On November 14th-16th more than 400 leaders convened from across sectors and generations in Washington, DC at The Well to restore, rejuvenate, build new relationships across identity, age, and sector. Leaders from across the country moved beyond what needs to be dismantled, and helped create a positive vision for what an alternative world looks like— while strategizing what our community can do to get there.
Among the many distinguished speakers were Kingmakers of Oakland (KOO) Co-Founder and CEO Chris Chatmon, as well as KOO Board Member Romero Wesson, who led a workshop called From Youth Voice to Youth Leadership. They traveled with Kahlil Chatmon, George Hofstetter, Josiah Harris, Shedrick L. Johnson III, Alonzo Henderson, Jonathan Piper II, Amari Chatmon and Kunta Gary as a KOO team of young leaders to offer a variety of perspectives. They represented as part of an “Emerging Leaders” cohort to gather and reflect on The Well event experience, and synthesize key takeaways for their work as social leaders moving forward.
In an effort to foster authentic collaboration, New Profit engaged KOO as one of the co-designing organizations for the dynamic and impactful event. Selected organizations represented a visionary group of social entrepreneurs, philanthropists, and other social impact leaders from across sectors to design programming and content for The Well. The co-design group offered a wide range of viewpoints and experiences, advancing a larger aspiration of building a multiracial, intergenerational, cross-sector coalition for change. We will further advance this concept of convening and building a multiracial, intergenerational, cross-functional coalition of allies at our Spring Symposium in March 2023.
New Profit is a national venture philanthropy organization created by and for social entrepreneurs. They back breakthrough social entrepreneurs, like KOO through a unique model that brings together the rigor of venture capital and the humanity of the nonprofit sector.
Venture philanthropy matters because these funders often provide unrestricted grants and strategic support that is critical to increasing an organization’s impact, scale, and sustainability. KOO is pleased to have New Profit Managing Partner Eliza Greenberg serve on KOO’s Board as Secretary and a strategic partner.