Expanding Our Roots: Dianne Hanley

Expanding Our Roots: Global Conversations With 821 is an online interview series hosted by The 821 Project. The purpose of the series is to showcases the cultural diversity, global connections and social consciousness of the people of southeast Louisiana as well as those who work to expand southeast Louisiana’s roots to the world through works that promote social justice and global citizenship.

The series presents community organizers, community leaders and residents living in southeast Louisiana who come from different parts of the world or who work to promote global citizenship, multiculturalism and social justice in our regional community.

This interview is with Dianne Hanley. She is Executive Director of Spirit & Justice, an organization that brings together deeply spiritual people who are drawn to justice work. For over 10 years, Ms. Hanley has been a leader with Together Baton Rouge, an organization that strengthens faith-based and civic institutions by deepening relationships across lines that normally divide and building leadership capacity to affect change on concrete issues.

Her past work also includes working at Catholic Charities. While there, she was selected by Catholic Relief Services to observe relief efforts in Tanzania and Ethiopia, learning first hand the impact of US policy on the lives of people in those countries.She also visited Turkey as part of an interfaith, multicultural team with the Atlas Foundation to foster inter-cultural and interfaith dialogue.

She is currently facilitating groups studying racism to keep the conversation active to further the dismantling of systems of white supremacy. Mrs. Hanley has a Masters of Pastoral Studies from Loyola University New Orleans and a BA in English from LSU.