National Day of Racial Healing 2026 Information & Resources

The Roundtable introduced Racial Healing Circles (RHC) into the WNY area via an inter-congregational strategy to provide an opportunity for people of different backgrounds to proactively come together in a circle to discuss race and race-related issues. People who engage in Racial Healing Circles are ready to experience the circle process with a focus on racial healing and are interested in learning how to bring racial conversations to their communities.

Native American Community Services

February 17 from 5:00 p.m.- 8:00 p.m.
NACS: 1005 Grant Street, 14207
Please email phill@nacswnt.org to register or call (716)-574-8981.

Erie 1 BOCES

March 9 from 9:00 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Erie 1 BOCES: 355 Harlem Road, Building A
Register here: https://www.mylearningplan.com/WebReg/ActivityProfile.asp?D=19584&I=5197899

April 17 from 9:00 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Erie 1 BOCES: 355 Harlem Road, Building A
Register here: https://www.mylearningplan.com/WebReg/ActivityProfile.asp?D=19584&I=5197906

Dr. Kenyani Davis, MD, MPH, is the Chief Medical Officer of the Community Health Center of Buffalo, Inc., a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) serving over 20,000 patients annually in Erie and Niagara counties.

In her leadership role as Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Davis provides quality medical care to her patients as well as leading clinical operations for CHCB, Inc.’s Buffalo, Cheektowaga, Lockport, and Niagara Falls healthcare facilities. In addition to a Mobile Healthcare Unit, Dr. Davis also maintains her role as Director of Employee Health; and leads CHCB, Inc. research efforts.

Dr. Davis has assisted in successful lobbying efforts to the Erie County Health Department for COVID testing and vaccines for the hardest hit five zip codes of Western New York during the COVID-19 pandemic. During her tenure as Chief Medical Officer she has assisted with launching a successful outpatient Age-Friendly Geriatric program and Prevention and Wellness department in which both have received national recognition from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and the American Heart Association.

From 2017 to 2024, she served as the Director of Employee Health at the State University of New York at Buffalo Graduate Medical Education, overseeing the medical needs and annual health assessment for over 800 UB residents and fellows. Dr. Davis is a Clinical Assistant Professor within the University at Buffalo School of Public Health and Health Professions and Jacobs School of Medicine.

Dr. Davis has earned several distinctions and honors. Most recently. Dr. Davis was honored by the New York State 146th Assembly Women Karen McMahon with a 2022 “Women of Distinction” award for Health Care. Each year Buffalo Business First recognizes a group of up-and-coming leaders under the age of 40 who are on the leading edge of their occupations. In 2022, Dr. Davis was presented with the “Buffalo Business First 40 under 40 Award”.

She is also a part of the Governor’s Task force for NYS Maternal Mortality & Morbidity Advisory Council; and is an active member of the African American Health Disparities Task Force which helped establish the Buffalo Health Equity Center in collaboration with the University at Buffalo. She was recently appointed to the Erie County Health Equity Advisory Board in which her duties will include to offer direction to the Erie County Department of Health Office of Health Equity and Commissioner of Health regarding health inequities and policy development.

In 2018, Dr. Davis was chosen for the prestigious National Institute of Health (NIH) Health Disparities Research Institute Fellowship. She was 1 of 50 selected health disparities researchers selected to go to the prestigious NIH for formal training and exposure of health disparities research. She was also inducted into the 2016 Arnold P. Gold Humanism Honor Society in which she was bestowed an award for her excellent bedside teaching.

Dr. Davis earned a bachelor’s degree in Pre-Professional Biology (Minor: Chemistry) in 2005 from William Penn University, Oskaloosa, IA. She completed her Doctor of Medicine degree (High Honors) in 2012 from Ross University School of Medicine, Commonwealth of Dominica, West Indies. Dr. Davis graduated from the Internal Medicine/Social & Preventative Medicine Residency at the State University of New York at Buffalo in 2016. She simultaneously completed a Master of Public Health degree (Concentration in Health Services Administration) in 2016 at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Dr. Davis is a native of Phoenix, AZ, and resides in Williamsville, NY with her husband and enjoys life with her three children.

Jillian Hanesworth is Buffalo’s former and founding poet laureate. Born on the East side, she began writing at age 7, composing songs for her mother’s church performances. Through her art, she challenges, validates, and educates her community. Jillian founded Buffalo Books, a nationally recognized literacy access program that has allowed for the placement of 30+ library boxes on the East Side of Buffalo and provided over 1,000 free, and brand new culturally relevant books to residents of Buffalo. In 2024 Jillian was the recipient of a national Sports Emmy in the Dick Schaap Outstanding Writing category for her ”Still Here” collaboration with the NFL Network, poetically documenting the pain, trauma and resilience of the City of Buffalo. Currently, she sits on the board of directors for Compass House and IIUTU Media in addition to traveling nationwide writing, performing, teaching, and speaking truth to power, all in the name of love for her people.

Stephen McKinley Henderson made his film debut in A Pleasure Doing Business (1979) and has since appeared in Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011), Lincoln (2012), Fences (2016), Manchester by the Sea (2016), Lady Bird (2017), Dune (2021), Causeway (2022), Beau Is Afraid (2023), and Civil War (2024).

His television debut came in 1984 in PBS‘s The Killing Floor. He has since appeared in Law & Order (1995–2010), Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2005–2006), The Newsroom (2013), The Blacklist (2018), Wu-Tang: An American Saga (2019–2020), Devs (2020), and A Man on the Inside (2024-2025).

Stephen McKinley Henderson has worked on stages throughout the United States and abroad, on and off Broadway, and in television and film. His eight Broadway performances include BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY (Tony nomination), FENCES (Tony nomination), A RAISIN IN THE SUN, MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM, and A DOLL’S HOUSE PART 2. Off Broadway roles include LAByrinth Theatre Company’s THE LAST DAYS OF JUDAS ISCARIOT and Second Stage Theater’s JITNEY (Drama Desk, Obie, and Audelco awards for outstanding ensemble). His stage directing credits include Signature Theater’s ZOOMAN AND THE SIGN, ALI! in New York and London, and THE MEETING for St. Louis Black Repertory Theater presented at Kennedy Center.  Stephen’s work appears in six Oscar nominated films: DUNE; Fences; Lady Bird; LINCOLN; Manchester by the Sea; and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. In his freshman year at Lincoln University in Missouri, a historically black institution, he auditioned for John Houseman and Michael Kahn and became a member of Group l, Juilliard Drama Division in 1968. His conservatory training continued at North Carolina School of the Arts (BFA) where he served as president of the student government. At Purdue University Graduate School (MA), Stephen was Director of the Drama Workshop for the Black Cultural Center. He is a Lunt and Fontanne Ten Chimneys Fellowship Teacher and a former Chair of the University at Buffalo Department of Theatre and Dance. John Houseman cited Stephen’s work as a student in his memoir, Final Dress, and Dr. Samuel Hay cites his work as an actor, director, and educator in his text, African American Theater, A Critical Analysis. He is the 2023 recipient of the Drama Desk’s Harold Prince Lifetime Achievement Award. Mr. Henderson will be inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame at Broadway’s Gershwin Theatre on November 18, 2024.

As a white male, Stephen has long been concerned with issues of racism in America.  He’s aware of his privilege and how it has helped him through many stages of life.  At the beginning of WW II, Stephen’s father worked at Lockheed Aircraft Corporation in wartime housing that was segregated by decree of the federal government.  Stephen was born in Levittown, NY in 1954, in a housing development that was funded by the federal government with the caveat that it was to be for ‘Caucasians’ only, in perpetuity. His parents bought that house in 1953 for $7,200 (and sold it a few years later). It is now worth more than $500,000.  He is a beneficiary of the U.S. caste system.  Stephen believes if more white people understood our history we could move to a more equitable future and be the beneficiaries of a more perfect union.

He was certainly not taught most of this history in public school or college. With so many states implementing new restrictive voting laws, communities banning books, and even forbidding the teaching of factual U.S. history, there is an urgency to make a documentary that contains the deliberately ‘forgotten’ information on de jure racism.

Stephen started his filmmaking career in his early 40’s after having international experience as a chamber musician with the Amherst Saxophone Quartet.  During the Quartet’s 30 year tenure, their videoed performance library needed to become a marketing tool. The experience of working with a video editor led him to a second career, in 1995, as a filmmaker.  Stephen has always found that the immersion in music has been an invaluable aid to an approach to filmmaking, as events over time are the hallmarks of both music and film.

Stephen has worked as a producer of documentaries, Director of Photography, Editor, and Digital Colorist on both documentaries and feature-length narrative films.

Dina Thompson is the Executive Director and a founding member of the Erie County Restorative Justice Coalition, where she leads community-centered efforts to advance racial healing, justice, and equity across Western New York. A lifelong Buffalo resident, Dina brings more than a decade of leadership, teaching, and hands-on experience in restorative justice to her work.

In addition to her nonprofit leadership, Dina serves as Senior Fellow Faculty with the Institute for Nonprofit Practice for the CORE Certificate Program and has been an Adjunct Instructor in the University at Buffalo’s Department of Social Work for nine years. In these roles, she prepares current and emerging practitioners to engage communities through restorative and healing-centered approaches. Dina is a graduate of Hilbert College and the International Institute of Restorative Practices, where she earned a Master’s Certificate and licensure in Restorative Practices in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Her professional training also includes certifications in Diversity and Inclusion from Cornell University, certification as a Healing-Centered Engagement Practitioner, and advanced training in Mind–Body Medicine.

Guided by the principles of restorative justice, Dina is a dedicated social justice advocate who works to address and heal the impacts of systemic and institutional inequities. Under her leadership, restorative practices have been successfully implemented in multiple school districts across Western New York, leading to reduced punitive responses to challenging behavior and strengthened school culture, connection, and belonging.

Through strategic partnerships and collaborative leadership, Dina has helped create and sustain juvenile justice diversion programs for youth impacted by the criminal legal system. She also facilitates and trains others to lead monthly restorative conversations that courageously address the past and present harms of racism, privilege, and implicit bias. Additionally, Dina has coordinated Restorative Justice Day in Buffalo for the past four years, convening community members to learn, reflect, and heal together.

Outside of her professional work, Dina is a devoted wife and mother of three. She enjoys spending time with family and friends, running, gardening, cooking, and being outdoors. Working with young people—witnessing their joy, resilience, and laughter—continues to inspire and ground her work.