Shelby Knox event raises money for Afghan Charity

The CPS film club event held on Thursday February 16th raised money for Trust in Education.

The CPS Film Club event highlights included a screening of the award-winning documentary The Education of Shelby Knox.

This fascinating documentary film (76 minutes) follows a 15 year old high school girl's transformation from a compliant conservative Southern Baptist to a tough but compassionate liberal Christian and feminist committed to social change. Lubbock, Texas, has some of the highest rates of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases in the nation but the county high school teaches abstinence as the only safe sex. Shelby Knox realizes that many of her classmates are sexually active and becomes an unlikely advocate for comprehensive sex education and gay rights, profoundly changing her political and spiritual views along the way.

Special guest, Shelby Knox (now a college student) introduced the film with a post-film discussion led by John Morrison, Director of Outreach at the California Film Institute.

Panelists included:

John Morrison, Director of Outreach for the California Film Institute. Moderated the panel discussion.
 
Joyce Lisbin, Ed. D. Title: Community Health Education and Prevention Unit Chief at the California Department of Health Services, STD Control Branch. She coordinates the Community Health Action Project (CHAP) and provides technical assistance in community and youth directed program planning and interventions. Her previous positions include: Health Education Coordinator at the University of New Mexico Student Health Center where she founded three peer education programs; Director of Health Education at Bergen County (New Jersey) Department of Health, and Executive Director of the Planned Parenthood of Rockland County New York. She has provided peer education training in sexual health, prevention of risk taking behaviors, and social marketing in Kenya and South Africa. Dr. Lisbin teaches at San Jose State University in the Health Sciences Department and has taught at the University of New Mexico, as well as Hunter College, New York. Education: Ed.D. from University of New Mexico, MA from New York University, BA from American University.

Linda DeSantis, M.Ed., is the Coordinator for the Behavioral Interventions Training Program with the CA STD/HIV Prevention Training Center. She has worked in STD/HIV and pregnancy prevention for over fourteen years in both community and public health settings. Linda conducts a variety of individual, group, and community-level interventions for community based organizations, local health departments and community planning groups. Linda is committed to enhancing prevention services by helping translate research into program implementation. The California STD/HIV Prevention Training Center (CA PTC) is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and is a joint project of the California Department of Health Services, Sexually Transmitted Disease Control Branch, the University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health, and the University of California San Francisco, School of Medicine.  The CA PTC is part of the National Network of STD/HIV Prevention Training Centers (NNPTC). The CA PTC provides training courses that are designed to meet the needs of a wide array of medical, health promotion, and community professionals serving persons and communities impacted by STD and HIV.

Rev. Dr. Cheryl D. Elliott, M. Div, D.Min., Title: Assistant Pastor, Allen Temple Baptist Church over Pastoral Care and Congregational Life Enrichment. She offers family and individual spiritual counseling, and oversees six ministries of the Church.  Dr. Elliott additionally serves as Church liaison to Oakland Coalition of Congregations where she is chairperson of the interfaith Clergy Caucus.  She also serves as the Chaplain of the Alameda County Family Justice Center, a one-stop service center for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and abuse against children.  She conducts a variety of individual, group and community domestic violence interventions and preventions that include training clergy and laypersons through conducting and facilitating workshops, seminars, conferences and preaching sermons.  Rev. Elliott is a public spokesperson against domestic violence in conjunction with Alameda County District Attorney's Office and the Board of Supervisors.  Rev. Dr. Elliott is the founder of Clergy Alliance Against Family Violence, a clergy education and intervention program, and Streams of Living Water, Inc., an intervention program providing restoration and spiritual support to victims and survivors of domestic violence.  Education: She earned her D.Min. from San Francisco Theological Seminary, M.Div. in Pastoral Care and Counseling from Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary, and a B.S. Degree from the University of San Francisco in Organizational Behavior.  She is married with a blended family of four adult children and eight darling grandchildren.