The Color of Covid-19

Speaker(s):

• 
  Mary Bassett

  Director of the François-Xavier Bagnoud (FXB) Center for Health and Human Rights, Harvard University

  Dr. Mary T. Bassett has dedicated her career to advancing health equity. She is currently the Director of the François-Xavier Bagnoud (FXB) Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University and the FXB Professor of the Practice of Health and Human Rights at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Prior to joining the FXB Center, she served as New York City’s Commissioner of Health from 2014 to 2018.

  Read Full Bio
• 
  Erik Brodt

  Director, Northwest Native American Center of Excellence, Northwest Native American Center of Excellence

  Erik Brodt, MD Anishinaabe – Minnesota Chippewa Erik grew up near Chippewa Falls, WI and spent summers with family in the rural areas around Bemidji, MN. Dr. Brodt earned his M.D. from the University of Minnesota School of Medicine and completed residency in Family Medicine at the Seattle Indian Health Board – Swedish Cherry Hill Family Medicine Residency in Seattle, WA. Dr. Brodt is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at Oregon Health and Science University. He practices in the OHSU Scappoose and Warm Springs Tribal Health clinics, while also serving as the founding Director of the OHSU Northwest Native American Center of Excellence. Erik is a fierce believer in occasional magic working to eliminate Native health disparities and improve Native American Health Professions programming nationally through creative partnerships and collaborations. An entrepreneur at heart, Erik and his wife Amanda have explored the fashion ecosystem through their global collection Ginew – featured in Vogue & GQ; culinary creativity and sustainable food systems; and the digital media non-profit WE ARE HEALERS. In his free time Dr. Brodt enjoys spending his time in Portland, OR with his wife Amanda, daughter Honukōkūlaniokauna’oa (Honu), their dogs Stinky & Pippa, and a motley crew of friends comprised of change-makers, mavens, and creatives.

  Read Full Bio
• 
  Cynthia Choi

  Co-Executive Director, Chinese for Affirmative Action

  Cynthia is the Co-Executive Director of Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA), a 50+-year-old community based civil rights organization committed to protecting the dignity and fair treatment of all immigrants. CAA is one of the co-founders of Stop AAPI Hate, an initiative which tracks and responds to incidents of anti-Asian racism and xenophobia related to COVID-19. Prior to CAA, she led initiatives at Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy (AAPIP) focused on leveraging strategic opportunities to advance social justice issues and philanthropic investments. Cynthia has led local, state and national community based organizations working on a range of issues from reproductive justice, gender violence, immigrant/refugee rights and environmental justice issues.

  Read Full Bio
• 
  Sonia Perez

  Chief Operating Officer, UnidosUS

  Read Full Bio
• 
  Don Gips

  CEO, Skoll Foundation

  Don Gips, CEO of the Skoll Foundation, leads the organization’s work investing in, connecting, and celebrating social entrepreneurs to create lasting social change around the world. His experiences span public service, politics, business, finance, and technology. Most recently, he led Albright Stonebridge Group’s Africa Practice, consulting with companies, entrepreneurs, and foundations investing across the continent. Previously, he served as Director of Presidential Personnel in the Obama White House, ushering in the most diverse administration in U.S. history. He served as U.S. Ambassador to South Africa where he managed more than 1,000 staff and a budget of over $600 million across multiple government agencies. Early in his career, he helped design and create a $650 million start‐up government corporation to promote community service which became the AmeriCorps program, still operational today. He served as Chief Domestic Policy Advisor to Vice President Al Gore and Chief of the International Bureau at the Federal Communications Commission. Still earlier in Don’s career, he developed a clean water project with Sarvodaya, a leading social enterprise, and managed a refugee camp in Sri Lanka. He sits on the board of Liquid Telecommunication, a Pan‐African provider of fiber and telecommunications services led by Strive Masiyiwa, one of Africa’s preeminent entrepreneurs and philanthropists; and the President’s Council on International Affairs at Yale University. Don received an MBA from the Yale School of Management and his undergrad degree from Harvard University. He is married to Elizabeth (Liz) Berry Gips, who leads education programs for Village Health Works, bringing health care and development to rural Burundi. Don and Liz have three grown sons: Sam, Peter, and Ben.

  Read Full Bio
• 
  Cheryl Dorsey

  President, Echoing Green

  Cheryl L. Dorsey is the president of Echoing Green, a global nonprofit that supports emerging social entrepreneurs and invests deeply in their ideas and leadership. A social entrepreneur herself, Cheryl received an Echoing Green Fellowship in 1992 to launch The Family Van, a community-based mobile health unit in Boston. Cheryl has served in two presidential administrations and currently serves on several boards including The Bridgespan Group and Skoll Foundation. She has received numerous awards, including the Pfizer Roerig History of Medicine Award, the Robert Kennedy Distinguished Public Service Award, and the Manual C. Carballo Memorial Prize. Cheryl has been named one of "America's Best Leaders" by US News & World Report and the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard Kennedy School and one of The Nonprofit Times' "Power and Influence Top 50." She has a medical degree from Harvard Medical School and her master's in public policy from Harvard Kennedy School.

  Read Full Bio
• 
  Ernest Boykin

  Criminal Justice Reform Advocate , Motivational Speaker

  Ernest Boykin was 41, not halfway through a 15-year sentence in federal prison, and COVID had been hitting prisons hard for months. He had underlying medical conditions that put him at high risk if he contracted the disease, and on lockdown, conditions inside deteriorated by the day. He applied to the warden for compassionate release and was denied. Despair would have been easy. But somehow, Ernest stayed hopeful. “You have to understand that the job of any warden is to keep you there. It’s not to let you out. So when they reject you, you’ve got to keep the faith. And that’s the hardest part. You’ve got to believe, and you’ve got to be diligent. You’ve got to meditate, pray, whatever you do, you’ve got to channel positive energy. You’ve just got to stay the course because it’s not a quick process.” His attitude paid off: On July 17, 2020, a judge granted him compassionate release, stating in the memorandum that “Mr. Boykin has provided a sufficient extraordinary and compelling reason for compassionate release.” Ernest grew up in Washington, D.C. “I was blessed,” he says. “I had a good educational foundation. I went to college.” But it was hard to stay clear of trouble, and he was in and out of prison for drug crimes in his twenties. He put that life behind him when he had kids, though, until he was in a car accident in his thirties, which left him badly injured and on pain medication. Addiction set in. “The next thing I knew,” he says, “I had reintroduced myself to the world of crime.” Learn more: https://famm.org/stories/compassionate-release-clearinghouse-ernest-boykin/

  Read Full Bio
• 
  Kim Gallon

  Founder, COVID Black & Associate Professor of History, Purdue University

  Kim Gallon is an Associate Professor of History at Purdue University and the founder and director of COVID Black. Her work investigates the cultural dimensions of health and data in the Black Press in the early twentieth century. She is the author of many publications on Black communication networks and media. COVID Black COVID Black works at the intersection of data, race, and social justice. It transforms statistics and information into living data and stories about Black Health. It is a data griot and a Black data storyteller. It's redefining the future of Black health data analytics by marrying ancestry with technology. 

  Read Full Bio
• 
  Nathaniel Smith

  Founder and Chief Equity Officer, Partnership for Southern Equity

  Nathaniel Smith serves as Founder and Chief Equity Officer of the Partnership for Southern Equity (PSE), which advances policies and institutional actions that promote racial equity and shared prosperity for all in the growth of metropolitan Atlanta and the American South. Among PSE’s notable accomplishments was the creation the American South’s first equity mapping and framing tool, the Metro Atlanta Equity Atlas, and co-authoring numerous reports including: “Growing the Future: The Case for Economic Inclusion in Metropolitan Atlanta”, and “Employment Equity: Putting Georgia on the Path to Inclusive Prosperity”. PSE also led a coalition of diverse stakeholders to support a $13 million transit referendum that expanded Atlanta’s metropolitan transit system into a new county for the first time in 45 years. Smith’s advocacy activities were instrumental in the ratification of a 15 percent set aside of Atlanta Beltline Tax Allocation District (TAD) dollars for the development and maintenance of affordable workforce housing within the Atlanta BeltLine Planning Area - $250 million dollars over the 25-year lifespan of the Atlanta BeltLine TAD. A child of Civil Rights Movement and Atlanta native, Smith holds a Bachelor of Arts in Urban Studies from Morehouse College and a Master of Science from the New School. Among his many accomplishments, The Huffington Post honored Nathaniel as one of the eight “Up and Coming Black Leaders in the Climate Movement” in 2017. Nathaniel was also named to the Grist 50 by Grist Magazine in 2018 and the Atlanta 500 by Atlanta Magazine in 2019 and 2020, and designated one of the 100 “Most Influential Georgians” by Georgia Trend magazine in 2018, 2019 and 2020. His work was also featured in the U.S. News and World Report, Chronicle of Philanthropy, Nonprofit Quarterly, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Atlanta Voice and others.

  Read Full Bio
• 
  Monique Tula

  Executive Director, National Harm Reduction Coalition

  Monique Tula is the Executive Director of National Harm Reduction Coalition, a national advocacy and capacity-building organization that promotes the health and dignity of people affected by drug use. Previously, she was the Vice President of Programs with AIDS United where she oversaw the grantmaking and technical assistance portfolios. With more than 20 years of experience in the nonprofit sector, Ms. Tula has devoted her career to harm reduction advocacy and infrastructure development of community-based organizations. Ms. Tula is a skilled trainer, having taught program evaluation courses at the University of Massachusetts in Boston and facilitated numerous organizational development training for community based organizations throughout the U.S. An alum of the Centers for Disease Control’s Institute for HIV Prevention Leadership, Ms. Tula holds a degree in Community Planning with a concentration in Nonprofit Management from the University of Massachusetts and a Masters Certificate in Nonprofit Leadership and Management from Boston University’sSchool of Management. Ms. Tula has been nominated by the Massachusetts Department ofPublic Health for the prestigious Robert Wood Johnson Community Health Leadership award and presently serves as Board Chair for BEAM, a collective of mental and emotional health advocates dedicated to dismantling systems that cause egregious harms to Black people in America.

  Read Full Bio
• 
  Olajide Williams

  Professor of Neurology, Columbia University

  Dr Olajide Williams is a tenured Professor of Neurology at Columbia University and Chief of Staff of the Department of Neurology at the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. He is a world-renowned leader in stroke disparities and behavior change research in communities of color, and a principal investigator of multiple NIH investigator-initiated awards. Dr Williams has served on several national panels on health disparities, and he is a member of the 2021-2026 National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Strategic Planning Committee. An influential clinician-educator, Dr. Williams is a member of the Columbia University’s Virginia Apgar Academy of Medical Educators and Academy of Community and Public Service. He is currently co-Chair of Columbia University Irving Medical Center’s Anti-Racism Task Force, Special Advisor to the Executive Vice President and Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine for Community Affairs, and co-director of the Columbia University Community Wellness Center. Dr Williams is a member of the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons neuroscience course teaching faculty. He sits on the editorial board of Stroke - the pre-eminent journal in the field of stroke – and has published numerous scholarly peer-reviewed articles, including serving as an editor of the “Handbook of Neurological Therapeutics” and as the author of the book "Stroke Diaries". Dr Williams is the founder and board chair of Hip Hop Public Health, an internationally recognized organization that uses the power of music to create and implement multimedia health promotion programs and resources to improve health literacy and inspire behavior change among young people of color and their families. He is a board member of the Partnership for a Healthier America whose honorary chair is former First Lady Michelle Obama, and has received many prestigious international, national, and regional awards. These include the European Stroke Research Foundation Investigator of the Year award, two-time Columbia University Outstanding Teacher of the Year award for the Major Clinical Year, American Heart Association’s Trailblazer award, and a National Humanism in Medicine award from the Association of American Medical Colleges. Dr. Williams has been named on Fast Company Magazine’s 100 Most Creative People list, Root 100’s most influential Blacks in America list, and consecutive New York Magazine's Best Doctors list.

  Read Full Bio
• 
  Jimmie Briggs

  Principal, Skoll Foundation

  When he joined the Foundation in 2020, he had more than two decades of experience as a journalist, author and activist. He was a co-founder and executive director emeritus of Man Up Campaign, a global initiative to activate youth to stop violence against women and girls. This led to his selection as the winner of the 2010 GQ Magazine “Better Men Better World” search, and as one of the Women’s eNews ‘21 Leaders for the 21st Century’. Jimmie has served as an adjunct professor of investigative journalism at the New School for Social Research and was a George A Miller Visiting Professor in the Department of African and African-American Studies at the University of Illinois: Champaign-Urbana. For a decade, he has been an adjunct teacher of documentary journalism at the International Center of Photography As a journalist, he has written for scores of publications following staff tenures at The Washington Post, The Village Voice, LIFE magazine and others. The recipient of honors for his work as a journalist and advocate, he’s been a National Magazine Award finalist, recipient of honors from the Open Society Institute, National Association of Black Journalists, the Carter Center for Mental Health Journalism, the Congressional Black Caucus, Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, and the Freedom Center in Cincinnati, among many others. His 2005 book Innocents Lost: When Child Soldiers Go To War took readers into the lives of war-affected children around the world in half a dozen countries. His next book project is an oral history of Ferguson, Missouri in the wake of Michael Brown’s death in 2014. He currently contributes to Vanity Fair magazine in addition to his role at the Skoll Foundation. Jimmie holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors, in Philosophy, from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, as well as a Medal of Distinction from Barnard College. He lives in New York City.

  Read Full Bio
• 
  Khalil Cumberbatch

  Senior Fellow, Council on Criminal justice

  Khalil A. Cumberbatch is a nationally recognized formerly incarcerated advocate for criminal justice and deportation policy reform. Previously, he served as Chief Strategist at New Yorkers United for Justice and as Associate Vice President of Policy at Fortune Society. Pardoned by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in 2014, Cumberbatch earned a Master's Degree in Social Work from CUNY Lehman College, where he was awarded the Urban Justice Award for his work with underserved and marginalized communities. Cumberbatch is also a lecturer at Columbia University.

  Read Full Bio
• 
  Tulaine Montgomery

  Managing Partner, New Profit

  Tulaine Montgomery is an accomplished social entrepreneur, educator, and community organizer. She is a Managing Partner and member of the Executive Team at New Profit. A member of the founding team that launched New Profit, Tulaine provides strategic and financial support to many of our nation's most promising social innovations. Tulaine leads New Profit's Inclusive Impact, a comprehensive, sector-wide systems change strategy designed to increase investment and capacity building support for leaders of color. Additionally, Tulaine is a member of New Profit's Systems Solutions team and serves as a lead spokesperson for New Profit at a time of growing dialogue in philanthropy about the unprecedented opportunities and challenges facing the sector. She is Host and Executive Producer of "What Had To Be True", New Profit's podcast and online forum for conversations with “America’s Problem Solvers”- the grounded visionaries and practical idealists working hard to make things better. Tulaine is an experienced cellist and writer; she has written and produced five original plays.

  Read Full Bio
• 
  Nick Tilsen

  President & CEO, NDN Collective

  Nick Tilsen President & CEO, NDN Collective Nick Tilsen, NDN Collective Founder, President and CEO, is a citizen of the Oglala Lakota Nation. Tilsen has over 17 years of experience working with non-profits and tribal nations on projects that have a social mission. Prior to launching NDN Collective, he was the founding executive director of Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation for 12 years. Working in his home community on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Tilsen built place-based innovations that have the ability to inform systems change solutions around climate resiliency, sustainable housing and equitable community development. He sits on the boards of the Indigenous Peoples Power Project, the Water Protector Legal Collective, and helped with on the ground organizing in the fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline in Standing Rock. He continues his community organizing work and firmly believes that we need to both defend Indigenous nations from destructive resource extraction while simultaneously building the sustainable communities of tomorrow. Tilsen received an honorary doctorate from Sinte Gleska College in South Dakota. Nick has received numerous fellowships and awards from Ashoka, Rockefeller Foundation, Bush Foundation and the Social Impact Award from Claremont-Lincoln University.

  Read Full Bio