Workshop and Presentation Details

Keynote Address:
“Why Protest Isn’t Enough"
Dr. Ernesto Todd Mireles

In this talk, Dr. Ernesto Todd Mireles argues that while protest remains a necessary and visible expression of dissent, it is insufficient on its own to confront the current political moment in the United States. Against the backdrop of expanding ICE enforcement, the normalization of state violence, and the steady encroachment of authoritarian and fascist tendencies, this lecture asks a harder question: what comes after the march?

Drawing from decades of organizing experience, movement history, and social justice praxis, the talk examines the limits of spontaneous protest when it is not anchored to durable organizations, political education, and long-term strategy. Protest can disrupt, signal resistance, and expose contradictions, but without organizational infrastructure it often dissipates, leaving power untouched and communities vulnerable to repression.

This lecture will explore why building organizations matters, how organizations transform outrage into sustained power, and what it means to move from reactive resistance to intentional collective action. Participants will be challenged to think beyond symbolic action and toward the difficult, necessary work of structure, discipline, leadership development, and community accountability. The talk ultimately frames organization-building as an act of survival and self-determination in a moment when the stakes are no longer abstract, but immediate and material.

Keynote Bio:
Dr. Ernesto Todd Mireles is a writer, educator, documentarian and organizer with more than three decades of experience in community, labor, student, and electoral organizing. He holds a Ph.D. in American Studies and a Master’s in Social Work in organizational and community practice, both from Michigan State University. His work centers Xicano Studies, national liberation, political education, and grassroots organizing, consistently bridging theory and practice across classrooms, communities, and cultural production.

He is the author of Insurgent Aztlan, winner of a 2020 International Latino Book Award, and the founder of multiple media, publishing, and organizing projects dedicated to advancing Indigenous sovereignty, collective power, and cultural resistance. Dr. Mireles has taught at Michigan State University and Prescott College for over a decade and more recently at Northern Arizona University. He is now leading an educational consultancy, XICACAYOTL, focused on political education, curriculum development, and movement-centered learning rooted in Xicano and Indigenous epistemologies.e, community-based responses rooted in dignity, solidarity, and the simple goal of keeping people alive.


Dismantling Detention in Springfield, Missouri and Beyond
by Miles Pearson

Immigrant Justice Collaborative
The border industrial complex is a massive machine that exists not only at the border, but all across the United States. ICE detention continues to ramp up as more prisons are being built and used to detain immigrants. The Immigrant Justice Collaborative (IJC) is a grassroots organization that started to combat ICE detention happening in their own backyard. In this class, learn what IJC has been doing to fight back against the due process and human rights violations that are happening, not only in Missouri, but all around the country. Learn about what others have done and what you can do to stop detention in your areas, and the importance of this work in complimenting direct service organizations and changing the narrative on immigration.

Miles Pearson is one of the co-founders of is one of the co-founders of Immigrant Justice Collaborative, a nonprofit formed to make Springfield, Missouri a more welcoming place to migrants, and to stop ICE detention in the local Greene County Jail. Miles's grandparents immigrated to the United States from Greece. He is passionate about migrant rights and continues to work to make the world a place where all people are free to move and exist. Miles also has a MS in Anthropology, a MS in Chemistry, and owns a small home repair business. 

Samaritans Film Screening:

Join us for a screening of Samaritans, a documentary by filmmaker David Damian Figueroa that bears witness to humanitarian aid work along one of the world's deadliest migration corridors. Filmed over three years in Southern Arizona, the film centers the Green Valley–Sahuarita Samaritans and other volunteers who place water, provide medical assistance, and intervene to prevent deaths in the Sonoran Desert.

Interweaving scenes of volunteer aid, encounters with migrants and law enforcement, and acts of remembrance for those who have died crossing, Samaritans challenges dominant narratives about the border and migration. The film explores what it means to show up for one another in the face of systemic harm, highlighting collective, community-based responses rooted in dignity, solidarity, and the simple goal of keeping people alive.

Community & Justice: An Evening of Art, Poetry, and Storytelling

Join us for an evening of poetry, storytelling, and visual art centered on themes of community and justice. This art-share invites participants to read, perform, display, and create work in a shared space that values expression, connection, and collective imagination.

The evening will include poetry and spoken word, displayed visual art, live and in-process art projects, and opportunities for collaborative community art. Participants who would like to share poetry, display visual work, or create live art during the event are invited to complete the call for participation form in advance so we can plan the space accordingly.

This event is open to the broader community. Participants do not need to attend the full Social Justice Residency to take part in the evening art event. Please feel free to share this invitation with others who may be interested.

Calling artists, poets, singers, and storytellers interested in participation.

IMPORTANT EVENT INFORMATION

Participants will engage in workshops and breakout sessions on organizing that emphasize practical, local action and highlight effective strategies surrounding mutual aid and community preparedness, with built-in opportunities to connect with engaged individuals and organizations and to learn from organizing efforts in other regions.

Ticketing:
In-person: $50 (includes four meals, snacks, and refreshments).
$25 sliding scale rate
Free for enrolled Prescott College students.
Virtual: Free

Schedule:
Friday: 3:00-8:00 PM
Saturday: 9:00 AM-5:00 PM (Breakfast + Evening Community Activity)
Sunday: 8:00 AM-12:00 PM