke, and was inspired to dedicate her career to its research. Johnson is the Director of the Rehabilitation Robotic Research and Design Laboratory, located at the new Pennsylvania Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Johnson is also an Assistant Professor of Bioengineering and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at UPenn. Her current research focuses on using robotics to understand arm dysfunction and recovery after brain injury.

Ronnie Polaneczky

Ronnie Polaneczky, a journalist for thirty years, is a columnist at the Philadelphia Daily News, where she has won numerous journalism awards for listening to the city she loves and telling its stories in ways that get to the heart of who we are. She is the 2015 winner of the Eugene Pulliam Journalism Fellowship for her coverage of a growing yet vastly unheard population – elderly parents who are still responsible for the care of their intellectually disabled, aging children. Polaneczky has also written for local and national magazines – including Philadelphia, Men’s Health, Reader’s Digest, MarieClaire, Redbook and others – and is a popular public speaker and emcee. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband, writer Noel Weyrich. Their daughter, Adeline, is a New York comedian and college student.

Rosa Sheng

Rosa Sheng sees equity as everyone’s issue. Sheng is a licensed architect with over 20 years experience. Sheng has led a variety of acclaimed projects, including the highly technical development of the glass structures for Apple’s original high-profile retail stores. Sheng helped launch a national conversation about the lack of women leaders in her field. She is the Founding Chair of the American Institute of Architects San Francisco (AIASF) Committee: Equity by Design. Equity by Design is a call to action for both women and men to realize the goal of equitable practice to advance architecture and communicate the value of design to society. Sheng spearheaded the group’s groundbreaking study, “The Missing 32% Project”, which examined the reasons behind the dramatic drop-off rate between women in schooling for architecture and women who went on to become licensed practicing architects.

Stacy Holland

Stacy Holland has spent her career ensuring that young people in the Philadelphia region have access to the academic, career, and support services necessary to build bright futures and to become leaders in the workforce. Holland has held several positions in the educational and non-profit sector. She has served as the chief of strategic partnerships for the School District of Philadelphia; as co-founder, president and CEO of Philadelphia Youth Network; and as a tireless board member and volunteer in numerous educational organizations. She is currently executive director of The Lenfest Foundation, which serves disadvantaged youth in Philadelphia, and has been honored with numerous accolades for her work, including a White House Champion of Change award in 2013.

Yasmine Mustafa

Yasmine Mustafa, a refugee of the Persian Gulf War, has always been fascinated with the idea of the birth lottery and the path her life would have taken if not for circumstances beyond her control. As a child, Mustafa struggled with culture shock, a language barrier, and the feeling of not belonging. This was compounded by societal and institutional prejudices after 9/11. Mustafa worked for years below minimum wage to attend college, and, after seven and a half years, graduated summa cum laude from Temple University with an Entrepreneurship degree. She subsequently started her first startup, an affiliate marketing company. Since then, Mustafa has started the Philadelphia chapter of Girl Develop It, a non-profit focused on empowering women to learn web development skills. Her latest venture is ROAR for Good, a self-defense wearable technology company aimed at diminishing attacks against women and addressing the underlying causes of violence.