Beginning later this month, 10 audio system will seem by means of October to debate international points and present occasions.
“The intention for the speaker series is to showcase powerful ideas, encourage civic engagement, public discourse, and also entertain,” mentioned Devorah Levine, the Lesher Basis’s govt director. “So, it really cuts across politics, popular culture, entertainment, science, issues of the day.”
Keerthi Eraniyan is a pupil at California Excessive Faculty in San Ramon, and a member of Contra Costa Youth Journalism. (Courtesy CCYJ)
“This year, just to mark the anniversary, we looked back at some speakers that were particularly engaging, and we sort of went back and looked at who had come to the Lesher Center in the last 20 years,” Levine mentioned. “So, we’re bringing back some of the best, and these folks will have new insights, new things to share.”
Delayed by LA fires
The collection was initially purported to kick off in Walnut Creek on Jan. 8 with Henry Winkler and Marlee Matlin, however that engagement was postponed after the actors have been evacuated from their houses due to the Los Angeles fires. Their occasion is rescheduled for March 18.
As a result of their speaker occasion was rescheduled, Fox now opens the collection on Feb. 24. Different audio system who will probably be visiting within the subsequent months embrace Donna Brazile and George Will (March 31), Martin Luther King III (April 23), and journalist Lisa Ling (July 10).
“A lot of the folks who have been coming to the speaker series have been coming for a really long time, so the audience has changed over the years, but there are a lot of folks who’ve subscribed from the beginning,” Levine mentioned. “I think (bringing back speakers) is an opportunity for them to reflect back on all the years that they’ve been coming and all the different types of experiences they’ve had.”
With every speaker, the Lesher Basis helps an area nonprofit companion by producing a video interview with members of the nonprofit and displaying it to audiences. Organizers companion with KTVU Fox 2 to supply a video that’s then aired to assist the nonprofit elevate extra consciousness about their trigger.
“We also show the video at the speaker event, so everyone who’s attending gets familiar with the nonprofit,” Levine mentioned. “If the speaker has a particular focus, we may be able to identify a nonprofit that sort of aligns with their interests.”
The nonprofit companion for the Vicente Fox occasion is Contemporary Method, a corporation specializing in diet and agriculture that strives to extend meals entry in underprivileged areas.
Vicente Fox, the previous president of Mexico, will probably be this yr’s first speaker. He initially was a speaker in 2008. (Lesher Basis by way of CCSpin)
Susan Haley, the Lesher Basis’s senior program officer and director of operations, mentioned her favourite experiences with the speaker collection through the years embrace assembly biographer and historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, and getting to talk with journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, who broke the Watergate story for the Washington Put up in 1972.
Haley recollects Woodward and Bernstein talking collectively, which they hadn’t executed in years, after visiting Mark Felt, the previous deputy director of the FBI who served because the reporters’ nameless supply referred to as “Deep Throat” throughout the Watergate scandal. Felt lived in Santa Rosa for years, and his title had simply turn out to be public close to the tip of his life.
“Woodward and Bernstein flew out early, rented a car and drove to Santa Rosa so that Bernstein could meet (Felt) for the first time ever,” Haley mentioned. “They talked to the audience about meeting Felt.”
Haley mentioned one other distinctive reminiscence from the speaker collection was assembly Columbus Zoo and Aquarium director Jack Hanna and wildlife conservationist Jeff Corwin, and attending to see many animals, together with a big porcupine.
Nilofar Gardezi, the Lesher Basis’s program officer and grants supervisor, recalled a fond reminiscence from the speaker collection was assembly a childhood hero, actor LeVar Burton.
Memorable moments
Levine mentioned a memorable expertise was bringing in former Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs and connecting him with native change-makers. One of many applications Tubbs is well-known for is making a pilot undertaking to assist of us who’re dwelling in poverty in Stockton.
“There were a lot of leaders in our county working on this topic to create this program that he had called guaranteed income,” Levine mentioned. “They’ve been working on this for a few years in the county, both in Contra Costa and Alameda, so we brought them all together and had a special dinner with Michael Tubbs so that he could just talk with them.”
One other memorable speaker for Levine was Nikole Hannah-Jones, who mentioned journalism and “The 1619 Project,” which addresses slavery’s connection to the founding of the US.
Former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney was a Newsmakers speaker in early 2024. (Lesher Basis by way of CCSpin)
Daniel Sweetnam, a social research instructor at California Excessive Faculty in San Ramon, mentioned he has attended the speaker collection as a season move holder. Sweetnam has seen many audio system, together with Don Lemon, Kate Biberdorf, and Abby Wambach.
“It’s an interesting perspective that you don’t usually get to see, and one of the people was this woman who was the first female NFL referee (Sarah Thomas),” Sweetnam mentioned. “I don’t really know how you become an NFL referee, and I got to see it from her perspective as a woman doing it when no other woman had. It’s cool (because) you learn new stuff about topics that you don’t usually know a lot about, and you get an insider’s perspective that you might not usually get.”
On April 8, 2015, Thomas was certainly one of 9 new recreation officers added to the NFL officiating roster for the 2015 season, changing into the primary full-time feminine official in NFL historical past. She was a featured Lesher speaker in 2023.
Sweetnam mentioned the collection has helped him perceive a wide selection of views.
“If you look at the lineups you get a lot of different political and social perspectives,” Sweetnam mentioned. “For example, you’ll see Republicans up there along with Democrats. I think the goal is to find common ground, or just understand someone else’s point of view a little better.”
