Overview Agenda Speakers Resources What to Expect We are excited to invite The Kresge Foundation Climate Resilient & Equitable Water Systems (CREWS) Community to gather with us in Detroit, Michigan for our 6th annual CREWS Convening! We’re delighted to be hosting this year’s CREWS Convening in partnership with the Kresge Climate Change & Health Equity (CCHE) Convening from the evening of Tuesday, September 17 through the afternoon Friday, September 20, 2024. Collectively, we’ll also celebrate The Kresge Foundation Centennial – it’s a big year for looking back and looking ahead! Click HERE to register! Join the conversation on Twitter/X using the hashtag #KresgeCREWS and tag @kresgefdn and @YeouJih. Questions? If you have any questions or need support during the event, please contact Kate O’Brien at [email protected]. CREWS Convening Objectives We’re honored that you are attending and want to make the best use of your time. With that in mind, the themes and objectives of the CREWS 2024 Convening are: Themes: Relationships as Infrastructure Seeding Collaboration Amplifying Belonging & Mutual Support Purpose and Goals: Gather CREWS leaders together to increase mutually beneficial peer learnings and connections within CREWS and across the climate-water-equity field. Hold space for grantee partners to explore opportunities for new and continued collaboration towards mutually desired outcomes. Extend a community of care with and across the CREWS community. Celebrate our victories, large and small, together. Strategize about the shared vision and work ahead. COVID Protocol We request that all Convening attendees take a COVID test within 48 hours prior to traveling to Detroit, and daily before participating in any CREWS Convening events. All participants will be provided test kits and masks upon arrival. If attendees have any symptoms of illness or test positive for COVID during their time in Detroit, we ask that they not participate in the in-person meeting this year. Schedule & Agenda Tuesday, Sept. 17 – Friday, Sept. 20 Day 1: Tuesday, September 17Welcome, Travel Day & Kick-Off CREWS REGISTRATION, CHECK-IN, COVID TESTING 5 p.m. – 9 p.m. CREWS & CCHE WELCOME RECEPTION 6 p.m. – 7 p.m. Meet & Greet Cocktail Reception (with musical entertainment) CREWS & CCHE WELCOME DINNER 7 p.m. – 9 p.m. Welcome to Detroit, Remarks from The Kresge Foundation Day 2: Wednesday, September 18Opening the Aperture REGISTRATION & COVID TESTING 7 a.m. – 9 p.m. BREAKFAST 8 a.m. – 8:45 a.m. OPENING PLENARY FOR CCHE & CREWS CONVENINGS 8:45 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Rooting in Detroit Performance by Tawana Petty, Pettypropolis Inc. Introduction by Shamar Bibbins, Kresge Foundation Keynote Speaker: Dr. Jalonne White- Newsome, followed by Q&A Detroit-focused Panel Discussion BREAK 10:30 a.m. – 11 a.m. Coffee and snacks available Informal Meet-and-Greet with Dr. Jalonne White-Newsome OPENING THE APERTURE FOR CREWS 11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Ubuntu Project Plenary with Dr. Denise Fairchild and guests Water Ceremony at the Detroit River LUNCH 12:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. UBUNTU PROJECT WORKSHOP ON CULTURE CHANGE 1:30 p.m. – 3 p.m. BREAK 3 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. CREWS WORKSHOP 3:30 p.m. – 5 p.m. CREWS DINNER AT CENTRAL KITCHEN 6:30 p.m. Day 3: Thursday, September 19Bringing the Field into Focus REGISTRATION & COVID TESTING 7 a.m. – 9 a.m. BREAKFAST 8 a.m. – 9 a.m. UNCONFERENCING INTRO AND DISCUSSION SESSION 1 9 a.m. – 10 a.m. UNCONFERENCING DISCUSSIONS SESSION 2 10 a.m. – 11 a.m. BREAK 11 a.m. – 11:15 a.m. UNCONFERENCING DISCUSSIONS SESSION 3 11:15 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. PICK UP BOXED LUNCHES & LOAD BUSES FOR SITE VISITS 12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. LEARNING VISITS: EASTSIDE & WESTSIDE OF DETROIT 1:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. BREAK & TRANSITION 4:30 p.m. – 6 p.m. CREWS DINNER AT VICENTE’S 6:30 p.m. Dance lessons! Day 4: Friday, September 20Composing the Photo BREAKFAST 8 a.m. – 9 a.m. CONCURRENT CCHE/CREWS JOINT BREAKOUT SESSIONS 9 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Session A: Storytelling for the Movement! Interconnectedness of Water, Climate, and Health Session B: Money for the Movement! Federal Infrastructure Funding Session C: Mobilizing the Movement! Climate Resilience and Emergency Response Session D: TBA BREAK 10:30 a.m. – 11 a.m. WHAT, SO WHAT, NOW WHAT – SYNTHESIZING OUR TIME TOGETHER 11 a.m. – 12 p.m. LUNCH 12 p.m. – 1 p.m. PRACTICING COLLABORATION & COLLECTIVE ADVOCACY 1 p.m. – 2:15 p.m. CLOSING 2:15 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. SHUTTLES TO AIRPORT 3:15 p.m. – 3:45 p.m. Hear from CREWS Speakers A full list of our 2024 Convening Speakers will be added soon! Shamar Bibbins Senior Program Officer The Kresge Foundation Shamar Bibbins Senior Program Officer The Kresge Foundation Shamar Bibbins serves as a senior program officer for the Environment Program at The Kresge Foundation, where her grantmaking supports policies and programs that help U.S. cities combat and adapt to climate change while advancing racial and economic justice. Kresge announced on June 17 that Shamar has been promoted to managing director of the Environment Program effective September 30. Shamar currently plays a leading role in managing Kresge’s Climate Change, Health & Equity Initiative (CCHE). The national initiative is a partnership between Kresge’s Environment and Health programs to address the intersecting imperatives of accelerating action on climate change and reducing health disparities. She also contributes to the development and implementation of program strategies and supports efforts that advance diversity, racial equity, and inclusion in the environmental field. Shamar joined Kresge in 2014, bringing a history of engagement in environmental efforts and a commitment to action on climate change. She previously served as the director of national partnerships at Green For All, a national nonprofit dedicated to building a green economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty. Brandon Black Visual Practitioner Drawnversation Brandon Black Visual Practitioner Drawnversation Brandon is a proud Cincinnatian and founder of Drawnversation, a visual facilitation practice featuring real-time scribing, experience engineering, and graphic design services. His work aims to glorify the stories of partners through visuals that are eye-catching, engaging, and everlasting. Follow on Instagram @drawnversation or LinkedIn: LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/brand-onblack/ Lois R. DeBacker Managing Director Kresge Foundation Environment Program Lois R. DeBacker Managing Director Kresge Foundation Environment Program Lois DeBacker serves as managing director of The Kresge Foundation’s Environment Program, which focuses on helping communities build resilience in the face of climate change. She joined the foundation in February 2008. Lois’ experience includes more than 16 years at the C. S. Mott Foundation in a series of positions of progressive responsibility, including the role of Associate Vice President- Programs. Before joining the Mott Foundation, Lois worked for 10 years in Michigan state government in both policy-development and program-management capacities. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from the University of Michigan and a master’s degree in public affairs from the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. Her graduate work focused on urban and domestic policy. Denise Fairchild President Emeritus Emerald Cities Collaborative Denise Fairchild President Emeritus Emerald Collective Denise Fairchild is a ClimateBreakthrough 2021 Awardee, the largest individual award of its kind, and only the second U.S. awardee to date. Her three-year $3 million grant focused on designing a cultural response to the root cause of climate change – unsustainable economic growth – production and consumption policies and systems. From 2010-2022, Dr. Fairchild served as the inaugural President and CEO of Emerald Cities Collaborative (ECC), a national non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C. with affiliates in major urban centers across the United States. She advanced ECC’s “high road” mission to green our cities, build resilient local economies, and ensure equity and inclusion in both the process and the outcomes of a green and healthy economy. Dr. Fairchild focuses on building community-led partnerships with labor, environmental and business organizations to increase energy efficiency, clean energy, sustainable foods and clean water with a focus on low-income and communities of color. Dr. Fairchild is nationally recognized and respected for her 40-year successful track record and innovative programs in sustainable and community economic development, domestically and internationally. Wendy Lewis Jackson Managing Director Kresge Foundation Detroit Program Wendy Lewis Jackson Managing Director Kresge Foundation Detroit Program Wendy Lewis Jackson is managing director for the Detroit Program. She leads The Kresge Foundation’s efforts to revitalize Detroit and to strengthen its social and economic fabric. Her work supports organizations providing economic opportunity for low-income people and addresses the needs of vulnerable children and families. Prior to joining Kresge in 2008, Wendy was a program director for Children and Family Initiatives and executive director for education initiatives at the Grand Rapids Community Foundation in Grand Rapids, Mich. She taught at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Mich., and has co-authored and assisted in the publication of several reports and publications that address community needs and problem-solving. Wendy is an American Marshall Memorial Fellow of the German Marshall Fund of the United States; the Association of Black Foundation Executives named her an Emerging Leader in 2008. In 2018, she received the Dr. Gerald K. Smith Award for Philanthropy by the Michigan Forum for African-Americans in Philanthropy, an affinity group of the Council of Michigan Foundations. Yeou-Rong Jih Kresge Foundation Program Officer, Environment Program Yeou-Rong Jih Kresge Foundation Program Officer, Environment Program Yeou-Rong Jih (she/her/hers) serves as a program officer for The Kresge Foundation’s Environment Program, which helps communities build resilience in the face of climate change. Yeou-Rong supports the foundation’s Climate Resilient and Equitable Water Systems (CREWS) initiative grantmaking efforts, which advance equitable solutions to climate-related urban flooding. She joined the foundation in 2021, bringing a history of engagement in urban climate resilience efforts and a commitment to action on equity and racial justice. Previously, Yeou-Rong served as the director of urban initiatives at Greenlink Analytics, where she co-led equity mapping and clean energy planning efforts, working with cities and community-based organizations to create climate plans, policies and programs that center the equity and energy justice needs of residents. She has also worked with the City of Atlanta, supporting the development and implementation of its resilience, energy and equitable water strategies. Yeou-Rong earned a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience and behavioral biology from Emory University and a master’s degree in research psychology from the University of Oxford. In 2021, she was named a Grist 50 Fixer, which recognizes emerging leaders in climate, sustainability and equity, who are creating change across the nation. Kate O’Brien Catalyst Collaboratives LLC Founder and Principal Kate O’Brien Catalyst Collaboratives LLC Founder and Principal Kate O’Brien is founder and principal of Catalyst Collaboratives LLC, a boutique consultancy specializing in adaptive change management, facilitation, and capacity building. In her work, Kate draws from her twenty-year career in the nonprofit and public sectors. Trained as a social worker, Kate began her career as a case manager for people with serious and persistent mental illness. After navigating behavioral health systems, she moved into community development while pursuing graduate studies in urban and environmental policy and planning at Tufts University. Kate’s management experience grew significantly during the eight years she led transformative projects, programs, planning initiatives, teams, and operations at Groundwork Lawrence in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Following nearly a decade of ad-hoc coaching of executives and teams, Kate formalized and led Groundwork USA’s first-ever technical assistance program, funded by US EPA and focused on building trusting partnerships between CBOs and municipalities in pursuit of equitable brownfield redevelopment and environmental justice outcomes across the country. Drawing on her years coaching and managing a portfolio of technical assistance clients, Kate set out as a solo entrepreneur focused on supporting clients who are navigating and co-creating culture change rooted in equity and anti-oppression at interpersonal, organizational, network, and systems levels. She is currently serving in her second term as Chair of the Board of Trustees for Portland Trails in her chosen hometown of Portland, Maine, where she has been leading the organization’s multi-year cultural transformation and strategic planning processes. Rip Rapson The Kresge Foundation President & CEO Rip Rapson The Kresge Foundation President & CEO Rip Rapson is president and CEO of The Kresge Foundation, a private, national foundation founded in 1924, which is dedicated to expanding opportunities in America’s cities through grantmaking and social investing. Since his appointment in 2006, Rapson has led the foundation to adopt an array of grantmaking and investing tools to improve the economic, social, cultural and environmental conditions of urban life through grantmaking and social investing in arts and culture, education, environment, health, human services and community development in Kresge’s hometown of Detroit. Using a full array of grant, loan and other investment tools, Kresge invests more than $160 million annually to foster economic and social change. Nationally, Rapson has strengthened the philanthropic sector’s role through convening, collaborating and supplementing community development activities in cities across the country. In Detroit, Rapson and the foundation provided central support to the “Grand Bargain,” an unprecedented partnership between the philanthropic community, city pensioners, the State of Michigan and the Detroit Institute of Arts, to propel the City of Detroit’s successful emergence from municipal bankruptcy in 2014. Maria Stamo Power and Policy Anchor Ubuntu Climate Initiative Maria Stamas Ubuntu Climate Initiative Power and Policy Anchor Maria Stamas (she/her) is a climate justice lawyer and strategist. Her work is dedicated to movement-aligned efforts to spark cultural change and redesign systems such that we all can meet our basic needs and thrive together. Maria is the Power and Policy Anchor for the Ubuntu Climate Initiative, a U.S.-based, global movement initiative working to weave Ubuntu values dedicated to the commons, restorative economies, and land regeneration into the climate movement. Founder of EnerGaia Consulting, Maria focuses on energy, water, and land justice and their intersections with democratic governance and economies grounded in solidarity. As co-founder of the People’s Utility Commons, she created a popular and political education curriculum on utility justice. Maria lives on unceded Chochenyo Ohlone land in present-day Oakland, California, where she loves to hike, listen to and play live music, and be in community. Benny Starr US Water Alliance Hip-Hop Artist & Filmmaker, Arts & Culture Senior Fellow Benny Starr US Water Alliance Hip-Hop Artist & Filmmaker, Arts & Culture Senior Fellow Black music and southern culture intersect with deep roots in hip-hop, gospel, jazz, blues, and rock. They’re woven with rich history, resiliency, and storytelling that elicits a quest for a higher calling in those who connect with them. The same rings true in the music created by South Carolina Lowcountry artist Benny Starr (he/him/his). His most recent solo project, A Water Album, was released on Juneteenth 2019, and in 2020, Native Son, a duo comprised of Benny Starr and singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Rodrick Cliche, was formed. In partnership with The Acres of Ancestry Initiative/Black Agrarian Fund and The Black Farmers Appeal: Cancel Pigford Debt Campaign, Native Son screened “Restoration: A Concert Film” on Juneteenth 2020. The US Water Alliance welcomed Benny Starr as their inaugural One Water Artist-in-Residence in October 2020. Through his 18-month residency with the Alliance, Benny worked with staff and the Alliance network to infuse arts and cultural strategies into thinking, problem-solving, and programming. Benny currently serves as a Senior Fellow of Arts & Culture with the US Water Alliance, integrating artistic approaches and cultural strategies to help advance and accelerate our ability to achieve a sustainable water future for all. Minna Toloui Upright Consulting Services Independent Consultant Minna Toloui Upright Consulting Services Independent Consultant Minna Toloui (she/they) is an independent consultant with Upright Consulting Services, which specializes in working with governments, philanthropies, nonprofits, and business to advance racial equity, economic inclusion, and deep sustainability. Minna comes to the work with a background in city-community relationship building and facilitation, climate justice, and environmental literacy in the nonprofit and public sectors. Her work focuses on the interstitial spaces between racial equity, health, housing, energy, and beyond. She is based in her born-and-raised home of the Bay Area, CA. Minna is driven by an ancestral lineage of justice work and love for our people, planet, and collective future. Jalonne White-Newsome, Ph. D. White House’s Office of Environmental Justice Federal Chief Environmental Justice Officer Jalonne L. White-Newsome, Ph.D. Federal Chief Environmental Justice Officer White House’s Office of Environmental Justice Appointed in June 2022, Dr. Jalonne L. White-Newsome is serving as the first Federal Chief Environmental Justice Officer, where she advises the Chair of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) on environmental justice and leads the White House’s first Office of Environmental Justice. Under her leadership, the Office of Environmental Justice is working hard to deliver on President Biden’s ambitious environmental justice agenda, including implementing the new Environmental Justice Executive Order and advancing the Justice40 Initiative, the first-ever government-wide EJ Scorecard, the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool, and elevating environmental justice work across the federal government and beyond through the White House Campaign for Environmental Justice. Convening Photos Resources Opening Keynote and Panel: Dr. Jalonne White-Newsome, federal chief environmental justice officer Session Notes Day 3 Session: Awareness for the Movement: Storytelling and Narrative Building for Climate Change Session Notes Day 3 Session: Money for the Movement Resources Session Notes Featured Resource CREWS leaders working at the intersection of water, climate, equity deepen partnership to combat urban flooding CREWS Initiative Landing Page 2023 CREWS Convening Photos 2023 CREWS Convening: Drawnversation Illustrations 2022 CREWS Convening: Drawnversation Illustrations Ubuntu Initiative Landing Page CCHE Initiative Landing Page Learning to Lead with Equity (Jalonne L. White-Newsome & Julie A. Slay) Water, Arts, and Culture Accelerator (US Water Alliance) Investing in America’s Onsite Wastewater Treatment Systems for Equity and Sustainability (Environmental Policy Innovation Center) Impaired Waters and TMDLs Program in your EPA Region, State or Tribal Land (Environmental Protection Agency) The State of Public Sector Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI), 2022 (Green Infrastructure Leadership Exchange) The Benefits of Community-Driven Green Infrastructure (Earth Economics and Water Wise Gulf South) Sackett v. EPA: The State of Our Waters One Year Later Accelerating Green Infrastructure as Equitable Community Development