Join us at Orlando Speaks
June 4 – Lake Nona High School
Register Now
THE GOALS ARE TO:
•Increase awareness and understanding of police practices
•Strengthen interpersonal relationships through the sharing of personal stories and experiences
•Develop trust and sensitivity to support interactions with one another
•Expand citizen engagement
Orlando Speaks is a series of interactive workshops, facilitated by the Valencia College Peace and Justice Institute, which utilizes innovative communication strategies to foster citizen engagement and dialogue between Orlando residents, the City and the Orlando Police Department to help the city better serve all residents.
Orlando Speaks establishes a safe space for dialogue where citizens, police officers and community leaders come together to share stories, concerns, and perspectives with a goal of maintaining a safe city by finding common ground among police and citizens. These conversations are critical to bringing the community closer together, strengthening Orlando’s diversity and ensuring that the City remains safe, inclusive and accepting of all. Orlando Speaks community conversations are held across the city. To date, three facilitated, interactive Orlando Speaks workshops have been held bringing hundreds of citizens and dozens of police personnel together. Future workshops will be announced on this page.
“All People. All Voices. All Matter.” is the vision for the work of the Valencia College Peace and Justice Institute (PJI). This unique partnership between city government, including the Mayor, City Commissioners, the Chief of Police, leadership from the Orlando Police Department and PJI has fostered a meaningful program with positive outcomes.
What our citizens are saying about Orlando Speaks:
One facilitator commented that “For me, this is evidence of how much this conversation matters to our community. The most moving part of the night was listening to the citizen and officer stories. It takes courage to stand up and say ‘this is what happened to me’ or ‘this is what I need’ and so many did just that.”
One resident spoke about the event saying: “All of us were incredibly impressed with the presentation and left feeling inspired and ready to take even more action in our community. Thank you for the work that you do in helping to empower our community.”
