Washington Women’s Foundation (WaWF) is excited to announce our panelists for Convening 2022 on September 21st. The Convening, held from 9am to 4pm at Town Hall in Seattle, will feature three panel discussions on our 2023 funding themes: Education, Healthcare, and Climate & Agriculture Justice.
“…the purpose of Convening is to open our minds to the impactful nonprofit work in our state. Speakers this year will be a mix of leaders trusted by their communities. They understand what their community needs and, to the best of their ability, remove the systemic obstacles, for example, so that in education, kids feel seen, heard, and valued and can learn,” reflects WaWF member, Page Pless.
The morning panel will discuss Education, moderated by Erin Okuno, newly appointed Director of the Washington State Governor’s Office of the Education Ombuds, and hear insights from Shawn Peterson (Na’ah Ilahee Fund), Katie Virga (Seattle Public Schools), Suzy Diaz (Heritage University) and Sierra Parsons (WA-BLOC).
After lunch, Climate and Agricultural Justice will be moderated by Bridget Ray (Salish Sea Collective) and elevated by Ray Williams (Black Farmers Collective), Savitha Pathi (Climate Solutions) and Rosalinda Guillen (Community 2 Community).
The last panel will discover the creative work being done in Healthcare in Washington State. This panel will be lovingly moderated by Rokea Jones from the Tubman Center for Health and Freedom. Joining her on the panel will Ashley McGirt (WA Therapy Fund Foundation), Jackie Vaughn (Surge Reproductive Justice, and Sonia Garza (Sea Mar Community Health).
Convening 2022 will kick off our 2023 Grantmaking cycle by featuring a variety of speakers who are reflective of and embedded in the communities they serve. Together, we will learn from these experts, changemakers, and community organizers driving equitable, transformative solutions to Washington’s most pressing challenges.
After Convening 2022, WaWF will survey all attendees about which priorities within our 2023 themes are most important to them. The WaWF membership will vote on the community priorities and the top priority in each theme will become our funding and learning priorities for the upcoming year.
The Convening is a call to action that brings together our community to learn about our most pressing challenges. The event is open and free to all! If you want to learn about and have a say in our funding priorities, it’s the event for you. We hope to see you there.