Participants in the Community Partners Development Certification will understand how the City and other public entities make decisions and how community members can lead and participate in the engagement process.

In Presenting Your Proposal, participants will share their pitches and proposals with a mock review panel comprised of individuals representing the city and non-profit organizations and receive feedback.

Laura Biediger is a Senior Community Engagement Manager for the Neighborhood Improvement Services Department of the City of Durham, North Carolina.  She has 10+ years of experience in project management and the public sector. She has a passion for civic innovation and multi-sector partnerships.

Angel Iset /eye seht/ Dozier has been cultivating her skills as a conceptual artist and curator through Be Connected Durham since 2014. After contributing to an educational curriculum that cemented the authentic storytelling of Michael Brown’s death at the inaugural Black Lives Matter national convening in Ferguson MO, artists, organizers, cultural workers, education, law and medical professionals made a commitment to return home and implement policy, procedures, and programs that encouraged Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) to move through trauma in various mediums of artistic expression as root medicine, affecting real, lasting change. Since founding Be Connected Durham with a presentation called The Experiment, Angel Iset has recruited artistic practitioners and cultural workers to collaborate on more than 150 community arts events, 85% having been to sold-out audiences.