COO Speaker Series session 1: Cultivating Community Transformation
What does it mean to cultivate transformation? How do cross sector partnerships and collaborations support transformative work? Join us for Cultivating Community Transformation where panelists will share reflections about the start of Communities of Opportunity, how this work came to be, lessons learned, and opportunities for growth.
This is the first of six speaker series events funded by the COO Learning Community and designed and produced by La Roxay Productions and BDS Planning.
About the Panelists:
Michael Brown is the Chief Architect of Civic Commons, a new regional civic infrastructure aimed at uniting more community voices in decision-making to advance racial and economic equity. Most recently, Michael served as Seattle Foundation’s Vice President of Community Programs, where he oversaw the Foundation’s community impact efforts, strategic grantmaking initiatives, convening activities, and impact investing program.
A.J. McClure is the Deputy Director at Global to Local. Having spent his career in both local government and the not-for-profit sector, AJ believes authentic community engagement and leadership development provide the foundation for building vibrant and healthy communities. Prior to Global to Local, AJ held community engagement roles for the City of Seattle, King County and a variety of community based non-profits. He has developed and led local and regional initiatives focused on the strengthening community health by supporting the development of resilient communities.
Sili Savusa is the Executive Director of the White Center Community Development Association and a prominent Samoan community leader in the Pacific Northwest. She advocates for those whose voices are underrepresented. She established the first Samoan Pacific Islander Parent Teacher Student Association in the nation and was the first woman of color elected to the Highline School Board.
Aaron Robertson is the Managing Director of Policy and Civic Engagement at Seattle Foundation and has more than a decade of experience building systemic change efforts aimed at creating greater racial equity through community power-building and civic engagement. He specializes in cross-sector partnership building, aligning the skills and assets of diverse stakeholders towards community-driven change. His work has spanned many issue areas, including designing one of the Nation’s first COVID-19 response funds, Washington State’s effort to ensure a fair and accurate census count, and public-private partnerships supporting community-led advocacy efforts addressing the social determinants of health. Aaron is a Board Member of the Funders Network’s PLACES Fellowship, as well as a member of Harvard Business School’s Young American Leaders Program, the Center for Community Investment’s Fulcrum Fellowship, the University of Washington’s Nonprofit Executive Leadership Institute and Leadership Tomorrow.