Conference Reviews of The Ohio Community Cat Summit and CARE’s The Gathering

It’s been a busy fall at The Community Cats Podcast! Both Stacy, our venerable host, and Kristen, our technical tabby, have been speaking at or attending events. Here’s a quick summary of their experiences.

From Stacy:

On November 4th I had the honor of being the kickoff speaker at the Ohio Community Cat Summit in Cleveland Ohio.  Thank you to Ohio Animal Advocates and the Together Initiative’s for Ohio Community Cats for putting on a wonderful event. 60+ attendees were ranging from individuals just trying to help cats in their backyard to spay/neuter clinics that are creating scalable programs to assist high volume s/n for community cats(we are talking hundreds of cats a week and thousands during the course of the year).

I was honored to present my strategies for reducing cat overpopulation presentation

and then there were five other speakers.  We had Dr. Michelle Gonzalez, the Rascal Unit,  talking about the veterinarian shortage from Ohio,  Laura Groves sharing her story of expanding s/n services for community cats at AlterClinic Animal Care, then rounding out the day Monica Tarant and Scooter from Give them Ten shared exciting news about a new resource hotline and then Crystal Riggi, of Riggi Rescue,  shared a passionate story about a targeted TNR project in New London, OH(going from nothing to something).

The day was exciting and inspirational.  I hope I helped turn more folks’ passion for cats into action!

From Kristen:

In early October I had the privilege of virtually attending The Gathering, an event put on by Companions and Animals for Reform and Equity, better known as CARE. Some of you may already be familiar with CARE through our past collaborations at the Community Cats Podcast, where Stacy engaged in insightful conversations with their leadership (Check out episodes #440 and #389!). For those who aren’t acquainted with CARE, it’s time to remedy that! CARE is a coalition of activists and profound thinkers dedicated to steering communities toward better outcomes for both people and pets. Instead of taking over the work, CARE focuses on creating tools and opportunities for underserved individuals to build or rebuild their own communities.

The Gathering was an event that perfectly suits their mission. Its goal was to provide a platform for primarily BIPOC and BIPOC adjacent community leaders to give insight into the issues animal lovers in their circles are facing and help those outside those circles engage in a meaningful and legitimately helpful way to collaborate on problems and create long-lasting change.

While flipping through the program I was thrilled to see a few familiar faces – Sterling Davis and Sassee Walker (I could listen to them chat all day) and past guest, James Evans, who delivered the keynote speech that opened the event. The address unfolded into a colorful and moving story of his experience moving through the world of animal welfare and the mentors he met while doing so. It set the tone of the event that I’d say was cautiously optimistic – animal welfare culture has become more open and inclusive and we can feel hopeful that this trend will continue, but it’s not going to happen without focus, empathy, humility, and hard work from everyone involved.

Perhaps to underline that point, while we’ve certainly crossed paths with more than a few folks in animal welfare here at CCP, I heard many voices in the live feed that I was not yet familiar with. I’m grateful to have been introduced to them! I’m going to point you to CARE’s website so you can delve into details on all the speakers and the program – if I start getting into it you’re going to be reading for a bit – but presenters that stood out to me were Bianca Gainor of Furever I Love Atlanta, an organization that supports people and pets without homes, and Sloane Hawes and Linda Daugherty who delivered a fantastic presentation of data that demonstrates racial disparities in animal welfare. (I do love looking at data and statistics!) I’d like to hear more from them in the future.

There was an exceptional amount of content presented, all of it valuable, but because I was asked to write a summary and I’m already into my sixth paragraph (sorry!) I’m going to limit myself to mentioning a couple of projects/organizations that I learned about via The Gathering that focused on an issue near and dear to our hearts at the podcast – the veterinary shortage.

First I’d like to introduce you to Chapter VIII: Veterinary Inclusion and Intersectionality Initiative. The animal welfare community has been forced to confront the difficulties that have arisen due to a shortage of veterinarians. This has compelled many to begin examining many facets of the industry itself and the needs of students attempting to enter the field. For many, the hurdle they face is simply not feeling welcome. Chapter VIII wants to create an environment in the veterinary field through advocacy, art, and accessibility that reaches people who are marginalized based on race, ethnicity, disability, class, gender, and sexuality. It’s an interesting mission and I’m excited to learn more about them.

The second project I’d like to shout out is a CARE initiative called VET REDI. It’s a course coming in 2024 designed to help those in the veterinary field (though I don’t think it’s limited to those folks) develop cultural competency and the ability to recognize barriers to accessing care. Activities and coursework were created to help attendees consider what it means to be a partner to an ally of the pet owners they work with and emphasize taking actions and cultivating views that are beneficial as opposed to simply being performative. You find more info about this certification on their website if you want to learn more.

Both of these programs focus on opening veterinary culture and programs to include more individuals with a wider range of perspectives and will go a long way toward empowering marginalized people, who’d like nothing more than to jump at the opportunity to improve the health and wellness of animals in their neighborhoods. In turn, these varied experiences will help inform the care these new vets provide patients and will help their colleagues better understand and attend to the needs of their communities. There are some exciting developments – making the field of veterinary medicine more approachable and desirable as a career can do nothing but further all our goals and I, for one, am here for it.

I do have to admit, my feelings of FOMO were hard to contain! I wish I could have been there in person! But despite being a couple hundred miles from Philadelphia where this incredible roster of wise, talented, passionate minds were assembled, I learned a lot from the virtual content presented by CARE. The most valuable takeaway from The Gathering, however, can be summed up in one word – listen.