#GEO2024 Short Talks (Virtual)

At #GEO2024, Short Talks are engaging 20-minute keynote-style presentations that challenge current philanthropic culture and practice or inspire participants to think about the topic, their work and/or lives differently.

We’re excited to virtually share a portion of our short talks, held in Room A of our in-person venue. See the schedule below:

Round 1 | 9:30 – 9:55 a.m. “Turning A Historic Moment of Worker-led Economic Power into Political Power,” Saru Jayaraman, One Fair Wage

One Fair Wage President Saru Jayaraman leads the national movement to raise wages for low-wage workers and eliminate subminimum wages for tipped and other marginalized workers that are legacies of slavery. The subminimum wage for tipped workers forces millions of predominantly women of color to struggle with the highest levels of economic instability and sexual harassment. Building on a historic post-pandemic moment of worker power in which millions of low-wage workers, particularly young women and BIPOC workers, have demanded and won higher wages, workers are now transforming their marketplace wins into policy and political power. These efforts have already led to minimum wage policy changes that benefit workers, their families, and communities, and to the launch of impactful peer-to-peer voter engagement in key states in 2024. Come learn about how grantmakers can support this moment of worker power - including new opportunities for 501c3 grantmakers to legally support ballot initiatives that will raise wages for millions of American workers and mobilize hundreds of thousands to turn out to ‘vote themselves a raise’ in a year in which youth, Black, and Latinx voters are all naming ‘the rising cost of living’ and ‘jobs with living wages’ as their top electoral issues.

Round 2 | 10:10 – 10:35 a.m. “Indigenous Migrant Communities and Their Fight for Visibility” Janet Martinez, Comunidades Indigenas en Liderazgo (CIELO)

Comunidades Indígenas en Liderazgo (CIELO) has led the charge in creating visibility for the Indigenous migrant community. Through our Undocu Indigenous fund, we mapped linguistic diversity. We have continued to push for visibility through our recent billboard campaign. One of the fundamental gaps we must address is the lack of information many people have regarding Indigenous migrant communities in the United States. CIELO has been innovative in its campaign to create awareness and knowledge, and we would like to share how our work has changed the conversation about Indigenous rights throughout the U.S.

Round 3 | 10:50 – 11:15 a.m. “Navigating With(out) Instruments: Transgenerational Trauma & Delight, Collective Care and Creative Self-Determination,” traci kato-kiriyama

Who creates? Who provides? Who here is an artist? Who is in Philanthropy? Who doesn’t like being put into one box? Author, artist, educator and community organizer, traci kato-kiriyama (tkk) is a descendant, practitioner, and recipient of trauma & delight, care and self-determination that is grounded in the co-creating of art & community across several processes and generations. tkk’s experience as Director/Founder of Tuesday Night Project for the past 25 years brings them to a current moment of reflection and question - how do we honor the various intersections within communities & individuals when building an initiative for the long haul? What is the win-win-win? How can Philanthropy be a transformational partner on this journey? What else, what more, what next?