Chicago Sun-Times columnist and WLS-TV political analyst Laura Washington will conduct the midday Making Media Connections keynote conversation with Grassroots Collaborative Executive Director Amisha Patel. She shares stories and techniques about how organizing tactics are changing in 21st century urban neighborhoods, her reaction to the closing of 61 Chicago public schools and how it affected the community to fight back, how she became an organizer and why it is important to her to continue to support the community.

How are digital tools and social media blending with traditional door-to-door, one-on-one organizing? What communications strategies are campaigns utilizing in a shifting media landscape where there are fewer reporters covering our stories?

Recorded live Tuesday, June 4, 2013 at Columbia College Chicago Film Row Cinema.