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Session Recordings


SHOW:  All  DAY ONE  DAY TWO  
Unlike traditional investing, where the primary goal is solely to achieve financial profits, impact investing aims to address specific social or environmental challenges while still delivering competitive financial performance. Taking place during our Day 1 breakfast hour, this introductory session will provide you with the foundational knowledge necessary for one of the primary tracks at the Assembly.
Impact Investing
Speakers:
Dorien Nunez, The OmniResearch Group, Co-Founder and Director of Research

Our opening discussion, The State of Black Possibilities, brings together a diverse group of panelists to continue in the lineage of historical and contemporary thinkers. Through their expertise and personal experiences, panelists will discuss tangible strategies and solutions to expand the state of Black possibilities.
Impact Investing,  Black Investing, Keynote
Speakers: Konda Mason, Jubilee Justice, President

Jessica Norwood, Runway, Founder/CEO
As our cities and towns become increasingly aligned with profit over wellbeing, many organizations are at the forefront with utopian visions of building a world where our neighborhoods are designed, governed, protected and owned by us. This workshop will dive into approaches of building power through land trusts, real estate, and institutionalizing collective ownership and decision-making.
Impact Investing,  Panel, Keynote
Speakers: Adriana Abizadeh, Kensington Corridor Trust, Executive Director

John Smith, Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, Executive Director

Avery Ebron, The Guild, Director of Community Product
In this session, we will explore how impact investing can be tailored to address the unique needs and challenges of BIPOC communities in the United States. By flipping the script on traditional investment approaches, we will delve into the strategies and learnings that can empower us to create positive change in our own communities.
Land & Real Estate,  Panel
Speakers: Derek Peebles, American Sustainable Business Network, Senior Director, Inclusive Economy

Mark Watson, Potlikker Capital, President & CEO
Black Investing,  Panel
Speakers: Johnny Charles, J.P. Morgan Chase, VP, Senior Business Consultant

Karilyn Crockett (she/her), MIT, Professor of Urban History, Public Policy & Planning
Over half of Americans saving for retirement rely on employer-run plans, with the popular 401(k) being the top choice. But get this—only a tiny fraction of one percent of America's $9 trillion 401(k) dollars are invested in socially responsible options. We can't let that slide! In this workshop, participants will learn how to recover their capital from corporate interests towards sustainable and socially responsible options.
Impact Investing, Black Investing
Speakers: Tiffany Brown, Chordata Capital, Founder

Nicole Holloway, Strategy Squad, Natural Investments, Wealth Advisor
Black farmers have always been connected to the fight for racial justice. Today, fewer than two percent of American farmers are Black, and own less than 1% of United States farmland. This panel will highlight the connection between Black Farmers and Black Liberation from past to present.
Land & Real Estate
Speakers: Konda Mason, Jubilee Justice, President

Mark Watson, Potlikker Capital, President & CEO

Charles Wade, Black Farmer Fund, Investment Director
This workshop will dive into approaches of building power through land trusts, real estate, and institutionalizing collective ownership and decision-making with The Guild, an Atlanta-based BIPOC cooperative that takes a systems approach to creating collaborative, inclusive, and sustainable communities, with the aim of addressing the root causes of economic inequality.
Land & Real Estate
Speakers: Avery Ebron, The Guild, Director of Community Product
In 2020, the response to the COVID-19 crisis demonstrated the ease with which our governments can move mountains and money. But, their efforts still fell short of what the most affected communities and small businesses needed.

Join us for a panel where community leaders will speak about how they develop the strategies, tools, and sweet rewards of building movements that keep our communities thriving and resilient.
Organizing
Speakers:
Damien Goodmon, Downtown Crenshaw Rising / Liberty Ecosystem, CEO

Jay Nwachu, Innovation Works

Andria Barrett, Banker Ladies Council, Co-Founder

James Johnson-Piett, Urbane, Principal & CEO
It’s time to put your money where your mouth is. The dollar in the Black community is inconsistent and the racial wealth gap could take decades to bridge. This session is for attendees who are interested in learning more about the everyday steps we as a community can take to build back the Black Wall Street. Join us to learn about powerful money decisions we can make to Bank Black, and keep the Black dollar circulating in the Black community.
Black Investing
Speakers: Steve Royster, MoCaFi, Head of Marketing & Community Banking

Robert Herring III, The COWRIE Initiative, Co-Founder

Segun Idowu, City of Boston, Chief of Economic Opportunity and Inclusion
From Cambridge, MA to Harris County, Texas, city leaders are recognizing that action to address the racial wealth gap is long overdue, and a targeted guaranteed basic income program would ensure a base level of financial security for BIPOC communities. The proposed guaranteed income program carries the promise of more than just immediate economic relief. Providing a steady and dependable source of income to BIPOC communities holds the potential to create a fundamental shift in the financial trajectory of BIPOC households.
Black Investing, Organizing
Speakers: Aurielle Akerele, Blowback Productions, Film Producer

Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui, City of Cambridge

Tiffaney Bradley, Director of Public Engagement, Mayors for a Guaranteed Income

Jess Ridge, UpTogether, Partnership Director
In this session, we will bring together leaders in philanthropy who are actively working towards creating a more equitable and just future for Black communities.

Against the backdrop of an ever-gentrifying city, Hyams Foundation and Eastern Bank Foundation, among others, recently supported the purchase of 36 apartment buildings in East Boston to ensure that they are permanently affordable. Kataly Foundation, on the other hand, will be giving away more assets than their endowment earns, which allows them to divest from Wall Street and strategically reinvest into BIPOC projects that build community. 
Impact Investing, Organizing,
Speakers:
Nwamaka Agbo, Kataly Foundation, Executive Director

Lisa Owens, Hyams Foundation, Executive Director

Nancy Stager, Eastern Bank Foundation, President & Chief Executive Officer
Who owns Black Art? For years Black artists and creators have lamented the fight to maintain ownership over their work, even as their work across music, art and performance have become the foundation of popular culture.

The issue of ownership over cultural products goes beyond a mere legal matter; it is equally a matter of self-preservation, reflecting the imperative to safeguard their cultural heritage, space, and autonomy in creative expression.In this conversation, we will explore the complexities of ownership, control, and representation in an age where cultural appropriation, explotation and commodification persists.
Arts & Cultural Organizing,  Keynote
Speakers: Tomashi Jackson, Artist

Darryl Ratcliff, Gossypion Investments, Artist/CEO

Tariku Shiferaw, Artist

Lisa Simmons, Roxbury International Film Festival, Executive/Artistic Director

Moderator
Anjali Deshmukh, Make Justice Normal, Co-founder
 In this workshop, we delve into the subject of impact investing and the growing concern of impact washing—a practice that undermines the integrity and effectiveness of socially responsible investments. As impact investing gains momentum as a powerful tool for positive change, it becomes imperative to discern genuine impact from superficial claims.
Impact Investing
Speakers: Dorien Nunez, The OmniResearch Group, Co-Founder and Director of Research

Sheena Strawter-Anthony, Feel Good Investments, Registered Investment Advisor
Public Banking
10-03-2023
In this workshop, we dive into the ongoing efforts to establish public banks in Massachusetts and across the country, and its potential to revolutionize local economic systems, create financial equity, and bolster community resilience.
Organizing
Speakers: Oscar Abello, Next City, Economic Justice Correspondent

Malia Lazu, The Lazu Group, Founder
Believe-In-You Money  
10-03-2023
Believe-in-You Money delves into the history of Black business investing and shares six ways we can all use capital as a powerful tool for addressing racial injustice. From reimagining risk to bringing the philosophy of right relationship into play, we can make important changes in our practices and policies in order to invest in the brilliance and innovation of Black people, and reap the collective benefits of a more just, equitable, interconnected, and loving society.
Black Investing
Speakers: Jessica Norwood, Runway, Founder/CEO

Bithiah Carter, New England Blacks in Philanthropy, President/CEO
Put some respect on our throat chakras. The ongoing project of social and political freedom doesn’t begin or end with getting out the vote. Active and meaningful participation in shaping the decisions, policies, and governance that directly affect us is how we elevate community voice. In this session, we will discuss how to go beyond deep listening to center community leadership in project design and decision-making processes.
Organizing, Impact Investing
Speakers: Seona Bae, Boston Ujima Project Member

Leena Mathew, Matahari Women Workers' Center, Director of Policy & Campaigns

Mea Johnson, Ujima Community Standards Committee
Black Recovery   
10-03-2023
In this panel, speakers will discuss the journey of self-determination and creating practices for Black liberation in the world of recovery.
Organizing
Speakers:
Chantelle Bean

Melissa Dagger

Tomashi Jackson, Moderator
Working class neighborhoods across the country find themselves at the forefront of the climate crisis, a consequence of decades of racist housing policies. Despite this, many people may not see the link between investing in climate solutions and community development. This panel will showcase climate investment to address systemic climate change and the unequal impact on underserved communities. We’ll discover innovative projects and new ways to address climate change through community investment.
Organizing
Speakers: Isaac Baker, Resonant Energy, Co-CEO

John Smith, Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, Executive Director

Gregory King, TSK Energy Solutions LLC, Managing Director
In this session, Erika Seth Davies gives a rousing closing keynote to Day 2 of the Assembly of Black Possibilities.
Keynote
Speakers:
Erika Seth Davies, Rhia Ventures, CEO

Nia K. Evans, Boston Ujima Project, Executive Director