Workshop LeadersRabbi Henoch Dov (Howard) Hoffman had extensive Talmudic studies and rabbinical training with Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach and Rabbi Shloime Twerski. He has spent twenty four years teaching Torah, Kabbalah, Jewish History and Talmud in Denver and Boulder as well as nineteen years teaching adults at Kohelet, Talmudic Research Institute, and Kehilath Aish Kodesh. He has been a rabbi and pastoral counselor for the past eleven years and also has a private practice as a therapist working with individuals, families and groups, particularly in psychodrama. In addition to his private counseling practice, Rabbi Henoch Dov leads study groups and Spiritual-Journey expeditions in Denver, Boulder, Utah, Australia, and Israel. Website: www.rabbihenochdov.com Dr. Vie Thorgren has 33 years experience in church ministry and nonprofit work developing programs to meet pressing needs. She is the founder and present director of the Center for Spirituality at Work in Denver, which serves as "a bridge uniting diverse people for spiritual transformation and social justice." She works on a daily basis with companies, churches, nonprofits and service organizations in the exploration of a spirituality of work. Also through the Center, she has developed a mentoring program for incarcerated women, which has been highly successful in reducing the recidivism rate. She continues to nurture the further development of the Center's Formation Program for Spiritual Directors, with its strong emphasis on serving the needs of the marginalized. Vie travels internationally leading retreats and seminars on spirituality and marketplace issues. Website: www.cfsaw.org Tania Leontov is the Project Director of Restoring the Soul: Faith and Community Partnerships. She is also the founder and director of The Buddhist Coalition for Bodhisattva Activity. She has studied Buddhism and other Eastern traditions since 1965 and was one of the founding members of Karme Choling, a Shambhala International meditation center in Vermont. She trained in Tibetan Buddhist meditation practices and psychotherapy with the Vidyadhara Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and worked at the Boulder Shambhala Center from 1990–2003 with responsibilities for membership, family affairs and children's education, contemplative arts and outreach. She has taught meditation since 1970 and currently teaches in the Religion and Philosophy Department at Regis University. In addition, for the last twenty-one years she has been a member of the Snowmass Interreligious Conference led by Father Thomas Keating. The conference's book, The Common Heart, will be published in December 2005 by Lantern Press. Websites : www.restoringthesoul.org and www.buddhistcoalitionfba.org DeAnne Butterfield is the Coordinator of the Boulder County Civic Forum, a program of The Community Foundation serving Boulder County. The Civic Forum conducts and publishes the survey called Quality of Life in Boulder County: A Community Indicators Report, the latest version of which is being presented at this conference. The Boulder County Civic Forum promotes healthy decision making that will sustain the environmental quality, livability, and economic vibrancy of the Boulder County region. DeAnne has been twice elected to the Boulder City Council and also served as legislative director to Governor Dick Lamm and district director to Congressman David Skaggs. She has consulted and taught in the field of community consensus building and public process since 1971. She has a Masters degree in public administration with an emphasis in public participation from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. From 1992–1999 she was co-founder and then executive director of the Rocky Flats Local Impacts Initiative, a coalition of public, private, worker, and community-based entities that planned for the future of the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant south of Boulder. Website: www.bococivicforum.org Ellen Hine, Pat Laudisio and Colleen Knopinski have been involved with what is now the Carriage House Project, day center for the homeless, for many years, representing the nonprofit agency's board, administration and/or as a representative of a faith congregation highly involved in the project's evolutionary process. With three part-time employees, the Carriage House has been in existence since 1997. It was formed by members of the police department, the library, Boulder downtown businesses and those in social services whose goal it was to provide shelter during the day for the homeless. Because the homeless shelter is open at night and early morning, the Carriage House is one of the only places in Boulder that offers food and shelter during the day. While it is only open for three hours (changing to 4 hours in winter 2005), this organization makes a huge difference for everyone who enters the door. A nurse comes by several times a week. The center offers a weekly addiction-counseling meeting, not to mention continual support for those seeking employment. Joy Eckstine, the Executive Director of the Carriage House, says "What we're trying to do now is be a balance between being a place where people can be out of the weather and get food. We're also trying to provide other services that will help people transition back to better functioning," she says. This means offering free voicemail to people who are looking for jobs. For those who need help addressing substance abuse or mental illness, it means engaging those people in looking at their problems and referring them for treatment. It also translates to something as basic as finding a winter coat or eyeglasses. Anne Tapp is the Executive Director of Safehouse Alliance for NonViolence. Website: www.safehousealliance.org Laura Kinder is the Executive Director of The Volunteer Connection. Website: www.volunteerconnection.net
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