Welcome
Elevate: A virtual conference on equity

Understanding How Empathy Supports Mission-Driven Culture

Kelly Pallanti Founder/CEO, HR Nonprofit Consulting LLC

Empathy is one of the most underdeveloped skills for communicating, building trust, influencing, and resolving conflicts. I will explore how mastering this valuable tool can increase your emotional intelligence and give you the power to have a positive impact on your organization’s vision of a mission-driven culture.

A Bold Dream: Creating a World that Works for Everyone

Dr. Shakti Butler Founder & President, World Trust

We invite you to begin this conference with an open heart and mind; to realize that almost every problem we face in the world today is a result of "othering" the ways we frame all our conflicts, at every level, as a function of group-based difference. This brief keynote address by Dr. Shakti Butler will set the tone for three days of moving away from othering, and toward a world of belonging, where we are all seen, where we all participate and contribute to our society.

DARE TO BE DAUNTLESS - A Closer Look at the Systems of Inequity, Bias, Privilege, and how We as a Global Community Can Heal

Amikaeyla Gaston Founder and Executive Director, International Cultural Arts & Healing Sciences Institute

What does it take to be bold enough to find and express your true voice and really be heard? To embrace transformation and live dynamically by accessing your own authenticity each moment of each day? To inspire others to live their own empowered purpose and transcend daily trials with love and joy? We will look at how our unconscious biases affect our interpersonal and organizational behaviors. And we will embrace how personal and communal healing gives us the emotional fortitude we need in each moment to unleash your courage, bring forth your passionate spirit, and be a healing force that holds the power to uplift and transform us ALL. Explore and experience DARE TO BE DAUNTLESS with soul-stirring speaker and award-winning singer Amikaeyla Gaston.

Why Equity Matters - The Business Imperative

Susan Tomlinson Schmidt MPA, CNP President, Nonprofit Leadership Alliance

There clearly is a moral imperative to equity work, but for those who live by the numbers, is there truly a business imperative? Join us for this quick look at how to build the “case” for equity work.

Virtual Alliance Management Institute Career Networking

Attendees earning the Certified Nonprofit Professional (CNP) credential have an opportunity to network with the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance’s Workforce Partners in the Exhibit Hall.

Critical Conversations: Build Your Capacity to Discuss Equity

Andrew Plumley Equity in the Center

Kristen Lucas ProInspire

In this session you will learn self-management tactics to navigate critical conversations and conflict; identify triggers and challenges to addressing conflict (specifically around equity); increase awareness of interaction between personal identity and conflict and be ready to make a commitment to engage in critical conversations around equity.

Organizational Assessment: Do Your Policies, Practices, Procedures and Programs Align with Your Commitment to Equity and Inclusion?

Chad Nico Hiu Director of Diversity & Inclusion, YMCA of the USA

Breaking Barriers!

Leslie Drish Manager, Diversity and Inclusion, Tyson Foods

This session will explore some of the barriers that exist that prevent people from working together. It will show how barriers can manifest and what non-profit leaders can do to support everyone in their communities. It will give some real-world examples of some challenges that non-profits face engaging some populations and what strategies were used to remove those barriers.

Developing Your Equity Strategy: Step-Wise Plan to Incorporate Equity in Your Work

Mary Morten President, Morten Group

Equity in Hiring Practices

Melissa Madzel Vice President, Executive Search, Koya Leadership Partners

Jen Chau Fontan Coach and DEI/Talent Consulstant , JCF Coaching

Tamika Mason CEO, Building for Mission

Miriam McBride Talent + Growth Strategy Advisor

Join a conversation about ways to make hiring practices -- including search strategy, marketing, recruitment, interviewing, evaluations, offers, negotiations and beyond -- more equitable. We'll discuss ways to consider equity in hiring, how it differs or overlaps with diversity and inclusion, recommended practices and lessons learned from some nonprofit talent veterans.

Religious Diversity in the Workplace

Andy Hoffman Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston

Greg Han Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston

This session will engage participants in religious demographics and attitudes affecting the American workplace. The presentation will include organizational tactics and best practices for managing religious and ethnic diversity. The session will be capped with an exploration of a case-study through a virtual chat-based discussion.

Roudtable Discussions

Interrupting Racism

Evangeline Weiss Leadership Programs Director, National LGBTQ Taskforce

Setting Your Personal Commitment to Equity

Jamie Smith Executive Director, YNPN

Strategies to Support Veterans in the Workplace

Pernell Bush President/Founder, No Limit Health and Education

John Rorke Nonprofit Research and Evaluation Manager

Virtual Alliance Management Institute Career Networking

Attendees earning the Certified Nonprofit Professional (CNP) credential have an opportunity to network with the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance’s Workforce Partners in the Exhibit Hall.

Intersectionality: Defining and Unraveling this Complex Issue

Evangeline Weiss Leadership Programs Director, National LGBTQ Taskforce

Creating Allies to Achieve Diversity

Evangeline Weiss Leadership Programs Director, National LGBTQ Taskforce

This is a part two session from Evangeline's Intersectionality presentation that will cover how to become an ally.

Microagressions : How Seemingly Small Acts Create Inequity

Lisa Gilmore Project Manager, Morten Group

Gender Equity in the Social Sector: Hashtag vs. Movement

Monique B. Jones President & CEO, Evanston Community Foundation

While we all know the issue of gender equity existed long before a hashtag made its way to social media, how can we harness this attention and bring the issue to bare in our various environments, where we work, play and love in order to create a more just and inclusive world? Walk away with practical tips: from using your voice for change, imparting knowledge and data and the realities of taking radical self-care when working in this space. Gender Equity is everyone's problem, yet the social sector often bears the brunt of correcting it. What part will you play?

Working Toward Racial Equity: Naming, Framing, and Dismantling Institutional Racism

Dr. Vanessa Lopez-Littleton Assistant Professor, California State University

Dr. Brandi Blessett Assistant Professor, Rutgers University

This session explores several fundamental causes of inequities in nonprofit organizations. Using anti-racism principles and theories, participants will engage in an interactive discussion to develop their racial consciousness in an effort to name, frame, and dismantle racism. All are vital steps in promoting racial equity.

Privilege: How Privilege Affects Both Those With and Those Without

Chad Nico HiuDirector of Diversity and Inclusion, YMCA of the USA

Privilege is a word that sparks all types of reactions in today’s world. Our reality - for all of us - is shaped and influenced by the spaces in which we each experience or are hindered by our own privilege or lack there of . As we work to advance diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, we have a responsibility to be aware of our own lens on life, associated biases and blind spots and how our own privilege influences access to power and ability to advance organizational, institutional and societal equity across the nonprofit sector and beyond. Be an Equity, D&I ‘gladiator’! Let’s talk privilege.

Creating a Culture of Equity

Michael Gonzales Director of Diversity & Inclusion, Hallmark Cards