Belonging: Undocumented and American

On November 15th 2018, IJPC hosted Jose Antonio Vargas, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and leading voice for the human rights of immigrants. His keynote address was a highlight of IJPC’s annual gathering. We also celebrated the work of local peace makers.

Congratulations to Donna Park, recipient of the IJPC Margaret Fuller Award, and Christina Brown, recipient of the IJPC Bob Maxwell Peace Builder Award. Our community is more just because of you. To learn more about our awardees, read their bios.

Thank you to the more than 500 people who came out on a cold night to hear Jose’s story and continue responding to the critical needs of our time. Copies of his new book Dear America: Notes from an Undocumented Citizen can still be purchased from IJPC for $25. Pick one up and gift it to a family member, friend, or yourself!

A glimpse of the evening in video:

[su_youtube_advanced url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqeeGHJL3I8″]

A glimpse of the evening in photos:

Thank you to our sponsors! 

Thank you to the eighteen event sponsors who helped ensure Jose Antonio Vargas’ message reaches a broad audience.  Their involvement is necessary to create a culture of belonging for all people in Cincinnati.

Peace Advocates – 

Cincinnati Enquirer/Cincinnati.com, Sisters of the Precious Blood, and Xavier University Dorothy Day Center for Faith and Justice

Peace Builder – 

Sisters of Mercy of the Americas

Peace Builders – 

Glenmary Home Missioners, Miami University Center for Community Engagement and Miami University Office of Community Engagement and Service, and Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati

Peace Promoters – 

Bellarmine Chapel, Brueggeman Center for Dialogue, Cincinnati AFL-CIO Labor Council, Cincinnati Interfaith Workers Center, Comboni Missionaries, Congregation of Divine Providence, Congregation of St. Joseph, The Eigel Center for Community-Engaged Learning, Hispanic Chamber Cincinnati USA, Sisters of St. Francis, Oldenburg, and the Ursulines of Cincinnati

Who is Jose Antonio Vargas? 

Jose Antonio Vargas is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Emmy-nominated filmmaker and a leading voice for the human rights of immigrants. He is the founder and chief executive officer of Define American, the nation’s leading nonprofit media organization that fights injustice and anti-immigrant hate through the power of storytelling. He is the author of the forthcoming memoir, Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen, to be released by HarperCollins on September 18, 2018.

In 2011, the New York Times Magazine published a groundbreaking essay he wrote in which he revealed and chronicled his life in America as an undocumented immigrant. A year later, he appeared on the cover of TIME magazine worldwide with fellow undocumented immigrants in a follow-up cover story. He then produced and directed Documented, a documentary feature film on his undocumented experience. Broadcasted on CNN and streamed on Netflix, the film received a 2015 NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Documentary. In 2015, MTV aired White People, an Emmy-nominated television special he produced and directed on what in means to be young and white in a demographically changing America.

A product of the San Francisco Bay Area, he is a proud graduate of San Francisco State University (’04), where he was named Alumnus of the Year in 2012, and Mount View High School (’00).