#GEO2024

May 20, 2024 at Westin Bonaventure, Los Angeles, CA
GEO's opening plenary will feature movement and philanthropic leaders grounding us in the landscape of social change in California. Marcus Walton and Kristina Wertz of GEO will open our time together by exploring GEO’s co-created vision for a more just and connected future for the philanthropic sector and the communities we serve. Activist and poet Kavon Ward will connect the successful land back movement of Bruce’s Beach in Southern California and ongoing reparative justice movements. Dr. Bob Ross, The California Endowment’s outgoing President and CEO will reflect on his decades-long tenure to share how we can continue building on past social change efforts for a more just future. We’ll close with a talk from Grisanti Avendaño of Yo! Cali on the intersection between power building and healing justice, and how the two must coexist, told through a framework of youth movement and organizing spaces in Southern California. Through this series of interconnected talks, we will explore the past and the present while looking forward to future transformation.
Speakers
Christine Essel (she/her), President and CEO, Southern California Grantmakers
Megan Thomas (she/her), President & CEO, Catalyst
Dwayne Marsh (he/him), President and CEO, Northern California Grantmakers
Joanna Jackson (she/her), Interim President & CEO, Weingart Foundation
Charles Sidney Fields (he/him), Vice President of Program Implementation, the James Irvine Foundation
Marcus Walton (he/him), President & CEO, GEO
Kristina Wertz (she/her), Vice President of External Affairs, GEO
Kavon Ward (she/her), Founder and CEO, Where Is My Land
Dr. Robert K. Ross (he/him), President and CEO, The California Endowment
Grisanti Avendaño (they/she), Co-Director, Youth Organize! California