Belvie Rooks & Dedan Gills

Date of Dialogue: Dec. 8, 2011 Description: This conversation takes a deep dive into the powerful work Belvie and Dedan do through their organization, Growing a Global Heart, revisiting slavery’s legacy and taking profound and tangible steps to honestly address, and heal, open wounds that have been covered up. The social healing and collective wound component of restoration and balance is a key theme to this powerful conversation. For anyone looking to honestly address socio-cultural wounding from the lens of truth and reconciliation, healing, and new possibilities. Brief Bios: Belvie Rooks is Co-Founder of Growing a Global Heart. She is a writer, educator and producer whose work weaves the worlds of spirituality, feminism, ecology and social justice. She is a former board member of Bioneers, The Urban Habitat Program, and the Positive Futures Network/Yes Magazine and is currently Chair of the Board of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and a board member of the Institute for Noetic Sciences, and the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation. She is a Core Faculty member of Holy Names University’s Culture and Spirituality Program. Her published works have appeared in a number of books, publications and anthologies Dedan Gills Co-Founder of GROWING A GLOBAL HEART has pioneered the idea of “Green Recovery”–a concept that combines stewardship and restoration of blighted urban areas with an engaged dialogic process designed to restore the integrity of souls wounded by the crush of modern urban reality. His work incorporates the principles of sustainability, permaculture design, environmental awareness and the greening of the inner spirit as critical aspects of the recovery and healing process. For the past ten years he has worked with people victimized by efforts at survival in our modern urban environment including people who are homeless, suffering from drug addiction and incarceration. He also serves as a surrogate male role model and mentor to young men growing up in these challenging urban environments. Dedan is a writer and poet and associate producer of Watts Up! a documentary film (in progress) about a young man’s transformative journey. Growing a Global Heart Website: http://growingaglobalheart.weebly.com/