2020 Directory
Opening Plenary 1
Culture Lab (on-site)
NYC Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer
Setting the Stage - Intersectionality of Youth Causes and BLM: Kwad
Acheampong and Marcus Sutton
Kwad Acheampong is a Vice President, Client Advisory for PGIM Fixed
Income. Before joining PGIM Fixed Income in 2014, Mr. Acheampong worked
as a summer account manager at PIMCO. Earlier, he worked as a
proprietary risk trader with Goldman Sachs specializing in technology,
media & telecom equities. Mr. Acheampong received his BA in Public
Policy from Duke University, and an MBA with concentrations in Finance,
Management & Organizational Behavior, and Entrepreneurship from the
University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Kwad’s passions include youth mentoring and chess. He is an alum and
member of the board of
Chess in the Schools, a non
profit that fosters the social and intellectual development of
low-income youth in New York City. He is also a founding young
leadership board member of America Needs You, a non-profit that fights
for economic mobility for ambitious, first-generation college students.
Marcus Sutton is a high school senior at Edward R. Murrow High School,
boasting roles as Chess Team Captain and President of the National Honor
Society there. He also was a tutor in Math for his school's Mathematics
Honor Society, which led to becoming a TA for an Algebra 1 teacher. He
has involved himself with many organizations that he enjoys the company
of--such as the LOVE, HALLIE Foundation, Chess in the Schools and All
Star Code, just to name a few--and has continued to work with them over
the past few years.
Marcus's passions include chess, community service and coding--the three
C's he calls it. He has played chess for more than 8 years, becoming
captain of both his middle and high school chess teams and collecting
many accolades along the way. He has also worked closely with the LOVE,
HALLIE Foundation's youth activism division, Hallie's Angels, resonating
with his belief that everyone should give back in any way possible.
After attending All Star Code's Summer Intensive in 2019, he has made it
a goal to one day combine his passions in a way to give back to his own
community.
Keynote Speaker: Elizabeth Shvarts and Gary Shteyman - Bridge to
Literacy
NYC high school juniors Elizabeth Shvarts and Gary Shteyman, co-founders
of Bridge to Literacy, narrate the story of how they took their passion
for language and turned it into a nonprofit that serves over 100 children
and high school volunteers through literacy! Their organization gives
under-resourced kids around the world access to literacy skills and
on-on-one cultural connections with mentors across North America, Europe,
Africa, and Asia! They’ll introduce what literacy means to them, the
creativity and hard work that went into carrying out their mission, and
their plans for the future. Ultimately, they hope that their journey can
inspire young change-makers to channel their passion into a force for
good, remembering that every ripple can turn into a wave!
Performance 1:
Shelsy Gross
- Building Beats
Breakout Session 1: Workshops (4)
Room 1: Discover & Learn (Causeploratorium):
Global Kids
Room 2: Grow & Solve (CauseLab):
Support Center
Room 3: Inspire & Create (CauseCreative):
Building Beats
Room 4: Amplify & Connect (CauseStudios):
Ticking Clock
Afternoon Plenary 2
Guest Speaker 2: Elizabeth McIntosh, Immigration Law Scholar & Advocate
A first generation American, from the family of Dominican and Jamaican
immigrants, Elizabeth graduated from NYU Gallatin School of Individualized
Study with a degree in International Human Rights Law in 2017. She is
currently in a dual program with the NYU Graduate School and the NYU
School of Law with a concentration in International and Immigration Law.
She is the copy editor of NYU's Journal of Political Inquiry where she
writes about current events in immigration news, raising awareness to
injustices that black and brown foreign nationals face at the hands of our
government. She has been working for over three years at a private
boutique Soho immigration law firm as a senior litigation paralegal where
she works with black and brown immigrants who are seeking asylum or relief
from deportation and/or detention. She works with immigration judges in
all circuits, ICE officers, border patrol agents, and asylum officers. She
chose this field because as a first generation American, she was always
aware of the injustices that her family members faced at the hands of the
immigration legal system - due in part to lack of representation and lack
of awareness of the legal system. Her current job and career path allow
her to represent underprivileged black and brown foreign nationals, and
give them a voice in the United States. Her job allows her to give a voice
to the black and brown members of our community who have lived here for
years, but are unable to participate in our political community by voting
on important decisions that affect their livelihoods.
Atolani is a writer, educator, activist, and entrepreneur. A native of
Chicago, Atolani now resides in Brooklyn, where she moved to after
graduating college in 2019. In her poetry and stories, Atolani explores
themes of empowerment, black feminism, police brutality, mental health,
and so much more, combining her love of fantasy and mythologies to
reimagine and create a better reality for Black people to thrive in. When
she is not writing or teaching, Atolani is either watching anime,
listening to Neo-Soul & the Hamilton soundtrack for the umpteenth time, or
capturing pictures of architecture, food, and nature.
You can learn more about Atolani and reach her website.
“Beauty in Suffering”
Vital to her learning and the way she conceptualized her experiences as a
recent graduate with traumas, Atolani found herself in a hole she isn’t
fully sure she’s found her way out of yet. Instead, she’s looked for the
tiny pockets of light to illuminate her path as she reflects on her past,
present, and her expectations for the future. As a black woman, she faces
a daily battle of whether to scream out in anger or stifle her pain
because of respectability. However, she’s found a loophole. And that’s
art, specifically poetry. In three poems, Atolani captures the ugly of the
sufferings of Black people, and inverts it to resemble power, light,
beauty.
Breakout Session 2: Festival
Org A: Ana María Lopez from
Se Mueve
SE MUEVE is a creative platform to research, practice, and share the
knowledge of dance as a tool to cultivate our integrated health. For us,
integrated health means the relationship between our mental, physical,
spiritual, and environmental health. If we know what we WANT and what we
NEED, what will they sell us?
Let's dialogue about resilience. What is something that you'll like to
change or do differently about your community? What skills can you offer
to achieve this change? What knowledge do you want to achieve this change?
We'll first do a brief reflection upon these questions and then do a 1min
meditation on resilience, reminding ourselves that breathing is our most
powerful tool to connect with ourselves and heal our bodies.
Org B: Sabrina for Dancewave
Dancewave provides access to a community dance experience that encourages
individuality and whole-person development throughout New York City and
beyond. Through innovative programming we use dance as an expressive
vehicle for transformation.
Programs:
Youth Leadership Council
Dancewave Junior Company
Drop-in classes
Contact: school@dancewave.org
Org C: Keven Cruz and Real Mason from
Global Kids
Keven Cruz is a part-time trainer at Q300 in Astoria, Queens. As a GK
student, he gained a broader perspective of the world through social
activism and advocacy, to then lead and inspire others as a facilitator.
He learned to practice empathy and sympathy by learning and growing with
others in program. As a part-time trainer working with middle schools and
coming out of high school as a GK alumnus, he is passionate about the many
services they provide to their youth, including curriculum like Power to
the People, Digital Learning & Leadership (DLL), college and high-school
readiness, career-building, Human Rights Activist Project (HRAP), and
enrichment clubs that engage fun and creativity like Minecraft, cooking,
art, yoga, Girl Hack, spanish club, and more!
Real Mason is also a GK alumnus and current part-time staff with GK's
middle school team at MELS Forest Hills, Queens. During his time with
Global Kids, he learned a lot about himself and the impact he has on his
community. He was able to travel across the world and work with other
youth leaders like himself to tackle issues he had no idea that he would
be able to help with. Global Kids not only teaches students how to be
leaders, but can also offer academic support, help with the college
application process, and even college tours and trips. He claims our
middle school teams provide a fun and safe environment for students to
learn how to become youth leaders while developing other skills.
Sign-up:
Middle schoolers
High schoolers
Love Hallie’s mission is to empower young people to get involved in the
causes they care about & improve their communities and the world. LOVE,
HALLIE's inspiration comes from the life and legacy of Hallie Geier, an
eleven year-old activist from Queens who passed away in 2004, but who, in
her short life, volunteered, marched for peace and justice, and left us
with more than 1000 pieces of writing about her determination to make a
better world.
LOVE, HALLIE helps young people identify the causes they care about most,
connects them with organizations, collectives, and/or individuals
responsibly working on those causes, and then helps them apply their
unique skills and talents to meaningfully and sustainably making a
difference.
At age 15, Hallie's sister, M.J., founded LOVE, HALLIE's direct action
youth division, and she's committed to making sure young people have the
tools, resources, and access they need to get and stay involved in the
good fight.
Our 35,000 square foot state-of-the-art community center offers a safe
haven with programs in the arts, sciences, leadership, entrepreneurship,
and wellness for girls in middle and high school. We offer over 50 unique
programs a week, at no cost to girls and their families.
The Lower Eastside Girls Club is training the next generation of ethical,
entrepreneurial, and environmental leaders. Girls Club members overcome
adversity, perceive opportunity, develop self-confidence, make ethical
decisions and healthy life choices, thrive academically, embrace
leadership, and have the ability to enter college or the workforce as
fully prepared and connected adults.
Closing Plenary 3
ABW Center Livestream
Performance 4:
Bianca Perez -
Building Beats
Performance 5:
Briette Camilien -
Building Beats