FROM CLASSROOM
TO BOARDROOM
RACE & EQUITY CONFERENCE
MARCH 30— APRIL 8, 2021
We were honored to host 750+ business leaders, educators, civic officials, and nonprofit professionals for conversations about race and equity in the workplace in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Participants from 97 cities in 27 states across the country gathered to learn about ways to encourage diversity, promote economic mobility, and contribute to a more inclusive sense of community in their hometowns.
EXPLORING THE INTERSECTION OF WORKPLACE & COMMUNITY
EXPLORING THE INTERSECTION OF WORKPLACE & COMMUNITY
As the country mobilizes to ensure that economic recovery reaches all members of our communities, collaboration is of the utmost importance. In our hometown, Charlottesville, Virginia, 35% of Black families do not currently earn enough money to meet their basic needs, compared to 14% of white families.* Targeted interventions can help address this racial inequity where its impact is most often felt—in our classrooms, boardrooms, and on the pathways in between.
From Classroom to Boardroom will highlight cutting-edge, grassroots initiatives to promote economic mobility for people living with low wealth, encourage diversity at all rungs of the career ladder, and contribute to a more inclusive sense of community in the Commonwealth of Virginia and across the country. It will provide opportunities for employers, job seekers, small business owners, civic leaders, nonprofit professionals, educators, and students to connect, collaborate, and learn from one another.
*Data courtesy of PVCC Network2Work's Orange Dot 4.0 Report
How Do We Create Equitable Workplaces?
Uplift & Empower
We see an opportunity to encourage environments and pipelines for work that uplift and empower all members of our community.
Educate
community leaders and impact makers on key issues around career advancement, economic mobility, and community wealth-building.
Connect
and build relationships between stakeholders across sectors in the Commonwealth and nationally.
Elevate
employers, municipal leaders, and nonprofit professionals driving change and creating impact.
Facilitate
career development during the conference with virtual hiring fairs and one-on-one networking breakouts.
Position
Charlottesville as a leader in conversations of national relevance in a critical moment for the state and country.
Community Conversations
We can do this by hosting community conversations around key issues that elevate coalition-building efforts and reinforce sustainable ideas.
Advisors
Even at the very top, what’s happening at the bottom has an impact. When doors shut to Black people, they shut across whole family lines and not just one household.
Mary Coleman
City of Promise,
Executive Director
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Employers hold the key to helping families thrive. We need to innovate more effective ways of moving people up the career ladders than we’ve used in the past. How do we move people up the income scale so that they can realize their full potential as human beings?
Ridge Schuyler
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Network2Work@PVCC, Dean
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We need to start communicating the reality that a child requires a holistic approach to thrive — they cannot grow up without their family getting the services and interventions they require to ensure their child is able to meet educational benchmarks that support economic mobility as an adult.
Ravi Respeto
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United Way of Greater Charlottesville, President
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Partners
When you create opportunity for a person, you are transforming individual lives, families, and ultimately, our community. You are seeding future prosperity that we can all be a part of.
Lily Garcia Walton
Silverchair,
Chief People Officer
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This pay-what-you-can virtual conference is presented by