About the 2023 Unity Summit Location
Each Unity Summit is anchored to a location, offering attendees the opportunity to connect with local communities, movements, and leaders in ways that offer context to the convening’s key issues as they are experienced by those directly impacted. Rather than create labor for or extract resources from communities, we work to ensure that our presence in our host cities is reciprocal and that we coordinate with local leaders to ensure a mutually beneficial convening experience. The 2023 Unity Summit will take place in Los Angeles, CA and create connections to communities and movements throughout the state of California. We have engaged a Local Advisory Group of California-based philanthropy professionals in order to guide us in identifying opportunities to meaningfully center California context as we curate sessions, identify featured speakers and artists, navigate the local nonprofit community, and engage with the local business community for goods and services.
*We are guests on this land. Please join us and contribute financially to native indigenous communities. We invite all attendees to join us in donating "acknowledgerent" to the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians and giving to the Tongva Taraxat Paxaavxa Conservancy. CHANGE Philanthropy has donated to multiple local indigenous communities in land tax/honor tax as guests on the land originally and still inhabited and cared for by the Tongva, Tataviam, Serrano, Kizh, and Chumash Peoples.
Local Advisory Group Members
Nicole Giles, Northern California Grantmakers
Viridiana Romero, Northern California Grantmakers
LeAnn Kelch Melendez, EPIP LA - Goldhirsh Foundation
Jonathan T. Reid, EPIP LA - ECMC Foundation
Phuong Pham, SoCal Grantmakers
Sequoia Thompson, SoCal Grantmakers
Kamaal Martin, Catalyst of San Diego and Imperial Counties
Zoe Luiz, Catalyst of San Diego and Imperial Counties
Community Learning Exchanges
As a means of engaging deeply with local community movements and leaders, the 2023 Unity Summit will feature opportunities to visit local California organizations and learn more about their work, community history, and issues they address. Organizations that participate in community learning exchanges will be presented with an honorarium in appreciation of their time, as well as opportunities to make connections and participate in conference activities.
Vendor Relationships
As we prepare for the 2023 Unity Summit, we strive to uplift local BIPOC-led business in contracting for the goods and services that make the convening possible. The Welcome Reception will prominently feature refreshments from local food trucks and restaurants. Printed signage and conference swag will be sourced from local vendors, and conference attendees will be encouraged to patronize local businesses through a vendor directory that will be shared in the conference app.
