Attendees kicked off the convening learning about our host city of Detroit, the unique climate of organizing in Michigan, and what philanthropy can do to positively impact the world around it. Featuring powerful openings from Ariel Simon from The Kresge Foundation and from Monica Lewis-Patrick from We the People of Detroit, we grounded the convening in the importance of equity and power building to grow organizers’ and philanthropy’s impact and how Michigan can serve as a catalyst for the rest of the country.

Our keynote speaker, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, joined us for a conversation on her organizing background in the Detroit area that in turn led her directly to her work in Congress today.  She charged attendees to come back from Detroit feeling powerful and emboldened to support real change in communities.

Additional plenaries over the course of the convening included one that tackled race and power head on, looking at what work is being done across communities to ensure we are fighting the efforts to disempower and diminish people of color with a powerful vision for a true multiracial democracy.

Later, another plenary showcased narrative and cultural change as a means of organizing at the national and local levels and how the dynamics of funding and infrastructure effect this space. Our final plenary took us on a journey of what our work beyond 2020 can look like and how we truly can move forward together.

Convening attendees also had the opportunity to hear from leaders across the field dedicated to building power and uplifting democracy in and equitable and meaningful way through our breakout sessions. Topics included: the innovative models of collaboration and engagement being used toward the 2020 Census; the climate that exists in organizing by and with communities of color; how both (c)(3) and (c)(4) efforts can help achieve funder goals; the impact of money in politics on communities; and methods to strengthen intersectional power building and interventions that are grounded in an inclusive democracy, among nine other sessions.

Our evening out on the town featured a dinner at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit with Afrofuturist artist Bryce Detroit and African instrumentalist Efe Bes using performance art to discuss ancestral identity and native culture and how they are reframing the conversation around building power and redefining civic engagement.