Speakers

Nicole Hylton-Patterson became the first director of the Adirondack Diversity Initiative in December 2019.  She moved to the Adirondacks to try to make this vast and overwhelmingly white region more welcoming to people who, like her, are Black .  Advocates see the need for welcoming more diverse residents and visitors not only as a societal good, but as necessary to a tourism-dependent region that is losing population.  The Adirondack Diversity Initiative had been an all-volunteer effort until a $250,000 state grant allowed it to hire Nicky, a veteran in the field.  She uses a combination of cultural consciousness and related training for residents who can talk to neighbors, as well as developing liaisons with local governments, police deparments and school boards to address systemic racism.

Howard is a fellow Rotarian (Secretary of the N Texas Rotary E-Club) and was designated by Guiness Book of World Records as the World's Fastest Reader.  Trained in Psychobiology, his research into techniques for harnessing the power of the mind enabled him to pioneer his methods for reading over 25,000 words per minute and writing over 100 words per minute, and for advanced problem solving techniques.