As we move forward in hope toward a post-pandemic world, our communities continue to suffer from racial and economic injustice — realities that existed long before the onset of the pandemic and have been exacerbated by it.

Now is the time for us to gather together and figure out how we want to shape our “new normal.”

Our keynote speaker for this gathering is Monica Unseld, Ph.D, MPH. Dr. Unseld earned her doctorate in biology from the University of Louisville in 2008 and her Master’s in public health from Benedictine University in 2018. She is an environmental and social justice advocate, working with Coming Clean and the Environmental Justice Health Alliance (EJHA). Dr. Unseld is currently the Director of Community Engagement at the Greater Louisville Project and recently founded the nonprofit Until Justice Data Partners. Her nonprofit assists other social justice groups in finding and incorporating data into their work, while allowing them to control the narrative and reframe our concept of knowledge and justice.

“Healing Our Communities” is the first in a series of four workshops hosted by the Louisville Community Development Network (LCDN). This series is designed to bring together community development corporation leaders to learn, network, and be inspired.

LCDN is a network of more than 30 self-selected organizations who perform development throughout the Louisville Metro area. This development includes but is not limited to housing, social, educational, and economic development services. LCDN exists‌ ‌to‌ ‌support Community Development Corporations (CDCs) and other related nonprofits as they connect, collaborate,‌ ‌educate,‌ ‌advocate,‌ ‌and‌ ‌lead‌ for ‌a transformed community development ‌ecosystem that centers neighbors and affects positive change at the neighborhood level‌.