Learn With Us!
POCIS Northwest’s Equity and Inclusion Virtual Speaker Series offers our communities and beyond the opportunity to connect, learn, and engage in topics about equity, inclusion, and antiracist education and action.
The purpose of this series is to raise awareness, challenge ourselves, deepen understanding, and empower our communities to advance their efforts to actively recreate systems into equitable, inclusive, and antiracist institutions. The program invites 1-2 speakers throughout the academic year, providing access to recognized authors and speakers who engage participants in complex topics through dialogue and cross-cultural communication.
The virtual speaker series is intended to lead to a deeper understanding of the impact racism and oppression have in our institutions and the greater society. These virtual events are free and accessible to all regardless of POCIS Northwest membership.
Upcoming Speakers 26-27
Belonging Is Tested in a Crisis
How schools stand with immigrant children when it matters most
Nearly every school says that all children belong. The meaning of that promise becomes clear when a student or family is in danger.
In this interactive talk, I draw on my lived experience and more than twenty years with refugee and immigrant communities to explore what children experience amid displacement, immigration raids, detention, and growing uncertainty. Participants will take part in an experience adapted from Learning America and hear the story of a former student’s detention and the collective effort that brought him home. Together, we will examine whether our policies, relationships, and actions are strong enough to uphold our values when belonging requires courage, preparation, and action.
Luma Mufleh is an award-winning social entrepreneur, educator, author, and TED speaker whose work has challenged the way America thinks about education, immigration, belonging, and leadership.
For nearly two decades, Luma founded and led Fugees Family, growing what began as a soccer team for refugee children in Clarkston, Georgia, into a nationally recognized organization and model for educating refugee and immigrant students. Her work has influenced educators, schools, and communities across the country and earned national and international recognition, including being named a CNN Hero.
Luma is the author of Learning America and From Here, books that draw from her own experience as an immigrant and from the young people and families she has spent her career alongside. Her TED Talk and speaking bring together powerful storytelling, candor, humor, and the perspective of someone who has spent decades doing the difficult work of turning conviction into change.
Today, Luma speaks and writes about leadership, immigration, education, belonging, courage, and what it means to build—and rebuild—when the path forward isn’t clear. She brings the perspective of a founder who has built something from nothing, challenged systems that weren’t working, navigated moments of profound uncertainty, and continued to ask what meaningful change actually requires.
Her talks don’t simply ask audiences to care. They challenge them to consider a harder question:
What are we willing to do differently?
Join us on Wednesday, November 4, 2026 from 6:30-7:30pm PST on Zoom. Please register via the Zoom link below.