Lecture: Kim Bobo October 24, 2005

Kim Bobo, the executive director of the National Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice, will present a talk titled ?Workers? Rights and Workplace Wrongs: Is Work Working?? on Monday, Oct. 24, at 7 p.m. in Leighton Hall, Room 304, at Carleton College. The event is free and open to the public.

Bobo leads a network of people of faith who educate, organize and mobilize religious communities to improve wages, benefits and working conditions for low-wage workers.

?No human being is illegal, ? she says, ?If we can translate this idea into policy changes, we will not only improve workplace rights for millions of Americans, but we will also honor people as whole human beings, neighbors and fellow children of God. Children of God deserve a birthright that respects their humanity, appreciates their contributions and offers hope for their future. The world?s religions call us together to act for the sake of those who are most vulnerable.?

In 1991, Bobo founded the Chicago Interfaith Committee on Worker Issues out of which the vision for Interfaith Worker Justice developed. In 2003, she was a key organizer of the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride, which mobilized people of faith to speak out on the abuses and exploitations of immigrant workers. As part of the Seminary Summer program, she annually brings together seminary and rabbinical students from a variety of faith traditions to work directly for unions on low-wage worker campaigns across the country.

Bobo earned her bachelor?s degree in religion from Barnard College at Columbia University and her master?s degree in economics from the New School for Social Research. She was a trainer for with the Midwest Academy and director of organizing for Bread for the World for ten years. Bobo is the author of ?Lives Matter: A Handbook for Christian Organizing,? and co-author of the best-selling organizing manual in the country, ?Organizing for Social Change.?

The Program in Ethical Reflection at Carleton is sponsoring the event. For more information and disability accommodations, call the Carleton Chaplain?s office at (507) 646-4003.