On December 9, 2024, the Heising-Simons Foundation hosted a celebration to mark International Human Rights Day, bringing together leaders, advocates, and community members for a morning of powerful discussions on human rights and resilience. This year’s theme, ‘Hope and Human Rights,’ celebrates the relentless pursuit of justice and dignity worldwide, while recognizing, in the words of Eleanor Roosevelt, that universal human rights begin “in small places, close to home — so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world.”
We invite you to continue the conversation. Please find resources and information from our sessions below.
Sessions
Speakers
Partners & Resources
Photo Gallery
With Michael Tubbs and Daniel Lurie, San Francisco Mayor.
With Caitlin Heising, Tirana Hassan, and Jodie Ginsberg.
With Alec Karakatsanis, Collette Flanagan, and Raj Jayadev.
With Fred Blackwell, Dr. Aimee Moulin, Alexa Cortés Culwell, and Jessica Nowlan, President.
44th President of the United States of America
CEO, San Francisco Foundation
Chief Impact Officer, The Sobrato Organization; President, Sobrato Philanthropies
Founder, Mothers Against Police Brutality
CEO, Committee to Protect Journalists
CEO, Center for Democracy & Technology
Executive Director, Human Rights Watch
Vice Chair, Heising-Simons Foundation
Founder, Silicon Valley De-Bug
Founder, Civil Rights Corps
Mayor, City of San Francisco
Associate Professor, Emergency Medicine, UC Davis Medical Center
President, ReImagine Freedom
Founder and CEO, Center for Intimacy Justice (CIJ)
Chair of the Board, Heising-Simons Foundation
Executive Director, Mozilla Foundation
NYT Bestselling Author and TED Speaker
Governor’s Special Advisor for Economic Mobility; Founder, End Poverty in California
Learn more about our speakers and partners, and how to support their work. Your involvement makes a difference in advancing human rights.
Center for Democracy and Technology works to promote democratic values by shaping technology policy and architecture, with a focus on the rights of the individual.
Center for Intimacy Justice is a social change organization committed to equity and wellbeing in people’s intimate lives.
The Committee to Protect Journalists is an independent, nonprofit organization that promotes press freedom worldwide.
Civil Rights Corps (CRC) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to challenging systemic injustice in the United States’ legal system, a system that is built on white supremacy and economic inequality.
EPIC aims to end poverty in California by elevating the voices of people experiencing it, creating and implementing bold policies rooted in their needs, and advancing a state agenda focused on equal opportunity for all.
Human Rights Watch defends the rights of people in 100 countries worldwide, spotlighting abuses and bringing perpetrators to justice.
Mothers Against Police Brutality is the voice for justice for victims of police brutality and deadly force. They are multi-racial, multi-ethnic coalition uniting mothers nationwide to fight for civil rights, police accountability, and policy reform.
The Mozilla Foundation empowers people to shape a healthier digital world. They work across borders to advocate for privacy, inclusion and decentralization, and to create safer, more transparent online experiences for everyone.
The Obama Foundation works to inspire, empower, and connect people to change their world. We seek to build an active democratic culture where people are equipped and motivated to make change, not just at the polls or in the halls of power, but in their communities, in the places where they live, work, and play. Around the world, we’re empowering rising leaders to more powerfully participate by connecting them with the skills, resources, and networks to maximize their potential and take their local impact global. And on the South Side of Chicago, we’re building a home for this vision, a global center for change with programming that invites visitors—whether they’re coming from down the block or across the globe—to bring change home.
ReImagine Freedom incubates and nurtures ideas, people, and initiatives to increase the economic power and freedom of women and gender-expansive people, our families, and communities.
The Foundation’s mission is to mobilize resources and act as a catalyst for change to build strong communities, foster civic leadership, and promote philanthropy in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Silicon Valley De-Bug is a community organizing, advocacy, and a multimedia storytelling organization based out of San José, California.
Building a more equitable and sustainable world through business and philanthropic leadership.
UC Davis Health is improving lives and transforming health care by providing excellent patient care, conducting groundbreaking research, fostering innovative, interprofessional education, and creating dynamic, productive partnerships with the community. California Bridge is building on our country’s guarantee of 24/7 emergency care to offer treatment where people are, promote equity, and connect patients to ongoing care.
© Chloe Jackman Photography