Stephanie Downs Hughes has directed her experience in college teaching, writing, consulting, corporate, agency, and small business into fostering the "art of open-minded, open-hearted engagement" -- to enhance person-to-person and group-to-group understanding, cooperation and peace making. Diversity Dinners has been putting together eclectic groups of ten that gather in members' homes to share cooperative suppers and searching conversations ever since its beginning in Naperville and the surrounding communities in 1997. Just Views, the monthly, free, film-anchored issues discussions that let the audience explore in depth with experts vital social questions of our time, was begun shortly after 9/11/01, sponsored by the county’s DuPage Peace through Justice Coalition. The driving force in the founding, ongoing offering, growth, and spread to other geographical areas of both of these public programs has been organization leader and citizen activist Stephanie Hughes, Ph.D. sociologist. Stephanie leads both the Diversity Dinners and the Just Views programs which, in different ways, nurture cross-cultural sharing, personal storytelling, reflection, critical thinking, civil multilog, empathy and collaboration. This connects with some of her other civic work as a local United Nations envoy through USServas and other global nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Stephanie and husband Duncan also continue to host many international visitors through Servas, Naperville Sister Cities, YMCA, Rotary, Peace Bridge. They also serve as "Friendship Family" to students from around the world studying at North Central College in Naperville.
"Her goal is to have a small group become friends, become educated, and feel free to express their opinion civilly at any time," praised Mayor A. George Pradel.
