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COMMUNITY LUNCHEON ROUNDTABLES

Held monthly since the Coalition’s founding in 1992 (except during the COVID-19 pandemic), our Community Luncheon Roundtables provide an intentional space to share information, hope, resources, and support in our collective pursuit of nonviolence. A delicious lunch is always free.

A typical luncheon draws a diverse group of 50-70 folks representing Durham’s civic institutions, neighborhoods, congregations, and non-profits.

When:
The 4th Thursday of every month
12:00 noon EST

Where: 
In the Fellowship Hall (rear entrance) of the annex building
Elizabeth Street United Methodist Church
1209 N. Elizabeth Street
​Durham, NC

​All are welcome! Please join us.
Past Luncheon Roundtable Topics

2023
April 2023 – “Creating Second-Chance Community” 
  • Table Conversation: We listened to reentry stories from Coalition friends with first-hand experience building community in the wake of incarceration, asking one another: What does it look like to embrace and create a Durham shaped by second chances?
 
March 2023 – “The H.E.A.R.T. of Durham: Getting to Know our Community Safety Department”
  • Panelist Questions: We engaged our Community Safety neighbors working on the front lines of our values as a way of asking the enduring questions: Who deserves our communal attention, and what kind?
 
February 2023 – “When Vigil Ministry Goes to Court,” featuring stories of RCND court companions Jen Wichman, Annette Love, and Allison Tuttle
  • Panelist Questions: How has being present to our public legal response shaped your understanding of Durham’s violence? What stories have been displaced, and what stories have emerged? How is your own story different after spending time in homicide court?
 
January 2023 – “Imagining Holistic Community with Jubilee Home” featuring Jubilee Home founder David Crispell
  • Community Questions: ​​Where does Jubilee Home’s holistic approach resonate for you? From where you sit, what are next steps toward building communities that embrace and empower whole people?

2022
December 2022 – “Hello to Here (Part 3): Beginning Again” 
  • Community Question: ​Where are you preparing to ‘begin again’ in this season? And/or, what do you find yourself ‘catching up with’ as you approach the work of re-beginning?

October 2022 – “Hello to Here (Part 2): How I Got Over” featuring stories of formation from Joy Clark, Restorative Practices Associate, Dispute Resolution Center; and Marcia Owen, Co-Chair, Durham Community Safety & Wellness Taskforce 
  • Community Question: What do these stories of life/work evolution call to mind for you? How has our time apart been a formative season for you or your work?)


September 2022 – “Hello to Here” 
  • Community Question: Some 30 months since our last Luncheon Roundtable, what name would you give to the place you now are? To what do you find yourself saying ‘hello’ in this space and time?

2020
February 2020 – “After the Gunshots: Imagining a Community of Care Around Violent Death in Durham” featuring Marion Bailey, Victim Care Coordinator, RCND; Grandmother of Javaun Graves (1995–2015); and Rev. Franklin Hanes, Hanes Funeral Service

January 2020 – “Another Year in a Shared Place: What Are You Carrying Forward in 2020?” 
  • Question: What’s one new (or renewed) work, love, hope, or resolve you are carrying into 2020?

2019
November/December 2019 – “Acknowledging Unspoken Grief in a Celebratory Season” with Rev. Dr. Susan Dunlap, Duke Divinity School; Chaplain, Urban Ministries; Board Member, RCND

October 2019 – “You and Five-0: Searching Out the ‘Community’ in ‘Community Policing'” featuring BJ Council, You & Five-0

September 2019 – We Are All Criminals featuring Emily Baxter, Director, WAAC

August 2019 – “Remembering Toni Morrison (1931–2019)” with Rev. Dr. Fatimah Salleh & Maralis Mercado Emerson

July 2019 – “Table Conversations: Public Safety in Durham” 
  • Community Question: When and where have you felt most safe in Durham? What might that sense of safety look like in public, if shared by all?

June 2019 – “Poetic Justice with the Carolina Justice Policy Center” with Elizabeth Simpson, Associate Director, CJPC; Elizabeth Hambourger, Staff Attorney, CDPL; Danielle Cortez a.k.a. Blaize the Poet

May 2019 – “Counting the Costs of Cash Bail” featuring Andrea ‘Muffin’ Hudson, NC Community Bail Fund of Durham

April 2019 – “Neighbors Making Durham Better: Celebrating Our Returning Citizens” featuring Charles Horry, Pilgrim UCC Faith Team; Demetrius Lynn, Durham’s Local Reentry Council; Wilbert ‘Pip’ Pipkin, Trinity Avenue Pres. Faith Team; Sandra Lassiter & Tony Carrington, City of Durham Welcome Home Program

March 2019 – “Marking 20 Years with the Durham County Gun Safety Team” featuring Retiring Coordinator Joanie Ross, Durham Co. Public Health / “Steps Forward from the 2019 Faith Summit on Racism and Child Poverty” featuring DeDreana Freeman & Cathy Rimer-Surles, Episcopalians United Against Racism

February 2019 – “Responding to Durham’s Collective Violence” featuring Marion Bailey, Grandmother of Javaun Graves (1995–2015); Rev. Allen Jones, Change Paths Ministries, J&J Mortuary Services; Chuck Manning, Bull City United

January 2019 – “A New Year in a Shared Place: What Are You Carrying Forward in 2019?” 
  • Community Questions: What [not so] new things are you carrying forward into 2019? And who’s carrying you?

2018
November/December 2018 – A Fond ‘Farewell’ to Ruthy Jones, Retiring Vigil & Community Minister, RCND

October 2018 – Participatory Budgeting in Durham, featuring Chuck Manning and Andrew Holland, City of Durham

September 2018 – An Hour with the Life Lines Collective featuring Leroy Mann & Lyle May

August 2018 – A Conversation with Sheriff-Elect Clarence Birkhead
 
July 2018 – Inside Restorative Justice Process (Part II): A Conversation with James Berish (participant in first formal pre-trial RJ process in NC Superior Court) and Marcia Owen (Coordinating Circle, RJ Durham)

June 2018 – Inside Restorative Justice Process: Part I

May 2018 – A Conversation on “The Power of Love” featuring Rev. Michael Curry, Presiding Bishop, The Episcopal Church

April 2018 – Reentry Week: Durham’s Local Reentry Council featuring Karen Shaw and Demetrius Lynn, Local Reentry Council

March 2018 – “The Shared Work of Our Luncheon Community: Good News from Good Friends” featuring Marcia Owen & Kacey Reynolds Schedler, RJ Durham; Dave Crispell, Director, Jubilee Home; Tammy Rodman, Pilgrimage Coordinator, DurhamCares

February 2018 – “Voices from the RCND Vigil Ministry”

January 2018 – “Who’s Walking with Us Into the New Year” 
  • Community Question: What work or sense of community do you bring to this luncheon community in this new year?

2018
​November/December 2017 – Durham Police Chief C. J. Davis
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