2024 PLACES Alum Gathering:
Building Communities of Resistance
August 8-9 | Chicago
Extraordinary injustice requires extraordinary resistance. And we know that transformative change happens when we find our people, build community and lean into one another.
Register today to join the PLACES community Aug. 8-9 in Chicago for the 2024 PLACES Alum Gathering: Building Communities of Resistance.
Join us as we create space for intentional networking, peer learning and leadership development guided by the wisdom of bell hooks:
“For one of the most vital ways we sustain ourselves is by building communities of resistance, places where we know we are not alone.”
Read on for more information about lodging, agenda highlights and featured speakers.
We hope to see you in Chicago!
Questions? Reach out to the PLACES team at places@fundersnetwork.org
About the 2024 PLACES Alum Gathering
Registration
The 2024 PLACES Alum Gathering is open to all PLACES Alums, regardless of whether their organization is a member of The Funders Network.
Registration: $200
→ Register HERE
Hotel Recommendations
We recommend you stay in the Downtown/Magnificent Mile area. Here are some hotels in the area that you can choose to stay in:
Agenda Highlights
GOALS:
The 2024 PLACES Alum Gathering: Building Communities of Resistance offers a chance to learn and explore how we can:
- Equitably build collective knowledge and power.
- Practice solidarity and unity in our common struggle.
- Connect with ourselves and each other through art and creativity.
- Imagine decolonial futures.
- Honor rage, grief, joy and love.
- Mobilize action and nurture community across the PLACES Alum Network.
DAY 1: THURSDAY AUG. 8
- 9:30 – 10:00 a.m.: We’ll kick off our gathering with a Coffee & (Re)Connections networking session at the Self-Help Federal Credit Union (3960 W. 26th St.), which partners with working families and communities that have historically faced systemic barriers to financial inclusion.
- 10 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.: Day 1 continues with a performance from an acclaimed Chicago poet and activist, relationship-building activities, learning workshops and somatic exercises. (Lunch provided.)
- 4:30 p.m. – 6 p.m. PLACES Alum Reception, hosted by Self-Help Federal Credit Union. (Dinner on your own.)
- 8:30 p.m. PLACES Karaoke! (Stay tuned for details.)
DAY 2: FRIDAY AUG. 9
- 9:30 – 10 a.m.: Join us for breakfast and networking at Impact House (200 W. Madison St.), a 40,000-square-foot work club created to connect, serve and support Chicago’s grantmaking organizations and impact leaders.
- 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.: Day 2 continues with workshops and activities focused on community care, mobilizing and organizing, including co-creating ways to mobilize the PLACES Alum Network. (Lunch provided.)
Featured Speakers
MARIO SMITH
Chicago Poet | Activist | Radio Host
Chicago Artist Mario Smith, aka the “Mayor of Hyde Park,” is an award-winning poet, podcast host, radio personality, activist and community organizer.
He’ll join us for a spoken word performance that speaks to art as inspiration for collective resistance. Alums will have time to ask the artist questions and learn more about his background.
MARANDA WITHERSPOON RICHARDSON
MWR Coaching and Consulting | PLACES ’15 Alum
Maranda Witherspoon Richardson, founder and principal of MWR Coaching and Consulting, will lead us in a relationship-building exercise to deepen understanding and create new connections.
BINA M. PATEL
Saathi Impact Consulting | PLACES ’12 Alum
Bina M Patel, founder and CEO of Saathi Impact Consulting, will lead a session on connecting our inner work to communal work, building community, and growing practices of solidarity in our justice movements. This session will include time for breathwork and small group conversations led by Bina.
MARCI OVADIA
La Libertad Consulting
Marci Ovadia, CEO and founder of La Libertad Consulting, will lead us through a group activity and journaling session focused on envisioning a decolonial future and imagining non-oppressive ways of being.
JOY B. WEBB
Circle of Joy Giving Circle | Southern Black Girls’ and Women’s Consortium | PLACES ’23 Alum
Joy B. Webb, founder of Circle of Joy Giving Circle and network engagement manager at Southern Black Girls’ and Women’s Consortium, leads a session focused on community care and joy as a radical form of resistance.
DR. RAMI NASHASHIBI
Inner-City Muslim Action Network
Dr. Rami Nashashibi, A MacArthur Fellow and founding executive director of Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN), will lead a 90-minute workshop segment where alums will learn tools and practices for collective mobilizing and organizing towards justice and liberation. IMAN has developed its own unique community organizing curriculum that is both deeply rooted in spiritual tradition and broadly informed by past and present social movements and struggles. Incorporated in 1997, the nonprofit fosters health, wellness and healing on Chicago’s South Side and Atlanta’s West End neighborhoods by organizing for social change, cultivating the arts and operating a holistic health center..
DION CARTWRIGHT & TALISSA LAHALIYED
The Funders Network
Dion Cartwright. TFN president and CEO (and PLACES ’11 Alum), will join Tallssa Lahaliyed, equity programs manager, for this final session. They’ll work with alums to co-create ways of mobilizing the PLACES Alum Network, inspring and identifying tangible actions for alums to stay connected to TFN — and collectively create change across the network and beyond.
With Gratitude
Thank you to our PLACES Advisory Board and Chicago alums for your support and contribution in putting together this gathering.