OZ Arts Nashville

Nashville's Non-Profit Contemporary Arts Center
 
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Building a Restorative Nashville

Conversation Host

Rasheedat Fetuga

Founder & CEO
Gideon's Army

Mother, teacher, mentor, acclaimed activist, and Yoruba princess, Rasheedat Fetuga is a visionary with a revolutionary style of leadership and activism that transforms communities through self-empowerment, creativity, healing, and love. A birth, adoptive, and surrogate mother of too many children to count, Rasheedat embraces her divine gift for loving and protecting children and has dedicated her life to doing just so. Rasheedat is the founder and CEO of Gideon’s Army, a grassroots army for children eliminating the root causes of the prison pipeline. With a reputation for powerful grassroots action, Gideon’s Army embodies a new way of organizing that is both fun and strategic. Using music, song, theater, and dance as a catalyst for Restorative Justice in Nashville, Gideon’s Army led the campaign for Restorative Justice in Metro Nashville Public Schools and birthed the juvenile diversion program for Davidson County Juvenile Courts. In collaboration with a host of government, community, and organization partners, Gideon’s Army is currently using Theater of the Oppressed to spearhead one of the most innovative, community-based restorative justice models in the country. Rasheedat is a prolific speaker and trainer on youth issues, education, art as activism, social justice, transformative organizing, and restorative justice.