NAPD Racial Justice Conference 2026: Full Schedule

This is the current draft of the schedule for the Racial Justice Conference 2026. Please come back to see it as it develops.

Disclaimer: All speakers are speaking from their own expertise and experiences. Their personal opinions and perspectives do not represent the organization(s) they work for and/or with.

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8:00am CST

Registration

Monday November 2, 2026 8:00am - 10:00am CST

10:00am CST

Welcome

Monday November 2, 2026 10:00am - 10:15pm CST

Plenary

10:15am CST

Plenary

Monday November 2, 2026 10:15am - 11:15am CST

Speakers

Yusef Salaam

In 1989, at just fifteen years young, Dr. Yusef Salaam was tried and convicted in the “Central Park Jogger” case along with four other Black and Latinx young men. The Exonerated Five spent between seven to 13 years behind bars for crimes they did not commit, until their sentences... Read More →

Monday November 2, 2026 10:15am - 11:15am CST

Plenary

11:15am CST

Break

Monday November 2, 2026 11:15am - 11:30am CST

Break

11:30am CST

Race and Capital Defense

Monday November 2, 2026 11:30am - 12:30pm CST

Speakers

Robin Maher

Executive Director, Death Penalty Information Center

Robin Maher is a nationally and internationally recognized expert in the death penalty field, with extensive experience in direct representation, strategic training, and systemic reform. Throughout her career, she has collaborated with legislators, prosecutors, judges, defenders... Read More →

Monday November 2, 2026 11:30am - 12:30pm CST

Plenary

12:30pm CST

Lunch (on your own)

Monday November 2, 2026 12:30pm - 2:00pm CST

Break

2:00pm CST

Breakout Session 1

Monday November 2, 2026 2:00pm - 3:00pm CST

Speakers

Alice Fontier

Deputy Director Administration and Operations, NAPD

Alice Fontier has been a practicing criminal defense attorney for over twenty years after graduating from NYU School of Law. She is now a Legal and Management consultant. She currently serves as a Project Managing Attorney at the Legal Aid Society of New York. She has been the Managing... Read More →

Anana Harris Parris

Founder and CEO, The Self-Care Agency

Anana Harris Parris is a visionary entrepreneur, author, and consultant dedicated to advancing strategic self-care as a vital form of social justice. She is the founder and CEO of the Self Care Agency, LLC, the founder of the SisterCARE Alliance, and the co-founder of the Wellness... Read More →

Eric Morales

Fareed Hayat

Fareed Nassor Hayat is a Professor of Law at Seton Hall University School of Law (SHU). He teaches constitutional law, criminal law, criminal procedure, and trial advocacy. Prior to joining the law faculty at SHU, Hayat was the Interim Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, an Associate... Read More →

Jennifer Bourn

Porsha Venable

Deputy Director, The Juror Project

Porsha-Shaf’on Venable, Esq. is the Deputy Director of The Juror Project, where she supports programming, strategy, and partnerships aimed at increasing civic participation and dismantling exclusion in the jury system.

A licensed attorney and social worker based in the Bronx, she brings a background in public defense, forensic social work, and legal education. She also currently works with The Bronx Defenders and previously served with the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, where she held

... Read More →

Verinda Birdsong

Will Snowden

Director, The Juror Project

William C. Snowden is the Director of The Juror Project and a professor at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law. His work is grounded in a simple truth: exclusion is not accidental.

As a former public defender in New Orleans, he represented people forced to stand trial in courtrooms designed to convict them. He later served as Executive Director of the Vera Institute of Justice in Louisiana, where he advanced efforts to eliminate money bail, reduce jail populations

... Read More →

Monday November 2, 2026 2:00pm - 3:00pm CST

Breakout Session

3:00pm CST

Break

Monday November 2, 2026 3:00pm - 3:15pm CST

Break

3:15pm CST

Confronting the Racist Legacy of American Child Welfare System

Monday November 2, 2026 3:15pm - 4:15pm CST

Speakers

Alan Dettlaff

Co-Founder, upEND Movement

Alan Dettlaff is a professor of social work and co-founder of the upEND Movement, a collaborative effort to abolish the family policing system and build alternatives centered on healing and liberation. He began his career as a social worker inside the family policing system, where... Read More →

Monday November 2, 2026 3:15pm - 4:15pm CST

Plenary

4:15pm CST

Break

Monday November 2, 2026 4:15pm - 4:30pm CST

Break

4:30pm CST

Wrongful Conviction & Exoneration

Monday November 2, 2026 4:30pm - 5:30pm CST

Speakers

Anthony Graves

Founder, Anthony Graves Foundation

Anthony Graves was wrongfully convicted of multiple homicides in 1992 and spent nearly two decades behind bars, including twelve years on Texas’s death row. While still in prison, he cofounded Join Hands for Justice, a France-based activist group that led global efforts to prove... Read More →

Monday November 2, 2026 4:30pm - 5:30pm CST

Plenary

5:30pm CST

Wrap Up

Monday November 2, 2026 5:30pm - 5:40pm CST

Plenary

8:00am CST

10:00am CST

10:15am CST

11:15am CST

11:30am CST

12:30pm CST

2:00pm CST

3:00pm CST

3:15pm CST

4:15pm CST

4:30pm CST

5:30pm CST

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