Hendricks Chapel’s Sojourner Storytelling event on Feb. 14 to focus on rebuilding community

Hendricks Chapel’s Sojourner Storytelling event on Feb. 14 to focus on rebuilding communityFebruary 07, 2008Kelly Homan Rodoskikahoman@syr.edu

The Office of Community Engagement and Integrative Learning in Syracuse University’s Hendricks Chapel will host its annual Sojourner Storytelling event on Thursday, Feb. 14, at 7 p.m. in the main chapel.

The theme is “Lessons from Katrina: Rebuilding Community.” A keynote address will be given by Kathleen Hicks, mayor pro tem for the City of Fort Worth, Texas. Hicks will speak about her work in Fort Worth to build a strong and economically vibrant community for all residents.

The event is free and open to the public; parking is available in the University’s visitor pay lots.

Storytellers Sonita Surratt, Vanessa Johnson and Brian Spendley will share “stories of the heart.” Spendley, a junior in the L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science and the student leader of SU’s chapter of Habitat for Humanity, will specifically talk about the current climate in New Orleans, where rebuilding efforts are still under way following the destruction of Hurricane Katrina.

In 2005, Hicks became the youngest woman ever to join the Fort Worth City Council. She was re-elected to a second term in 2007. In 2004, The Fort Worth Business Press honored Hicks with its 40 Leaders Under 40 Award. She was honored as a young leader in 2002 by the Minority Leaders and Citizens Council; in 1998, the Texas Black Women’s Conference honored her with its Emerging Leader Award.

In 1997, she was one of eight participants chosen from around the world to attend the United Nations Youth Awareness Program at the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kakuma, Kenya. She served as an executive committee member of the board of Fort Worth Sister Cities and, along with her mother, co-chaired the search for a new sister city in Africa.

Hicks is the executive director of the Tarrant County Sickle Cell Disease Association and serves on numerous community boards and organizations in Fort Worth. She received a master’s degree in international relations from Nottingham University in Nottingham, England. She also studied at England’s Oxford University. She received a bachelor’s degree in politics and honors in history from Mount Holyoke College.

The Sojourner Storytelling event is presented in cooperation with the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies in the College of Visual and Performing Arts, the Office of Multicultural Affairs, Habitat for Humanity and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

For more information, contact Hendricks Chapel at 443-2901 or e-mail ragazdic@syr.edu.